Iron County news. [volume] (Hurley, Wis.) 1913-1950, 1921-04-16

sailor who had been So suddenly
ierked from the gayety of a marriage
feast to the gloom Of a dungeon. lie
was a man of the .worid--educated,
cynical
One night he heard a cry of anguish
lIurriedly he rolled aside the great
stone that concealed the tunnel open,
ing, crawled swiftly 10 his neighbours
cell. lie found him writing in agony.
AT dawn he was dead.
That night Edmond carried the
corpse TO his own cell and laid it on
his own bed, face to the wall. SO that
the iailer would think II Edmond
ASLEEP. Secreting a crude knife with
which to effect an escape, he Their
Sewed himself into the coarse sack in
which the jailers had put the body
Two men later bore out the supposed
corpse. weighted the legs with a great
iron ball. and swung the sack power
fully. Edmond suddenly realized that
he was falling from a great height. He
had been flung from the chateau roof
into the sea.
He screamed aloud as he struck the
water and then the weight dragged him
into the ice-cold depths. lie ripped
open the sack, convulsively cut the
rope that was knotted TO the shot. and
rose to the surface. He had not for
gotten how to swim. He struck out
in the blackneSs for an islet Just rs
he was losing hope. his knee struck
rock. He staggered to his feet and
above him rose a gloomy mass, his
goal.
At daybreak he flung himself into
the sea and was pulled aboard ali out
ward-bound bark. Each moment Mar
settles receded further into the dis
tance. He learned from his shipmates
that it was February IS, 1929 He had
been shut away from the world for IA
years. He wondered what had become
of Mercedes. Then he thought of
Danglars. Fernand and Niuefort. A
baleful light tlickered in his hard eyes.
Edmond had fallen in with a band
Of SmugglerS On one of their voy-
ages, he gazed eagerly at a granite
mass rOse-hued in the dawn, 1t was
Monte Cristo A few weeks later
chance brought him to the island.
None of his comrades suspected the
lelping thoughts THAI thronged IN Ed
mond's mind, They were simple folk
easily deceived. Edmond fell from
rock and complained that he was SC
| hurt that he could not move. He was
confident, he insisted that he GOULD
! cure himself II he were left here. Al
+ last they sailed away, When the boat
was out Of sight. he leaped to his feet
/ seized his pickaX. and cried open
( Sesame He was alone on Monte
CriSto.
Following the clues of the Abbe's
ancient manuscript he located the
great slab Of rock, overgrown with veg
citation. He slashed at the edges with
/ his pickax and made a hole With his
/ horn of powder, he easily blasted the
| rock away. Before him was an iron
ring embedded in a hagstone. He
raised it and saw flight of stairs
/ With hope mingled with a strange mis-
/ giving. he descended broke open %
! passage into an inner cave, aud due
away the earth over an oak Golfer
/ bound with iron. lie burst II oper
/ and there blazed gold coins. bars Of
I gold diamonds rubies ana pearls that
/ glittered in glorious profuSion.
When Edmond came hack to France
( it was as the count of Monte CriSto-
| fabulously wealthy romantic in ap
! pearance performer of miracles. His
! betrayers had risen 10 heights Of fame
and affluence. Dauelars was q
wealthy banker; Fenand m honorec
warrior: Yilcfort high in office. Mer
cedes. believing Edmond dead, has
/ yielded to Fernand's importunatt
! pleadings and had married him
Zeaiously did the count of Monte
/ CrlstO devote his days and nights tC
ruin these three Usually it was II
/ his own unrecognized personality tina
/ he dazzled Paris with his feastS, hi
extravagances. his prodigal OUTLAWS
! Everyone paid court to this mysteri
/ Gus stranger who rained gold ahou
! him. Sometimes he disguised himself
now as the Able Busoni, now as the
/ Italian Zazzone. now as the FngljSl
Lord Wilmore, now as Slubad the
sailor.
! He tortured Danglars Fernand
! VilIefort methodically and yet So
/ skilfully that they did not know the
/ hand that directed the blows chat fell
/ upon them. Piece by piece Daugars
/ fortune was Topped away. Al last he
( was beggared. the bitterest blow thai
/ could have befallen him Fernald. en-
meshed slowly in revelations Of his
guilty past, finally New ont his brains
I Vilefort his crimes dragged into tho
light Of day. went ravlng mad Mcr
cedes, made poor but happy in the
love Of her devoted son, lived on, pen.
/ itent.
Yet were there those whom Monte
/ Cristo rewarded The noble Morrei
/ his former employer was saved from