roof of the dormer. When he
was there, I made him go over the edge and into the window as far as
his hips, leaving his arms on the sill. I next slipped down to the
little roof, as I had done before, lay down on my stomach, and holding
the rope firmly, told the monk to let himself go without fear. When he
had landed on the floor of the attic he undid the rope, and I, pulling
it up, found that the height was above fifty feet. To jump this was
too great a risk. As for the monk, now he was safe after nearly two
hours of anguish on a roof, where, I must own, his situation was far
from comfortable, he called out to me to throw in the ropes and he
would take care of them. I, as may be supposed, took good care not to
follow this absurd injunction.

Not knowing what to do, and awaiting some inspiration, I clambered
once more to the ridge; and my eye falling on a spot near a cupola,
which I had not yet examined, I made my way thither. I saw a little
terrace or platform covered with lead, close to a large window closed
with shutters. There was here a tub full of wet mortar with a trowel,
and by the side a ladder, which I thought would be long enough to
enable me to get down into the attic where my comrade was. This
settled the question. I slipped my rope through the top rung, and
dragged this awkward load as far as the window. I then had to get the
clumsy mass into the window; it was above twelve yards long. The
difficulty I had in doing it made me repent of having deprived myself
of Balbi's assistance. I pushed the ladder along till one end was on
the level of the dormer and the other projected by a third beyond the
gutter. Then I slid down on to the dormer roof; I drew the ladder
close to my side and fastened the rope to the eighth rung, after which
I again allowed it to slip till it was parallel with the window. Then
I did all I could to make it slip into the window, but I could not get
it beyond the fifth rung because the end caught against the inner roof
of the dormer, and no power on earth could get it any further without
breaking either the ladder or the roof. There was nothing for it but
to tilt the outer end; then the slope would allow it to slide in by
its own weight. I might have placed the ladder across the window and
have fastened the rope to it to let myself down, without any risk; but
the ladder would have remained there, and next morning would have
guided the archers and Lorenzo to the spot where we might still be