midnight
On the very night before the execution Aramis brought the king a message from D'Artagnan , `` Tell the king that to-morrow , at ten o'clock at night , we shall carry him off . '' Aramis added , `` He has said it , and he will do it . '' The scaffold was already being constructed in Whitehall as he spoke , but D'Artagnan had the London executioner fast bound under lock and key in a cellar , and Athos had a light skiff waiting at Greenwich . Not only this , but at midnight these four wonderful men , thanks to Athos , who spoke excellent English , were also at work at the scaffold -- having bribed the carpenter in charge to let them assist -- and at the same time boring a hole in the wall . The scaffold , which had two lower stories , and was covered with black serge , was at the height of twenty feet , on a level with the window in the king 's room ; and the hole communicated with a narrow loft , between the floor of the king 's room , and the ceiling of the one below it . The plan was to pass through the hole into the loft , and cut out from below a piece of the flooring of the king 's room , so as to form a kind of trap-door . The king was to escape through this on the following night , and , hidden by the black covering of the scaffold , was then to change his dress for that of a workman , and so pass the sentinels on duty , and reach the skiff that was waiting for him at Greenwich .