site my name that I had died from the
torture, the friar having told Ser Nuto that I was near death. Thus I
became and remained a forgotten prisoner in a dungeon without chance of
escape, but for the time free from the dread of torture.

"Until I had been registered as dead frugal meals had been furnished
from the kitchen. Now the supply from that source was cut off, except
that the friar, by giving the cook a florin each week and telling him
that he desired a lunch before retiring, had been able to procure
something.

"This was cold and rather a short ration for a man whose appetite was
always keen and who had boasted and demonstrated that he could eat a
quarter of lamb or a hen at a single meal.

"The friar supplemented this by purchases of fruit and cakes, which he
brought to the cell in deep pockets stitched on the lining of his robe,
so while I was always hungry, I did not suffer or lose strength.

"He explained the situation to my wife and she filled his pockets with
packages of bread, meat, cheese and sweets, so that on each Tuesday
night I counted on quite a feast. She also kept him supplied with money
to make such purchases as he could carry through the portal without
detection by the watchful gatemen.

"We tried all sorts of keys in our effort to unlock the grating, but
were unsuccessful. We even had a locksmith make a key from a defective
wax impression, but this failed of purpose. The bars might have been cut
out with hammer and chisel except the noise would have brought the
watchman.

"The friar made a sword of heavy wood and at night when the others slept
I would climb up the ladder to the grating and instruct him in its use.

"Could one of the order have seen him, in the brass lamp's flickering
light, making passes and warding off imaginary thrusts with his wooden
sword, prancing and jumping back and forth in his narrow cell, clothed
only in his under garments, and heard a hollow voice as from a tomb,
calling out orders and directing his movements, he would have been
convinced that the ancient cloisters were tenanted by ghosts or evil
spirits.

"I cannot understand how the swordsman, who for years had worn cowl and
habit, could have developed the muscular strength he possessed; which,
with his quickness of movement, eye and thought, at the very start of
his training made him a dangerous antagonist. He seemed to have the
combined strength of several men. It must have been the reward of a
clean an