Chapter 22.

Edmond Dantès quickly understands he is aboard a smuggling tartan, The Young Amelia, and keeps his identity concealed with convincing seamanship and calm composure. Reaching Leghorn, he visits a barber, sheds his prison-grown hair and beard, and confirms that even he can scarcely recognize the changed man he has become. The captain advances him funds, and Dantès adopts a neat sailor’s guise, agreeing to a short three-month engagement while guarding his own plans.

The crew runs contraband from Leghorn to Corsica without incident, passing close to the Island of Monte Cristo, which Dantès longs to reach but prudently postpones. On a subsequent run to the Duchy of Lucca with cigars and wines, a clash with customs officers leaves one officer dead and two sailors wounded, including Dantès, who welcomes the test of courage and pain. Jacopo tends Dantès with devotion, refuses a share of his prize-money, and earns Dantès’s growing regard.

During calm passages, Dantès tutors Jacopo in navigation and astronomy, hinting at future advancement. Over two and a half months, Dantès masters coastal smuggling practices and repeatedly sails by Monte Cristo without a safe chance to land. He resolves to hire a small vessel after his term ends to reach the island, though he still lacks a risk-free plan.

The captain, eager to keep Dantès, brings him to a smugglers’ tavern in Leghorn, where a lucrative exchange of Levant goods is planned and a secure landing site is needed. The captain proposes Monte Cristo, a deserted, unguarded island. Dantès, concealing his elation, endorses the choice and urges swift execution. The plan is set to sail the next night and make Monte Cristo by the following day, aligning Dantès’s secret goal with the crew’s venture.