D'Artagnan, the King Maker — page 226: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

Porthos Fares Badly. 213 bustled about, but they were very base-looking indeed. They were the dwellers in the ghetto of Lisbon, outcasts, seething with a dull hope that their condition might be changed. Or, at the worst, during the conflict expected, in spite of the defection of the garrison, they might plun- der and revenge. ‘This is the beggars’ quarter,” thought Porthos; ‘‘var- lets out of collar, menials who have turned their coats, ship-kennels, whose musty courtier-masters have returned to Madrid. lf only I could espy a gentleman’s valet who might have crossed the mountains with his lord and picked up a few phrases of Christian talk! a fine thing! a gentleman of landed value of a hundred thousand a year, astray in a dirty suburb, for want of knowing Por- tuguese! a mongrel jargon with which I would not ad- dress my pack of hounds! D’Artagnan might as well vouch for my learning Arabic off yonder titles which, he assures me, have the text of the Mahound Bible!’ All was useless; the smooth walls were only pierced with airholes through which no curious eye glittered; the windows above were grated and too high to reach, unless one within let down ‘a friendly rope-ladder; the roofs, in red clay, had not a cat straying on them. Decidedly, ‘he was lost. The thought of Madame du Vallon probably prevented his praying for an Ariadne. But it seemed to be Theseus who came to his relief. A young gentleman appeared, more material than fop- pish, although he was elegant. He was bronzed; had a short chin beard and black hair, cropped and chafed as by a helmet lining. His boots were very fine, with golden spurs with rowels like barbers’ basins; in his broad, flapping beaver were costly black and yellow plumes, clasped with a brooch chiseled so as to outvalue gold, flashing a Brazilian diamond of size. The length of his rapier forebade envy looking too long on this gem, for the wearer looked capable of defending it.. He glided out of a small door in the thick wall around large gardens; old trees towered over, and the parapet was spiked and liberally strewn with potsherds. On this site, though the alien was ignorant, King Al- fonso I. had defeated the Moors. If the walls and the Gomichdookssco