midnight
`` It is just as I suspected , '' Malcolm said in Ronald 's ear . `` There is a peephole somewhere , otherwise there could be no occasion for him to have dropped the lamp . It is well that we have always been on our guard . '' They ate their bread in silence , and then after a short talk on the stupidity of the English in taking two drovers for messengers of Prince Charles , they lay down on their rough pallets to pass with what patience they could the long hours before midnight , for it was late in October , and it was little after five o'clock when the warder visited them . They felt but slight anxiety as to the success of the enterprise , for they had no doubt that every detail had been carefully arranged by their friends without , although certainly it seemed a strange method of escape that after lowering themselves from a third floor window they should afterwards be hauled up into a second . At last , after what seemed almost an endless watch , they heard the church clocks strike twelve , and simultaneously rose to their feet . Not a word was spoken , for although it was improbable in the extreme that any watcher would be listening at that hour of the night , it was well to take every precaution .