On 11^th December they decided to make their escape but a sentry refused to budge from the very spot where Churchill and Haldane intended to climb over the iron fence. The following night, 12^th December, when the sentry looked the other way, Churchill scrambled over the fence catching his waistcoat in the ornamental metalwork. He freed his clothes and hid in among a few shrubs in the garden as he awaited the other two. Haldane eventually came to the fence and said that Churchill should go on alone. He put on the slouch hat that Adrian Hofmeyr had given him and, passing within five yards of a sentry, turned left into Skinner Street.