At the left of the opening was a dark and deep angle.

But to Dantes' eye there was no darkness.

He glanced around this second grotto; it was, like the first, empty.
The treasure, if it existed, was buried in this corner.

The time had at length arrived; two feet of earth removed, and Dantes' fate would be decided.

He advanced towards the angle, and summoning all his resolution, attacked the ground with the pickaxe.