Chapter 21 The Island of Tiboulen
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DANTจจS, although stunned and almost
suffocated, had sufficient presence of mind to hold his breath, and as his
right hand (prepared as he was for every chance) held his knife open, he
rapidly ripped up the sack, extricated his arm, and then his body; but in
spite of all his efforts to free himself from the shot, he felt it
dragging him down still lower. He then bent his body, and by a desperate
effort severed the cord that bound his legs, at the moment when it seemed
as if he were actually strangled. With a mighty leap he rose to the
surface of the sea, while the shot dragged down to the depths the sack
that had so nearly become his shroud. Dantจจs waited only to get breath, and
then dived, in order to avoid being seen. When he arose a second time, he
was fifty paces from where he had first sunk. He saw overhead a black and
tempestuous sky, across which the wind was driving clouds that
occasionally suffered a twinkling star to appear; before him was the vast
expanse of waters, sombre and terrible, whose waves foamed and roared as
if before the approach of a storm. Behind him, blacker than the sea,
blacker than the sky, rose phantom-like the vast stone structure, whose
projecting crags seemed like arms extended to seize their prey, and on the
highest rock was a torch lighting two figures. He fancied that these two
forms were looking at the sea; doubtless these strange grave-diggers had
heard his cry. Dantจจs dived again, and remained a
long time beneath the water. This was an easy feat to him, for he usually
attracted a crowd of spectators in the bay before the lighthouse at
Marseilles when he swam there, and was unanimously declared to be the best
swimmer in the port. When he came up again the light had disappeared. He
must now get his bearings. Ratonneau and Pomจจgue are the nearest islands of all those that
surround the Chateau d'If, but Ratonneau and Pomจจgue are inhabited, as is also the islet of Daume,
Tiboulen and Lemaire were therefore the safest for Dantจจs' venture. The islands of
Tiboulen and Lemaire are a league from the Chateau d'If; Dantจจs, nevertheless, determined to
make for them. But how could he find his way in the darkness of the night?
At this moment he saw the light of Planier, gleaming in front of him like
a star. By leaving this light on the right, he kept the Island of Tiboulen
a little on the left; by turning to the left, therefore, he would find it.
But, as we have said, it was at least a league from the Chateau d'If to
this island. Often in prison Faria had said to him, when he saw him idle
and inactive, "Dantจจs, you must not give way to this
listlessness; you will be drowned if you seek to escape, and your strength
has not been properly exercised and prepared for exertion." These
words rang in Dantจจs'
ears, even beneath the waves; he hastened to cleave his way through them
to see if he had not lost his strength. He found with pleasure that his
captivity had taken away nothing of his power, and that he was still
master of that element on whose bosom he had so often sported as a boy. Fear,
that relentless pursuer, clogged Dantจจs' efforts. He listened for any sound that might be
audible, and every time that he rose to the top of a wave he scanned the
horizon, and strove to penetrate the darkness. He fancied that every wave
behind him was a pursuing boat, and he redoubled his exertions, increasing
rapidly his distance from the Chateau, but exhausting his strength. He
swam on still, and already the terrible Chateau had disappeared in the
darkness. He could not see it, but he felt its presence. An hour passed,
during which Dantจจs, excited by the feeling of
freedom, continued to cleave the waves. "Let
us see," said he, "I have swum above an hour, but as the wind is
against me, that has retarded my speed; however, if I am not mistaken, I
must be close to Tiboulen. But what if I were mistaken?" A
shudder passed over him. He sought to tread water, in order to rest
himself; but the sea was too violent, and he felt that he could not make
use of this means of recuperation. "Well,"
said he, "I will swim on until I am worn out, or the cramp seizes me,
and then I shall sink;" and he struck out with the energy of despair.
Suddenly
the sky seemed to him to become still darker and more dense, and heavy
clouds seemed to sweep down towards him; at the same time he felt a sharp
pain in his knee. He fancied for a moment that he had been shot, and
listened for the report; but he heard nothing. Then he put out his hand,
and encountered an obstacle and with another stroke knew that he had
gained the shore. Before
him rose a grotesque mass of rocks, that resembled nothing so much as a
vast fire petrified at the moment of its most fervent combustion. It was
the Island of Tiboulen. Dantจจs
rose, advanced a few steps, and, with a fervent prayer of gratitude,
stretched himself on the granite. which seemed to him softer than down.
Then, in spite of the wind and rain, he fell into the deep, sweet sleep of
utter exhaustion. At the expiration of an hour Edmond was awakened by the
roar of thunder. The tempest was let loose and beating the atmosphere with
its mighty wings; from time to time a flash of lightning stretched across
the heavens like a fiery serpent, lighting up the clouds that rolled on in
vast chaotic waves. Dantจจs had not been deceived--he had
reached the first of the two islands, which was, in fact, Tiboulen. He
knew that it was barren and without shelter; but when the sea became more
calm, he resolved to plunge into its waves again, and swim to Lemaire,
equally arid, but larger, and consequently better adapted for concealment.
An
overhanging rock offered him a temporary shelter, and scarcely had he
availed himself of it when the tempest burst forth in all its fury. Edmond
felt the trembling of the rock beneath which he lay; the waves, dashing
themselves against it, wetted him with their spray. He was safely
sheltered, and yet he felt dizzy in the midst of the warring of the
elements and the dazzling brightness of the lightning. It seemed to him
that the island trembled to its base, and that it would, like a vessel at
anchor, break moorings, and bear him off into the centre of the storm. He
then recollected that he had not eaten or drunk for four-and-twenty hours.
He extended his hands, and drank greedily of the rainwater that had lodged
in a hollow of the rock. As
he rose, a flash of lightning, that seemed to rive the remotest heights of
heaven, illumined the darkness. By its light, between the Island of
Lemaire and Cape Croiselle, a quarter of a league distant, Dantจจs saw a fishing-boat driven rapidly like a spectre
before the power of winds and waves. A second after, he saw it again,
approaching with frightful rapidity. Dantจจs cried at the top of his voice to warn them of
their danger, but they saw it themselves. Another flash showed him four
men clinging to the shattered mast and the rigging, while a fifth clung to
the broken rudder. The
men he beheld saw him undoubtedly, for their cries were carried to his
ears by the wind. Above the splintered mast a sail rent to tatters was
waving; suddenly the ropes that still held it gave way, and it disappeared
in the darkness of the night like a vast sea-bird. At the same moment a
violent crash was heard, and cries of distress. Dantจจs
from his rocky perch saw the shattered vessel, and among the fragments the
floating forms of the hapless sailors. Then all was dark again. Dantจจs ran down the rocks at the risk
of being himself dashed to pieces; he listened, he groped about, but he
heard and saw nothing--the cries had ceased, and the tempest continued to
rage. By degrees the wind abated, vast gray clouds rolled towards the
west, and the blue firmament appeared studded with bright stars. Soon a
red streak became visible in the horizon, the waves whitened, a light
played over them, and gilded their foaming crests with gold. It was day. Dantจจs stood mute and motionless
before this majestic spectacle, as if he now beheld it for the first time;
and indeed since his captivity in the Chateau d'If he had forgotten that
such scenes were ever to be witnessed. He turned towards the fortress, and
looked at both sea and land. The gloomy building rose from the bosom of
the ocean with imposing majesty and seemed to dominate the scene. It was
about five o'clock. The sea continued to get calmer. "In
two or three hours," thought Dantจจs, "the turnkey will enter my chamber, find the
body of my poor friend, recognize it, seek for me in vain, and give the
alarm. Then the tunnel will be discovered; the men who cast me into the
sea and who must have heard the cry I uttered, will be questioned. Then
boats filled with armed soldiers will pursue the wretched fugitive. The
cannon will warn every one to refuse shelter to a man wandering about
naked and famished. The police of Marseilles will be on the alert by land,
whilst the governor pursues me by sea. I am cold, I am hungry. I have lost
even the knife that saved me. O my God, I have suffered enough surely!
Have pity on me, and do for me what I am unable to do for myself." As
Dantจจs (his eyes turned in the
direction of the Chateau d'If) uttered this prayer, he saw off the farther
point of the Island of Pomจจgue
a small vessel with lateen sail skimming the sea like a gull in search of
prey; and with his sailor's eye he knew it to be a Genoese tartan. She was
coming out of Marseilles harbor, and was standing out to sea rapidly, her
sharp prow cleaving through the waves. "Oh," cried Edmond,
"to think that in half an hour I could join her, did I not fear being
questioned, detected, and conveyed back to Marseilles! What can I do? What
story can I invent? under pretext of trading along the coast, these men,
who are in reality smugglers, will prefer selling me to doing a good
action. I must wait. But I cannot ---I am starving. In a few hours my
strength will be utterly exhausted; besides, perhaps I have not been
missed at the fortress. I can pass as one of the sailors wrecked last
night. My story will be accepted, for there is no one left to contradict
me." As
he spoke, Dantจจs
looked toward the spot where the fishing-vessel had been wrecked, and
started. The red cap of one of the sailors hung to a point of the rock and
some timbers that had formed part of the vessel's keel, floated at the
foot of the crag. It an instant Dantจจs'
plan was formed. he swam to the cap, placed it on his head, seized one of
the timbers, and struck out so as to cut across the course the vessel was
taking. "I
am saved!" murmured he. And this conviction restored his strength. He
soon saw that the vessel, with the wind dead ahead, was tacking between
the Chateau d'If and the tower of Planier. For an instant he feared lest,
instead of keeping in shore, she should stand out to sea; but he soon saw
that she would pass, like most vessels bound for Italy, between the
islands of Jaros and Calaseraigne. However, the vessel and the swimmer
insensibly neared one another, and in one of its tacks the tartan bore
down within a quarter of a mile of him. He rose on the waves, making signs
of distress; but no one on board saw him, and the vessel stood on another
tack. Dantจจs would have shouted, but he knew
that the wind would drown his voice. It
was then he rejoiced at his precaution in taking the timber, for without
it he would have been unable, perhaps, to reach the vessel--certainly to
return to shore, should he be unsuccessful in attracting attention. Dantจจs, though almost sure as to what
course the vessel would take, had yet watched it anxiously until it tacked
and stood towards him. Then he advanced; but before they could meet, the
vessel again changed her course. By a violent effort he rose half out of
the water, waving his cap, and uttering a loud shout peculiar to sailers.
This time he was both seen and heard, and the tartan instantly steered
towards him. At the same time, he saw they were about to lower the boat. An
instant after, the boat, rowed by two men, advanced rapidly towards him.
Dantจจs let go of the timber, which he
now thought to be useless, and swam vigorously to meet them. But he had
reckoned too much upon his strength, and then he realized how serviceable
the timber had been to him. His arms became stiff, his legs lost their
flexibility, and he was almost breathless. He
shouted again. The two sailors redoubled their efforts, and one of them
cried in Italian, "Courage!" The
word reached his ear as a wave which he no longer had the strength to
surmount passed over his head. He rose again to the surface, struggled
with the last desperate effort of a drowning man, uttered a third cry, and
felt himself sinking, as if the fatal cannon shot were again tied to his
feet. The water passed over his head, and the sky turned gray. A
convulsive movement again brought him to the surface. He felt himself
seized by the hair, then he saw and heard nothing. He had fainted. When
he opened his eyes Dantจจs
found himself on the deck of the tartan. His first care was to see what
course they were taking. They were rapidly leaving the Chateau d'If
behind. Dantจจs was so exhausted that the
exclamation of joy he uttered was mistaken for a sigh. As
we have said, he was lying on the deck. A sailor was rubbing his limbs
with a woollen cloth; another, whom he recognized as the one who had cried
out "Courage!" held a gourd full of rum to his mouth; while the
third, an old sailer, at once the pilot and captain, looked on with that
egotistical pity men feel for a misfortune that they have escaped
yesterday, and which may overtake them to-morrow. A
few drops of the rum restored suspended animation, while the friction of
his limbs restored their elasticity. "Who
are you?" said the pilot in bad French. "I
am," replied Dantจจs,
in bad Italian, "a Maltese sailor. We were coming from Syracuse laden
with grain. The storm of last night overtook us at Cape Morgion, and we
were wrecked on these rocks." "Where
do you come from?" "From
these rocks that I had the good luck to cling to while our captain and the
rest of the crew were all lost. I saw your vessel, and fearful of being
left to perish on the desolate island, I swam off on a piece of wreckage
to try and intercept your course. You have saved my life, and I thank
you," continued Dantจจs.
"I was lost when one of your sailors caught hold of my hair." "It
was I," said a sailor of a frank and manly appearance; "and it
was time, for you were sinking." "Yes,"
returned Dantจจs,
holding out his hand, "I thank you again." "I
almost hesitated, though," replied the sailor; "you looked more
like a brigand than an honest man, with your beard six inches, and your
hair a foot long." Dantจจs
recollected that his hair and beard had not been cut all the time he was
at the Chateau d'If. "Yes,"
said he, "I made a vow, to our Lady of the Grotto not to cut my hair
or beard for ten years if I were saved in a moment of danger; but to-day
the vow expires." "Now
what are we to do with you?" said the captain. "Alas,
anything you please. My captain is dead; I have barely escaped; but I am a
good sailor. Leave me at the first port you make; I shall be sure to find
employment." "Do
you know the Mediterranean?" "I
have sailed over it since my childhood." "You
know the best harbors?" "There
are few ports that I could not enter or leave with a bandage over my
eyes." "I
say, captain," said the sailor who had cried "Courage!" to
Dantจจs, "if what he says is true,
what hinders his staying with us?" "If
he says true," said the captain doubtingly. "But in his present
condition he will promise anything, and take his chance of keeping it
afterwards." "I
will do more than I promise," said Dantจจs. "We
shall see," returned the other, smiling. "Where
are you going?" asked Dantจจs.
"To
Leghorn." "Then
why, instead of tacking so frequently, do you not sail nearer the
wind?" "Because
we should run straight on to the Island of Rion." "You
shall pass it by twenty fathoms." "Take
the helm, and let us see what you know." The young man took the helm,
felt to see if the vessel answered the rudder promptly and seeing that,
without being a first-rate sailer, she yet was tolerably obedient,-- "To
the sheets," said he. The four seamen, who composed the crew, obeyed,
while the pilot looked on. "Haul taut."--They obeyed. "Belay."
This order was also executed; and the vessel passed, as Dantจจs had predicted, twenty fathoms
to windward. "Bravo!"
said the captain. "Bravo!"
repeated the sailors. And they all looked with astonishment at this man
whose eye now disclosed an intelligence and his body a vigor they had not
thought him capable of showing. "You
see," said Dantจจs,
quitting the helm, "I shall be of some use to you, at least during
the voyage. If you do not want me at Leghorn, you can leave me there, and
I will pay you out of the first wages I get, for my food and the clothes
you lend me." "Ah,"
said the captain, "we can agree very well, if you are
reasonable." "Give
me what you give the others, and it will be all right," returned Dantจจs. "That's
not fair," said the seaman who had saved Dantจจs; "for you know more than
we do." "What
is that to you, Jacopo?" returned the Captain. "Every one is
free to ask what he pleases." "That's
true," replied Jacopo; "I only make a remark." "Well,
you would do much better to find him a jacket and a pair of trousers, if
you have them." "No,"
said Jacopo; "but I have a shirt and a pair of trousers." "That
is all I want," interrupted Dantจจs. Jacopo dived into the hold and soon returned with
what Edmond wanted. "Now,
then, do you wish for anything else?" said the patron. "A
piece of bread and another glass of the capital rum I tasted, for I have
not eaten or drunk for a long time." He had not tasted food for forty
hours. A piece of bread was brought, and Jacopo offered him the gourd. "Larboard
your helm," cried the captain to the steersman. Dantจจs glanced that way as he lifted
the gourd to his mouth; then paused with hand in mid-air. "Hollo!
what's the matter at the Chateau d'If?" said the captain. A
small white cloud, which had attracted Dantจจs' attention, crowned the summit of the bastion of
the Chateau d'If. At the same moment the faint report of a gun was heard.
The sailors looked at one another. "What
is this?" asked the captain. "A
prisoner has escaped from the Chateau d'If, and they are firing the alarm
gun," replied Dantจจs.
The captain glanced at him, but he had lifted the rum to his lips and was
drinking it with so much composure, that suspicions, if the captain had
any, died away. "At
any rate," murmured he, "if it be, so much the better, for I
have made a rare acquisition." Under pretence of being fatigued, Dantจจs asked to take the helm; the
steersman, glad to be relieved, looked at the captain, and the latter by a
sign indicated that he might abandon it to his new comrade. Dantจจs could thus keep his eyes on
Marseilles. "What
is the day of the month?" asked he of Jacopo, who sat down beside
him. "The
28th of February." "In
what year?" "In
what year--you ask me in what year?" "Yes,"
replied the young man, "I ask you in what year!" "You
have forgotten then?" "I
got such a fright last night," replied Dantจจs, smiling, "that I have almost lost my memory.
I ask you what year is it?" "The
year 1829," returned Jacopo. It was fourteen years day for day since
Dantจจs' arrest. He was nineteen when
he entered the Chateau d'If; he was thirty-three when he escaped. A
sorrowful smile passed over his face; he asked himself what had become of
Mercจฆdจจs, who must believe him dead. Then his eyes lighted
up with hatred as he thought of the three men who had caused him so long
and wretched a captivity. He renewed against Danglars, Fernand, and
Villefort the oath of implacable vengeance he had made in his dungeon.
This oath was no longer a vain menace; for the fastest sailer in the
Mediterranean would have been unable to overtake the little tartan, that
with every stitch of canvas set was flying before the wind to Leghorn. |
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