“Enough, gentlemen!” said Quelus. “Retire, M. d’Epernon! we will fight three against three. These gentlemen shall see if we are men to profit by a misfortune which we deplore as much as themselves. Come, gentlemen,” added the young man, throwing his hat behind him, and raising his left hand, while he whirled his sword with the right, “God is our judge if we are assassins!” “Ah! I hated you before,” cried Schomberg, “and now I execrate you!” “On your guard, gentlemen!” cried Antragues. “With doublets or without?” said Schomberg. “Without doublets, without shirts; our breasts bare, our hearts uncovered!” The young men threw off their doublets and shirts. “I have lost my dagger,” said Quelus; “it must have fallen on the road.” “Or else you left it at M. de Monsoreau’s, in the Place de la Bastile,” said Antragues. Quelus gave a cry of rage, and drew his sword. “But he has no dagger, M. Antragues,” cried Chicot, who had just arrived. “So much the worse for him; it is not my fault,” said Antragues. CHAPTER XCVI. THE COMBAT. The place where this terrible combat was to take place was sequestered and shaded by trees. It was generally frequented only by children, who came to play there during the day, or by drunkards or robbers, who made a sleeping-place of it by night. Chicot, his heart palpitating, although he was not of a very tender nature, seated himself before the lackeys and pages, on a wooden balustrade. He did not love the Angevins, and detested the minions, but they were all brave young men, and in their veins flowed a generous blood, which he was probably destined to see flow before long. D’Epernon made a last bravado, “What! you are all afraid of me?” he cried. “Hold your tongue,” said Antragues. “Come away, bravest of the brave,” said Chicot, “or else you will lose another pair of shoes.” “What do you mean?” “I mean that there will soon be blood on the ground, and that you will walk in it, as you did last night.” D’Epernon became deadly pale, and, moving away, he seated himself at some distance from Chicot. The combat began as five o’clock struck, and for a few minutes nothing was heard but the clashing of swords; not a blow was struck. At last Schomberg touched Ribeirac in the shoulder, and the blood gushed out; Schomberg tried to repeat the blow, but Ribeirac struck up his sword, and wounded him in the side. “Now let us rest a few seconds, if you like,” said Ribeirac. Quelus, having no dagger, was at a great disadvantage; for he was obliged to parry with his left arm, and, as it was bare, on each occasion it cost him a wound. His hand was soon bleeding in several places, and Antragues had also wounded him in the breast; but at each wound he repeated, “It is nothing.” Livarot and Maugiron were still unwounded. Ribeirac and Schomberg recommenced; the former was pierced through the breast, and Schomberg was wounded in the neck.