“And if that’s so, how can we get up there ourselves—with heavy radio equipment?” Tony demanded.
“Oh, we ought to be able to get up there some way,” Dick said. “But the Germans won’t think of it because—first, they just won’t believe anyone would dare set up an illegal radio on top of their headquarters and, second, because to them there is no way to get there.”
“That’s right,” Tomaso said. “When they first came to take over the villa, they looked everywhere. They wanted to be sure of the building they were moving into. They looked into every nook and cranny. They searched every room, looked up chimneys, investigated the big wine cellars, tried to find hidden passages and rooms. They asked a lot about the tower then. They know the stone stairs fell down two hundred years ago. They tried every possible way to get up—but they always tried from the inside! Finally they concluded no one could possibly get there. They never thought of the outside—and that’s how you’ll get there, Tony.”
“But how?” the young radioman asked.
“I remember how agile you always were,” Tomaso said. “I recall how you used to run down this hill and leap on the roof of the servants’ wing. I know you could scale any wall, any tree!”
“That’s right,” Dick agreed. “Tony can get wherever he wants to go. He can crawl like a cat!”
“But not with a hundred or more pounds of radio under my arm,” Tony objected. “You’ve a wonderful idea, I’ll admit. Probably couldn’t be a better place under the circumstances. Still, how can I get there and get the radio stuff there?”
“From the roof of the servants’ wing,” Tomaso said, “we can raise a ladder. The longest ladder we have is about fifteen feet long. That would still leave you fifteen feet from the opening at the top where the bells were.”
“We can make an extension for the ladder,” Dick said. “We can do that tomorrow in the woods, bring it down with us tomorrow night.”
“Perhaps, perhaps,” the old man said. “But it may not be very strong. Still, Tony is not heavy. If he also had a rope with a hook on the end, something that he could toss up to catch over the edge of the opening, then he could surely pull himself up.”