About a week afterwards, O'Brien came to me, and said, "The new moon's
quartered in with foul weather; if it holds, prepare for a start. I
have put what is necessary in your little haversack; it may be tonight.
Go to bed now, and sleep for a week if you can, for you'll get but
little sleep, if we succeed, for the week to come."

This was about eight o'clock. I went to bed, and about twelve I was
roused by O'Brien, who told me to dress myself carefully, and come down
to him in the yard. It was some time before I could find O'Brien, who
was hard at work; and, as I had already been made acquainted with all
his plans, I will now explain them. At Montpelier he had procured six
large pieces of iron, about eighteen inches long, with a gimlet at one
end of each, and a square at the other, which fitted to a handle which
unshipped. For precaution he had a spare handle, but each handle fitted
to all the irons. O'Brien had screwed one of these pieces of iron
between the interstices of the stones of which the wall was built, and
sitting astride on that, was fixing another about three feet above.
When he had accomplished this, he stood upon the lower iron, and,
supporting himself by the second, which about met his hip, he screwed in
a third, always fixing them about six inches on one side of the other,
and not one above the other. When he had screwed in his six irons, he
was about half up the wall, and then he fastened his rope, which he had
carried round his neck, to the upper iron, and lowering himself down,
unscrewed the four lower irons; then, ascending by the rope, he stood
upon the fifth iron, and, supporting himself by the upper iron,
recommenced his task. By these means he arrived in the course of an
hour and a half at the top of the wall, where he fixed his last iron,
and making his rope fast, he came down again.

"Now, Peter," said he, "there is no fear of the sentries seeing us; if
they had the eyes of cats, they could not until we are on the top of the
wall; but then we arrive at the glacis, and we must creep to the
ramparts on our bellies. I am going up with all the materials. Give me
your haversack--you will go up lighter; and recollect, should any
accident happen to me, you run to bed again. If, on the contrary, I
pull the rope up and down three or four times, you may sheer up it as
fast as you can."

O'Brien then loaded himself with the other rope, the two knapsacks, iron
crows, and other implements he