The Count of Monte Cristo

Digging the Level

Faria reveals his escape plan: a scale drawing of both cells and the passage between them. He proposes to drive a level, as miners do, beneath the gallery where the sentry patrols. There, a large excavation would so thoroughly loosen one of the paving stones that the soldier would plunge through, stunned and helpless, to be bound and gagged by Dantès before he could resist. From a gallery window, the rope-ladder would then carry them over the outer walls to freedom.

Hiding the Excavation

The miners labor with vigor born of long rest and brightening hope. Their only constraint is timing: each must return to his cell before the turnkey’s visits, and they have learned to detect his almost imperceptible footsteps in advance. The fresh earth from the excavation, which would have blocked the old passage, is pulverized so finely that the night wind carries it away from the windows of either cell, leaving the smallest trace impossible to discover.

Fifteen Months of Labor

More than a year is consumed in the undertaking, worked with nothing but a chisel, a knife, and a wooden lever. Yet the labor is not purely physical; throughout, Faria continues instructing Dantès, conversing in various languages and recounting the histories of nations and famous men. A man of the world who once moved in the highest society, Faria imparts to Dantès a melancholy dignity, outward polish, and the courteous polish of one bred among persons of high birth.

The Sentry’s Trap

At last, after fifteen months, the level is finished and the excavation complete beneath the gallery; the two men can clearly hear the measured tread of the sentinel overhead. They must wait for a sufficiently dark night for the final attempt, but their greatest fear is premature collapse of the doomed flagstone. To guard against this, they prop it up with a small beam discovered in the walls during their tunneling. Dantès is arranging this timber when he hears Faria’s cry of distress from his cell.