tomb?"

"Yes, my lord; and in five minutes you will no longer doubt
it."

At the same time Athos struck a violent blow upon the
plaster, which split, presenting a chink for the point of
the lever. Athos introduced the bar into this crack, and
soon large pieces of plaster yielded, rising up like rounded
slabs. Then the Comte de la Fere seized the stones and threw
them away with a force that hands so delicate as his might
not have been supposed capable of having.

"My lord," said Athos, "this is plainly the masonry of which
I told your honor."

"Yes; but I do not yet see the casks," said Monk.

"If I had a dagger," said Athos, looking round him, "you
should soon see them, monsieur. Unfortunately, I left mine
in your tent."

"I would willingly offer you mine," said Monk, "but the
blade is too thin for such work."

Athos appeared to look around him for a thing of some kind
that might serve as a substitute for the weapon he desired.
Monk did not lose one of the movements of his hands, or one
of the expressions of his eyes. "Why do you not ask the
fisherman for his cutlass?" said Monk; "he has a cutlass."