Dantes had not been a day on board before he had a veryclear idea of the men with whom his lot had been cast.Without having been in the school of the Abbe Faria, theworthy master of The Young Amelia (the name of the Genoesetartan) knew a smattering of all the tongues spoken on theshores of that large lake called the Mediterranean, from theArabic to the Provencal, and this, while it spared himinterpreters, persons always troublesome and frequentlyindiscreet, gave him great facilities of communication,either with the vessels he met at sea, with the small boatssailing along the coast, or with the people without name,country, or occupation, who are always seen on the quays ofseaports, and who live by hidden and mysterious means whichwe must suppose to be a direct gift of providence, as theyhave no visible means of support. It is fair to assume thatDantes was on board a smuggler.

At first the captain had received Dantes on board with acertain degree of distrust. He was very well known to thecustoms officers of the coast; and as there was betweenthese worthies and himself a perpetual battle of wits, hehad at first thought that Dantes might be an emissary ofthese industrious guardians of rights and duties, whoperhaps employed this ingenious means of learning some ofthe secrets of his trade. But the skilful manner in whichDantes had handled the lugger had entirely reassured him;and then, when he saw the light plume of smoke floatingabove the bastion of the Chateau d'If, and heard the distantreport, he was instantly struck with the idea that he had onboard his vessel one whose coming and going, like that ofkings, was accompanied with salutes of artillery. This madehim less uneasy, it must be owned, than if the new-comer hadproved to be a customs officer; but this supposition alsodisappeared like the first, when he beheld the perfecttranquillity of his recruit.

Edmond thus had the advantage of knowing what the owner was,without the owner knowing who he was; and however the oldsailor and his crew tried to "pump" him, they extractednothing more from him; he gave accurate descriptions ofNaples and Malta, which he knew as well as Marseilles, andheld stoutly to his first story. Thus the Genoese, subtle ashe was, was duped by Edmond, in whose favor his milddemeanor, his nautical skill, and his admirabledissimulation, pleaded. Moreover, it is possible that theGenoese was one of those shrewd persons who know nothing butwhat they should know, and believe nothing but what theyshould believe.

In this state of mutual understanding, they reached Leghorn.Here Edmond was to undergo another trial; he was to find outwhether he could recognize himself, as he had not seen hisown face for fourteen years. He had preserved a tolerablygood remembrance of what the youth had been, and was now tofind out what the man had become. His comrades believed thathis vow was fulfilled. As he had twenty times touched atLeghorn, he remembered a barber in St. Ferdinand Street; hewent there to have his beard and hair cut. The barber gazedin amazement at this man with the long, thick and black hairand beard, which gave his head the appearance of one ofTitian's portraits. At this period it was not the fashion towear so large a beard and hair so long; now a barber wouldonly be surprised if a man gifted with such advantagesshould consent voluntarily to deprive himself of them. TheLeghorn barber said nothing and went to work.

When the operation was concluded, and Edmond felt that hischin was completely smooth, and his hair reduced to itsusual length, he asked for a hand-glass. He was now, as wehave said, three-and-thirty years of age, and his fourteenyears' imprisonment had produced a great transformation inhis appearance. Dantes had entered the Chateau d'If with theround, open, smiling face of a young and happy man, withwhom the early paths of life have been smooth, and whoanticipates a future corresponding with his past. This wasnow all changed. The oval face was lengthened, his smilingmouth had assumed the firm and marked lines which betokenresolution; his eyebrows were arched beneath a brow furrowedwith thought; his eyes were full of melancholy, and fromtheir depths occasionally sparkled gloomy fires ofmisanthropy and hatred; his complexion, so long kept fromthe sun, had now that pale color which produces, when thefeatures are encircled with black hair, the aristocraticbeauty of the man of the north; the profound learning he hadacquired had besides diffused over his features a refinedintellectual expression; and he had also acquired, beingnaturally of a goodly stature, that vigor which a framepossesses which has so long concentrated all its forcewithin itself.

To the elegance of a nervous and slight form had succeededthe solidity of a rounded and muscular figure. As to hisvoice, prayers, sobs, and imprecations had changed it sothat at times it was of a singularly penetrating sweetness,and at others rough and almost hoarse. Moreover, from beingso long in twilight or darkness, his eyes had acquired thefaculty of distinguishing objects in the night, common tothe hyena and the wolf. Edmond smiled when he beheldhimself: it was impossible that his best friend - if,indeed, he had any friend left - could recognize him; hecould not recognize himself.

The master of The Young Amelia, who was very desirous ofretaining amongst his crew a man of Edmond's value, hadoffered to advance him funds out of his future profits,which Edmond had accepted. His next care on leaving thebarber's who had achieved his first metamorphosis was toenter a shop and buy a complete sailor's suit - a garb, aswe all know, very simple, and consisting of white trousers,a striped shirt, and a cap. It was in this costume, andbringing back to Jacopo the shirt and trousers he had lenthim, that Edmond reappeared before the captain of thelugger, who had made him tell his story over and over againbefore he could believe him, or recognize in the neat andtrim sailor the man with thick and matted beard, hairtangled with seaweed, and body soaking in seabrine, whom hehad picked up naked and nearly drowned. Attracted by hisprepossessing appearance, he renewed his offers of anengagement to Dantes; but Dantes, who had his own projects,would not agree for a longer time than three months.

The Young Amelia had a very active crew, very obedient totheir captain, who lost as little time as possible. He hadscarcely been a week at Leghorn before the hold of hisvessel was filled with printed muslins, contraband cottons,English powder, and tobacco on which the excise hadforgotten to put its mark. The master was to get all thisout of Leghorn free of duties, and land it on the shores ofCorsica, where certain speculators undertook to forward thecargo to France. They sailed; Edmond was again cleaving theazure sea which had been the first horizon of his youth, andwhich he had so often dreamed of in prison. He left Gorgoneon his right and La Pianosa on his left, and went towardsthe country of Paoli and Napoleon. The next morning going ondeck, as he always did at an early hour, the patron foundDantes leaning against the bulwarks gazing with intenseearnestness at a pile of granite rocks, which the rising suntinged with rosy light. It was the Island of Monte Cristo.The Young Amelia left it three-quarters of a league to thelarboard, and kept on for Corsica.

Dantes thought, as they passed so closely to the islandwhose name was so interesting to him, that he had only toleap into the sea and in half an hour be at the promisedland. But then what could he do without instruments todiscover his treasure, without arms to defend himself?Besides, what would the sailors say? What would the patronthink? He must wait.

Fortunately, Dantes had learned how to wait; he had waitedfourteen years for his liberty, and now he was free he couldwait at least six months or a year for wealth. Would he nothave accepted liberty without riches if it had been offeredto him? Besides, were not those riches chimerical? - offspring of the brain of the poor Abbe Faria, had they notdied with him? It is true, the letter of the Cardinal Spadawas singularly circumstantial, and Dantes repeated it tohimself, from one end to the other, for he had not forgottena word.

Evening came, and Edmond saw the island tinged with theshades of twilight, and then disappear in the darkness fromall eyes but his own, for he, with vision accustomed to thegloom of a prison, continued to behold it last of all, forhe remained alone upon deck. The next morn broke off thecoast of Aleria; all day they coasted, and in the eveningsaw fires lighted on land; the position of these was nodoubt a signal for landing, for a ship's lantern was hung upat the mast-head instead of the streamer, and they came towithin a gunshot of the shore. Dantes noticed that thecaptain of The Young Amelia had, as he neared the land,mounted two small culverins, which, without making muchnoise, can throw a four ounce ball a thousand paces or so.

But on this occasion the precaution was superfluous, andeverything proceeded with the utmost smoothness andpoliteness. Four shallops came off with very little noisealongside the lugger, which, no doubt, in acknowledgement ofthe compliment, lowered her own shallop into the sea, andthe five boats worked so well that by two o'clock in themorning all the cargo was out of The Young Amelia and onterra firma. The same night, such a man of regularity wasthe patron of The Young Amelia, the profits were divided,and each man had a hundred Tuscan livres, or about eightyfrancs. But the voyage was not ended. They turned thebowsprit towards Sardinia, where they intended to take in acargo, which was to replace what had been discharged. Thesecond operation was as successful as the first, The YoungAmelia was in luck. This new cargo was destined for thecoast of the Duchy of Lucca, and consisted almost entirelyof Havana cigars, sherry, and Malaga wines.

There they had a bit of a skirmish in getting rid of theduties; the excise was, in truth, the everlasting enemy ofthe patron of The Young Amelia. A customs officer was laidlow, and two sailors wounded; Dantes was one of the latter,a ball having touched him in the left shoulder. Dantes wasalmost glad of this affray, and almost pleased at beingwounded, for they were rude lessons which taught him withwhat eye he could view danger, and with what endurance hecould bear suffering. He had contemplated danger with asmile, and when wounded had exclaimed with the greatphilosopher, "Pain, thou art not an evil." He had, moreover,looked upon the customs officer wounded to death, and,whether from heat of blood produced by the encounter, or thechill of human sentiment, this sight had made but slightimpression upon him. Dantes was on the way he desired tofollow, and was moving towards the end he wished to achieve;his heart was in a fair way of petrifying in his bosom.Jacopo, seeing him fall, had believed him killed, andrushing towards him raised him up, and then attended to himwith all the kindness of a devoted comrade.

This world was not then so good as Doctor Pangloss believedit, neither was it so wicked as Dantes thought it, sincethis man, who had nothing to expect from his comrade but theinheritance of his share of the prize-money, manifested somuch sorrow when he saw him fall. Fortunately, as we havesaid, Edmond was only wounded, and with certain herbsgathered at certain seasons, and sold to the smugglers bythe old Sardinian women, the wound soon closed. Edmond thenresolved to try Jacopo, and offered him in return for hisattention a share of his prize-money, but Jacopo refused itindignantly.

As a result of the sympathetic devotion which Jacopo hadfrom the first bestowed on Edmond, the latter was moved to acertain degree of affection. But this sufficed for Jacopo,who instinctively felt that Edmond had a right tosuperiority of position - a superiority which Edmond hadconcealed from all others. And from this time the kindnesswhich Edmond showed him was enough for the brave seaman.

Then in the long days on board ship, when the vessel,gliding on with security over the azure sea, required nocare but the hand of the helmsman, thanks to the favorablewinds that swelled her sails, Edmond, with a chart in hishand, became the instructor of Jacopo, as the poor AbbeFaria had been his tutor. He pointed out to him the bearingsof the coast, explained to him the variations of thecompass, and taught him to read in that vast book openedover our heads which they call heaven, and where God writesin azure with letters of diamonds. And when Jacopo inquiredof him, "What is the use of teaching all these things to apoor sailor like me?" Edmond replied, "Who knows? You mayone day be the captain of a vessel. Your fellow-countryman,Bonaparte, became emperor." We had forgotten to say thatJacopo was a Corsican.

Two months and a half elapsed in these trips, and Edmond hadbecome as skilful a coaster as he had been a hardy seaman;he had formed an acquaintance with all the smugglers on thecoast, and learned all the Masonic signs by which these halfpirates recognize each other. He had passed and re-passedhis Island of Monte Cristo twenty times, but not once had hefound an opportunity of landing there. He then formed aresolution. As soon as his engagement with the patron of TheYoung Amelia ended, he would hire a small vessel on his ownaccount - for in his several voyages he had amassed ahundred piastres - and under some pretext land at theIsland of Monte Cristo. Then he would be free to make hisresearches, not perhaps entirely at liberty, for he would bedoubtless watched by those who accompanied him. But in thisworld we must risk something. Prison had made Edmondprudent, and he was desirous of running no risk whatever.But in vain did he rack his imagination; fertile as it was,he could not devise any plan for reaching the island withoutcompanionship.

Dantes was tossed about on these doubts and wishes, when thepatron, who had great confidence in him, and was verydesirous of retaining him in his service, took him by thearm one evening and led him to a tavern on the Via del'Oglio, where the leading smugglers of Leghorn used tocongregate and discuss affairs connected with their trade.Already Dantes had visited this maritime Bourse two or threetimes, and seeing all these hardy free-traders, who suppliedthe whole coast for nearly two hundred leagues in extent, hehad asked himself what power might not that man attain whoshould give the impulse of his will to all these contraryand diverging minds. This time it was a great matter thatwas under discussion, connected with a vessel laden withTurkey carpets, stuffs of the Levant, and cashmeres. It wasnecessary to find some neutral ground on which an exchangecould be made, and then to try and land these goods on thecoast of France. If the venture was successful the profitwould be enormous, there would be a gain of fifty or sixtypiastres each for the crew.

The patron of The Young Amelia proposed as a place oflanding the Island of Monte Cristo, which being completelydeserted, and having neither soldiers nor revenue officers,seemed to have been placed in the midst of the ocean sincethe time of the heathen Olympus by Mercury, the god ofmerchants and robbers, classes of mankind which we in moderntimes have separated if not made distinct, but whichantiquity appears to have included in the same category. Atthe mention of Monte Cristo Dantes started with joy; he roseto conceal his emotion, and took a turn around the smokytavern, where all the languages of the known world werejumbled in a lingua franca. When he again joined the twopersons who had been discussing the matter, it had beendecided that they should touch at Monte Cristo and set outon the following night. Edmond, being consulted, was ofopinion that the island afforded every possible security,and that great enterprises to be well done should be donequickly. Nothing then was altered in the plan, and orderswere given to get under weigh next night, and, wind andweather permitting, to make the neutral island by thefollowing day.