Upon his answer in the affirmative, the sailors exchanged a few words together in a low tone.
"Well," asked he, "what now?
Is there any difficulty in the way ?" "No." replied the captain, "but we must warn your excellency that the island is an infected port." "What do you mean ?" "Monte Cristo although uninhabited, yet serves occasionally as a refuge for the smugglers and pirates who come from Corsica, Sardinia, and Africa, and if it becomes known that we have been there, we shall have to perform quarantine for six days on our return to Leghorn." "The deuce! That puts a different face on the matter.

Six days! Why, that's as long as the Almighty took to make the world! Too long a wait--too long." "But who will say your excellency has been to Monte Cristo ?" "Oh, I shall not," cried Franz.
"Nor I, nor I," chorused the sailors.
"Then steer for Monte Cristo." The captain gave his orders, the helm was put up, and the boat was soon sailing in the direction of the island.

Franz waited until all was in order, and when the sail was filled, and the four sailors had taken their places--three forward, and one at the helm--he resumed the conversation.

"Gaetano," said he to the captain, "you tell me Monte Cristo serves as a refuge for pirates, who are, it seems to me, a very different kind of game from the goats." "Yes, your excellency, and it is true." "I knew there were smugglers, but I thought that since the capture of Algiers, and the destruction of the regency, pirates existed only in the romances of Cooper and Captain Marryat." "Your excellency is mistaken; there are pirates, like the bandits who were believed to have been exterminated by Pope Leo XII., and who yet, every day, rob travellers at the gates of Rome.

Has not your excellency heard that the French charge d'affaires was robbed six months ago within five hundred paces of Velletri ?" "Oh, yes, I heard that." "Well, then, if, like us, your excellency lived at Leghorn, you would hear, from time to time, that a little merchant vessel, or an English yacht that was expected at Bastia, at Porto-Ferrajo, or at Civita Vecchia, has not arrived; no one knows what has become of it, but, doubtless, it has struck on a rock and foundered.