The excerpt represents the core issue or deciding factor on which you must meditate, and is drawn from The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas: was time, for just as I jumped the deck burst with a noise
like the broadside of a man-of-war. Ten minutes after she
pitched forward, then the other way, spun round and round,
and then good-by to the Pharaon. As for us, we were three
days without anything to eat or drink, so that we began to
think of drawing lots who should feed the rest, when we saw
La Gironde; we made signals of distress, she perceived us,
made for us, and took us all on board. There now, M. Morrel,
that's the whole truth, on the honor of a sailor; is not it
true, you fellows there?" A general murmur of approbation
showed that the narrator had faithfully detailed their
 The Count of Monte Cristo |