The Historical Nights' Entertainment by Rafael Sabatini (most important books to read .txt) đź“–
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from the floor was unknown to them, and might be considerable. It
would be easy for one of them to lower the other by means of the
rope. But it was not apparent how, hereafter, the other was to
follow. Thus reasoned Casanova.
“You had better lower me, anyhow,” said Balbi, without hesitation;
for no doubt he was very tired of that slippery roof, on which a
single false step might have sent him to his account. “Once I am
inside you can consider ways of following me.”
That cold-blooded expression of the fellow’s egoism put Casanova
in a rage for the second time since they had left their prison.
But, as before, he conquered it, and without uttering a word he
proceeded to unfasten the coil of rope. Making one end of it
secure under Balbi’s arms, he bade the monk lie prone upon the
roof, his feet pointing downwards, and then, paying out rope, he
lowered him to the dormer. He then bade him get through the
window as far as the level of his waist, and wait thus, hanging
over and supporting himself upon the sill. When he had obeyed,
Casanova followed, sliding carefully down to the roof of the
dormer. Planting himself firmly, and taking the rope once more,
he bade Balbi to let himself go without fear, and so lowered him
to the floor - a height from the window, as it proved, of some
fifty feet. This extinguished all Casanova’s hopes of being able
to follow by allowing himself to drop from the sill. He was
dismayed. But the monk, happy to find himself at last off that
accursed roof, and out of all danger of breaking his neck, called
foolishly to Casanova to throw him the rope so that he might take
care of it.
“As may be imagined,” says Casanova, “I was careful not to take
this idiotic advice.”
Not knowing now what was to become of him unless he could discover
some other means than those at his command, he climbed back again
to the summit of the roof, and started off desperately upon another
voyage of discovery. This time he succeeded better than before.
He found about a cupola a terrace which he had not earlier noticed,
and on this terrace a hod of plaster, a trowel, and a ladder some
seventy feet long. He saw his difficulties solved. He passed an
end of rope about one of the rungs, laid the ladder flat along the
slope of the roof, and then, still astride of the apex, he worked
his way back, dragging the ladder with him, until he was once more
on a level with the dormer.
But now the difficulty was how to get the ladder through the window,
and he had cause to repent having so hastily deprived himself of
his companion’s assistance. He had got the ladder into position,
and lowered it until one of its ends rested upon the dormer, whilst
the other projected some twenty feet beyond the edge of the roof.
He slid down to the dormer, and placing the ladder beside him, drew
it up so that he could reach the eighth rung. To this rung he made
fast his rope, then lowered the ladder again until the upper end of
it was in line with the window through which he sought to introduce
it. But he found it impossible to do so beyond the fifth rung, for
at this point the end of the ladder came in contact with the roof
inside, and could be pushed no farther until it was inclined
downward. Now, the only possible way to accomplish this was by
raising the other end.
It occurred to him that he might, by so attaching the rope as to
bring the ladder across the window frame, lower himself hand over
hand to the floor of the attic. But in so doing he must have left
the ladder there to show their pursuers in the morning, not merely
the way they had gone, but for all he knew at this stage, the place
where they might then be still in hiding. Having come so far, at
so much risk and labour, he was determined to leave nothing to
chance. To accomplish his object then, he made his way down to the
very edge of the roof, sliding carefully on his stomach until his
feet found support against the marble gutter, the ladder meanwhile
remaining hooked by one of its rungs to the sill of the dormer.
In that perilous position he lifted his end of the ladder a few
inches, and so contrived to thrust it another foot or so through
the window, whereby its weight was considerably diminished. If he
could but get it another couple of feet farther in he was sure that
by returning to the dormer he would have been able to complete the
job. In his anxiety to do this and to obtain the necessary
elevation, he raised himself upon his knees.
But in the very act of making the thrust he slipped, and, clutching
wildly as he went, he shot over the edge of the roof. He found
himself hanging there, suspended above that terrific abyss by his
hands and his elbows, which had convulsively hooked themselves on
to the edge of the gutter, so that he had it on a level with his
breast.
It was a moment of dread the like of which he was never likely to
endure again in a life that was to know many perils and many
hairbreadth escapes. He could not write of it nearly half a
century later without shuddering and growing sick with horror.
A moment he hung there gasping, then almost mechanically, guided
by the sheer instinct of self-preservation, he not merely attempted,
but actually succeeded in raising himself so as to bring his side
against the gutter. Then continuing gradually to raise himself
until his waist was on a level with the edge, he threw the weight
of his trunk forward upon the roof, and slowly brought his right
leg up until he had obtained with his knee a further grip of the
gutter. The rest was easy, and you may conceive him as he lay
there on the roof’s edge, panting and shuddering for a moment to
regain his breath and nerve.
Meanwhile, the ladder, driven forward by the thrust that had so
nearly cost him his life, had penetrated another three feet
through the window, and hung there immovable. Recovered, he
took up his spontoon, which he had placed in the gutter, and,
assisted by it, he climbed back to the dormer. Almost without
further difficulty, he succeeded now in introducing the ladder
until, of its own weight, it swung down into position.
A moment later he had joined Balbi in the attic, and together
they groped about in it the dark, until finding presently a door,
they passed into another chamber, where they discovered furniture
by hurtling against it. Guided by a faint glimmer of light,
Casanova made his way to one of the windows and opened it. He
looked out upon a black abyss, and, having no knowledge of the
locality, and no inclination to adventure himself into unknown
regions, he immediately abandoned all idea of attempting to climb
down. He closed the window again, and going back to the other
room, he lay down on the floor, with the bundle of ropes for a
pillow, to wait for dawn.
And so exhausted was he, not only by the efforts of the past
hours, and the terrible experience in which they had culminated,
but also because in the last two days he had scarcely eaten or
slept, that straightway, and greatly to Balbi’s indignation and
disgust, he fell into a profound sleep.
He was aroused three and a half hours later by the clamours and
shakings of the exasperated monk. Protesting that such a sleep at
such a time was a thing inconceivable, Balbi informed him that it
had just struck five.
It was still dark, but already there was a dim grey glimmer of
dawn by which objects could be faintly discerned. Searching,
Casanova found another door opposite that of the chamber which
they had entered earlier. It was locked, but the lock was a poor
one that yielded to half a dozen blows of the spontoon, and they
passed into a little room beyond which by an open door they came
into a long gallery lined with pigeon-holes stuffed with
parchments, which they conceived to be the archives. At the end
of this gallery they found a short flight of stairs, and below
that yet another, which brought them to a glass door. Opening
this, they entered a room which Casanova immediately identified
as the ducal chancellery. Descent from one of its windows would
have been easy, but they would have found themselves in the
labyrinth of courts and alleys behind Saint Mark’s, which would
not have suited them at all.
On a table Casanova found a stout bodkin with a long wooden handle,
the implement used by the secretaries for piercing parchments that
were to be joined by a cord bearing the leaden seals of the Republic.
He opened a desk, and rummaging in it, found a letter addressed to
the Proveditor of Corfu, advising a remittance of three thousand
sequins for the repair of the fortress. He rummaged further,
seeking the three thousand sequins, which he would have appropriated
without the least scruple. Unfortunately they were not there.
Quitting the desk, he crossed to the door, not merely to find it
locked, but to discover that it was not the kind of lock that would
yield to blows. There was no way out but by battering away one of
the panels, and to this he addressed himself without hesitation,
assisted by Balbi, who had armed himself with the bodkin, but who
trembled fearfully at the noise of Casanova’s blows. There was
danger in this, but the danger must be braved, for time was slipping
away. In half an hour they had broken down all the panel it was
possible to remove without the help of a saw. The opening they
had made was at a height of five feet from the ground, and the
splintered woodwork armed it with a fearful array of jagged teeth.
They dragged a couple of stools to the door, and getting on to
these, Casanova bade Balbi go first. The long, lean monk folded
his arms, and thrust head and shoulders through the hole; then
Casanova lifted him, first by the waist, then by the legs, and so
helped him through into the room beyond. Casanova threw their
bundles after him, and then placing a third stool on top of the
other two, climbed on to it, and, being almost on a level with
the opening, was able to get through as far as his waist, when
Balbi took him in his arms and proceeded to drag him out. But it
was done at the cost of torn breeches and lacerated legs, and
when he stood up in the room beyond he was bleeding freely from
the wounds which the jagged edges of the wood had dealt him.
After that they went down two staircases, and came out at last in
the gallery leading to the great doors at the head of that
magnificent flight of steps known as the Giant’s Staircase. But
these doors - the main entrance of the palace - were locked, and,
at a glance, Casanova saw that nothing short of a hatchet would
serve to open them. There was no more to be done.
With a resignation that seemed to Balbi entirely cynical, Casanova
sat down on the floor.
“My task is ended,” he announced. “It is now
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