and kisses. Otherwise, his head was perfectly clear, and his body
refreshed; he was free from the slightest headache; on the
contrary, he felt a certain degree of lightness, a faculty for
absorbing the pure air, and enjoying the bright sunshine more
vividly than ever.
He went gayly up to the sailors, who rose as soon as they
perceived him; and the patron, accosting him, said, "The Signor
Sinbad has left his compliments for your excellency, and desires us
to express the regret he feels at not being able to take his leave
in person; but he trusts you will excuse him, as very important
business calls him to Malaga."
"So, then, Gaetano," said Franz, "this is, then, all reality;
there exists a man who has received me in this island, entertained
me right royally, and his departed while I was asleep?"
"He exists as certainly as that you may see his small yacht with
all her sails spread; and if you will use your glass, you will, in
all probability, recognize your host in the midst of his crew." So
saying, Gaetano pointed in a direction in which a small vessel was
making sail towards the southern point of Corsica. Franz adjusted
his telescope, and directed it towards the yacht. Gaetano was not
mistaken. At the stern the mysterious stranger was standing up
looking towards the shore, and holding a spy-glass in his hand. He
was attired as he had been on the previous evening, and waved his
pocket-handkerchief to his guest in token of adieu. Franz returned
the salute by shaking his handkerchief as an exchange of signals.
After a second, a slight cloud of smoke was seen at the stern of
the vessel, which rose gracefully as it expanded in the air, and
then Franz heard a slight report. "There, do you hear?" observed
Gaetano; "he is bidding you adieu." The young man took his carbine
and fired it in the air, but without any idea that the noise could
be heard at the distance which separated the yacht from the
shore.
"What are your excellency's orders?" inquired Gaetano.
"In the first place, light me a torch.""What are your excellency's orders?" inquired Gaetano.
"In the first place, light me a torch."
"Ah, yes, I understand," replied the patron, "to find the
entrance to the enchanted apartment. With much pleasure, your
excellency, if it would amuse you; and I will get you the torch you
ask for. But I too have had the idea you have, and two or three
times the same fancy has come over me; but I have always given it
up. Giovanni, light a torch," he added, "and give it to his
excellency."
Giovanni obeyed. Franz took the lamp, and entered the
subterranean grotto, followed by Gaetano. He recognized the place
where he had awaked by the bed of heather that was there; but it
was in vain that he carried his torch all round the exterior
surface of the grotto. He saw nothing, unless that, by traces of
smoke, others had before him attempted the same thing, and, like
him, in vain. Yet he did not leave a foot of this granite wall, as
impenetrable as futurity, without strict scrutiny; he did not see a
fissure without introducing the blade of his hunting sword into it,
or a projecting point on which he did not lean and press in the
hopes it would give way. All was vain; and he lost two hours in his
attempts, which were at last utterly useless. At the end of this
time he gave up his search, and Gaetano smiled.
When Franz appeared again on the shore, the yacht only seemed
like a small white speck on the horizon. He looked again through
his glass, but even then he could not distinguish anything. Gaetano
reminded him that he had come for the purpose of shooting goats,
which he had utterly forgotten. He took his fowling-piece, and
began to hunt over the island with the air of a man who is
fulfilling a duty, rather than enjoying a pleasure; and at the end
of a quarter of an hour he had killed a goat and two kids. These
animals, though wild and agile as chamois, were too much like
domestic goats, and Franz could not consider them as game.
Moreover, other ideas, much more enthralling, occupied his mind.Moreover, other ideas, much more enthralling, occupied his mind.
Since, the evening before, he had really been the hero of one of
the tales of the "Thousand and One Nights," and he was irresistibly
attracted towards the grotto. Then, in spite of the failure of his
first search, he began a second, after having told Gaetano to roast
one of the two kids. The second visit was a long one, and when he
returned the kid was roasted and the repast ready. Franz was
sitting on the spot where he was on the previous evening when his
mysterious host had invited him to supper; and he saw the little
yacht, now like a sea-gull on the wave, continuing her flight
towards Corsica. "Why," he remarked to Gaetano, "you told me that
Signor Sinbad was going to Malaga, while it seems he is in the
direction of Porto-Vecchio."
"Don't you remember," said the patron, "I told you that among
the crew there were two Corsican brigands?"
"True; and he is going to land them," added Franz.
"Precisely so," replied Gaetano. "Ah, he is one who fears
neither God nor Satan, they say, and would at any time run fifty
leagues out of his course to do a poor devil a service."
"But such services as these might involve him with the
authorities of the country in which he practices this kind of
philanthropy," said Franz.
"And what cares he for that," replied Gaetano with a laugh, "or
any authorities? He smiles at them. Let them try to pursue him!
Why, in the first place, his yacht is not a ship, but a bird, and
he would beat any frigate three knots in every nine; and if he were
to throw himself on the coast, why, is he not certain of finding
friends everywhere?"
It was perfectly clear that the Signor Sinbad, Franz's host, had
the honor of being on excellent terms with the smugglers and
bandits along the whole coast of the Mediterranean, and so enjoyed
exceptional privileges. As to Franz, he had no longer any
inducement to remain at Monte Cristo. He had lost all hope of
detecting the secret of the grotto; he consequently despatched his