The Count of Monte Cristo

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For a moment Dantes was speechless; then he remembered that these caves
might have been filled up by some accident, or even stopped up, for the
sake of greater security, by Cardinal Spada. The point was, then, to
discover the hidden entrance. It was useless to search at night, and
Dantes therefore delayed all investigation until the morning. Besides,
a signal made half a league out at sea, and to which The Young Amelia
replied by a similar signal, indicated that the moment for business had
come. The boat that now arrived, assured by the answering signal that
all was well, soon came in sight, white and silent as a phantom, and
cast anchor within a cable's length of shore.

Then the landing began. Dantes reflected, as he worked, on the shout of
joy which, with a single word, he could evoke from all these men, if he
gave utterance to the one unchanging thought that pervaded his heart;
but, far from disclosing this precious secret, he almost feared that
he had already said too much, and by his restlessness and continual
questions, his minute observations and evident pre-occupation, aroused