about three in the
morning
It promised to be an intensely dark night -- one of those nights , of which there are only a few in every year , when you can not , as we say , see your own hand . Watch-fires were kindled at every station where a detachment was posted round the prison enclosure . All the troops were under arms through the night ; the gunners in the block-house ready for action ; and the yeomanry patrolling the Peterborough and Great North roads . At about three in the morning a sentinel fired his piece , and the nearest detachment fell in , and hurried at the double to the spot . The prisoners were escaping through an opening in one of the palisades , but the prompt arrival of the soldiers quickly stopped the exodus . Some were thrust back again , and an array of bayonets at the charge , together with a volley from the rear ranks , fired , at first , by the commandant 's express orders , into the air , effectually prevented all further attempt . Nine prisoners escaped , and got clear away , surmounting the difficulty of the last palisading of all by friendly help from outside , as it was supposed , a rope with a hook at the end being found next morning at a certain spot .