midnight
These , again , have bought over many of the guards , ours included , and tonight all will be ready for action . Those not of our party will be killed without ceremony . Duplicate keys have been made of all the padlocks of the fetters ; the guards who are with us have each one of them , the others will have been slipped into the hands of one man in each gang as they returned tonight from work . The overseers who are in the plot will , at midnight , go quietly round and unlock the doors , and remove the bars from the outside . We have , therefore , only to overcome the eight or ten men who patrol the prison ; and as we shall have the arms of the guards , some thirty in number , we shall make quick work of them . `` The two guards at the outside gates must , of course , be killed . Duplicates of the keys have been made , and will be hidden in a spot known to some of our party , close to the gate .