Chapter 15. Number 34 and Number 27-3
1118 Palabras
liberty, after having deprived me of death, after having recalled me to
existence, my God, have pity on me, and do not let me die in despair!”
“Who talks of God and despair at the same time?” said a voice that
seemed to come from beneath the earth, and, deadened by the distance,
sounded hollow and sepulchral in the young man’s ears. Edmond’s hair
stood on end, and he rose to his knees.
“Ah,” said he, “I hear a human voice.” Edmond had not heard anyone speak
save his jailer for four or five years; and a jailer is no man to a
prisoner—he is a living door, a barrier of flesh and blood adding
strength to restraints of oak and iron.
“In the name of Heaven,” cried Dantès, “speak again, though the sound of
your voice terrifies me. Who are you?”
“Who are you?” said the voice.
“An unhappy prisoner,” replied Dantès, who made no hesitation in
answering.
“Of what country?”
“A Frenchman.”
“Your name?”
“Edmond Dantès.”
“Your profession?”
“A sailor.”
“How long have you been here?”
“Since the 28th of February, 1815.”
“Your crime?”
“I am innocent.”
“But of what are you accused?”
“Of having conspired to aid the emperor’s return.”
“What! For the emperor’s return?—the emperor is no longer on the throne,
then?”
“He abdicated at Fontainebleau in 1814, and was sent to the Island of
Elba. But how long have you been here that you are ignorant of all
this?”
“Since 1811.”
Dantès shuddered; this man had been four years longer than himself in
prison.
“Do not dig any more,” said the voice; “only tell me how high up is your
excavation?”
“On a level with the floor.”
“How is it concealed?”
“Behind my bed.”
“Has your bed been moved since you have been a prisoner?”
“No.”
“What does your chamber open on?”
“A corridor.”
“And the corridor?”
“On a court.”
“Alas!” murmured the voice.
“Oh, what is the matter?” cried Dantès.
“I have made a mistake owing to an error in my plans. I took the wrong
angle, and have come out fifteen feet from where I intended. I took the
wall you are mining for the outer wall of the fortress.”
“But then you would be close to the sea?”
“That is what I hoped.”
“And supposing you had succeeded?”
“I should have thrown myself into the sea, gained one of the islands
near here—the Isle de Daume or the Isle de Tiboulen—and then I should
have been safe.”
“Could you have swum so far?”
“Heaven would have given me strength; but now all is lost.”
“All?”
“Yes; stop up your excavation carefully, do not work any more, and wait
until you hear from me.”
“Tell me, at least, who you are?”
“I am—I am No. 27.”
“You mistrust me, then,” said Dantès. Edmond fancied he heard a bitter
laugh resounding from the depths.
“Oh, I am a Christian,” cried Dantès, guessing instinctively that this
man meant to abandon him. “I swear to you by him who died for us that
naught shall induce me to breathe one syllable to my jailers; but I
conjure you do not abandon me. If you do, I swear to you, for I have got
to the end of my strength, that I will dash my brains out against the
wall, and you will have my death to reproach yourself with.”
“How old are you? Your voice is that of a young man.”
“I do not know my age, for I have not counted the years I have been
here. All I do know is, that I was just nineteen when I was arrested,
the 28th of February, 1815.”
“Not quite twenty-six!” murmured the voice; “at that age he cannot be a
traitor.”
“Oh, no, no,” cried Dantès. “I swear to you again, rather than betray
you, I would allow myself to be hacked in pieces!”
“You have done well to speak to me, and ask for my assistance, for I was
about to form another plan, and leave you; but your age reassures me. I
will not forget you. Wait.”
“How long?”
“I must calculate our chances; I will give you the signal.”
“But you will not leave me; you will come to me, or you will let me come
to you. We will escape, and if we cannot escape we will talk; you of
those whom you love, and I of those whom I love. You must love
somebody?”
“No, I am alone in the world.”
“Then you will love me. If you are young, I will be your comrade; if you
are old, I will be your son. I have a father who is seventy if he yet
lives; I only love him and a young girl called Mercédès. My father has
not yet forgotten me, I am sure, but God alone knows if she loves me
still; I shall love you as I loved my father.”
“It is well,” returned the voice; “tomorrow.”
These few words were uttered with an accent that left no doubt of his
sincerity; Dantès rose, dispersed the fragments with the same precaution
as before, and pushed his bed back against the wall. He then gave
himself up to his happiness. He would no longer be alone. He was,
perhaps, about to regain his liberty; at the worst, he would have a
companion, and captivity that is shared is but half captivity. Plaints
made in common are almost prayers, and prayers where two or three are
gathered together invoke the mercy of heaven.
All day Dantès walked up and down his cell. He sat down occasionally on
his bed, pressing his hand on his heart. At the slightest noise he
bounded towards the door. Once or twice the thought crossed his mind
that he might be separated from this unknown, whom he loved already; and
then his mind was made up—when the jailer moved his bed and stooped to
examine the opening, he would kill him with his water jug. He would be
condemned to die, but he was about to die of grief and despair when this
miraculous noise recalled him to life.
The jailer came in the evening. Dantès was on his bed. It seemed to him
that thus he better guarded the unfinished opening. Doubtless there was
a strange expression in his eyes, for the jailer said, “Come, are you
going mad again?”
Dantès did not answer; he feared that the emotion of his voice would
betray him. The jailer went away shaking his head. Night came; Dantès
hoped that his neighbor would profit by the silence to address him, but
he was mistaken. The next morning, however, just as he removed his bed
from the wall, he heard three knocks; he threw himself on his knees.
“Is it you?” said he; “I am here.”
“Is your jailer gone?”
“Yes,” said Dantès; “he will not return until the evening; so that we
have twelve hours before us.”
“I can work, then?” said the voice.
“Oh, yes, yes; this instant, I entreat you.”
In a moment that part of the floor on which Dantès was resting his two
hands, as he knelt with his head in the opening, suddenly gave way; he
drew back smartly, while a mass of stones and earth disappeared in a
hole that opened beneath the aperture he himself had formed. Then from
the bottom of this passage, the depth of which it was impossible to
measure, he saw appear, first the head, then the shoulders, and lastly
the body of a man, who sprang lightly into his cell.
- Autor
