oing the same in his
own case. Then, in their shirt-sleeves, their hats on their heads, the
pair of them started on their perilous journey, leaving Count Asquino
and Soradici to pray for them.

Casanova went first, on all fours, and thrusting the point of his
spontoon between the joints of the lead sheeting so as to obtain a hold,
he crawled slowly upwards. To follow, Balbi took a grip of Casanova's
belt with his right hand, so that, in addition to making his own way,
Casanova was compelled to drag the weight of his companion after him,
and this up the sharp gradient of a roof rendered slippery by the mist.

Midway in that laborious ascent, the monk called to him to stop. He had
dropped the bundle containing the clothes, and he hoped that it had not
rolled beyond the gutter, though he did not mention which of them should
retrieve it. After the unreasonableness already endured from this man,
Casanova's exasperation was such in that moment that, he confesses, he
was tempted to kick him after this bundle. Controlling himself, however,
he answered patiently that the matter could not now be helped, and kept
steadily amain.

At last the apex of the roof was reached, and they got astride of it
to breathe and to take a survey of their surroundings. They faced the
several cupolas of the Church of Saint Mark, which is connected with
the ducal palace, being, in fact, no more than the private chapel of the
Doge.

They set down their bundles, and, of course, in the act of doing so
the wretched Balbi must lose his hat, and send it rolling down the roof
after the bundle he had already lost. He cried out that it was an evil
omen.

"On the contrary," Casanova assured him patiently, "it is a sign of
divine protection; for if your bundle or your hat had happened to
roll to the left instead of the right it would have fallen into the
courtyard, where it would be seen by the guards, who must conclude that
some one is moving on the roof, and so, no doubt, would have discovered
us. As it is your hat has followed your bundle into the canal, where it
can do no harm."

Thereupon, bidding the monk await his return, Casanova set off alone on
a voyage of discovery, keeping for the present astride of the roof in
his progress. He spent a full hour wandering along the vast roof, going
to right and to left in his quest, but failing completely to make any
helpful discovery, or to find anything to which he could attach a rope.
In the end it began