Taking one of the iron bars with him, he climbed up to the aperture, but found the process of squeezing himself through was no easy one; cheered on by hope, and with fear of the fire behind, he at last succeeded, and dropped to the ground outside, only to find that the high wall surrounding the prison barred his way.
At least he had escaped the fire, but now, how to get out of the yard? He ran round the burning building in the hopes of finding an outlet, expecting every moment to fall in with some of the guard, but to his astonishment not a soul was about. At first this seemed strange, but as he realized that the building had been set on fire purposely, the desertion of it was quickly accounted for.
The only means of escape that now presented itself was a small outhouse built against the wall. This he clambered on to, and then, by the aid of some loose planks in the roof, succeeded in reaching the top of the wall.
The moment he looked over he cursed himself bitterly for not having waited until the house had burnt itself out before attempting to go further, for then, no doubt, thinking him dead, the crowd would have deserted the place. As it was, he saw a cluster of rebels standing watching the fire carry out its fell work.
He withdrew his head the instant he saw the murderous-looking mob. To expose himself on the top of the wall was merely to make a target of his body for a dozen rifles to "pot" at, and so nullify all he had accomplished. Yet how was he to get over on to the other side without being observed? If he could but alight on firm ground safely, he could then make a rush for it, and trust to the luck which, so far, had been on his side. He thought of the shadow cast by the wall, owing to the brilliant light of the burning prison behind, and he determined to try this one chance of escape.
In the excitement of the leap from the window he dropped his weapon, and only just discovered the fact. Scrambling back, he soon found it, and climbing once more on to the outhouse, without further hesitation he gradually rolled himself full length on to the top of the wall, slid his legs over, and letting himself down to arms' length, dropped to the ground. The wall was nearly fifteen feet high, so that he had dropped about seven. The moment he landed he recovered himself and ran for dear life, not knowing in the least where he was going.
At first he thought he had escaped notice, but it was not so, for scarcely had his brain formed the hope than one wild shout went up from the rebels, and the next instant he found himself closely followed by a hooting, murderous mob.
