Bellegarde to Beaucaire, at the sign of the Pont du Gard. We had thus,
at Aigues-Mortes, Martigues, or Bouc, a dozen places where we left our
goods, and where, in case of necessity, we concealed ourselves from the
gendarmes and custom-house officers. Smuggling is a profitable trade,
when a certain degree of vigor and intelligence is employed; as for
myself, brought up in the mountains, I had a double motive for fearing
the gendarmes and custom-house officers, as my appearance before the
judges would cause an inquiry, and an inquiry always looks back into the
past. And in my past life they might find something far more grave than
the selling of smuggled cigars, or barrels of brandy without a permit.
So, preferring death to capture, I accomplished the most astonishing
deeds, and which, more than once, showed me that the too great care we
take of our bodies is the only obstacle to the success of those projects
which require rapid decision, and vigorous and determined execution. In
reality, when you have once devoted your life to your enterprises,
you are no longer the equal of other men, or, rather, other men are no
longer your equals, and whosoever has taken this resolution, feels his
strength and resources doubled."
"Philosophy, M. Bertuccio," interrupted the Count; "you have done a
little of everything in your life."
"Oh, excellency!"
"No, no; but philosophy at half-past ten at night is somewhat late; yet
I have no other observation to make, for what you say is correct, which
is more than can be said for all philosophy."
"My journeys became more and more extensive and more productive. Assunta
took care of all, and our little fortune increased. One day as I was
setting off on an expedition, 'Go,' said she; 'at your return I will
give you a surprise.' I questioned her, but in vain; she would tell me
nothing, and I departed. Our expedition lasted nearly six weeks; we had
been to Lucca to take in oil, to Leghorn for English cottons, and we
ran our cargo without opposition, and returned home full of joy. When I
entered the house, the first thing I beheld in the middle of Assunta's
chamber was a cradle that might be called sumptuous compared with the
rest of the furniture, and in it a baby seven or eight months old. I
uttered a cry of joy; the only moments of sadness I had known since the
assassination of the procureur were caused by the recollection that I
had abandoned this child. For the assassination itself I had never
felt any remorse. Poor Assunta had guessed all. She had profited by my
absence, and furnished with the half of the linen, and having written
down the day and hour at which I had deposited the child at the asylum,
had set off for Paris, and had reclaimed it. No objection was raised,
and the infant was given up to her. Ah, I confess, your excellency, when
I saw this poor creature sleeping peacefully in its cradle, I felt my
eyes filled with tears. 'Ah, Assunta,' cried I, 'you are an excellent
woman, and heaven will bless you.'"
"This," said Monte Cristo, "is less correct than your philosophy,--it is
only faith."
"Alas, your excellency is right," replied Bertuccio, "and God made this
infant the instrument of our punishment. Never did a perverse nature
declare itself more prematurely, and yet it was not owing to any fault
in his bringing up. He was a most lovely child, with large blue eyes, of
that deep color that harmonizes so well with the blond complexion; only
his hair, which was too light, gave his face a most singular expression,
and added to the vivacity of his look, and the malice of his smile.
Unfortunately, there is a proverb which says that 'red is either
altogether good or altogether bad.' The proverb was but too correct
as regarded Benedetto, and even in his infancy he manifested the
worst disposition. It is true that the indulgence of his foster-mother
encouraged him. This child, for whom my poor sister would go to the
town, five or six leagues off, to purchase the earliest fruits and
the most tempting sweetmeats, preferred to Palma grapes or Genoese
preserves, the chestnuts stolen from a neighbor's orchard, or the dried
apples in his loft, when he could eat as well of the nuts and apples
that grew in my garden. One day, when Benedetto was about five or six,
our neighbor Vasilio, who, according to the custom of the country, never
locked up his purse or his valuables--for, as your excellency knows,
there are no thieves in Corsica--complained that he had lost a louis
out of his purse; we thought he must have made a mistake in counting
his money, but he persisted in the accuracy of his statement. One day,
Benedetto, who had been gone from the house since morning, to our great
anxiety, did not return until late in the evening, dragging a monkey
after him, which he said he had found chained to the foot of a tree. For
more than a month past, the mischievous child, who knew not what to wish
for, had taken it into his head to have a monkey. A boatman, who had
passed by Rogliano, and who had several of these animals, whose tricks
had greatly diverted him, had, doubtless, suggested this idea to him.
'Monkeys are not found in our woods chained to trees,' said I; 'confess
how you obtained this animal.' Benedetto maintained the truth of what
he had said, and accompanied it with details that did more honor to his
imagination than to his veracity. I became angry; he began to laugh, I
threatened to strike him, and he made two steps backwards. 'You cannot
beat me,' said he; 'you have no right, for you are not my father.'
"We never knew who had revealed this fatal secret, which we had so
carefully concealed from him; however, it was this answer, in which the
child's whole character revealed itself, that almost terrified me, and
my arm fell without touching him. The boy triumphed, and this victory
rendered him so audacious, that all the money of Assunta, whose
affection for him seemed to increase as he became more unworthy of it,
was spent in caprices she knew not how to contend against, and follies
she had not the courage to prevent. When I was at Rogliano everything
went on properly, but no sooner was my back turned than Benedetto became
master, and everything went ill. When he was only eleven, he chose his
companions from among the young men of eighteen or twenty, the worst
characters in Bastia, or, indeed, in Corsica, and they had already,
for some mischievous pranks, been several times threatened with a
prosecution. I became alarmed, as any prosecution might be attended with
serious consequences. I was compelled, at this period, to leave Corsica
on an important expedition; I reflected for a long time, and with the
hope of averting some impending misfortune, I resolved that Benedetto
should accompany me. I hoped that the active and laborious life of a
smuggler, with the severe discipline on board, would have a salutary
effect on his character, which was now well-nigh, if not quite, corrupt.
I spoke to Benedetto alone, and proposed to him to accompany me,
endeavoring to tempt him by all the promises most likely to dazzle the
imagination of a child of twelve. He heard me patiently, and when I had
finished, burst out laughing.
"'Are you mad, uncle?' (he called me by this name when he was in good
humor); 'do you think I am going to change the life I lead for your mode
of existence--my agreeable indolence for the hard and precarious toil
you impose on yourself, exposed to the bitter frost at night, and the
scorching heat by day, compelled to conceal yourself, and when you are
perceived, receive a volley of bullets, all to earn a paltry sum? Why, I
have as much money as I want; mother Assunta always furnishes me when I
ask for it! You see that I should be a fool to accept your offer.' The
arguments, and his audacity, perfectly stupefied me. Benedetto rejoined
his associates, and I saw him from a distance point me out to them as a
fool."
"Sweet child," murmured Monte Cristo.
"Oh, had he been my own son," replied Bertuccio, "or even my nephew, I
would have brought him back to the right road, for the knowledge that
you are doing your duty gives you strength, but the idea that I was
striking a child whose father I had killed, made it impossible for me
to punish him. I gave my sister, who constantly defended the unfortunate
boy, good advice, and as she confessed that she had several times missed
money to a considerable amount, I showed her a safe place in which to
conceal our little treasure for the future. My mind was already made
up. Benedetto could read, write, and cipher perfectly, for when the fit
seized him, he learned more in a day than others in a week. My intention
was to enter him as a clerk in some ship, and without letting him know
anything of my plan, to convey him some morning on board; by this means
his future treatment would depend upon his own conduct. I set off for
France, after having fixed upon the plan. Our cargo was to be landed in
the Gulf of Lyons, and this was a difficult thing to do because it was
then the year 1829. The most perfect tranquillity was restored, and
the vigilance of the custom-house officers was redoubled, and their
strictness was increased at this time, in consequence of the fair at
Beaucaire.
"Our expedition made a favorable beginning. We anchored our
vessel--which had a double hold, where our goods were concealed--amidst
a number of other vessels that bordered the banks of the Rhone from
Beaucaire to Arles. On our arrival we began to discharge our cargo in
the night, and to convey it into the town, by the help of the inn-keeper
with whom we were connected. Whether success rendered us imprudent,
or whether we were betrayed, I know not; but one evening, about five
o'clock, our little cabin-boy came breathlessly, to inform us that
he had seen a detachment of custom-house officers advancing in our
direction. It was not their proximity that alarmed us, for detachments
were constantly patrolling along the banks of the Rhone, but the care,
according to the boy's account, that they took to avoid being seen. In
an instant we were on the alert, but it was too late; our vessel was
surrounded, and amongst the custom-house officers I observed several
gendarmes, and, as terrified at the sight of their uniforms as I was
brave at the sight of any other, I sprang into the hold, opened a
port, and dropped into the river, dived, and only rose at intervals to
breathe, until I reached a ditch that had recently been made from the
Rhone to the canal that runs from Beaucaire to Aigues-Mortes. I was now
safe, for I could swim along the ditch without being seen, and I reached
the canal in safety. I had designedly taken this direction. I have
already told your excellency of an inn-keeper from Nimes who had set up
a little tavern on the road from Bellegarde to Beaucaire."
"Yes," said Monte Cristo "I perfectly recollect him; I think he was your
colleague."
"Precisely," answered Bertuccio; "but he had, seven or eight years
before this period, sold his establishment to a tailor at Marseilles,
who, having almost ruined himself in his old trade, wished to make his
fortune in another. Of course, we made the same arrangements with the
new landlord that we had with the old; and it was of this man that I
intended to ask shelter."
"What was his name?" inquired the count, who seemed to become somewhat
interested in Bertuccio's story.
"Gaspard Caderousse; he had married a woman from the village of
Carconte, and whom we did not know by any other name than that of her
village. She was suffering from malarial fever, and seemed dying by
inches. As for her husband, he was a strapping fellow of forty, or five
and forty, who had more than once, in time of danger, given ample proof
of his presence of mind and courage."
"And you say," interrupted Monte Cristo "that this took place towards
the year"--
"1829, your excellency."
"In what month?"
"June."
"The beginning or the end?"
"The evening of the 3d."
"Ah," said Monte Cristo "the evening of the 3d of June, 1829. Go on."
"It was from Caderousse that I intended demanding shelter, and, as we
never entered by the door that opened onto the road, I resolved not
to break through the rule, so climbing over the garden-hedge, I crept
amongst the olive and wild fig trees, and fearing that Caderousse might
have some guest, I entered a kind of shed in which I had often passed
the night, and which was only separated from the inn by a partition, in
which holes had been made in order to enable us to watch an opportunity
of announcing our presence. My intention was, if Caderousse was alone,
to acquaint him with my presence, finish the meal the custom-house
officers had interrupted, and profit by the threatened storm to return
to the Rhone, and ascertain the state of our vessel and its crew. I
stepped into the shed, and it was fortunate I did so, for at that moment
Caderousse entered with a stranger.
"I waited patiently, not to overhear what they said, but because I could
do nothing else; besides, the same thing had occurred often before. The
man who was with Caderousse was evidently a stranger to the South of
France; he was one of those merchants who come to sell jewellery at
the Beaucaire fair, and who during the month the fair lasts, and during
which there is so great an influx of merchants and customers from all
parts of Europe, often have dealings to the amount of 100,000 to 150,000
francs. Caderousse entered hastily. Then, seeing that the room was,
as usual, empty, and only guarded by the dog, he called to his wife,
'Hello, Carconte,' said he, 'the worthy priest has not deceived us; the
diamond is real.' An exclamation of joy was heard, and the staircase
creaked beneath a feeble step. 'What do you say?' asked his wife, pale
