Treasure and Rewards

Chapter 21: The Isle of Tiboulen
Dantes cuts himself out of the sack then cuts the cord tied to his feet before he hits the water.  He swims to the Isle of Tiboulen, an uninhibited island, where he rests then witnesses a shipwreck during a storm.  He goes into the water, pretends to be a sailor from the wreck and is picked up by a smugglers boat, The Young Amelia.  He hears the firing alarm from Chateau D’If, signaling a prisoner escape.  Dantes asks the date and discovers that he was imprisoned for 14 years.
 
Chapter 22: The Smugglers
The captain of The Young Amelia asks Dantes to join their crew, Dantes agrees to join for three months.  At port, Dantes gets a haircut and shave.  He barely recognizes himself in the looking-glass.  Once at sea, Dantes befriends Jacopo and teaches him to sail.  During one of their journeys, the smugglers decide to land on the island of Monte Cristo.

Chapter 23: The Isle of Monte Cristo
Dantes feels fortune is finally in his favor.  When the boat lands on the island, Dantes is the first on shore.  He takes a gun, shoots a wild goat and tells Jacopo to bring it back to the crew for a feast.  Dantes uses the time alone to search the coast for signs of an old grotto.  The crew watches Dantes slip and fall while running on the shoreline rocks.  Dantes is unable to move and begs the crew to leave him while he heals.  The crew leaves Dantes provisions before departing the island.
 
Chapter 24: The Search
Dantes waits for the boat to depart then resumes his search for the grotto (He faked his injury).  When he believes he has found the spot, he uses his pickaxe to chip away the rock and lights gunpowder to blow the rock apart.  He finds stairs descending into the first grotto, then breaks his way into the second grotto.  He returns to the surface and creates a torch from a tree branch.  He descends again and uncovers a casket bound with iron.  The casket contains gold bars and coins, diamonds, rubies and pearls.  Dantes is elated.
 
Chapter 25: At Marseilles Again
Dantes puts some of the gems in his pocket, covers the casket with dirt and blocks the grotto opening with rocks.  The smugglers return for him after six days.  They land at Leghorn where Dantes sells his gems.  Dantes buys Jacopo a boat and gives him money to hire a crew.  He tells Jacopo to sail to Marseilles and gather information about Old Dantes and Mercedes.  Dantes travels to Genoa where he buys a small yacht, complete with hidden compartments.  Dantes sails to Monte Cristo, collects the treasure and hides it on his yacht.  Jacopo meets Dantes on Monte Cristo and reports that Old Dantes is dead and Mercedes is gone.  Dantes sails to Marseilles.  He walks the streets toward his father’s house, his head full of memories.  He enters his father’s house to find a young couple now in his rooms.  He asks about Caderousse, the tailor who was once their neighbor.  Dantes buys the house.
 
Chapter 26: The Inn of Pont Du Gard
Caderousse owns a small inn on a deserted road with his sickly wife, Madeleine.  A priest (Dantes in disguise) visits the inn and says he was with Dantes when he died.  The priest reports Dantes died heartbroken for his four faithful friends and his betrothed.  Dantes wished to know the cause of his imprisonment before he died.  The priest shows Caderousse a large diamond that will be sold, its profits divided among Dantes’ five friends: Caderousse, Danglars, Fernand, Old Dantes and Mercedes.  The priest asks for the whereabouts of each.  Caderousse’s wife is distrustful of the priest but changes her mind after she sees the diamond.
 
Chapter 27: The Tale
Caderousse says Old Dantes, miserable and heartbroken, died of starvation.  Caderousse describes the actions of Danglars and Fernand to get Dantes arrested.  He says Morrel, the ship owner, tried to help Old Dantes, tried to intercede on Edmond Dantes behalf, left his purse which paid for Old Dantes debts and funeral, but is now ruined and unhappy.  Danglars became a rich count and married well.  Fernand, a high-ranking military commander, now lives in Paris.  Mercedes married Fernand and they have a son, Albert.  Caderousse knows little about Villefort except that he married and left Marseilles.  The priest gives Caderousse the diamond in exchange for Morrel’s purse.
 
Chapter 28: The Prison Registers
An English clerk (Dantes in disguise) meets Boville, the Inspector of Prisons and says he will pay the debt of Morrel if he is allowed to see the prison record of the Abbe Faria.  The Inspector tells the clerk about Dantes escape from prison.  The clerk looks at the prison register.  He finds Dantes denunciation and examination, Morrel’s petition, and Villefort’s notes. (Here he learns his crime).  He takes the denunciation and pays Boville.
 
Chapter 29:  The House of Morrel and Son
The once busy office now employs only two clerks, Emmanuel, a young man in love with Morrel’s daughter, and an old man named Cocles.  The English clerk (Dantes) arrives to see Morrel.  Morrel explains that his resources are exhausted, he’s sold his wife’s jewels and his only hope of profit is the return of his ship, Pharaon.  Morrel’s daughter, Julie, interrupts the meeting with news that the Pharaon sank but the crew was saved.  The English clerk tells Morrel he will give him three months to pay his debt in light of the tragedy.  As the English clerk leaves, he tells Julie that a letter signed Sinbad the Sailor will arrive and she must do what it says. 
 
Chapter 30: The Fifth of September
Morrel exhausts every resource trying to find money to pay his debt.  He even asks Danglars for a loan but is refused.  His daughter, Julie, writes to her brother, Maximilian, to come home.  On the day the debt is due, Julie receives the letter from Sinbad the Sailor.  The letter describes the location of Morrel’s purse.  Maximilian finds his father with two pistols heading for the study.  Morrel tells his son to take care of his mother and sister and to leave him.  As Morrel is about to take his own life, Julie opens the door and says they are saved.  She gives him the purse containing a receipt for the debt and a large diamond.  Emmanuel and Maximilian enter and report that the Pharaon is coming into port.  The whole family goes to the harbor to see the ship.  Dantes watches the scene in hiding then goes to his yacht.  He has rewarded the good and now will seek revenge on the wicked.