The Count of Monte Cristo

Back Forward Menu

raising of the siege. I retreated with the rest, for eight and forty
hours. I endured the rain during the day, and the cold during the
night tolerably well, but the third morning my horse died of cold. Poor
brute--accustomed to be covered up and to have a stove in the stable,
the Arabian finds himself unable to bear ten degrees of cold in Arabia."

"That's why you want to purchase my English horse," said Debray, "you
think he will bear the cold better."

"You are mistaken, for I have made a vow never to return to Africa."

"You were very much frightened, then?" asked Beauchamp.

"Well, yes, and I had good reason to be so," replied Chateau-Renaud. "I
was retreating on foot, for my horse was dead. Six Arabs came up, full
gallop, to cut off my head. I shot two with my double-barrelled gun, and
two more with my pistols, but I was then disarmed, and two were still