Masin suggested that they might drive an iron on through the
brickwork, and find out how much of it there was beyond the stone, but
Malipieri pointed out that if the "lost water" should rise it would
pour out through the hole and stop their operations effectually. The
entrance must incline upwards, he said.

They made long round plugs of soft pine to fit the holes exactly, each
one scored with a channel a quarter of an inch deep, which was on the
upper side when they had driven the plugs into their places, and was
intended to lead the water along the wood, so as to wet it more
thoroughly. To do this Malipieri poked long cotton wicks into each
channel with a wire, as far as possible. He made Masin buy half-a-
dozen coarse sponges and tied one upon the upper end of each
projecting plug. Finally he wet all the sponges thoroughly and wound
coarse cloths loosely round them to keep in as much of the water as
possible. By pouring on water from time to time the soft wood was to
be ultimately wet through, the wicks leading the moisture constantly
inward, and in the end the great block must inevitably be split into
halves. It is the prehistoric method, and there never was any other
way of cleaving very hard stone until gunpowder first brought in
blasting. It is slow, but it is quite sure.

The place where the two men had been working was many feet below the
level of the courtyard, but the porter could now and then hear the
sound of blows echoing underground through the vast empty cellars,
even when he stood near the great entrance.

Toto heard the noise too, one day, as he was standing still to light
his pipe in the Vicolo dei Soldati. When it struck his ear he let the
match burn out till it singed his horny fingers. His expression became