Basil Balian

Rocambole - Volume 3: Crusade Basil Balian

Publisher Marketing: This is the third and last volume of the Rocambole Saga. It starts while Rocambole is in India and entrusts his protege, Marmouset, to protect a boy whose father, Marquis de Maurevers, had mysteriously disappeared. This led Marmouset into a dangerous battle of wits with a ruthless and vengeful woman known as the Beautiful Gardener. Rocambole returned to France just in time to save Marmouset but soon after found himself involved in the Irish Rebellion in neighboring England. It started with trying to help a poor mother find her kidnapped son only to discover that the boy was an important symbol to the Irish rebels. Rocambole is imprisoned and sends for Marmouset, Vanda, and Milon to help him with his adventure. The last episode in Volume 3 finds Rocambole, Milon and Marmouset helping a young English lord who was cheated of his title and inheritance by a sinister younger brother. The brother had poisoned the young lord and sent him to Australia to be lost on that pioneering continent. A loyal servant spent years trying to find his exiled master and then he solicited Rocambole's help to correct the injustice. In August 1870, Ponson du Terrail, the author of the Rocambole series, died in Bordeaux at the age of 42. If he had lived another few decades, he and Rocambole would have seen a new century. Rocambole would most likely have continued his crusade and gradually surrendered his mission to his pupil Marmouset as he grew older. A plausible epilogue is added in this adaptation.