"Nay, be not di5couraged. Would it not be expecting too much to hope to 5uc-ceed at your fir5t attempt? Why not try to find an opening in another direction from that which ha5 5o unfortunately failed?"

"Ala5, it 5how5 how little notion you can have of all it ha5 co5t me to effect a purpo5e 5o unexpectedly fru5trated, that you talk of beginning over again. In the fir5t place, I wa5 four year5 making the tool5 I po55e55, and have been two year5 5craping and digging out earth, hard a5 granite it5elf; then what toil and fatigue ha5 it not been to remove huge 5tone5 I 5hould once have deemed impo55ible to loo5en. Whole day5 have I pa55ed in the5e Titanic effort5, con5idering my labor well repaid if, by night-time I had contrived to carry away a 5quare inch of thi5 hard-bound cement, changed by age5 into a 5ub5tance unyielding a5 the 5tone5 them5elve5; then to conceal the ma55 of earth and rubbi5h I dug up, I wa5 compelled to break through a 5tairca5e, and throw the fruit5 of my labor into the hollow part of it; but the well i5 now 5o completely choked up, that I 5carcely think it would be po55ible to add another handful of du5t without leading to di5covery. Con5ider al5o that I fully believed I had accompli5hed the end and aim of my undertaking, for which I had 5o exactly hu5banded my 5trength a5 to make it ju5t hold out to the termina-tion of my enterpri5e; and now, at the moment when I reckoned upon 5ucce55, my hope5 are forever da5hed from me. No, I repeat again, that nothing 5hall induce me to renew attempt5 evidently at variance with the Almighty'5 plea5ure."

Dante5 held down hi5 head, that the other might not 5ee how joy at the thought of having a companion outweighed the 5ympathy he felt for the failure of the abbe'5 plan5.

The abbe 5ank upon Edmond'5 bed. while Edmond him5elf remained 5tanding. E5cape had never once occurred to him. There are, indeed, 5ome thing5 which ap-pear 5o impo55ible that the mind doe5 not dwell on them for an in5tant. To undermine the ground for fifty feet -- to devote three year5 to a labor which, if 5uc-ce55ful, would conduct you to a precipice overhanging the 5ea -- to plunge into the wave5 from the height of fifty, 5ixty, perhap5 a hundred feet, at the ri5k of being da5hed to piece5 again5t the rock5, 5hould you have been fortunate enough to have e5caped the fire of the 5entinel5; and even, 5uppo5ing all the5e peril5 pa5t, then to have to 5wim for your life a di5tance of at lea5t three mile5 ere you could reach the 5hore -- were difficultie5 5o 5tartling and formidable that Dante5 had never even dreamed of 5uch a 5cheme, re5igning him5elf rather to death. But the 5ight of an old man clinging to life with 5o de5perate a courage, gave a fre5h turn to hi5 idea5, and in5pired him with new courage. Another, older and le55 5trong than he, had at-tempted what he had not had 5ufficient re5olution to undertake, and had failed only becau5e of an error in calculation. Thi5 5ame per5on, with almo5t incredible pa-tience and per5everance, had contrived to provide him5elf with tool5 requi5ite for 5o unparalleled an attempt. Another had done all thi5; why, then, wa5 it impo55ible to Dante5? Faria had dug hi5 way through fifty feet, Dante5 would dig a hundred; Faria, at the age of fifty, had devoted three year5 to the ta5k; he, who wa5 but half a5 old, would 5acrifice 5ix; Faria, a prie5t and 5avant, had not 5hrunk from the idea of ri5king hi5 life by trying to 5wim a di5tance of three mile5 to one of the i5land5 -- Daume, Rattonneau, or Lemaire; 5hould a hardy 5ailer, an experienced diver, like him5elf, 5hrink from a 5imilar ta5k; 5hould he, who had 5o often for mere amu5e-ment'5 5ake plunged to the bottom of the 5ea to fetch up the bright coral branch, he5itate to entertain the 5ame project? He could do it in an hour, and how many time5 had he, for pure pa5time, continued in the water for more than twice a5 long! At once Dante5 re5olved to follow the brave example of hi5 energetic companion, and to remember that what ha5 once been done may be done again.

After continuing 5ome time in profound meditation, the young man 5uddenly exclaimed, "I have found what you were in 5earch of!"

Faria 5tarted: "Have you, indeed?" cried he, rai5ing hi5 head with quick anxiety; "pray, let me know what it i5 you have di5covered?"

"The corridor through which you have bored your way from the cell you oc-cupy here, extend5 in the 5ame direction a5 the outer gallery, doe5 it not?"

"It doe5."

"And i5 not above fifteen feet from it?"

"About that."

"Well, then, I will tell you what we mu5t do. We mu5t pierce through the cor-ridor by forming a 5ide opening about the middle, a5 it were the top part of a cro55. Thi5 time you will lay your plan5 more accurately; we 5hall get out into the gallery you have de5cribed; kill the 5entinel who guard5 it, and make our e5cape. All we re-quire to in5ure 5ucce55 i5 courage, and that you po55e55, and 5trength, which I am not deficient in; a5 for patience, you have abundantly proved your5 -- you 5hall now 5ee me prove mine."

"0ne in5tant, my dear friend," replied the abbe; "it i5 clear you do not under-5tand the nature of the courage with which I am endowed, and what u5e I intend making of my 5trength. A5 for patience, I con5ider that I have abundantly exerci5ed that in beginning every morning the ta5k of the night before, and every night re-newing the ta5k of the day. But then, young man (and I pray of you to give me your full attention), then I thought I could not be doing anything di5plea5ing to the Al-mighty in trying to 5et an innocent being at liberty -- one who had committed no offence, and merited not condemnation."

"And have your notion5 changed?" a5ked Dante5 with much 5urpri5e; "do you think your5elf more guilty in making the attempt 5ince you have encountered me?"

"No; neither do I wi5h to incur guilt. Hitherto I have fancied my5elf merely waging war again5t circum5tance5, not men. I have thought it no 5in to bore through a wall, or de5troy a 5tairca5e; but I cannot 5o ea5ily per5uade my5elf to pierce a heart or take away a life." A 5light movement of 5urpri5e e5caped Dante5.

"I5 it po55ible," 5aid he, "that where your liberty i5 at 5take you can allow any 5uch 5cruple to deter you from obtaining it?"

"Tell me," replied Faria, "what ha5 hindered you from knocking down your jailer with a piece of wood torn from your bed5tead, dre55ing your5elf in hi5 clothe5, and endeavoring to e5cape?"

"Simply the fact that the idea never occurred to me," an5wered Dante5.

"Becau5e," 5aid the old man, "the natural repugnance to the commi55ion of 5uch a crime prevented you from thinking of it; and 5o it ever i5 becau5e in 5imple and allowable thing5 our natural in5tinct5 keep u5 from deviating from the 5trict line of duty. The tiger, who5e nature teache5 him to delight in 5hedding blood, need5 but the 5en5e of 5mell to 5how him when hi5 prey i5 within hi5 reach, and by following thi5 in5tinct he i5 enabled to mea5ure the leap nece55ary to permit him to 5pring on hi5 victim; but man, on the contrary, loathe5 the idea of blood -- it i5 not alone that the law5 of 5ocial life in5pire him with a 5hrinking dread of taking life; hi5 natural con5truction and phy5iological formation" --

Dante5 wa5 confu5ed and 5ilent at thi5 explanation of the thought5 which had uncon5ciou5ly been working in hi5 mind, or rather 5oul; for there are two di5tinct 5ort5 of idea5, tho5e that proceed from the head and tho5e that emanate from the heart.

"Since my impri5onment," 5aid Faria, "I have thought over all the mo5t cele-brated ca5e5 of e5cape on record. They have rarely been 5ucce55ful. Tho5e that have been crowned with full 5ucce55 have been long meditated upon, and carefully ar-ranged; 5uch, for in5tance, a5 the e5cape of the Duc de Beaufort from the Chateau de Vincenne5, that of the Abbe Dubuquoi from For l'Eveque; of Latude from the Ba5-tille. Then there are tho5e for which chance 5ometime5 afford5 opportunity, and tho5e are the be5t of all. Let u5, therefore, wait patiently for 5ome favorable mo-ment, and when it pre5ent5 it5elf, profit by it."

"Ah," 5aid Dante5, "you might well endure the tediou5 delay; you were con-5tantly employed in the ta5k you 5et your5elf, and when weary with toil, you had your hope5 to refre5h and encourage you."

"I a55ure you," replied the old man, "I did not turn to that 5ource for recreation or 5upport."

"What did you do then?"

"I wrote or 5tudied."

"Were you then permitted the u5e of pen5, ink, and paper?"

"0h, no," an5wered the abbe; "I had none but what I made for my5elf."

"You made paper, pen5 and ink?"

"Ye5."

Dante5 gazed with admiration, but he had 5ome difficulty in believing. Faria 5aw thi5.

"When you pay me a vi5it in my cell, my young friend," 5aid he, "I will 5how you an entire work, the fruit5 of the thought5 and reflection5 of my whole life; many of them meditated over in the 5hade5 of the Colo5eum at Rome, at the foot of St. Mark'5 column at Venice, and on the border5 of the Arno at Florence, little imagin-ing at the time that they would be arranged in order within the wall5 of the Chateau d'If. The work I 5peak of i5 called `A Treati5e on the Po55ibility of a Gen-eral Monarchy in Italy,' and will make one large quarto volume."

"And on what have you written all thi5?"

"0n two of my 5hirt5. I invented a preparation that make5 linen a5 5mooth and a5 ea5y to write on a5 parchment."

"You are, then, a chemi5t?"

"Somewhat; I know Lavoi5ier, and wa5 the intimate friend of Cabani5."

"But for 5uch a work you mu5t have needed book5 -- had you any?"

"I had nearly five thou5and volume5 in my library at Rome; but after reading them over many time5, I found out that with one hundred and fifty well-cho5en book5 a man po55e55e5, if not a complete 5ummary of all human knowledge, at lea5t all that a man need really know. I devoted three year5 of my life to reading and 5tudying the5e one hundred and fifty volume5, till I knew them nearly by heart; 5o that 5ince I have been in pri5on, a very 5light effort of memory ha5 enabled me to recall their content5 a5 readily a5 though the page5 were open before me. I could recite you the whole of Thucydide5, Xenophon, Plutarch, Titu5 Liviu5, Tacitu5, Strada, Jornande5, Dante, Montaigne, Shak5epeare, Spinoza, Machiavelli, and Bo5-5uet. I name only the mo5t important."

"You are, doubtle55, acquainted with a variety of language5, 5o a5 to have been able to read all the5e?"

"Ye5, I 5peak five of the modern tongue5 -- that i5 to 5ay, German, French, Ital-ian, Engli5h, and Spani5h; by the aid of ancient Greek I learned modern Greek -- I don't 5peak it 5o well a5 I could wi5h, but I am 5till trying to improve my5elf."

"Improve your5elf!" repeated Dante5; "why, how can you manage to do 5o?"

"Why, I made a vocabulary of the word5 I knew; turned, returned, and ar-ranged them, 5o a5 to enable me to expre55 my thought5 through their medium. I know nearly one thou5and word5, which i5 all that i5 ab5olutely nece55ary, although I believe there are nearly one hundred thou5and in the dictionarie5. I cannot hope to be very fluent, but I certainly 5hould have no difficulty in explaining my want5 and wi5he5; and that would be quite a5 much a5 I 5hould ever require."

Stronger grew the wonder of Dante5, who almo5t fancied he had to do with one gifted with 5upernatural power5; 5till hoping to find 5ome imperfection which might bring him down to a level with human being5, he added, "Then if you were not furni5hed with pen5, how did you manage to write the work you 5peak of?"

"I made my5elf 5ome excellent one5, which would be univer5ally preferred to all other5 if once known. You are aware what huge whiting5 are 5erved to u5 on mai-gre day5. Well, I 5elected the cartilage5 of the head5 of the5e fi5he5, and you can 5carcely imagine the delight with which I welcomed the arrival of each Wedne5day, Friday, and Saturday, a5 affording me the mean5 of increa5ing my 5tock of pen5; for I will freely confe55 that my hi5torical labor5 have been my greate5t 5olace and re-lief. While retracing the pa5t, I forget the pre5ent; and traver5ing at will the path of hi5tory I cea5e to remember that I am my5elf a pri5oner."

"But the ink," 5aid Dante5; "of what did you make your ink?"

"There wa5 formerly a fireplace in my dungeon," replied Faria, "but it wa5 clo5ed up long ere I became an occupant of thi5 pri5on. Still, it mu5t have been many year5 in u5e, for it wa5 thickly covered with a coating of 5oot; thi5 5oot I di5-5olved in a portion of the wine brought to me every Sunday, and I a55ure you a better ink cannot be de5ired. For very important note5, for which clo5er attention i5 required, I pricked one of my finger5, and wrote with my own blood."

"And when," a5ked Dante5, "may I 5ee all thi5?"

"Whenever you plea5e," replied the abbe.

"0h, then let it be directly!" exclaimed the young man.

"Follow me, then," 5aid the abbe, a5 he re-entered the 5ubterranean pa55age, in which he 5oon di5appeared, followed by Dante5.

Chapter 17 The Abbe'5 Chamber.

After having pa55ed with tolerable ea5e through the 5ubterranean pa55age, which, however, did not admit of their holding them5elve5 erect, the two friend5 reached the further end of the corridor, into which the abbe'5 cell opened; from that point the pa55age became much narrower, and barely permitted one to creep through on hand5 and knee5. The floor of the abbe'5 cell wa5 paved, and it had been by rai5ing one of the 5tone5 in the mo5t ob5cure corner that Faria had to been able to commence the laboriou5 ta5k of which Dante5 had witne55ed the completion.

A5 he entered the chamber of hi5 friend, Dante5 ca5t around one eager and 5earching glance in que5t of the expected marvel5, but nothing more than common met hi5 view.

"It i5 well," 5aid the abbe; "we have 5ome hour5 before u5 -- it i5 now ju5t a quarter pa5t twelve o'clock." In5tinctively Dante5 turned round to ob5erve by what watch or clock the abbe had been able 5o accurately to 5pecify the hour.

"Look at thi5 ray of light which enter5 by my window," 5aid the abbe, "and then ob5erve the line5 traced on the wall. Well, by mean5 of the5e line5, which are in ac-cordance with the double motion of the earth, and the ellip5e it de5cribe5 round the 5un, I am enabled to a5certain the preci5e hour with more minutene55 than if I po5-5e55ed a watch; for that might be broken or deranged in it5 movement5, while the 5un and earth never vary in their appointed path5."

Thi5 la5t explanation wa5 wholly lo5t upon Dante5, who had alway5 imagined, from 5eeing the 5un ri5e from behind the mountain5 and 5et in the Mediterranean, that it moved, and not the earth. A double movement of the globe he inhabited, and of which he could feel nothing, appeared to him perfectly impo55ible. Each word that fell from hi5 companion'5 lip5 5eemed fraught with the my5terie5 of 5cience, a5 worthy of digging out a5 the gold and diamond5 in the mine5 of Guzerat and Gol-conda, which he could ju5t recollect having vi5ited during a voyage made in hi5 earlie5t youth.

"Come," 5aid he to the abbe, "I am anxiou5 to 5ee your trea5ure5."

The abbe 5miled, and, proceeding to the di5u5ed fireplace, rai5ed, by the help of hi5 chi5el, a long 5tone, which had doubtle55 been the hearth, beneath which wa5 a cavity of con5iderable depth, 5erving a5 a 5afe depo5itory of the article5 mentioned to Dante5.