Excerpt adapted from The Count of Monte Cristo

by Alexander Dumas

The dock was soon covered with the usual crowd of curious onlookers, as the arrival of a ship is always a great event in the town of Marseilles. This was especially true when, like the Pharaon, it has been built in the city and belongs to a local shipowner.

Meanwhile the vessel was approaching the harbor, but so slowly and with such an air of melancholy that the onlookers, sensing misfortune, began to wonder if an accident happened on board. However, the experienced seamen among them saw that if there had been an accident, it could not have happened to the ship herself, for she had every appearance of being under perfect control. Standing beside the pilot, who was preparing to steer the ship through the narrow harbor, was a young man. With vigilant eyes and rapid gestures, he watched every movement of the ship and repeated each of the pilot's orders.

The vague anxiety hovering over the crowd affected one man so much that he could not wait until the ship entered the harbor. This man leaped into a small boat and ordered the boatman to row him out to meet the