"We know many secrets in our trade, from father to son," answered Toto gruffly.
"You must have lifted the boards, with the stones on them, to get out of the shaft. Why did you put them back in their place?"
"You seem to think I am a fool! I did not mean to let you know that I had been here, so I put them back, of course. I supposed that I could get out through the cellars, but you have put a padlock on the inner door."
"Is there any way of turning water into that shaft?"
"Only by filling the well, I think. If the Tiber rises, the water will back up the shaft through the drain. That is why the ancients who built the well made another way for the water to run off. When the river is swollen in a flood it must be much higher in the shaft than the bottom of the well, and if the 'lost water' were running in all the time, the air would probably make it back, so that the shaft would be useless and the well would be soiled with the river water."
"You evidently know your trade, Master Toto," said Masin, with some admiration for his fellow-craftsman's clear understanding.
"You know yours," retorted Toto, who was seldom at a loss, "for just now you talked of killing like a professional assassin."
This pleasing banter delighted Masin, who laughed heartily, and patted
Toto on the back.
"We shall be good friends," he said.
"In this world one never knows," Toto answered philosophically. "What are you going to do?"