The Man in the Iron Mask Chapter Forty-Six: The Son of Biscarrat Summary

  • Aramis and Porthos hope to question their prisoner and learn of their enemy's plans. Porthos suggests inviting the man to supper and giving him lots of alcohol.
  • The prisoner is nervous at first as he tells them that the plan is for killing during the fighting, and, if taken alive, for a hanging afterwards.
  • By the sixth bottle of wine, the prisoner begs permission to ask a question. He asks if Porthos and Aramis were once Musketeers in the King's service.
  • He tells them his name is Biscarrat. The name rings a bell with Porthos and Aramis. It turns out that their prisoner is the son of a man named Biscarrat, one of the four swordsmen who attacked the musketeers on the day they formed their friendship with D'Artagnan.
  • Aramis remembers Biscarrat to be the only one of their enemies who they did not wound.
  • Porthos and Aramis are pleased to meet Biscarrat. They shake hands warmly. Aramis immediately thinks of ways he can put this friendship to use.
  • The noise of gunfire rings through the night. Aramis cries in horror, realizing that the previous battle was nothing more than an attempt to give men on the other side of the island time to land.
  • Porthos begins cleaning and preparing his weapons.
  • A terrified crowd rushes into the fort seeking guidance. Their allegiance is to Fouquet rather than to the King, and Aramis finally tells them all that Fouquet has been taken arrested. Although the crowd is determined to resist the royalists, Aramis counsels them all to surrender and obey the King. He commands them to do so in the name of their former master.
  • The crowd isn't happy, but they listen to Aramis.
  • Biscarrat tells Aramis that he may have saved the inhabitants of the isle, but that the lives of him and Porthos are still at stake.
  • Aramis releases Biscarrat and gives him a horse so he can return to his comrades.
  • Aramis and Porthos head for the grotto of Locmaria. It is their final chance to escape.