Two o’clock in the morning
Now , indeed , Kate felt her situation alarming in the truest sense of the term , and sat looking at her companion in speechless horror and amazement . Mystery upon mystery it was ; but as the dangers that appeared to surround her , though gloomy , were indistinct , she once more had recourse to her panacea of the token , and seeking her couch with a fervent prayer on her lip , was soon , like her young friend on the sofa , lost in uneasy slumbers . It was on the night of Sunday the 27th of May , 1866 , that Barry and his comrades were to attempt their escape from the Fort ; and , as already seen , it was on the same night that the deserter was conveyed in a cab to The Harp , by Greaves . Two o'clock in the morning was the time decided upon , and a rendezvous having been appointed , our hero , who was on guard , saw , without challenging them , six figures steal by him into the darkness and immediately disappear . No sooner had the last of them vanished , than he placed his musket bolt upright in his sentry box , and the next moment was lost also in the gloom , and in the direction in which the figures had melted from his vision . Soon he reached the side of the river , where he found Tom with a boat , beside which stood his six companions . On recognizing him , they all leaped into the boat , and , although the moon was in the heavens , sheltered by the dark overhanging clouds that fortunately filled the sky , they dropped down the river , and landing Tom at a point previously decided upon , they all wrung his hand in silence , and once more put forth into the gloom , heading their craft towards the American shore , under the guidance of a pilot who knew every island and turn in the channel , and who joined them at the spot where O'Brien bid them farewell .