it, that's the thing.' Then turning round
he said, 'Benvenuto, if you had everything you required for it, do you
think you could fly?'

'Oh, yes,' said the artist; 'if you will only leave me free to do it, I
will engage to make a pair of wings of fine waxed cloth, and to fly from
here to Prati with them.'

'And I, too,' exclaimed the governor; 'I could do it too, but the Pope
has ordered me to keep you like the apple of his eye, and as I strongly
suspect you're a cunning fellow, I shall lock you well up and give you
no chance of flying.'

Thereupon, and in spite of all Benvenuto's entreaties and protestations,
the governor ordered him to be taken back to prison and more carefully
guarded than ever.

Seeing he could not help himself, Cellini exclaimed before the officers
and attendants: 'Very well! lock me up and keep me safe, for I give you
due warning I mean to escape in spite of everything.'

No sooner was he shut up in his cell than he fell to turning over in his
mind how this escape could be made, and began minutely examining his
prison, and, after discovering what he thought would be a sure way of
getting out, he considered how best he might let himself down from the
top of this enormous donjon tower, which went by the name of 'Il
Mastio.' He began by measuring the length of the linen strips, which he
had cut and joined firmly together so as to form a sort of rope, and he
thought there would be enough for his purpose. Next, he armed himself
with a pair of pincers which he had taken from one of his guards who was
fond of carpentering, and who, amongst his tools, had a particularly
large and strong pair of pincers, which appeared so useful to Benvenuto
that he abstracted them, and hid them in his mattress.

As soon as he thought himself safe from interruption, he began to feel
about for the nails in the ironwork of the door, but owing to its
immense thickness they were by no means easy to get at. However, he
managed at length to extract the first nail. Then came the question, how
to conceal the hole left behind. This he contrived by making a paste of
rusty scrapings and wax, which he modelled into an exact representation
of the head of a nail, and in this way he replaced each nail he drew by
a facsimile of its head in wax.

Great care was required to leave just a sufficient number of nails to
keep the ironwork and hinges in their places. But Benvenuto managed this
by first drawing the nails, cutting them as s