eleven o'clock
Six knights were posted at the main entrance , with orders that none should be allowed to leave the prison , and that any persons who came up to the gate were to be at once seized and made prisoners . The rest marched on to a small door leading into the governor 's house . Here they were halted , and told to wait till called in ; six knights of England , and as many of Auvergne , being told off to accompany the grand master and Sir John Kendall . A note had been sent to the governor , informing him that the grand master intended to visit the prison at eleven o'clock , but that the matter was to be kept an absolute secret ; and that the governor himself was to be down at the gate to admit him . William Neave , the governor of the prison , looked astonished indeed when , upon his opening the door , the grand master and the bailiff of the English langue , with the twelve knights behind them , entered . He had been puzzled when , four days before , he had received an order from the grand master that Ahmet , a servitor in the auberge of the English langue , should be permitted to pass the night in his house , with authority to move freely and without question , at any hour , in the courtyard of the gaol , and to depart at any hour , secretly and without observation , by the private gate . Still more had he been surprised when he received the message that the grand master would pay him a secret visit at eleven o'clock at night .