Page:The Vicomte de Bragelonne 2.djvu/465

Rh THE VICOMTE DE BRAGELONNE. 453 Porthos drew himself up proudly: "Did not I tell you who?" "No." "Do you not suspect?" "No; all that I can say is that he is a man who has studied all the systems and who appears to me to have stopped at the best." "Hush!" said Porthos; "consider my modesty, my dear D'Artagnan." "In truth," replied the musketeer, "can it be you — who _oh— !" "Pray — my dear friend " "You, who have imagined, traced, and combined, between these bastions, these redans, these curtains, these half- moons, and are preparing that covered way?" "I beg you " "You who have built that lunette with its retiring angles and its salient angles." "My friend " "You who have given that inclination to the openings of your embrasures, by the means of which you so effectively protect the men who serve the guns." "Eh! mon Dieu ! yes." "Oh! Porthos, Porthos! I must bow down before you — I must admire you! But you have always concealed from us this superior genius. I hope, my dear friend, you will show me all this in detail?" "Nothing more easy. There is my plan." "Show it me." Porthos led D'Artagnan toward the stone which served him for a table, and upon which the plan was spread. At the foot of the plan was written, in the formidable writing of Porthos, writing of which we have already had occasion to speak: "Instead of making use of the square or rectangle, as has been done to this time, you will suppose your place in- closed in a regular hexagon, this polygon having the advan- tage of offering more angles than the quadrilateral one. Every side of your hexagon, of which you will determine the length in proportion to the dimensions taken upon the place, will be divided into two parts, and upon the middle point you will elevate a perpendicular toward the center of the polygon, which will equal in length the sixth part of the side. By the extremities of each side of the polygon you will trace two diagonals, which will cut the perpendicu- lar. These two rights will form the lines of the defense."