Stories to remember - Chapter 11

YEARS OF HARD WORK

When he saw how his so-called friends had tricked him, Dante vowed to take revenge on them all.

But the priest shook his head sadly.

'It is wrong to think of revenge,' he said, 'I am sorry now that I helped you.'

The young man smiled bitterly.

'Let's talk of other things,' he said.

In the days that followed Faria did talk of many other things. Dante became interested. He wanted to learn. So, every day, Faria gave him lessons in mathematics, science, history, foreign languages, literature and medicine.

Dante already knew some Italian, and by the end of six months, he also began to speak Spanish, English and German.

After a year Dante knew so much on every subject, that no one would have thought that he was just a simple sailor. He was very quick to learn and the priest was a very clever teacher. Faria said that by the end of another year, Dante would know as much as he knew.

So time went on. About two years after their first meeting, the prisoners began to think again about escaping from the Chateau d'If. They planned to make a new tunnel, which would lead from the tunnel connecting their cells. It would go under a gallery where a sentry was on guard. Here they would make a pit. The paving covering the pit would give way when the sentry stepped upon it and he would fall into the tunnel. They would overpower the sentry and escape by lowering Faria's cotton ladder through a window down to the sea.

Although they were now working hard on the new tunnel, Faria continued to teach Dante. The young man became as learned as his friend. By talking every day to this gentle priest, Dante also lost his rough seaman's ways. He became polite, elegant and good-mannered  in the way that only those with the highest and best education usually become.

After almost another two years their tunneling came to a sudden end. The Abbe Faria fell ill. He had a sudden attack and became almost helpless. He begged Dante to continue the work alone and to escape by himself, but the young man would not think of leaving his old friend. He was determined to stay with him until he was well again. If they could not escape together, then he did not wish to escape at all. So there was no more tunneling.

Faria was surprised by the young man's devotion and friendship. He began to look upon him as his son. And so he decided to share with him the secret of his 'fortune'.