st the wall, and he will cease to work,
in order to find out who is knocking, and why he does so; but as his
occupation is sanctioned by the governor, he will soon resume it. If, on
the contrary, it is a prisoner, the noise I make will alarm him, he will
cease, and not begin again until he thinks every one is asleep."

Edmond rose again, but this time his legs did not tremble, and his sight
was clear; he went to a corner of his dungeon, detached a stone, and
with it knocked against the wall where the sound came. He struck thrice.
At the first blow the sound ceased, as if by magic.

Edmond listened intently; an hour passed, two hours passed, and no sound
was heard from the wall--all was silent there.

Full of hope, Edmond swallowed a few mouthfuls of bread and water,
and, thanks to the vigor of his constitution, found himself well-nigh
recovered.

The day passed away in utter silence--night came without recurrence of
the noise.

"It is a prisoner," said Edmond joyfully. The night passed in perfect
silence. Edmond did not close his eyes.

In the morning the jailer brought him fresh provisions--he had already
devoured those of the previous day; he ate these listening anxiously for
the sound, walking round and round his cell, shaking the iron bars of
the loophole, restoring vigor and agility to his limbs by exercise, and
so preparing himself for his future destiny. At intervals he listened
to learn if the noise had not begun again, and grew impatient at the
prudence of the prisoner, who did not guess he had been disturbed by a
captive as anxious for liberty as himself.

Three days passed--seventy-two long tedious hours which he counted off
by minutes!

At length one evening, as the jailer was visiting him for the last time
that night, Dantes, with his ear for the hundredth time at the wall,
fancied he heard an almost imperceptible movement among the stones. He
moved away, walked up and down his cell to collect his thoughts, and
then went back and listened.

The matter was no longer doubtful. Something was at work on the other
side of the wall; the prisoner had discovered the danger, and had
substituted a lever for a chisel.

Encouraged by this discovery, Edmond determined to assist the
indefatigable laborer. He began by moving his bed, and looked around
for anything with which he could pierce the wall, penetrate the moist
cement, and displace a stone.

He saw nothing, he had no knife or sharp instrument, the w