all to follow my example; to cling further to the wreck is death!"

With these words the Count made his way to a gap in the bulwarks and,
grasping Haydee tightly, leaped with her into the midst of the angry
sea. Ali followed his master, and soon they were seen far in the
distance, struggling and battling with the waves.

CHAPTER II.

THE ISLAND.

It was the month of December, but on the little Island of Salmis in the
Grecian Archipelago the temperature was as mild and genial as that of
June. The grass was rank and thick, while the blooming almond trees
filled the atmosphere with fragrance. On a narrow strip of sandy beach
three or four fishermen were preparing their nets and boats for a
fishing expedition to the waters beyond. They chatted as they toiled.
The eldest of them, a man about sixty, with silvered locks and a long
gray beard, said:

"You may talk of storms as much as you please, but I maintain that the
most severe tempest ever experienced in this neighborhood was the one I
witnessed ten years ago last October, when we had the earthquake and the
strange man, who now owns this island, was washed ashore."

"The Count of Monte-Cristo you mean?" remarked one of the party.

"Yes, the Count of Monte-Cristo, who has done so much for us all and
whose wife is nothing less than an angel of goodness and charity."

"You rescued him, did you not, Alexis?"

"I found him lying upon the beach, with the lady who is now his wife
tightly clasped in his arms, so tightly that I had no end of trouble to
separate them. Both were unconscious at the time, and no wonder, for the
sea was furious and they must have been dashed about at a fearful rate.
It was a miracle they escaped with their lives. Near them lay that
dark-skinned African, their servant, who styles himself Ali, as well as
the corpses of several sailors. The African, however, revived just as I
approached him. He's a man of iron, I tell you, for he immediately
leaped to his feet and helped me to restore his master and mistress.
When they came to, I took the whole party to my hut and cared for them.
The next day I rowed the Count and the African out to the wreck of their
vessel on that rock you see away over there, and they brought back with
them a fabulous amount of money and jewels that they found in the
strangest closets I ever saw in the cabin. Then the Count bought this
island and has lived here ever since. He took the lady to Athens and was
married t