“Well,” said D’Artagnan, rising, “we have them, friend Porthos, and even something better.”
“Bah!” said Porthos, looking around.
“Useless to look; everything will come to us when wanted. At about what time did we see the two Swiss guards walking yesterday?”
“An hour after sunset.”
“If they go out to-day as they did yesterday we shall have the honor, then, of seeing them in half an hour?”
“In a quarter of an hour at most.”
“Your arm is still strong enough, is it not, Porthos?”
Porthos unbuttoned his sleeve, raised his shirt and looked complacently on his strong arm, as large as the leg of any ordinary man.
“Yes, indeed,” said he, “I believe so.”
“So that you could without trouble convert these tongs into a hoop and yonder shovel into a corkscrew?”