NovelGuide: The Count of Monte Cristo: Novel Summary: Chapter 11-15

Chapter 11-15

Chapter 11: Dantes begins to believe that Faria is mad. Faria tells the story of the Spada family, and the buried treasure on the island of Monte Cristo. Since Spada has willed his fortune to Faria, Faria is right to will the fortune to Dantes. Dantes swears to seek out this treasure when he escapes.

Chapter 12: Faria is struck by his third and final catalytic fit and dies. Dantes is seized by sorrow, loneliness and renewed thoughts of suicide. Soon the dungeon guards notice that Faria is dead and plan to return the next morning to bury the prisoner. Dantes, realizing a plan of escape, moves Faria's stiff corpse into his own cell and replace his body with Faria's. Hidden in the bag, Dantes waits for the soldiers to return to bury him, planning to escape then. Instead of being buried however, Dantes is thrown into the sea, his legs anchored to a cannonball.

Chapter 13: Dantes cuts the ropes tied to his feet and begins his long swim in the stormy waters of the ocean. Soon he takes refuge on a smugglers' ship, telling the crew that his ship had been destroyed in the storm of the previous night. After talking to the shipmates, Dantes learns that he's now thirty-three years old. He had been is prison for fourteen long years. This older Dantes is no longer innocent and naive, but shrewd, intelligent, cunning and very melancholy. Soon the crew embarks on a smuggling deal set to take place on the island of Monte Cristo.

Chapter 14: On the pretext of hunting, Dantes manages to be left alone on the island, hoping to find the treasure. When it's time for the crew to leave, Dantes fakes an injury, instructing the crew to leave him on the island with enough food and supplies to last a week. Then they will pick him up and go on their way. After a few hours, Dantes discovers the treasure chest filled with diamonds, gold coins, and rare jewels. He anxiously awaits the return of his new friends, the smugglers.

Chapter 15: The smuggling ship returns and Dantes keeps the precious stones in his pockets, hiding the rest of the treasure for a later return. Dumas narrates, "It was time for him to go back among men and take up the rank, influence, and power which great wealth gives in the world."

Soon Dantes convinces Jacopo, his smuggling friend, to go to Marseilles and inquire about his father and Mercedes. Dantes buys a yacht and returns to Monte Cristo in order to load the rest of the treasure.