The Cemetery of
Chateau d'lf
Locatedd ty the dle af Bani Pratialaets
Nay, Aleatrae tatanel tnaoel Ks fitiae tie oF
the anu carotene arto tn the eel
Dogpile attig atternpta ratte by ever
prisoners, noune ever mtiayerd 1G
foccnpe the place alte, The prtant Tie
naw been abandoned bul the place tine become o iajor touriat alltaetiony,
along with the nearby lighthouse and military fortifientione.
Look at the picture aml think about sen of a he feature at vnle Aletta?
auch a difficult prison to escape from
Edmond Dantes, the hero of the story, The Count al Monte Crbate, fe wrongfully Juited
inthe fearsome Chateau cif the worst prin in Pate Here, he beftienils a priest
who has also been imprisoned. Fram him, Dantes fevtrne about the existent of Widen
treasure, But to get ants ereauure, Dates hs 10 Jina a wedy et uf the prteanh The death
ted waty oul
of the priest offers Anions cand intepre
When Dantes entered Haria’s cell the next morning, he found ,
him sitting calmly with a piece of paper in hia loft hand, the only
hand which he could now Use: He showed Dantes the paper
without a word.
“What's that?” asked Dantes:
“Look at it closely,” sald the priest millty
‘Scanned with CamScanner“L see nothing except a half-burnt
piece of paper with Gothic letters
written on it in some sort of
strange ink.”
“This piece of paper, my friend,” said
Faria, “is my treasure, half of which
belongs to you from this day on.”
Dantes broke into a cold sweat.
Inall the time he had known Faria,
he had avoided speaking of the
famous treasure. Everyone else in
the prison thought Faria was mad
because he seemed to be obsessed
with it.
Faria smiled and said, “I know what you're thinking. But don’t
worry, I’m not mad. This treasure really exists, and if Fate allows
me to possess it, you will possess it too.”
“That treasure belongs to you, my friend,” said Dantes,
“and [have no right to it. I'm not even related to you.”
“You're my son!” cried the old man. “You're the child of my
captivity. My profession swore me to celibacy, but God sent you
to me to console both the man who could not be a father and
the prisoner who could not be free.”
Faria held out his hand to the young man, who threw his arms
around his neck and wept.
Every day he spoke of the immensity of the treasure, explaining
to Dantes all the good a man could do for his friends in our
modern times with such a fortune.
‘Gothic .a certain style of printed words that have pointed letters with thick
sharp angles captivity the state of being kept a prisoner
aso cnrecnacel console to offer comfort to someone
‘Scanned with CamScannerfiarta did not kniow the fale of Marte Cristo, but Dantes did
He had often passed by that oral island, located twenty-five miles
from Pianos, between Corsica and the tale of filba, and he had once
even vinited the place, It was, and still is, completely desert
[his a rock of almost conical form which ems to have been
thrust up (ror the bottom of the sea by same volcanic couming,
Farla’s arm and leg remained paralysed, and he lost almost all
hope of ever reaching, the treasure himeelf, but he continued to
dream of an escape for his young companion.
One night, Dantes awoke suddenly with the impression that
gomeone had called him, His name, oF rather a plaintive voice
trying, to call out his name, reached his ears, He leaped out of bed
and listened, The voice was coming from Faria’s cell,
“Good God!” murmured Dantes, “Could it be that..2” He rushed
into the underground passage and was soon at the opposite end
of iL. The flagstone was raised. By the flickering light of the amp,
he saw the old man, his face deathly white and contracted by
the horrible symptoms which Dantes already knew and which had
filled him with such terror the first time he saw them.
“Well, my friend,” said Karka resignedly, “you understand, don’t
you? There’s no need for me to explain anything to you, Think
only of yourself from now on, of making your captivity bearable
and your escape possible, C iod is doing something good for you
at last, and it’s high time for me to die.”
A violent shiver interrupted the old man’s words, “Farewell!
Harewelll” he murmured, pressing Dantes’ hand,
‘The attack was terrible, The last murmur of his heart ceased,
his face grow livid and the light faded entirely from his eyes,
which remained open.
‘Scanned with CamScanner‘The first feeble rays of dawn
Tt was six o'clock in the morning.
ace of
invaded the cell, casting weird reflections over the far
d fully that he was alone with a corpse,
{ led from the cell,
the corpse. Dantes realise
An overwhelming terror seized him. He fl
He left none too soon, for the jailer was coming. T his time
he began his visit with Dantes’ cell. Nothing indicated that
he was aware of what had happened. He went out. Burning, '
with impatience to know what would happen in the cell of his
unfortunate friend, Dantes crawled back into the underground
Passage, in time to hear the jailer calling for aid. Other jailers soon
arrived; then came the heavy, measured footsteps of soldiers,
Behind them came the governor.
Dantes heard the bed creaking as they tried to rouse the dead
man. The governor ordered them to throw water in his face.
Seeing that this had no effect, he sent for the doctor. The governor
left the cell and several words of compassion, mingled with crude
jokes and laughter, reached Dantes’ ears.
“Well,” said one voice, “the old lunatic’s gone off to find his
treasure. Bon voyage!”
“With all his millions, he still didn’t have enough to pay for
his shroud,” said another.
“Oh, the shrouds of the Chateau d’If don’t cost much,”
“Since he's a priest, maybe they'll go to a little extra expense
for him.”
“That's right. He'll have the honour of the sack.”
Dantes listened without losing a word, but he did not
understand much of what was being said. Soon, the voices
a dead body
the plece of cloth a d '
wrapped in before itis burt dre eee
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ated away and if seened to him that everyone had left the cell
Aten ant hour or so, the silence was asia 7 i “ t cel
whieh gradually grew louder. twas the aa eeaeriiey
jallowed by the doctor and several officials. The doctor declared
the prisotier dead i
| {yates heard @ sound like the rustling of cloth. The bed creaked,
| Where were heavy footsteps like those of a man lifting a burden,
and the bed creaked once again under the weight which had been
placed bac konit
*Avill there be a mans?” asked one of the officials.
|mpossible,” replied the governor, “The chaplain asked me for
awook's leave yesterday and he's already gone. If the poor priest
Hadn't been it such a hurry, he'd have had his requiem.”
‘The body had been laid out,
“Ponight,” said the governor,
"What time?” asked one of the jailers,
“At around ten or eleven o'clock as usual.”
“Shall we wateh over the body?”
“What for? Just lock the door as though he were still alive.”
and the voices died down. Then,
‘The footsteps went away
f solitude invaded everything
asilenee more mournful than that of
and chilled the depths af Da
the stone with his head and
twas empty. He entered,
nites’ heart. He slowly raised
ast a swift glance around the cell.
‘Scanned with CamScannering into space like
He was alone again! He sat stock-still star
Then he stood up
a man suddenly struck by a terrifying idea
put his hand to his forehead and murmured
leave here, I'l take the place of a corpse!
“Since only the dead
He leaned over the hideous
sack, slit it open with the knife
which Faria had made. tuok
out the corpse and car ried it
into his own cell, He put ton
his bed, wrapped around its
head the rag which he himselt
always wore, pulled his blank
over it, kissed the cold forehead
one last time and turned
the head to the wall so that when
the jailer brought in his evening
meal, he would think he was
already aslewp, as he often was
‘Then he went back into Faria’s cell, took out the needle
and thread, threw off his clothes so that the jailers would
feel bare flesh under the sackcloth, slipped into the sack, placed
himself in the same position as the corpse and sewed up the sack
again from the inside. If the jailers had happened to come in at that
moment, they would have heard the beating of his heart.
Towards seven o'clock in the evening, his anxiety began in
eamest. He trembled in every limb and his heart felt as though
it were being gripped in an icy vice. The hours passed without
bringing the slightest movement in the prison; so far his ruse had
not been discovered. Finally, he heard footsteps on the stairs
He sumumoned up all his courage, held his breath and tried to
repress the pounding of his heart.
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‘The door opened and a din light reached his eyes, Hinough
the cloth covering, hit, he saw two shadows approach the bed
A third one stood in the dogrway holding «lantern. The fret
two men took Hold of the sack train both ends, Dantes made
his body rigid
‘They carried Him out on a stretcher and the funeral procession,
Jed by the man with the lantern, went up the otaire, Suddenly,
Dantes felt the cold, fresh night alr and the sharp wind fron
the sea, The sensation filled him with both joy and arndety.
‘They carried him some twenty yards further, then stopped and
laid the stretcher on the ground, Dantes heard one of the men
walking away, “Where am 1? he wondered
His first impulse was to try to escape, but fortunately he
controlled himself, A few moments later, he heard one of
the men walk up to him and drop a heavy object on the ground,
At the same time, he felt a rope tied around his feet with painful
tightness,
“Have you made the knot?” asked the man who had
remained idle,
“Yes, and it’s well made, I'll answer for that.”
“All right then, Let’s go.”
The stretcher was raised again and the procession continued on
its way. The sound of the waves breaking against the rocks on
which the Chateau d’If is built reached Dantes more distinctly
with every step,
“What miserable weather!” said one of the men.
‘sudden strong wish or need to da something, without stopping to
‘Scanned with CamScanner“I wouldn't like to be in the sea tonight,” remarked his friend.
“Here we are,” said the first man after a while.
“No, further on, further on! You know the last one got smas
on the rocks and the next day the governor called us a coup!
lazy rascals,” warned the second person.
They went on a few more steps. Then Dantes felt them pick him
up by the head and feet and swing him back and forth.
“One! Two! Three!”
With the last word, he felt himself flung into space. Fear clutched
at his heart as he fell like a wounded bird, down, down, down.
Finally, after what seemed an eternity, there was a tremendous
splash and he plunged like an arrow into the icy sea. He uttered
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aseroam which was immediately choked out as the water closed
over his head. He was being swiftly dragged to the bottom by
acantion ball tied to his feet,
The sea is the comvtery of the Chateau d’Tf.
Extract front The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas
Alexandre Dumas (1802-1870) was one of the most famous French
writers of the nineteenth century, He is best known for historical
adventure novels like The Three Musketeers and The Count of Monte Cristo.
‘The latter novel is set at the time of Louis Napoleon's return to France
after his exile in the Isle of St Helena in 1815.
Exercises
—*
Reading
Answer these questions.
1, What did Faria give Dantes? Why?
2. How did Dantes realise that Faria was about to die?
3. When the soldiers came to inspect Faria’s body, what did
Dantes hear from his cell?
4. Describe the manner in which Dantes planned his escape
from the prison.
5, What did the jailors do with the shroud in which Dantes
was hidden?
6. What were the sensations felt by Dantes as he was flung into
the sea?
Dread these lines and answer the questions with reference
to the context.
1. "Well," said one voice, “the old lunatic’s gone off to find
his treasure. Bon voyage!”
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