eone on the roof; and in a few minutes we should have been retaken."

After looking about me for some time I told the monk to stay still till I
came back, and I set out, my pike in my hand, sitting astride the roof
and moving along without any difficulty. For nearly an hour I went to
this side and that, keeping a sharp look-out, but in vain; for I could
see nothing to which the rope could be fastened, and I was in the
greatest perplexity as to what was to be done. It was of no use thinking
of getting down on the canal side or by the court of the palace, and the
church offered only precipices which led to nothing. To get to the other
side of the church towards the Canonica, I should have had to climb roofs
so steep that I saw no prospect of success. The situation called for
hardihood, but not the smallest piece of rashness.

It was necessary, however, either to escape, or to reenter the prison,
perhaps never again to leave it, or to throw myself into the canal. In
such a dilemma it was necessary to leave a good deal to chance, and to
make a start of some kind. My eye caught a window on the canal sides, and
two-thirds of the distance from the gutter to the summit of the roof. It
was a good distance from the spot I had set out from, so I concluded that
the garret lighted by it did not form part of the prison I had just
broken. It could only light a loft, inhabited or uninhabited, above some
rooms in the palace, the doors of which would probably be opened by
day-break. I was morally sure that if the palace servants saw us they
would help us to escape, and not deliver us over to the Inquisitors, even
if they recognized us as criminals of the deepest dye; so heartily was
the State Inquisition hated by everyone.

It was thus necessary for me to get in front of the window, and letting
myself slide softly down in a straight line I soon found myself astride
on top of the dormer-roof. Then grasping the sides I stretched my head
over, and succeeded in seeing and touching a small grating, behind which
was a window of square panes of glass joined with thin strips of lead. I
did not trouble myself about the window, but the grating, small as it
was, appeared an insurmountable difficulty, failing a file, and I had
only my pike.

I was thoroughly perplexed, and was beginning to lose courage, when an
incident of the simplest and most natural kind came to my aid and
fortified my resolution.

Philosophic reader, if you will place yourse