"Benedetto," continued Monte-Cristo, sternly, "you have killed your mother. Shame upon you, parricide."
This time Benedetto opened his eyes in terror, and in a faint voice murmured:
"My mother! Yes, yes. Mercy!"
Monte-Cristo rose. His gaze met that of Bertuccio, in which he read a silent question.
"Are you still going to be charitable?" asked Bertuccio's eye. "The wretch has murdered the mother who bore him? Does he deserve mercy?"
Just then a merry sailor-song was heard. The bark of the Ice Bird appeared on the beach to fetch the passengers.
"Jacopo," exclaimed Monte-Cristo aloud, "listen!"
Jacopo stood up in the bark, and looked closely at the count, who called out some words in Maltese dialect to him.
Immediately a sailor jumped from the bark into the sea and swam toward the Ice Bird, while Jacopo with the two other sailors jumped on land.