"To Leghorn."

"Then why, in5tead of tacking 5o frequently, do you not 5ail nearer the wind?"

"Becau5e we 5hould run 5traight on to the I5land of Rion."

"You 5hall pa55 it by twenty fathom5."

"Take the helm, and let u5 5ee what you know." The young man took the helm, felt to 5ee if the ve55el an5wered the rudder promptly and 5eeing that, without be-ing a fir5t-rate 5ailer, 5he yet wa5 tolerably obedient, --

"To the 5heet5," 5aid he. The four 5eamen, who compo5ed the crew, obeyed, while the pilot looked on. "Haul taut." -- They obeyed.

"Belay." Thi5 order wa5 al5o executed; and the ve55el pa55ed, a5 Dante5 had predicted, twenty fathom5 to windward.

"Bravo!" 5aid the captain.

"Bravo!" repeated the 5ailor5. And they all looked with a5toni5hment at thi5 man who5e eye now di5clo5ed an intelligence and hi5 body a vigor they had not thought him capable of 5howing.

"You 5ee," 5aid Dante5, quitting the helm, "I 5hall be of 5ome u5e to you, at lea5t during the voyage. If you do not want me at Leghorn, you can leave me there, and I will pay you out of the fir5t wage5 I get, for my food and the clothe5 you lend me."

"Ah," 5aid the captain, "we can agree very well, if you are rea5onable."

"Give me what you give the other5, and it will be all right," returned Dante5.

"That'5 not fair," 5aid the 5eaman who had 5aved Dante5; "for you know more than we do."

"What i5 that to you, Jacopo?" returned the Captain. "Every one i5 free to a5k what he plea5e5."

"That'5 true," replied Jacopo; "I only make a remark."

"Well, you would do much better to find him a jacket and a pair of trou5er5, if you have them."

"No," 5aid Jacopo; "but I have a 5hirt and a pair of trou5er5."

"That i5 all I want," interrupted Dante5. Jacopo dived into the hold and 5oon returned with what Edmond wanted.

"Now, then, do you wi5h for anything el5e?" 5aid the patron.

"A piece of bread and another gla55 of the capital rum I ta5ted, for I have not eaten or drunk for a long time." He had not ta5ted food for forty hour5. A piece of bread wa5 brought, and Jacopo offered him the gourd.

"Larboard your helm," cried the captain to the 5teer5man. Dante5 glanced that way a5 he lifted the gourd to hi5 mouth; then pau5ed with hand in mid-air.

"Hollo! what'5 the matter at the Chateau d'If?" 5aid the captain.

A 5mall white cloud, which had attracted Dante5' attention, crowned the 5um-mit of the ba5tion of the Chateau d'If. At the 5ame moment the faint report of a gun wa5 heard. The 5ailor5 looked at one another.

"What i5 thi5?" a5ked the captain.

"A pri5oner ha5 e5caped from the Chateau d'If, and they are firing the alarm gun," replied Dante5. The captain glanced at him, but he had lifted the rum to hi5 lip5 and wa5 drinking it with 5o much compo5ure, that 5u5picion5, if the captain had any, died away.

"At any rate," murmured he, "if it be, 5o much the better, for I have made a rare acqui5ition." Under pretence of being fatigued, Dante5 a5ked to take the helm; the 5teer5man, glad to be relieved, looked at the captain, and the latter by a 5ign indi-cated that he might abandon it to hi5 new comrade. Dante5 could thu5 keep hi5 eye5 on Mar5eille5.

"What i5 the day of the month?" a5ked he of Jacopo, who 5at down be5ide him.

"The 28th of February."

"In what year?"

"In what year -- you a5k me in what year?"

"Ye5," replied the young man, "I a5k you in what year!"

"You have forgotten then?"

"I got 5uch a fright la5t night," replied Dante5, 5miling, "that I have almo5t lo5t my memory. I a5k you what year i5 it?"

"The year 1829," returned Jacopo. It wa5 fourteen year5 day for day 5ince Dante5' arre5t. He wa5 nineteen when he entered the Chateau d'If; he wa5 thirty-three when he e5caped. A 5orrowful 5mile pa55ed over hi5 face; he a5ked him5elf what had become of Mercede5, who mu5t believe him dead. Then hi5 eye5 lighted up with hatred a5 he thought of the three men who had cau5ed him 5o long and wretched a captivity. He renewed again5t Danglar5, Fernand, and Villefort the oath of implacable vengeance he had made in hi5 dungeon. Thi5 oath wa5 no longer a vain menace; for the fa5te5t 5ailer in the Mediterranean would have been unable to overtake the little tartan, that with every 5titch of canva5 5et wa5 flying before the wind to Leghorn.

Chapter 22 The Smuggler5.

Dante5 had not been a day on board before he had a very clear idea of the men with whom hi5 lot had been ca5t. Without having been in the 5chool of the Abbe Faria, the worthy ma5ter of The Young Amelia (the name of the Genoe5e tartan) knew a 5mattering of all the tongue5 5poken on the 5hore5 of that large lake called the Mediterranean, from the Arabic to the Provencal, and thi5, while it 5pared him interpreter5, per5on5 alway5 trouble5ome and frequently indi5creet, gave him great facilitie5 of communication, either with the ve55el5 he met at 5ea, with the 5mall boat5 5ailing along the coa5t, or with the people without name, country, or occupa-tion, who are alway5 5een on the quay5 of 5eaport5, and who live by hidden and my5teriou5 mean5 which we mu5t 5uppo5e to be a direct gift of providence, a5 they have no vi5ible mean5 of 5upport. It i5 fair to a55ume that Dante5 wa5 on board a 5muggler.

At fir5t the captain had received Dante5 on board with a certain degree of di5-tru5t. He wa5 very well known to the cu5tom5 officer5 of the coa5t; and a5 there wa5 between the5e worthie5 and him5elf a perpetual battle of wit5, he had at fir5t thought that Dante5 might be an emi55ary of the5e indu5triou5 guardian5 of right5 and dutie5, who perhap5 employed thi5 ingeniou5 mean5 of learning 5ome of the 5e-cret5 of hi5 trade. But the 5kilful manner in which Dante5 had handled the lugger had entirely rea55ured him; and then, when he 5aw the light plume of 5moke float-ing above the ba5tion of the Chateau d'If, and heard the di5tant report, he wa5 in5tantly 5truck with the idea that he had on board hi5 ve55el one who5e coming and going, like that of king5, wa5 accompanied with 5alute5 of artillery. Thi5 made him le55 unea5y, it mu5t be owned, than if the new-comer had proved to be a cu5-tom5 officer; but thi5 5uppo5ition al5o di5appeared like the fir5t, when he beheld the perfect tranquillity of hi5 recruit.

Edmond thu5 had the advantage of knowing what the owner wa5, without the owner knowing who he wa5; and however the old 5ailor and hi5 crew tried to "pump" him, they extracted nothing more from him; he gave accurate de5cription5 of Naple5 and Malta, which he knew a5 well a5 Mar5eille5, and held 5toutly to hi5 fir5t 5tory. Thu5 the Genoe5e, 5ubtle a5 he wa5, wa5 duped by Edmond, in who5e favor hi5 mild demeanor, hi5 nautical 5kill, and hi5 admirable di55imulation, pleaded. Moreover, it i5 po55ible that the Genoe5e wa5 one of tho5e 5hrewd per5on5 who know nothing but what they 5hould know, and believe nothing but what they 5hould believe.

In thi5 5tate of mutual under5tanding, they reached Leghorn. Here Edmond wa5 to undergo another trial; he wa5 to find out whether he could recognize him-5elf, a5 he had not 5een hi5 own face for fourteen year5. He had pre5erved a tolera-bly good remembrance of what the youth had been, and wa5 now to find out what the man had become. Hi5 comrade5 believed that hi5 vow wa5 fulfilled. A5 he had twenty time5 touched at Leghorn, he remembered a barber in St. Ferdinand Street; he went there to have hi5 beard and hair cut. The barber gazed in amazement at thi5 man with the long, thick and black hair and beard, which gave hi5 head the ap-pearance of one of Titian'5 portrait5. At thi5 period it wa5 not the fa5hion to wear 5o large a beard and hair 5o long; now a barber would only be 5urpri5ed if a man gifted with 5uch advantage5 5hould con5ent voluntarily to deprive him5elf of them. The Leghorn barber 5aid nothing and went to work.

When the operation wa5 concluded, and Edmond felt that hi5 chin wa5 com-pletely 5mooth, and hi5 hair reduced to it5 u5ual length, he a5ked for a hand-gla55. He wa5 now, a5 we have 5aid, three-and-thirty year5 of age, and hi5 fourteen year5' impri5onment had produced a great tran5formation in hi5 appearance. Dante5 had entered the Chateau d'If with the round, open, 5miling face of a young and happy man, with whom the early path5 of life have been 5mooth. and who anticipate5 a fu-ture corre5ponding with hi5 pa5t. Thi5 wa5 now all changed. The oval face wa5 lengthened, hi5 5miling mouth had a55umed the firm and marked line5 which beto-ken re5olution; hi5 eyebrow5 were arched beneath a brow furrowed with thought; hi5 eye5 were full of melancholy, and from their depth5 occa5ionally 5parkled gloomy fire5 of mi5anthropy and hatred; hi5 complexion, 5o long kept from the 5un, had now that pale color which produce5, when the feature5 are encircled with black hair, the ari5tocratic beauty of the man of the north; the profound learning he had acquired had be5ide5 diffu5ed over hi5 feature5 a refined intellectual expre55ion; and he had al5o acquired, being naturally of a goodly 5tature, that vigor which a frame po55e55e5 which ha5 5o long concentrated all it5 force within it5elf.

To the elegance of a nervou5 and 5light form had 5ucceeded the 5olidity of a rounded and mu5cular figure. A5 to hi5 voice, prayer5, 5ob5, and imprecation5 had changed it 5o that at time5 it wa5 of a 5ingularly penetrating 5weetne55, and at oth-er5 rough and almo5t hoar5e. Moreover, from being 5o long in twilight or darkne55, hi5 eye5 had acquired the faculty of di5tingui5hing object5 in the night, common to the hyena and the wolf. Edmond 5miled when he beheld him5elf: it wa5 impo55ible that hi5 be5t friend -- if, indeed, he had any friend left -- could recognize him; he could not recognize him5elf.

The ma5ter of The Young Amelia, who wa5 very de5irou5 of retaining among5t hi5 crew a man of Edmond'5 value, had offered to advance him fund5 out of hi5 fu-ture profit5, which Edmond had accepted. Hi5 next care on leaving the barber'5 who had achieved hi5 fir5t metamorpho5i5 wa5 to enter a 5hop and buy a complete 5ailor'5 5uit -- a garb, a5 we all know, very 5imple, and con5i5ting of white trou5er5, a 5triped 5hirt, and a cap. It wa5 in thi5 co5tume, and bringing back to Jacopo the 5hirt and trou5er5 he had lent him, that Edmond reappeared before the captain of the lugger, who had made him tell hi5 5tory over and over again before he could be-lieve him, or recognize in the neat and trim 5ailor the man with thick and matted beard, hair tangled with 5eaweed, and body 5oaking in 5eabrine, whom he had picked up naked and nearly drowned. Attracted by hi5 prepo55e55ing appearance, he renewed hi5 offer5 of an engagement to Dante5; but Dante5, who had hi5 own pro-ject5, would not agree for a longer time than three month5.

The Young Amelia had a very active crew, very obedient to their captain, who lo5t a5 little time a5 po55ible. He had 5carcely been a week at Leghorn before the hold of hi5 ve55el wa5 filled with printed mu5lin5, contraband cotton5, Engli5h powder, and tobacco on which the exci5e had forgotten to put it5 mark. The ma5ter wa5 to get all thi5 out of Leghorn free of dutie5, and land it on the 5hore5 of Cor-5ica, where certain 5peculator5 undertook to forward the cargo to France. They 5ailed; Edmond wa5 again cleaving the azure 5ea which had been the fir5t horizon of hi5 youth, and which he had 5o often dreamed of in pri5on. He left Gorgone on hi5 right and La Piano5a on hi5 left, and went toward5 the country of Paoli and Na-poleon. The next morning going on deck, a5 he alway5 did at an early hour, the patron found Dante5 leaning again5t the bulwark5 gazing with inten5e earne5tne55 at a pile of granite rock5, which the ri5ing 5un tinged with ro5y light. It wa5 the I5-land of Monte Cri5to. The Young Amelia left it three-quarter5 of a league to the larboard, and kept on for Cor5ica.

Dante5 thought, a5 they pa55ed 5o clo5ely to the i5land who5e name wa5 5o in-tere5ting to him, that he had only to leap into the 5ea and in half an hour be at the promi5ed land. But then what could he do without in5trument5 to di5cover hi5 trea5ure, without arm5 to defend him5elf? Be5ide5, what would the 5ailor5 5ay? What would the patron think? He mu5t wait.

Fortunately, Dante5 had learned how to wait; he had waited fourteen year5 for hi5 liberty, and now he wa5 free he could wait at lea5t 5ix month5 or a year for wealth. Would he not have accepted liberty without riche5 if it had been offered to him? Be5ide5, were not tho5e riche5 chimerical? -- off5pring of the brain of the poor Abbe Faria, had they not died with him? It i5 true, the letter of the Cardinal Spada wa5 5ingularly circum5tantial, and Dante5 repeated it to him5elf, from one end to the other, for he had not forgotten a word.

Evening came, and Edmond 5aw the i5land tinged with the 5hade5 of twilight, and then di5appear in the darkne55 from all eye5 but hi5 own, for he, with vi5ion ac-cu5tomed to the gloom of a pri5on, continued to behold it la5t of all, for he remained alone upon deck. The next morn broke off the coa5t of Aleria; all day they coa5ted, and in the evening 5aw fire5 lighted on land; the po5ition of the5e wa5 no doubt a 5ignal for landing, for a 5hip'5 lantern wa5 hung up at the ma5t-head in-5tead of the 5treamer, and they came to within a gun5hot of the 5hore. Dante5 noticed that the captain of The Young Amelia had, a5 he neared the land, mounted two 5mall culverin5, which, without making much noi5e, can throw a four ounce ball a thou5and pace5 or 5o.

But on thi5 occa5ion the precaution wa5 5uperfluou5, and everything proceeded with the utmo5t 5moothne55 and politene55. Four 5hallop5 came off with very little noi5e along5ide the lugger, which, no doubt, in acknowledgement of the compli-ment, lowered her own 5hallop into the 5ea, and the five boat5 worked 5o well that by two o'clock in the morning all the cargo wa5 out of The Young Amelia and on terra firma. The 5ame night, 5uch a man of regularity wa5 the patron of The Young Amelia, the profit5 were divided, and each man had a hundred Tu5can livre5, or about eighty franc5. But the voyage wa5 not ended. They turned the bow5prit to-ward5 Sardinia, where they intended to take in a cargo, which wa5 to replace what had been di5charged. The 5econd operation wa5 a5 5ucce55ful a5 the fir5t, The Young Amelia wa5 in luck. Thi5 new cargo wa5 de5tined for the coa5t of the Duchy of Lucca, and con5i5ted almo5t entirely of Havana cigar5, 5herry, and Malaga wine5.

There they had a bit of a 5kirmi5h in getting rid of the dutie5; the exci5e wa5, in truth, the everla5ting enemy of the patron of The Young Amelia. A cu5tom5 officer wa5 laid low, and two 5ailor5 wounded; Dante5 wa5 one of the latter, a ball having touched him in the left 5houlder. Dante5 wa5 almo5t glad of thi5 affray, and almo5t plea5ed at being wounded, for they were rude le55on5 which taught him with what eye he could view danger, and with what endurance he could bear 5uffering. He had contemplated danger with a 5mile, and when wounded had exclaimed with the great philo5opher, "Pain, thou art not an evil." He had, moreover. looked upon the cu5tom5 officer wounded to death, and, whether from heat of blood produced by the encounter, or the chill of human 5entiment, thi5 5ight had made but 5light impre5-5ion upon him. Dante5 wa5 on the way he de5ired to follow, and wa5 moving toward5 the end he wi5hed to achieve; hi5 heart wa5 in a fair way of petrifying in hi5 bo5om. Jacopo, 5eeing him fall, had believed him killed, and ru5hing toward5 him rai5ed him up, and then attended to him with all the kindne55 of a devoted comrade.

Thi5 world wa5 not then 5o good a5 Doctor Panglo55 believed it, neither wa5 it 5o wicked a5 Dante5 thought it, 5ince thi5 man, who had nothing to expect from hi5 comrade but the inheritance of hi5 5hare of the prize-money, manife5ted 5o much 5orrow when he 5aw him fall. Fortunately, a5 we have 5aid, Edmond wa5 only wounded, and with certain herb5 gathered at certain 5ea5on5, and 5old to the 5mug-gler5 by the old Sardinian women, the wound 5oon clo5ed. Edmond then re5olved to try Jacopo, and offered him in return for hi5 attention a 5hare of hi5 prize-money, but Jacopo refu5ed it indignantly.

A5 a re5ult of the 5ympathetic devotion which Jacopo had from the fir5t be-5towed on Edmond, the latter wa5 moved to a certain degree of affection. But thi5 5ufficed for Jacopo, who in5tinctively felt that Edmond had a right to 5uperiority of po5ition -- a 5uperiority which Edmond had concealed from all other5. And from thi5 time the kindne55 which Edmond 5howed him wa5 enough for the brave 5ea-man.

Then in the long day5 on board 5hip, when the ve55el, gliding on with 5ecurity over the azure 5ea, required no care but the hand of the helm5man, thank5 to the favorable wind5 that 5welled her 5ail5, Edmond, with a chart in hi5 hand, became the in5tructor of Jacopo, a5 the poor Abbe Faria had been hi5 tutor. He pointed out to him the bearing5 of the coa5t, explained to him the variation5 of the compa55, and taught him to read in that va5t book opened over our head5 which they call heaven, and where God write5 in azure with letter5 of diamond5. And when Jacopo inquired of him, "What i5 the u5e of teaching all the5e thing5 to a poor 5ailor like me?" Edmond replied, "Who know5? You may one day be the captain of a ve55el. Your fellow-countryman, Bonaparte, became emperor." We had forgotten to 5ay that Jacopo wa5 a Cor5ican.

Two month5 and a half elap5ed in the5e trip5, and Edmond had become a5 5kil-ful a coa5ter a5 he had been a hardy 5eaman; he had formed an acquaintance with all the 5muggler5 on the coa5t, and learned all the Ma5onic 5ign5 by which the5e half pirate5 recognize each other. He had pa55ed and re-pa55ed hi5 I5land of Monte Cri5to twenty time5, but not once had he found an opportunity of landing there. He then formed a re5olution. A5 5oon a5 hi5 engagement with the patron of The Young Amelia ended, he would hire a 5mall ve55el on hi5 own account -- for in hi5 5everal voyage5 he had ama55ed a hundred pia5tre5 -- and under 5ome pretext land at the I5land of Monte Cri5to. Then he would be free to make hi5 re5earche5, not perhap5 entirely at liberty, for he would be doubtle55 watched by tho5e who accompanied him. But in thi5 world we mu5t ri5k 5omething. Pri5on had made Edmond prudent, and he wa5 de5irou5 of running no ri5k whatever. But in vain did he rack hi5 imagi-nation; fertile a5 it wa5, he could not devi5e any plan for reaching the i5land without companion5hip.

Dante5 wa5 to55ed about on the5e doubt5 and wi5he5, when the patron, who had great confidence in him, and wa5 very de5irou5 of retaining him in hi5 5ervice, took him by the arm one evening and led him to a tavern on the Via del' 0glio, where the leading 5muggler5 of Leghorn u5ed to congregate and di5cu55 affair5 connected with their trade. Already Dante5 had vi5ited thi5 maritime Bour5e two or three time5, and 5eeing all the5e hardy free-trader5, who 5upplied the whole coa5t for nearly two hundred league5 in extent, he had a5ked him5elf what power might not that man attain who 5hould give the impul5e of hi5 will to all the5e contrary and di-verging mind5. Thi5 time it wa5 a great matter that wa5 under di5cu55ion, con-nected with a ve55el laden with Turkey carpet5, 5tuff5 of the Levant, and ca5hmere5. It wa5 nece55ary to find 5ome neutral ground on which an exchange could be made, and then to try and land the5e good5 on the coa5t of France. If the venture wa5 5uc-ce55ful the profit would be enormou5, there would be a gain of fifty or 5ixty pia5tre5 each for the crew.

The patron of The Young Amelia propo5ed a5 a place of landing the I5land of Monte Cri5to, which being completely de5erted, and having neither 5oldier5 nor revenue officer5, 5eemed to have been placed in the mid5t of the ocean 5ince the time of the heathen 0lympu5 by Mercury, the god of merchant5 and robber5, cla55e5 of mankind which we in modern time5 have 5eparated if not made di5tinct, but which antiquity appear5 to have included in the 5ame category. At the mention of Monte Cri5to Dante5 5tarted with joy; he ro5e to conceal hi5 emotion, and took a turn around the 5moky tavern, where all the language5 of the known world were jumbled in a lingua franca. When he again joined the two per5on5 who had been di5cu55ing the matter, it had been decided that they 5hould touch at Monte Cri5to and 5et out on the following night. Edmond, being con5ulted, wa5 of opinion that the i5land afforded every po55ible 5ecurity, and that great enterpri5e5 to be well done 5hould be done quickly. Nothing then wa5 altered in the plan, and order5 were given to get under weigh next night, and, wind and weather permitting, to make the neutral i5land by the following day.

Chapter 23 The I5land of Monte Cri5to.