THE MAN IN THE IRON MASK. 441 he who has founded cannon and cut the woods of Bourgogne. And then. Monsieur TAmbassadeur, you may not believe what I am going to tell you, but I have a further idea/' '^Oh, monsieur!^' said Aramis civilly, ^*I always believe you/' '^Figure to yourself, that calculating upon the character of the Dutch, our allies, I said to myself, 'They are mer- chants, they are friends with the king; they will be happy to sell to the king what they fabricate for themselves; then the more we buy — ' Ah! I must add this: I have Forant — do you know Forant, D'Artagnan?" Colbert, in his warmth, forgot himself; he called the cap- tain simply D'Artagnan, as the king did. But the captain only smiled at it. No, replied he; "I don't know him." "That is another man I have discovered, with a genius for buying. This Forant has purchased for me three hun- dred and fifty thousand pounds of iron in balls, two hun- dred thousand pounds of powder, twelve cargoes of northern timber, matches, grenades, pitch, tar — I know not what, with a saving of seven per cent, upon what all those articles would cost me fabricated in France." "That is a good idea," replied D'Artagnan, "to have Dutch balls founded, which will return to the Dutch." "Is it not with loss, too?" And Colbert laughed aloud. He was delighted with his own joke. "Still further," added he, "these same Dutch are build- ing for the king, at this moment, six vessels after the model of the best of their marine. Destouches — Ah! perhaps you don't know Destouches?" "No, monsieur." "He is a man who has a glance singularly sure to discern, when a ship is launched, what are the defects and qualities of that ship — that is valuable, please to observe. Nature is truly whimsical. Well, this Destouches appeared to me to be a man likely to be useful in a port, and he is superin- tending the constrution of six vessels of seventy-eight, which the provinces are building for his majesty. It results from all this, my dear Monsieur d'Artagnan, that the king, if he wished to quarrel with the provinces, would have a very pretty fleet. Now, you know better than anybody 'else if the land army is good." D'Artagnan and Aramis looked at each other, wondering
at the mysterious labors this man had effected in a few
