Dantes glanced that way as he lifted the gourd to his mouth; then paused with hand in mid-air.
"Hollo! what's the matter at the Chateau d'If ?" said the captain.
A small white cloud, which had attracted Dantes' attention, crowned the summit of the bastion of the Chateau d'If.

At the same moment the faint report of a gun was heard.

The sailors looked at one another.
"What is this ?" asked the captain.
"A prisoner has escaped from the Chateau d'If, and they are firing the alarm gun," replied Dantes.

The captain glanced at him, but he had lifted the rum to his lips and was drinking it with so much composure, that suspicions, if the captain had any, died away.
"At any rate," murmured he, "if it be, so much the better, for I have made a rare acquisition." Under pretence of being fatigued, Dantes asked to take the helm; the steersman, glad to be relieved, looked at the captain, and the latter by a sign indicated that he might abandon it to his new comrade.

Dantes could thus keep his eyes on Marseilles.
"What is the day of the month ?" asked he of Jacopo, who sat down beside him.
"The 28th of February." "In what year ?" "In what year--you ask me in what year ?" "Yes," replied the young man, "I ask you in what year!" "You have forgotten then ?" "I got such a fright last night," replied Dantes, smiling, "that I have almost lost my memory.