The Meridian times. (Meridian, Idaho) 1909-1938, 1921-04-15

1 feast to the gloom of a dungeon, He
was man OF the worfd-educated
cynical
One night ne heard cry OF anguish.
Hurriedly he rolled aside the great
stone that concealed the tunnel open
ing, crawled swiftly to his nelghbor's
cell. He found him writhing 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 jailer would think 1t Edmond
asleep. Secreting a crude knife with
which to effect an escape, he then
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 failing 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. He ripped
open the sack, convnlsively 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 blnckness for an islet. Just as
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 an out
ward-bound bark. Each moment Mar
seilles receded further into the dis
lance. He learned from his shipmates
that 1t was February %, 1920. 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 Yillefort. A
baleful light fllckered In his hard eyes.
Edmond had fallen in with band
of smugglers. On one of their voy-
ages, he gazed eagerly at n 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
leaping thoughts that thronged in Ed
mond's mind. They were simple folk,
easily deceived. Edmond fell from
rock and complained that he was SO
hurt that he could not move. He was
confident, he insisted, that he could
cure himself If he We're left here. At
last they sailed away. When the boat
was out of sight, he leaped to his feet,
seized his pickax, and cried "0pen,
Sesamer 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 fiagstone. He
raised It and saw flight of stairs.
With hope mingled with strange mis-
giving, he descended, broke open a
passage into an inner cave, and dug
away the earth over an oak Golfer
bound with iron. He burst 1t open
and there blazed gold coins, bars of
gold, diamonds, rubies and pearls that
glittered in glorious profusiGn.
When Edmond came back to France,
It was as the count of Monte Cristo---
fabulously wealthy, romantic In APP
pearance, performer Of miracles. His
betrayers had risen to heights Of fame
and affluence. Danglars WAS a
wealthy banker; Fernand an honoreu
warrior; villefort high in office. Mer-
cedes, believing Edmond dead, had
yielded to Fernand's importunate
pleadings and had married HIM.
Zealously did the count of Monte
Cristo devote his days and nights to
| ruin these three. Usually It was in
his own unrecognized personality that
he dazzled Paris with his feasts, his
eStravagauces, his prodlgal OUTLAWS.
Everyone paid court TO this mysteri-
Gus stranger who rained gold about
him. Sometimes he disguised himself
NOW as the Able Busoni, now as the
| italian Zazzone, now as the English
Lord Wllmore, now as Sinbad the
| sailor.
He tortured Danglars, Fernand,
| yillefort, methodically and yet so
skilfully that they did not know the
hand that directed the blows that fell
upon them. Piece by piece Danglars'
fortune was Topped away. At last he
was beggared. the bitterest blow that
could have befallen him, Fernaid, en-
meshed slowly In revelations of his
guilty past, finally blew out his brains;
villefort, his crimes dragged into the
light OF day, went ravlng mad. Mer-
cedes, made poor, but happy In the
love of her devoted son, lived on. pen
itent.
Yet were there those whom Monte
Crlsto rewarded. The noble Morrel,
btS former. nmnloypP Was cnypd ft,onn