"We can do nothing, unless assisted from without," said Amador.--"I would to heaven, I had kept my knaves at my side! With such a wary servant as Baltasar at my back, and so faithful a desperado as Lazaro at my side, I should have made another sort of departure from that abhorred tower. The varlets are perhaps sleeping in security, without a thought of their master. Nay, by my faith, it is not probable they should give themselves to rest, without being made acquainted with my instructions for the night. Perhaps they may be lurking in the neighbourhood, ready to hear my call, and to obey it! At all events, senor secretary, I would thou couldst mount to those iron stanchions, and take note of what is passing on the outside." "_Iron!_" cried the secretary quickly: "by San Iago of Compostella! a thought strikes me. I know well, senor, that in these lands, iron has almost the value of gold, and is too scarce to be wasted on the defences of a temporary dungeon, where it might be stolen too, at the first opportunity, by the Indians." "Dost thou mean to say, that these bars are of wood?" demanded Amador. "Indeed, I think so, senor; and if I had but a knife or dagger, and the means of climbing into the window, I would warrant to be at liberty before morning." "Here is a poniard, of which the villains forgot to divest me," said Amador. "Strike it against the stanchions:--if they be of wood, we have much hope of freeing ourselves." The secretary did as he was directed. He raised himself a-tiptoe, and the sharp weapon buried itself in the flimsy barrier. "If I had but something to stand on," he cried eagerly, "how soon might we not be free!" "There is neither stool nor chair in this vile den," said Don Amador; "but I will not shame to give thee the support of my shoulder, and the more readily, that I think thy slight frame would be incapable of supporting my own greater weight.--Pause not," he continued, observing that Fabueno hesitated: "If thy foot be near my neck, I shall know it is not the foot of an enemy.--I will kneel to take thee on my back, as the Saracen camel does to his master.--Stretch thyself to thy full height, so as to cut through the tops of the bars; after which, without further carving, thou canst easily wrench them from their places." Fabueno submitted to the will of the novice, and Amador rising without much effort under his weight, he was soon in a position to operate to advantage. "Why dost thou falter?" demanded the novice, as Lorenzo, after making one or two gashes in the wood, suddenly ceased his labour. "Senor," replied the secretary, in a low voice, "there is a guard at a little distance, sitting under the shadow of the pyramid. A cavalier stands in advance, watching--It is the captain Salvatierra!"