This was an unexpected bit of good fortune, and he at once went to the window and examined the bars.
They were thick and of new iron, but had been hastily put up.

The building had originally been a large warehouse, and when it had been converted into a prison for the Confederate prisoners the bars had been added to the windows.

Instead, therefore, of being built into solid stone and fastened in by lead, they were merely screwed on to the wooden framework of the windows, and by a strong screw-driver a bar could be removed in five minutes.

This altogether altered the position.

He had only to wait until the rest of the occupants of the room were asleep and then to remove the bar and let himself down.
He at once wrote: "I want twenty yards of strong string, and the same length of rope that will bear my weight; also a strong screw-driver.