A narrow escape, a chance: he had a squeak for his life. To squeak; to confess, peach, or turn stag. They squeak beef upon us; they cry out thieves after us. Cant.
Definition taken from The 1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, originally by Francis Grose.
Square Toes * SqueakerNathan Bailey's 1736 Dictionary of canting and thieving slang
John S. Farmer's collection of canting songs and slang rhymes