The Count of Monte Cristo

Initial Imprisonment and Nighttime Escort

Dantès is first transferred from the court to a grim prison cell after his arrest, spending hours locked in darkness clinging to the hope of release based on Villefort’s earlier assurances. Later that night, gendarmes return to escort him out of the cell and place him in a locked carriage for transport.

Transfer from Court to Prison Cell

After being processed at the Palais de Justice, Dantès is marched through long, shadowy corridors flanked by gendarmes to the grim prison building overlooking the Accoules clock tower. A gendarme uses an iron mallet to knock three times on the iron-wicket door, which opens to admit Dantès before slamming shut behind him, sealing him in the foul, thick air of the prison. He is placed in a neat but grated cell, still convinced of his imminent release.

Midnight Escort by Carriage

After hours of waiting in his cell in alternating hope and despair, gendarmes arrive at 10 PM with torches to escort Dantès out. He climbs into a police carriage accompanied by two gendarmes, and the carriage travels through the streets of Marseilles toward the quay, passing the Rue Caisserie, Rue Saint-Laurent, and Rue Taramis, until it stops at the La Consigne guardhouse on the waterfront.

Boat Journey to the Château d’If

Dantès is transferred from the carriage to a small boat manned by four oarsmen, with a police officer and gendarmes accompanying him. The boat travels out of the harbor, passing the Point des Catalans where Mercédès lives, and Dantès briefly considers shouting to her before pride stops him. He learns from a gendarme that their destination is the Château d’If, makes a failed attempt to jump overboard to escape, and is subdued at gunpoint before being forced to continue the journey to the fortress.