Arrived at the bank of the river the three men perceived that they were followed, turned around, and looking insolently at the Frenchmen, passed some jests from one to another. You have insulted a defenseless man. You have defouled the face of your king. Athos, pale as a ghost, repeated these words to the man, who, seeing the bodeful preparations that were making, put himself in an attitude of defense. Aramis, at this movement, drew his sword.
Steel is for gentlemen.
Porthos raised his terrible fist, which whistled through the air like a sling, and the portentous mass fell with a smothered crash on the insulter's skull and crushed it. The man fell like an ox beneath the poleaxe. His companions, horror-struck, could neither move nor cry out. Athos repeated D'Artagnan's words. The fellows looked at the body of their companion, swimming in blood, and then recovering voice and legs together, ran screaming off.