Tap the headset icon above the title to listen to the book
When Franz wakes up, the outside world seems to be a continuation of his dream.
He thought he was lying in a grave, a ray of sunlight coming in from the outside like a pitiful eye. He reached out and touched the stone. He sat up and found himself lying on a bed made of very soft and fragrant dried cilantro. The illusion was completely gone. He took a few steps forward to the place where the light came in, and after the excitement of the dream, he followed the tranquility of reality, and found himself in a cave, and he walked toward the entrance of the cave, and through an arched porch he saw a blue sea and a pale blue sky, the air and sea shining in the morning sun, and the sailors sat on the beach, where they were chatting and laughing, and ten yards away from them, quietly parking the boat. He stood at the mouth of the cave for a while, enjoying the fresh breeze that brushed his forehead and listening to the slight lapping of the waves that rolled up to the beach and left a circle of white foam around the rocks. At this moment he allowed himself to indulge himself completely in the holy charm of nature, and all memories and thoughts were cast aside, and when people were usually like this after a confused strange dream; so that the quiet, pure, magnificent real world in front of him gradually confirmed to him the illusion of the dream, and he began to recall. He remembered how he had arrived on the island, how he had been introduced to the leader of a smuggler, how he had entered a palatial underground palace, how he had enjoyed a sea-flavored dinner, and how he had swallowed a spoonful of marijuana. But, in the face of the day, all that had passed through it was as if it had happened a year earlier, the dream had left such an impression on his mind, so profoundly, so important in its imagination. From time to time he imagined seeing one of the fairies in his dreams who had fallen in love with him and gave him a fragrant kiss in a sailor; sometimes fantasizing about seeing her sitting on a rock, sometimes sitting in a boat, swaying from side to side with the boat. In addition to this, his mind was very clear, and his body had fully recovered from fatigue. His mind did not feel dull, on the contrary, he felt quite relaxed, he had never breathed in the fresh air or admired the bright sun as much as he did now.
He hurried over to the sailors, who, as soon as they saw him, stood up, and the captain beckoned him: "Mr. Sinbad has left a message greeting to you, he cannot say goodbye to you personally, and asks us to convey his apologies, but he is sure that you will forgive him, for there is a very important matter that has called him to Malaga." ”
"So, Gaetano," said Franz, "all this, then, is true?" There was really a man on this island who invited me to be there, who treated me with great hospitality, and left while I was asleep, right? ”
"It couldn't be more true, and you can see his little yacht with its sails." If you look at it with your telescope, you'll probably recognize your host from among his crew. ”
With that, Gaetano pointed in one direction, and sure enough, there was a small galleon sailing toward the southern tip of Corsica. Franz adjusted his telescope and looked in the direction he was pointing. Gaetano was not wrong. At the stern of the ship, the mysterious stranger was also holding a telescope and looking toward the shore. He was still dressed in the same outfit he had been from last night, and was waving his handkerchief to say goodbye to the guests, and Franz was also waving his hand in reply to his respect. After a while, a puff of light smoke emanated from the tail of the sailboat, rising into the air like a white cloud and dispersing, and then Franz heard a faint sound of gunfire. "Oh, did you hear me?" Gaetano said, "He's saying goodbye to you." The youth took his gun and fired a shot into the air, not thinking much about whether the gunshots could be heard from the shore for such a long distance and be heard by the people on the yacht.
"Sir, what do you command?" Gaetano asked.
"Ah, yes, I see," replied the captain in a loud voice, "you are going to find the entrance to that magic chamber, and obey the order, sir, as long as you are happy, I will bring you the torch." I've had this thought about you, and I thought about it two or three times, but I finally gave up on it. "Go and light a torch," he said again, "and bring it to sir." ”
Kioni complied. Franz walked into the underground cave with a torch, followed by Gaetano. He recognized where he slept, the bed made of cilantro was still there, but although he used his torch to illuminate the upper and lower sides of the cave, it was still in vain. He could see nothing but some traces of soot, which were the result of the same attempts made by previous generations, and like him, they had thrown themselves into the air. However, these granite walls, which were as impenetrable as the "future", he had carefully examined everything else. Every time he saw a crack, he inserted the blade of the sword into it to pry it, and whenever he saw a place protruding from the ground, he went to bump and push, hoping that it would sink in. But everything was useless, and he spent two hours checking it out, and it turned out to be nothing. Finally, he gave up the search, and Gaetano won.
When Franz returned to shore, the yacht was already like a small white dot on the horizon. He picked up the telescope again, but even when he looked through the telescope, he couldn't tell anything. Gaetano reminded him that he had come to hunt goats, something he had completely forgotten. Only then did he pick up his shotgun and begin to hunt on the island, and from the look of his face he looked as if he were in a sense of duty rather than pleasure, and within a quarter of an hour he had hunted a large goat and two small goats. Although the animals were wild and agile like antelopes, they were too much like domestic goats, so Franz didn't think it was hunting. And there were other, more powerful thoughts that occupied his mind. Since yesterday evening, he has really become one of the characters in the myth of "One Thousand and One Nights", and he can't help but be drawn to the cave again. He told Gaetano to choose one of the two little goats to roast and eat, and then, despite the failure of the first, he began a second search. The second time took a long time, and when he returned, the little goat was already roasted and everyone was waiting for him to eat. Franz sat where his mysterious host had come the night before to invite him to dinner, and saw that the little yacht was now like a seagull on the surface of the sea, and continued to fly towards Corsica.
"Well," he said to Gaetano, "you told me that Mr. Sinbad was going to Malaga. But it seems to me that he is going straight to Porto Vecchio. ”
"Don't you remember," said the captain, "I told you that there were two Corsican robbers in the crew." ”
"That's right! Is he going to send them ashore? ”
"Not bad at all," Replied Gaetano. "They say that he is a man who is not afraid of heaven and will always take an extra hundred and fifty miles around to help a poor insect."
"But this kind of help must have affected himself, and he practiced this kind of fraternism in one place, so didn't the local authorities trouble him?" Franz said.
"Oh," Gaetano replied with a laugh. "What authorities are he afraid of?" He laughed at them and told them to chase him and try it out! Hey, first, his yacht is not a boat, but a bird, no matter what kind of patrol boat, every twelve nautical miles he has to be exceeded by him three nautical miles, if he comes to shore, hey, isn't he sure to find friends everywhere? ”
It follows from this remark that Sinbad, the host of Franz, apparently maintained an extremely friendly relationship with smugglers and robbers on the Mediterranean coast, which alone made him peculiar enough, and as for Franz, he no longer wanted to stay in Monte Cristo. He was hopeless about exploring the secrets of the cave. So hurriedly finished breakfast and hurried to board the ship, his boat was already ready, and they soon set sail. When the boat began its voyage, they could no longer see the yacht, for it had disappeared into the harbor of Porto Vecchio. As it disappeared, the last traces of the night were gradually erased, and the supper, the Sinbad, the marijuana, the stone statues, all buried in the same dream. The boats marched all day and all night, and the next morning, when the sun rose, they could no longer see Monte Cristo. After Franz landed, he forgot for a moment all the things he had experienced before, and he put an end to his pleasure-making in Florence, and then single-mindedly imagined how to meet the friend who was waiting for him in Rome. So he set off by car and arrived at Piazza Duana next to the post office on Saturday evening. As we have already said, the room was booked in advance, so he only had to go to the hotel of the owner of Perini. But this was not an easy task, for the streets were crowded with people, and everywhere was already full of vulgar and fanatical street talk, which was a common phenomenon before every major event in Rome. There are four major events in Rome every year – Carnival, Easter, Eucharistic Andrino and St. Peter's Day. For the rest of the year, the whole city was in a state of immortality and gloom, gloomy and cold, which seemed to be an intermediate station between the yang and the yin, a super-earthly place, a resting place full of poetry and character, where Franz had come to stay five or six times, and each time he found it more wonderful than before. He finally squeezed out of the growing, increasingly excited crowd and went to the hotel. At first, the waiter told him, with the coachman's busy business and the characteristic arrogance of the hotel when it was full, that the London hotel had confiscated his share of the property. So he took out his business card and asked to see Boss Perini and Albert Marsef. This was so successful that Boss Perini himself ran out to meet him, apologizing for his disappointment, scolding the waiter, and taking the candlestick from the guide who was ready to solicit the passengers.
When he was about to lead him to see Albert, Albert came out on his own.
Their apartment consists of two small rooms and an ensuite. The two bedrooms were facing the street, which The Perini owner considered an unappreciable advantage. The other rooms on this floor had been rented by a very wealthy gentleman, who was probably a Sicilian or Maltese; but the innkeeper was not sure which place the traveller was from.
"Excellent, Perini boss," said Franz, "but we must have dinner at once and hire us a carriage from tomorrow onwards." ”
"Dinner," replied the innkeeper, "I can bring it to the two of you in no time." Just a carriage."
"What happened to the carriage?" Albert shouted, "Hey, hey, Boss Perini, don't be kidding, we must have a carriage." ”
"Your Excellency," replied the shopkeeper, "we will do our best to find it for you, I can only say so." ”
"When will we know?" Franz asked.
"Tomorrow morning." The hostel owner replied.
"Oh, hell!" Albert said, "Then we'll have to pay a little more, but that's it." I've seen it for a long time. In Drake and Aaron, it costs twenty-five francs to rent a carriage on a normal day, but on Sundays and holidays it costs thirty or thirty-five francs, plus a tip of five francs, adding up to forty, and that's the end of it. ”
"I'm afraid," said the shopkeeper, "that even if you give them twice the amount, the gentlemen won't be able to find you a carriage." ”
"Then tell them to put the horses in my car," Albert said. "My car isn't very comfortable to sit in, but that's okay."
"Not even horses."
Albert looked at Franz as if he didn't understand what the answer meant.
"Do you hear me, my dear Franz?" Not even horses! He added, "Can't we rent stagecoaches?" ”
"The stagecoaches have been rented out in these two weeks, and the few that remain are for emergency use."
"What do you say you should do about this?" Franz asked.
"I said that when one thing is completely beyond my comprehension, I don't want to go to the tip of the bull's horn, but I prefer to think about something else, is dinner good, Boss Perini?"
"All right, sir."
"Okay, then, let's have dinner."
"But what about the cart and the horse?" Franz said.
"Rest assured, my good boy, they will come naturally when the time comes." The question is only how much we have to spend. ”
Believing that with a bulging money bag and a checkbook, Morseff could not do anything unattainable, he finished his meal with that admirable philosophy, climbed into bed, fell asleep, and dreamed of a carnival in a six-horse sedan.
Click on the links below to review past highlights:
Count of Monte Cristo Chapter 31 Italian Sailor Sinbad Annual Carnival of Rome
![The movie "Franz": You killed my beloved lover, but I fell in love with you[fig]](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAP///wAAACwAAAAAAQABAAACAkQBADs=)