Eighteen

TREASURE-SEEKING

The sun was at noon. Edmond climbed down from the rock with careful steps, for he was afraid that he might really fall, as he had pretended to do.

He again followed the line of marks on the stones. He noticed now that they started from a little bay, just large enough to hold a small ship such as Prince Spada might have used. They ended at the large round rock. But, thought Edmond, how was it possible that Prince Spada should have lifted a rock of such weight into this place. Twenty men could not have done it. And, if this was not the rock, then where could the place be?

Suddenly a thought came to him. Instead of raising it into its place, they may have let it fall. He sprang from the rock to look at the ground above it. There were clear signs that a deep course had once been cut there, down which the rock had moved. A large stone (now almost hidden by the grass) had been placed so as to stop it and hold it in its present place. The holes round the edges where the rock did not fit perfectly, had been built in with small stones and earth.

Dantes cut away these small stones at the top, and after ten minutes he was able to put his arm into the hole. He took his axe and cut down the strongest tree he could find; he cut away the branches. Then he put one end into the hole and pulled on the other with all his strength. The rock moved! Again he pulled; it rose from its place, and then fell back again. Dantes rested. Then he decided to give a last and greatest pull of all. The rock rose up from its place; it rolled down the hill, and seemed to spring into the sea.

At the place where it had been, Dantes saw a large square stone, and a ring in the centre of it.

Dantes gave a cry of joy and surprise. He waited for a minute to gain his strength. Then he put the end of his tree into the ring, and pressed down the other end. The stone was raised. He saw steps going down into the darkness of an underground room.

"Has anyone been here before?" thought Dantes. "Perhaps Caesar Borgia himself? But would he have wasted the time to put back the great rock? I will go down."

Instead of the darkness which he had expected to find, there was a dim blue light, and the air was fresh. Both light and air entered through small holes in the rock above his head. Looking up through them he could see the blue sky and the waving branches of trees.

After standing there for a few minutes his eyes, well used to darkness, could see the farthest corner of the place. There was nothing in it, but its walls were of stone, and they glimmered like jewels.

"Ah," said Edmond, "that is all the treasure Prince Spada left, and Faria, seeing in a dream these glimmering walls, has been filled with foolish hopes."

Then he remembered the words of the letter, "Break through into the second room." This was the first room: he must now seek for the second.

He began to strike the wall with his axe. At one place the sound seemed to be a little different. He hit it again with greater force. Then a strange thing happened. What had looked like hard rock, broke and fell away easily, showing behind it a wall built of square white stones. The opening had been built up at this place and painted to look like the rock.

At this point Dantes' strength seemed to leave him. He put the axe on the ground and passed his hand across his face. He almost fell to the ground. He went up the steps. All lay quiet in the bright sunlight. He could see only a few fishing boats far off on the blue ocean. He had had no food for hours; yet he did not feel hunger. He ate a little bread and took a drink from his jar. Then he returned. The axe seemed less heavy. He saw that the wall which stood in front of him was made only of stones laid one upon another. He pulled them off one by one.

At last Dantes could enter the second room. It was smaller and darker than the other. The air had an earthy smell. He waited a little for fresh air to find its way in; then he entered.

There was a dark corner at the left of the opening; but to the eyes of Dantes there was no darkness. He looked round this second room; it was like the first. There was nothing in it.

The treasure, if there was any, must be hidden in that dark corner.

The time had arrived. When he had raised two feet of earth he would learn the truth. He went to the corner and with all his strength began the work. Suddenly the axe fell upon something hard. Even the great bell of Chateau d'If did not move the heart of Dantes as that sound. If he had found nothing, his face could not have become whiter. He raised his arms to strike again: again the same sound.

"It is a great box, made of wood, with strong bands round it," he said at last.

Just then a shadow passed quickly before the opening. Dantes seized his axe, sprang through the opening, and ran up the steps. It was only some animal. He could see the marks of its feet. It was eating quietly among the trees on the left.

He stood in thought. Then he took a dry branch and set fire to it, and went down again. He wished to see all. As he drew near to the hole, he saw that it was indeed the top of a box, with bands on it, that he had uncovered. He fixed the branch in the ground. Then he quickly made a space clear, about three feet long by two feet broad. In the middle of the box there was a piece of silver set into the wood. There was something drawn upon the silver: it was the mark of the Spada family.

There was no longer any doubt that the treasure was there. No one would have taken such trouble to hide a box if there were nothing in it.

He cut away the earth round the box. Then he tried to lift it; it was not possible. He tried to open it: there was no key. He took his axe to break it open. The top came away, for the wood was old and soft.

Dantes stepped back. He closed his eyes as children do when they look at the thousands of stars on a bright clear night. He opened them again, and stood as if in a dream.

The box was separated by thin boards into three parts. In the first part were pieces of gold of many different dates and countries; most of them bore the head of Pope Alexander, ruler of Rome in the time of Prince Spada. In the second part were bars of gold. In the third part Edmond seized handfuls of jewels, which as they fell on one another, sounded like winter rain upon the window.

After having touched, felt, looked at these treasures, Edmond ran back to the steps like a man seized with madness. He sprang up onto a rock from which he could see the sea. He was alone, alone with these unnumbered, unheard-of treasures! Was he awake, or was it but a dream?

And then he became quieter. He fell on his knees and lifted up his hands in a prayer to God.

Evening was coming on. A piece of bread and a mouthful of water were all the dinner he needed. He fell asleep lying over the opening of the treasure room.