The leader's commands regarding Zuleika and the equipage were promptly obeyed, and soon Monte-Cristo's daughter was a close prisoner in a rocky cell of the bandits' subterranean fastness.
Ali, as soon as set free, started for Rome to give the alarm.
CHAPTER XXVIII.
THE RAID ON THE BANDITS.
When Ali reached the Hôtel de France and dragged himself to his master's apartment, which was not until quite late in the afternoon, his condition was truly deplorable. Footsore and ready to drop from extreme fatigue, he staggered like a drunken man. He was thickly covered with dust and profuse perspiration made his dark skin glisten. The faithful mute at once threw himself at the Count's feet, embracing his knees and in his marvellous pantomime eloquently entreating pardon.
Monte-Cristo, who was suffering torment because of his beloved daughter's prolonged absence, instantly divined that some terrible accident had befallen her and grew almost wild with grief and apprehension. Raising Ali up, he said to him in a broken, anxious voice:
"Tell me what has occurred without circumlocution or delay, and tell me all!"
The Nubian made a profound salaam in token of submission and obedience. Then he proceeded, in his own peculiar mode of narrating events with which Monte-Cristo was so thoroughly familiar and which in this instance he translated only too readily and unerringly, to recount the particulars of the fatal drive into the outskirts of the city and of the capture of Zuleika, Peppino and the equipage by the brigands.