The Count of Monte Cristo

Grave Diggers Retrieve the Corpse

The two grave diggers enter Dantès’s cell, lift the sack containing him, and comment on the unexpected weight of the supposedly “old and thin” corpse. They decide not to tie the sack’s knot until they reach the cemetery, then place the bier carrying the sack on a hand-barrow and carry it out of the cell.

Journey to the Château d’If Cemetery

The grave diggers carry the bier through the prison, out into the cold night air where the mistral wind is blowing. They stop once so one digger can retrieve a spade, then continue up stairs toward the cemetery, with Dantès hearing the sound of waves crashing against the Château d’If’s rocky shore. The diggers joke crudely about the “abbé” getting wet in the bad weather, before reaching the designated burial spot at the cemetery.

Dantès Thrown into the Sea

The grave diggers swing the bier back and forth three times, then hurl it off the edge of the cemetery into the sea below. A 36-pound shot tied to Dantès’s feet drags him rapidly down into the cold, dark water, and he lets out a shrill cry that is immediately silenced by the waves.

The Sea as Château d’If’s Cemetery

Dantès is thrown into the sea, which serves as the unmarked, informal cemetery for prisoners who die or are disposed of at the Château d’If.

第二十一章 The Island of Tiboulen

Chapter 21. The Island of Tiboulen follows Edmond Dantès immediately after his fellow prisoners hurl him into the sea bound inside a weighted sack. Through a combination of luck, physical prowess, and his prepared knife, Dantès escapes drowning, swims a league through dark and storm-tossed waters, reaches the barren Island of Tiboulen, witnesses a fishing boat shattered against the rocks, and ultimately stages a desperate rescue that brings him aboard a Genoese tartan bound for Italy. Beginning as a flight from the Château d’If, the chapter becomes a series of narrow survivals—against the sack, the sea, the tempest, the wreck, and his own exhaustion—each one carrying him further from his prison and closer to a new identity as a free man at sea. This excerpt opens Chapter 21: The Island of Tiboulen, following Edmond Dantès immediately after his escape from the Château d’If, as he travels aboard a merchant tartan bound for Leghorn.