418 THE MAN IN THE IRON MASK. killed, where the poor sergeant has fallen, and should be at rest/ Monsieur de Bragelonne made this reply in such a tone that monseigneur answered him warmly, 'Vrai Dieu! young man, one would say that your mouth waters for death ; but, by the soul of Henri IV. ! I have promised your father to bring you back alive, and, please the Lord, I will keep my word/ Monsieur de Bragelonne colored, and replied, in a lower voice, ^Monseigneur, pardon me. I beseech you ; I have always had the desire to go to meet good opportuni- ties ; and it is so delightful to distinguish ourselves before our general, particularly when that general is Monsieur le Due de Beaufort/ "Monseigneur was a little softened by this ; and, turning to the officers who surrounded him, gave his different orders. The grenadiers of the two regiments got near enough to the ditches and the intrenchments to launch their grenades, which had but little effect. In the meanwhile. Monsieur d^Estrees, who commanded the fleet, having seen the at- tempt of the sergeant to approach the vessels, understood that he must act without orders, and opened his fire. Then the Arabs finding themselves seriously injured by the balls from the fleet, and beholding the destruction and the ruins of their bad walls, uttered the most fearful cries. Their horsemen descended the mountain at the gallop, bent over their saddles, and rushed full tilt upon the columns of in- fantry, which, crossing their pikes, stopped this mad as- sault. Eepulsed by the firm attitude of the battalion, the Arabs threw themselves with great fury toward the etat- major, which was not on its guard at that moment. "The danger was great; monseigneur drew his sword; his secretaries and people imitated him; the officers of the suite engaged in combat with the furious Arabs. It was then Monsieur de Bragelonne was able to satisfy the inclination he had manifested from the commencement of the action. He fought near the prince with the valor of a Koman, and killed three Arabs with his small sword. But it was evident that his bravery did not arise from one of those sentiments of pride natural to all who fight. It was impetuous, affected, forced even; he sought to intoxicate himself with the noise and carnage. He heated himself to such a de- gree that monseigneur called out to him to stop. He must have heard the voice of monseigneur, because we who were close to him heard it. He did not, however, stop, but con-
tinued his course toward the intrenchments. As Monsieur
