nine o'clock
Is the passage from your cell here wide enough to admit your being drawn up ? '' `` Yes , '' Malchus replied ; `` it would be a close fit , but with a rope you could get me up through it . '' `` I will set to work to loosen these bars at once , '' Nessus said ; `` but the difficulty is not to get you out from here , but to get you beyond the gates of the citadel . The watch is extremely strict , and the gates are not opened until nine o'clock . Before that your escape would be discovered , and it will be impossible for you to pass out undetected . I must find a hiding place where you can lie concealed until the search is over , and the vigilance of the sentries is relaxed ; but it will be no easy matter . And now let us speak no more ; it is dangerous to breathe , much less to speak here . ''