nor the patience required to finish this difficult
task without any other tools than a loose piece of stone. I put myself,
in fact, to a kind of torture unknown to the tyrants of all ages. My
right arm had become so stiff that I could hardly move it; the palm of my
hand was covered with a large scar, the result of the numerous blisters
caused by the hardness and the length of the work. No one would guess the
sufferings I underwent to bring my work to completion.

Proud of what I had done, without thinking what use I could make of my
weapon, my first care was to hide it in such a manner as would defy a
minute search. After thinking over a thousand plans, to all of which
there was some objection, I cast my eyes on my arm-chair, and there I
contrived to hide it so as to be secure from all suspicion. Thus did
Providence aid me to contrive a wonderful and almost inconceivable plan
of escape. I confess to a feeling of vanity, not because I eventually
succeeded--for I owed something to good luck--but because I was brave
enough to undertake such a scheme in spite of the difficulties which
might have ruined my plans and prevented my ever attaining liberty.

After thinking for three or four days as to what I should do with the bar
I had made into an edged tool, as thick as a walking-stick and twenty
inches long, I determined that the best plan would be to make a hole in
the floor under my bed.

I was sure that the room below my cell was no other than the one in which
I had seen M. Cavalli. I knew that this room was opened every morning,
and I felt persuaded that, after I had made my hole, I could easily let
myself down with my sheets, which I would make into a rope and fasten to
my bed. Once there, I would hide under the table of the court, and in the
morning, when the door was opened, I could escape and get to a place of
safety before anyone could follow me. I thought it possible that a sentry
might be placed in the hall, but my short pike ought to soon rid me of
him. The floor might be of double or even of triple thickness, and this
thought puzzled me; for in that case how was I to prevent the guard
sweeping out the room throughout the two months my work might last. If I
forbade them to do so, I might rouse suspicion; all the more as, to free
myself of the fleas, I had requested them to sweep out the cell every
day, and in sweeping they would soon discover what I was about. I must
find some way out of this difficulty.

I be