“Ah! gentlemen and friends! it is because by speaking I betray the watchword. But, hark! I hear a voice that frees mine by dominating it.”
“Cannon!” said Porthos.
“Cannon and musketry, too!” cried the bishop.
On hearing at a distance, among the rocks, these sinister reports of a combat which they thought had ceased:
“What can that be?” asked Porthos.
“Eh! Pardieu!” cried Aramis; “that is just what I expected.”
“What is that?”
“That the attack made by you was nothing but a feint; is not that true, monsieur? And whilst your companions allowed themselves to be repulsed, you were certain of effecting a landing on the other side of the island.”
“Oh! several, monsieur.”
“We are lost, then,” said the bishop of Vannes, quietly.