Page:The Count of Monte-Cristo (1887 Volume 2).djvu/347

329 All drew himself up proudly, and then returned a sign in the affirmative.

"I thought I did not mistake. With your lasso you could stop an ox?"

Again Ali repeated his affirmative gesture. "Or a tiger?"

Ali bowed his head in token of assent. "A lion even?"

Ali sprang forward, imitating the action of one throwing the lasso; then of a strangled lion.

"I understand," said Monte-Cristo; "you wish to tell me you have hunted the lion?"

Ali smiled with triumphant pride. "But do you believe you could stop two runaway horses?"

The Nubian smiled.

"It is well," said Monte-Cristo. "Then listen to me. Ere long a carriage will be run away with by the pair of dappled gray horses you saw me with yesterday; now, at the risk of your own life, you must manage to stop those horses before my door."

Ali descended to the street, and marked a straight line on the pavement immediately at the entrance of the house, and then pointed out the line he had traced to the count, who was watching him. The count patted him gently on the back, his usual mode of praising Ali, who walked toward a projecting stone forming the angle of the street and house, and began to smoke his chibouk, while Monte-Cristo reentered his dwelling.

Still, as five o'clock approached, and the carriage was momentarily expected by the count, the indication of some slight impatience might be observed in his manner. He walked to and fro in a room commanding a view of the street, stopping to listen from time to time for the sound of approaching wheels, then to cast a glance on Ali; but the regularity with which the Nubian puffed forth the smoke of his chibouk proved that he at least was wholly absorbed in his favorite occupation.

Suddenly a distant sound of wheels was heard, and almost immediately a carriage appeared, drawn by a pair of wild, ungovernable horses, which the coachman strove in vain to restrain.

In the vehicle was a woman, apparently young, and a child of about seven or eight years of age. Terror seemed to have deprived them even of the power of uttering a cry, and both were clasped in each other's arms. Had the carriage encountered the slightest impediment, it must inevitably have upset; but it still flew on, amid the cries of the affrighted spectators in the street.