any?"
"I made myself some; and with the exception of a file, I have
all that are necessary, — a chisel, pincers, and lever."
"Oh, how I should like to see these products of your industry
and patience."
"Well, in the first place, here is my chisel." So saying, he
displayed a sharp strong blade, with a handle made of
beechwood.
"And with what did you contrive to make that?" inquired
Dantes.
"With one of the clamps of my bedstead; and this very tool has
sufficed me to hollow out the road by which I came hither, a
distance of about fifty feet."
"Fifty feet!" responded Dantes, almost terrified.
"Do not speak so loud, young man — don't speak so loud. It
frequently occurs in a state prison like this, that persons are
stationed outside the doors of the cells purposely to overhear the
conversation of the prisoners."
"But they believe I am shut up alone here."
"That makes no difference."
"And you say that you dug your way a distance of fifty feet to
get here?"
"I do; that is about the distance that separates your chamber
from mine; only, unfortunately, I did not curve aright; for want of
the necessary geometrical instruments to calculate my scale of
proportion, instead of taking an ellipsis of forty feet, I made it
fifty. I expected, as I told you, to reach the outer wall, pierce
through it, and throw myself into the sea; I have, however, kept
along the corridor on which your chamber opens, instead of going
beneath it. My labor is all in vain, for I find that the corridor
looks into a courtyard filled with soldiers."
"That's true," said Dantes; "but the corridor you speak of only
bounds one side of my cell; there are three others — do you know
anything of their situation?"
"This one is built against the solid rock, and it would take ten
experienced miners, duly furnished with the requisite tools, as
many years to perforate it. This adjoins the lower part of the
governor's apartments, and were we to work our way through, we
should only get into some lock-up cellars, where we mustshould only get into some lock-up cellars, where we must
necessarily be recaptured. The fourth and last side of your cell
faces on — faces on — stop a minute, now where does it face?"
The wall of which he spoke was the one in which was fixed the
loophole by which light was admitted to the chamber. This loophole,
which gradually diminished in size as it approached the outside, to
an opening through which a child could not have passed, was, for
better security, furnished with three iron bars, so as to quiet all
apprehensions even in the mind of the most suspicious jailer as to
the possibility of a prisoner's escape. As the stranger asked the
question, he dragged the table beneath the window.
"Climb up," said he to Dantes. The young man obeyed, mounted on
the table, and, divining the wishes of his companion, placed his
back securely against the wall and held out both hands. The
stranger, whom as yet Dantes knew only by the number of his cell,
sprang up with an agility by no means to be expected in a person of
his years, and, light and steady on his feet as a cat or a lizard,
climbed from the table to the outstretched hands of Dantes, and
from them to his shoulders; then, bending double, for the ceiling
of the dungeon prevented him from holding himself erect, he managed
to slip his head between the upper bars of the window, so as to be
able to command a perfect view from top to bottom.
An instant afterwards he hastily drew back his head, saying, "I
thought so!" and sliding from the shoulders of Dantes as dextrously
as he had ascended, he nimbly leaped from the table to the
ground.
"What was it that you thought?" asked the young man anxiously,
in his turn descending from the table.
The elder prisoner pondered the matter. "Yes," said he at
length, "it is so. This side of your chamber looks out upon a kind
of open gallery, where patrols are continually passing, and
sentries keep watch day and night."
"Are you quite sure of that?"
"Certain. I saw the soldier's shape and the top of his musket;"Are you quite sure of that?"
"Certain. I saw the soldier's shape and the top of his musket;
that made me draw in my head so quickly, for I was fearful he might
also see me."
"Well?" inquired Dantes.
"You perceive then the utter impossibility of escaping through
your dungeon?"
"Then," pursued the young man eagerly —
"Then," answered the elder prisoner, "the will of God be done!"
and as the old man slowly pronounced those words, an air of
profound resignation spread itself over his careworn countenance.
Dantes gazed on the man who could thus philosophically resign hopes
so long and ardently nourished with an astonishment mingled with
admiration.
"Tell me, I entreat of you, who and what you are?" said he at
length; "never have I met with so remarkable a person as
yourself."
"Willingly," answered the stranger; "if, indeed, you feel any
curiosity respecting one, now, alas, powerless to aid you in any
way."
"Say not so; you can console and support me by the strength of
your own powerful mind. Pray let me know who you really are?"
The stranger smiled a melancholy smile. "Then listen," said he.
"I am the Abbe Faria, and have been imprisoned as you know in this
Chateau d'If since the year 1811; previously to which I had been
confined for three years in the fortress of Fenestrelle. In the
year 1811 I was transferred to Piedmont in France. It was at this
period I learned that the destiny which seemed subservient to every
wish formed by Napoleon, had bestowed on him a son, named king of
Rome even in his cradle. I was very far then from expecting the
change you have just informed me of; namely, that four years
afterwards, this colossus of power would be overthrown. Then who
reigns in France at this moment — Napoleon II.?"
"No, Louis XVIII."
"The brother of Louis XVII.! How inscrutable are the ways of
providence — for what great and mysterious purpose has it pleased
heaven to abase the man once so elevated, and raise up him who was
so abased?"
Dantes' whole attention was riveted on a man who could thus