nt 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, a