Ariosto—"Fra il fin d'ottobre, e il capo di
novembre." Lying flat on my face, and leaning
well over, I drove rny spontoon into the window-
sash in which the grating was framed, and
resolved to remove it bodily. In a quarter of an
hour I accomplished my task. The grating
came out unbroken, and having laid it down
beside me, I had then no difficulty in breaking
the window-panes, though the blood flowed
freely from a cut in my left hand. Again making
use of my spontoon, as I had done in the first
instance, I climbed back to the top of the roof,
and made my way towards the place where I
had left my companion. I found him in a state
of fury, and he heaped on me the vilest epithets
for having been so long absent: saying that he
only meant to have waited till seven o'clock, and
would then have returned to his prison. I asked
him what he thought had become of me? He
replied that he supposed I had fallen from the
roof.

"And you only express by abuse the joy you
ought to experience in seeing me again?"

"What were you doing all that time?"

"Follow me and you will see."

Taking up my bundles, I proceeded along
the ridge, and he followed. When we got opposite
the dormer-window, I told him exactly what
I had done, and consulted with him on the mode
of entering and exploring the loft. The thing
was easy enough for one of us, by means of the
cord, which could be lowered by the other, but
I did not see how the second person could afterwards
descend, there being no way of fastening
the cord to the entrance of the window. To
drop from the window-sill into the loft was to
run the risk of breaking my limbs, for I could
not guess the distance to the floor. To this
wise reasoning, made in the interest of us both,
the brute replied by these words:

"Lower me, at all events, and when I am
safe, you will have leisure enough to think how
to follow me."

In the first movement of indignation I was
tempted, I own, to stab him with my weapon;
but my good genius prevailed within me, and I
did not even utter a word to reproach his
selfishness. On the contrary, I immediately
unrolled my hank of cords, passed them firmly
under his armpits, and having made him lie
down, lowered him as far as the roof of the
dormer-window. When he reached it, I told
him to get inside as far as his middle, and
sustain himself by resting with his arms on the
ledge. This done, I slid down as I had done
before, and as soon as I was on the window-roof, I
held the cord fast, and desired the monk to leave
go without fear. When he reached the floor of the
loft, he unfastened the cord, and having
withdrawn it, I found the depth was fifty feet—far
too great for me to make the dangerous leap.
While I hesitated what to do, the monk cried
out to me to throw him down the cords, and he
would take care of them, but I was not such a
fool as to accept his invitation.

Doubtful how to proceed, I again ascended
to the ridge of the roof, and perceiving a place
I had not examined near the cupola, I went
towards it, and discovered a small platform, where
some workmen had t left a tubful of mortar, a
trowel, and a ladder: which latter I thought long
enough to descend by, into the loft. Fastening
my cord to the first round, I dragged my heavy
load as far as the dormer-window, my object
being to get it in, and the trouble it cost me
to do so made me bitterly repent having
parted with my companion. I had pushed the
ladder in such a manner that one of its ends
touched the window, and the other hung about
a third of its length over the gutter. Mounting
the roof of the dormer-window, I pulled the ladder
on one side, and drawing it towards me, fastened
the end of my cord to the eighth round, and
then let it down till it was on a level with the
window, which I endeavoured to make it enter,
but I found that I could not possibly introduce
it beyond the fifth round, the upper end of the
ladder being stopped by the ceiling of the
window, so that no human force could move it
farther. The only remedy for this evil was to
raise the lower end, and then its own weight
would cause it to tilt over and descend into the
loft. I might have dragged the ladder across
the window, and, fastening my cord to the middle,
have got down without danger, but its position
there would at once have revealed to Lorenzo and
the searchers the place where we might still be in
the morning, so I at once rejected that plan,
and determined, if possible, to get the ladder
inside altogether. Having no one to help me,
I was obliged to descend to the gutter to raise
it, and though I succeeded in doing so, the act
was attended with so much danger that it was
little short of a miracle that I did not pay for
my temerity with my life. I could afford to let
go the ladder without fear of its falling into the
canal, because it was caught by the gutter at
the third round; and having done this, I crept
down close to the edge, with my spontoon in
my hand, and, lying on my face, with my feet
pressed against, the marble trough that formed
the gutter, I had power enough in this
position to raise the ladder and push it
upwards, and to my unspeakable satisfaction I
saw that the end had entered the window about
a foot. Two feet more were necessary, for after
that length had been obtained I felt sure that
I could get the rest in from above, and to give
it the requisite elevation I got upon my knees;
but the effort I was obliged to make caused
me to slide back so rapidly that in an instant
I was shot beyond the roof as far as my chest,
and only held on by my elbows. It was the
most fearful moment of my whole existence, and
I shudder at it still! The natural instinct of
self-preservation made me, almost without my
own knowledge, exert all my strength to stop
myself by the pressure of my chest, and
miraculously, I may say, I succeeded. Fortunately
I had nothing to fear for my ladder, which had
penetrated far enough and remained steady; but
though I contrived to hold on, I was in the
greatest danger. Slowly, then, and with the
utmost caution, I raised my right leg, till I got