midnight
These were to be lashed across , as soon as they had got beyond the palisade , so as to keep the poles three feet apart -- which , as the blanket was four feet , from pole to pole , would allow it to bag comfortably . The cross pieces could not be attached until they were beyond the palisade ; for the window was but two feet wide , and it was therefore proposed to make the gap through the palisade the same width , only . Late in the evening they entered the town , and sat down in a deserted corner until the time came for them to begin their work . At last Meinik said that , by the stars , it was already past midnight ; and they then proceeded to the spot where they had before climbed the palisade . Here they at once set to work . The saws were well oiled and , in a very few minutes , five bamboos were cut away , at the level of the ground and six feet above it . As the stockade was bound together by cross pieces , behind , the other portions of the bamboos remained in their places .