t the otherwise
childish shouting was not without a rational object, namely, to drown the
noise of blows.

At length darkness came on. It promised to be an intensely dark
night--one of those nights, of which there are only a few in every year,
when you cannot, 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. In all probability
it was a sweet-heart's act, some acquaintance formed at the barrack
market.

Several other openings were made, but the soldiers, after the first
alarm, were so much on the alert, that hardly any more escaped.
Altogether less than a score got clear away, besides the nine already
mentioned; but how they managed to get over the last palisade was a
mystery, except there were, as in the other case, assistance from
without, though no trace of it was discovered. Sad to relate, however,
more than half of those who obtained their freedom were recaptured after
a few days, some of them a long way off from Norman Cross.

One other attempt at escape deserves to be recorded, because it was
planned with skill and daring worthy of a better result. In the barrack-
yard where Malin was confined, there happened to be several sappers, and
they had dug a mine, with very imperfect tools, some thirty-four feet in
length, towards the Great North Road, but unfortunately it fell short of
the required distance, and the men were found when daylight broke still
within the outer wall of the prison.

So ended the only general outbreak that was ever made by the pr