midnight
`` At very considerable risk , and doubtless with great difficulty , he has been able to get one message to us , but will not be able to do so again . So he wishes us to procure a piece of cord thin enough to escape easy detection , and hang it from our window , so that he can communicate with us as may be necessary , and so that he can perhaps send up to us certain small articles . For some reason he can not come again until three days ' hence , when he will be waiting below our grating at midnight for us to lower the line to him , when we may expect another message , and probably instructions what to do so that we may escape . Why he can not come until midnight on the third night I can not guess , but evidently there is something very weighty and important to prevent his doing so , otherwise , knowing that there are but five days altogether before our execution , he would commence at once to arrange for our escape without losing any time ; for a delay of three days now may make all the difference whether we are to live or die . `` All this we learn from his letter ; and my opinion is that we must just trust this man , and hope that he will be able to succeed in his efforts ; for until we hear again from him , as to what he wishes us to do to assist him , we can do nothing -- absolutely nothing . Now , the first difficulty that confronts us is the matter of that line of which he speaks , and without which , he tells us , escape is impossible . How in the world can we secure a rope or cord of any sort ?