The Count of Monte Cristo

Confirmation of a Prisoner

Confirmation of a Prisoner Seventy-two tedious hours later, Edmond hears an almost imperceptible movement of stones on the other side. The laborer has substituted a lever for a chisel; it is indeed a fellow prisoner.

Dantès Resolves to Help

Dantès Resolves to Help Encouraged, Edmond determines to assist the worker. He searches his meager furnishings—a bed, chair, table, pail, and jug—for any tool capable of piercing the wall, but finds nothing suitable.

Breaking the Jug

Breaking the Jug Having no knife or implement, Dantès smashes his jug and hides the sharpest shards in his bed, intending to use one to dig at the wall. He tells the jailer the jug simply fell from his hands, and the careless jailer brings a replacement without removing the fragments.

CHAPITRE 15. Number 34 and Number 27

Chapter 15, “Number 34 and Number 27,” continues Edmond Dantès’ efforts to escape from the Château d’If. After realizing he had been attacking stone rather than removing the surrounding plaster, Dantès adapts his approach, cleverly obtains a saucepan handle to use as a lever, and makes significant progress excavating his cell wall. His work is interrupted when he encounters a blocking beam, leading to a moment of despair. The chapter’s pivotal event occurs when Dantès hears a voice from beneath the earth—Prisoner No. 27, an older inmate who has been digging his own tunnel. After exchanging information and pledging mutual trust, No. 27 reveals he took a wrong angle in his excavation, coming up fifteen feet short of the outer wall. Despite this setback, the two prisoners agree to collaborate, and No. 27 finally enters Dantès’ cell, ending the young man’s years of solitary confinement.

Dantès Discovers Excavation Error

Dantès realizes upon examining his cell by faint light that he labored uselessly the previous evening. Instead of removing the plaster that surrounded the stone, he attacked the stone itself, wasting his efforts on the wrong material.

Plaster Removal and Progress Calculation

Discovering that the damp had rendered the plaster friable, Dantès is able to break it off in small morsels. In about half an hour, he scrapes off a handful. A mathematician would calculate that at this rate, supposing no rock is encountered, a passage twenty feet long and two feet broad could be formed in two years.

Lamenting Wasted Years of Imprisonment

Dantès reproaches himself bitterly for not having employed his hours more productively. During the six years of his imprisonment, he reflects on what he might have accomplished had he used the time for work rather than vain hopes, prayer, and despondency. This realization imparts new energy to his efforts.

Exposing the Wall’s Embedded Hewn Stone

In three days, exercising the utmost precaution, Dantès succeeds in removing all the cement and exposing the stonework beneath. The wall is built of rough stones, but blocks of hewn stone are embedded at intervals to provide structural strength. Dantès has uncovered one of these hewn stones, which he must now remove from its socket.

Failed Stone Removal with Nails

Dantès attempts to remove the hewn stone using his fingernails, but they prove too weak. Fragments of the jug also break. After an hour of useless toil, he pauses with anguish on his brow, confronted by the question of whether he is to be stopped at the beginning and forced to wait inactive for his fellow workman to complete his task.

Plotting to Acquire the Saucepan Handle

An idea suddenly occurs to Dantès, and he smiles with relief as the perspiration dries on his forehead. He recalls that the jailer always brings his soup in an iron saucepan, which holds portions for both prisoners depending on the order of service. Dantès would have given ten years of his life in exchange for the saucepan’s iron handle.

Tricking the Jailer into Leaving the Saucepan

Dantès devises a scheme to trick the jailer into leaving the saucepan behind. He places his plate on the ground near the door; the jailer steps on it and breaks it upon entering. Unable to blame Dantès, the jailer grudgingly accepts Dantès’ suggestion to leave the saucepan and retrieve it at breakfast, sparing himself another trip.