The young soldier needed no repet.i.tion of these wise and humanitarian injunctions. He gave the requisite directions and soon the desired vehicle was in readiness without the Colosseum. Maximilian had also ascertained the address of a proper curative inst.i.tution.

Meanwhile Valentine had continued to employ her successful tactics with the Viscount, who every moment yielded to her more and more. When the coupe was announced, she said to him:

"My chariot is waiting to convey you to my Olympian abode. Will you come with me?"

"Your wishes are my laws, oh! beautiful G.o.ddess!" replied Giovanni.

"Take me where you will, so that you do not desert me and leave me to perish in despair!"

Mme. Morrel led the unresisting young man to the coupe, Maximilian and the guides following the pair at a short distance in order to guard against any unforeseen freak on the part of poor Ma.s.setti. There was no occasion for their services, however, and the Viscount was soon safely installed in the coupe with Valentine upon one side of him and her husband upon the other.

After a brief drive, during which Giovanni, who seemed to have lost all comprehension of the presence of any one save Valentine, remained quietly gazing at her, the vehicle drew up in front of the insane asylum.

Ma.s.setti was induced to enter the inst.i.tution without the slightest trouble. Maximilian thereupon made all the necessary arrangements, and the young man was placed in comfortable quarters. The physician who examined him stated that his case was not beyond hope.

CHAPTER XX.

THE ISLE OF MONTE-CRISTO.

At the appointed time the Count of Monte-Cristo and Zuleika, accompanied by Ali, Peppino and Beppo, the two Italians attired in the traveling garb of French servants, left Paris for Ma.r.s.eilles. On their arrival at the latter city they proceeded immediately to the harbor, where Monte-Cristo's yacht awaited them in obedience to instructions telegraphed by the Count to the Captain of the craft, whose name was Vincenzo, and who was a son of Jacopo, the former smuggler, long in command of the ill-fated Alcyon, lost in the frightful storm and volcanic disturbance in the Mediterranean some years before. The present yacht was a new and superb vessel, as fleet and as beautiful as a bird.

It was fitted up in the most complete manner; the cabin, superbly carpeted and furnished, was hung with elaborately wrought, costly tapestry, while here and there on the walls were curiously arrayed cl.u.s.ters of ancient barbaric weapons gathered from the site of old Carthage, the ruins of historic Babylon and even from the crumbling tombs of those redoubtable warriors who far back in the dim ages of antiquity had defended distant Cathay against the incursions of the fierce Tartar hordes. The yacht was named the Haydee in honor of the loving and devoted Greek slave, the mother of Esperance and Zuleika, who had filled such an important part in Monte-Cristo's life and had left behind her such tender memories.

As soon as the Count and his little party were safely on board the craft it set sail, gliding swiftly out upon the wide, sparkling expanse of water. Monte-Cristo and Zuleika stood upon the deck, conversing pleasantly and enjoying the ever-changing panorama presented to their gaze. The Haydee glided swiftly past the ile Ratonneau, conspicuous by reason of its towering lighthouse; then came the Pointe des Catalans, with its beach where Mercedes had once dwelt and where the unfortunate sailor Dantes had seen the light in her chamber window on that memorable night when he was being conducted to captivity. At length a black and frowning rock rose before them, surmounted by a gloomy fortress. As he caught sight of this dismal crag, Monte-Cristo knitted his brows and through his clenched teeth muttered an imprecation upon the tyranny of man.

"What is it that so moves you, father?" asked Zuleika, in a soft voice, gazing solicitously into his face.

"Look yonder, my child," replied the Count, with strong emotion; "the fortress upon that rock is the accursed Chateau d' If!"

Zuleika glanced at the fortress with a feeling of terror and dread. She knew the story of her father's long imprisonment and keen suffering in the dark dungeon of that forbidding pile, of his meetings with the Abbe Faria there and of his subsequent daring escape; but she knew nothing of what had pa.s.sed between the Abbe and the sailor Dantes relative to the famous treasure concealed by Cardinal Spada within the grottoes of the Isle of Monte-Cristo, the treasure that diverted from the grasp of Pope Alexander VI. had made the Count so enormously rich. On this topic her father had never yet seen fit to enlighten her. The sight of the Chateau d' If made her shudder and turn pale, though at the same time it fascinated and enchained her. She clung closely to Monte-Cristo and said, tremulously:

"Oh! what a frightful place it is! My very heart is chilled by its dismal aspect!"

"Dismal as it looks from here, my child," returned the Count, "it is a thousand times more so within! It is the chosen abode of gloom and despair!"

He gently put his daughter from him and gave way to a profound reverie in which he remained plunged for some moments. All the details of his imprisonment and the startling adventures that succeeded it pa.s.sed through his mind in rapid review, and an ardent, irresistible desire to revisit the locality where he had unearthed Spada's millions took entire possession of him. Suddenly he said to Captain Vincenzo:

"Make for the Isle of Monte-Cristo!"

"Aye, aye, Signor Count," answered the Captain, and the necessary orders were at once given. The Haydee, promptly obeying her helm, swung about swiftly and gracefully, instantly darting off in the direction of the famous island.

Zuleika, on hearing her father's command, cast upon him a look of astonishment and anxiety. She had expected that they would proceed directly to Italy and this change in the yacht's course betokened another programme.

"My child," said the Count, divining her thoughts, "I propose to stop at the Isle of Monte-Cristo only a few hours; the delay will not be important, especially as we can make up the time lost by crowding sail, while I wish to show you some spots intimately connected with my history that will interest you."

"I shall be delighted to visit the Isle of Monte-Cristo, father,"

replied Zuleika. "I have heard so much about it and its wonders. You have a mansion there, have you not?"

The Count smiled, as he answered:

"Not exactly a mansion, Zuleika, but something that might be made to serve as a subst.i.tute for one did we need a temporary refuge, though I greatly fear that from long neglect we shall find it at present in a most deplorable condition."

Zuleika's curiosity was now considerably excited. What could this mysterious residence, or, as her father quaintly styled it, this subst.i.tute for a mansion be like? What knowledge she possessed of the Isle of Monte-Cristo had been derived from fragmentary recitals made to her by Mercedes and her son Albert de Morcerf, but as neither of these informants had ever set foot upon the island their information was necessarily very vague, though it made up in the marvellous what it lacked in distinctness.

At length, towards afternoon, the rocky sh.o.r.e of the Isle of Monte-Cris...o...b..came visible. The Count's visage brightened as he saw it and a thrill of pleasure pa.s.sed through him. Though the Haydee was yet at a considerable distance he could plainly descry the lofty peak upon which he had stood and watched the smugglers depart in their tartane, La Jeune Amelie, on that eventful morning when, with his gun and pickaxe, he had started out to prosecute his search destined to be fraught with so much excitement and to be crowned with such a glorious, dazzling result. The golden sunlight fell full upon this peak and the surrounding ma.s.ses of stone, making them glitter as if encrusted with sparkling diamonds of great price. Here and there grew olive trees and stunted shrubs that stood out distinctly against the blue, cloudless sky; as the yacht drew nearer their green tints formed a striking contrast with the prevailing hue of the rocks, adding vastly to the picturesqueness of the wild and romantic scene presented.

"How beautiful the island looks!" exclaimed Zuleika, enthusiastically, as she leaned against the bulwarks of the vessel and gazed out over the sea.

"Yes," replied Monte-Cristo, who was standing beside her, "it does, indeed, look beautiful from here, but a closer view will dispel the charm for the island is nothing but a barren waste."

"What! Is it a desert?" asked Zuleika, in surprise.

"A perfect desert, my child," answered the Count, "uncultivated and uninhabited."

"Uninhabited!" cried Zuleika, gazing intently at the sh.o.r.e. "I certainly see life there! Look! What was that?"

"A wild goat leaping from one rock to another," returned Monte-Cristo, smiling. "The island is full of them. When I said it was uninhabited I meant by human beings."

The Haydee by this time had approached as near the island as possible; she was therefore anch.o.r.ed. The Count then ordered a boat lowered, into which he descended with Zuleika and Ali. A stout sailor took the rudder, two others grasped the oars, and, in a few minutes, a little cove was gained and the disembarkation effected.

"Men," said the Count, addressing the sailors, "you can now row back to the yacht. When you see me come upon the beach and wave my handkerchief thrice, return for us."

"Aye, aye, Signor Count," answered the c.o.xswain for the boat's crew. His words were accompanied by the fall of the oars and the boat shot off towards the Haydee.

"You are now on the Isle of Monte-Cristo," said the Count to Zuleika as he took her hand to lead her forward. "Prepare to see what you have termed its wonders!"

"They will, no doubt, prove wonders to me, at any rate," returned the girl, smiling.

The Nubian stood before his master with uncovered head, respectfully waiting for orders.

"Go in advance, Ali," said the Count, "and see that all is right."

The Nubian made a profound salaam in oriental fashion and hastened away.

The Count and his daughter leisurely followed. As they walked they disturbed hosts of gra.s.shoppers, that leaped with a whirring flutter of wings from the bushes and fled before them. This amused Zuleika, but she could not repress a cry of affright as now and then a green, repulsive looking lizard emerged from under the loose stones beneath her very feet and shot hastily away in search of a more secure hiding-place.

Occasionally, too, they saw wild goats that p.r.i.c.ked up their ears and stared at them with wide open eyes, then gathering themselves for a spring bounded off up the rocks and vanished.

At last Monte-Cristo and Zuleika came upon the Nubian, who had stopped beside a huge bowlder that seemed to have lain for ages where it had fallen from the cliffs above. A thick, bushy growth of wild myrtle and flowering thorn had sprung up around it, and its surface was covered with emerald hued moss. The Count and his daughter also stopped, the former glancing around him and at the vast stone with evident satisfaction.

"Nothing has been touched since I was here last," said he, as if to himself; then, turning to Ali, he added: "Unmask the entrance to the grottoes!"

The Nubian produced a rusty crowbar from some nook where he had evidently concealed it in the past, thrusting the point beneath the bowlder; then he exerted a strong, steady pressure upon the crowbar and the great rock slowly moved aside, disclosing a circular opening in the midst of which was a square flagstone bearing in its centre an iron ring. Into this ring Ali inserted his crowbar and with a mighty effort raised the flagstone from its place. A stairway descending apparently to the bowels of the earth was disclosed, and from the sombre depths escaped a flow of damp, mephitic air.

Zuleika drew back in affright. All that had pa.s.sed since they came to the bowlder was strange, bewildering and terrifying to her. Had the days of enchantment returned? Was Ali some potent wizard like Aladdin's pretended uncle in the old Arabian tale or was she simply under the dominion of some disordered dream? Her knees trembled beneath her and she moved as if to flee, but her father caught her by the arm and his smiling countenance rea.s.sured her.

"Fear nothing, Zuleika," he said, soothingly. "We are about to visit my subterranean palace. That is all."