Thanks to the thickness of his skin and the herculean strength of his muscles, the wounded man had escaped serious injury.
"And the child?" said Adamas, as he dressed him in dry clothes which Clindor had brought; "was the child in danger?"
Aristandre told everything that had happened down to the time that he raised the stake of the sarrasine.
"The child got through," he said; "the beggars on the moucharabi fired at him but didn't hit him. I had that hound of a Sancho by the throat at that moment. I might have strangled him, but I let him go and ran out on the moucharabi, and I saw Mario running like the wind; then I fell on the other two curs. I had only a spade, but I routed them in fine shape, I tell you! Sancho came at me again with his broken rapier, and tried to scratch me with the hilt, I think, for he struck at my head and face when he couldn't reach my stomach. Ah! the old madman, how hard he strikes! And then, you see, I was already wounded and had not my strength! But it warmed me up a little all the same, because I had already swam across the pond once to join dear little Mario in the garden, and I was shivering. However, I couldn't make an end of the old devil, and that is all I regret. When I heard others coming to his assistance, I slipped down the staircase, and as his legs aren't so active as his arm is heavy, I succeeded in returning to the garden without his knowing where I had gone. And from there faith, I had no other choice than to come back here by way of the pond, and here I am!"
"Coachman!" cried Adamas, who, unlike many men, felt a sincere admiration for exploits of which he knew that he was incapable, "you are as great as Monsieur d'Urfé's greatest heroes! and if monsieur takes my advice, he will have you represented in tapestry in his salon, to perpetuate the memory of your courage and your stout heart."
"If it's only a question of being great," replied the artless Aristandre, "I can safely say that I have the size. But I am going to see my horses; after that, we will think about making a little sortie to clear the basse-cour of these vermin. What do you say about it, old fellow?"
The prudent Adamas was not heartily in favor of the plan.
While they are discussing projects of attack and defence, we will join Mario, who has just arrived in sight of the great tree by which the hill of Etalié is crowned to this day.
The child looked up at the stars which he had learned to know during his life among the shepherds: it was about half-past nine.
At that period there was a single house in that solitude; it was an inn and at the same time a sort of hunting rendezvous.