Crouching against the wall at one corner the new-comers failed to notice him; but it was impossible to ascend the rope ladder which had been let down, without attracting attention, because of the numbers who continued to arrive at irregular intervals.
During an hour he waited, shrouded from view by the gloom, and then came the desired opportunity.
Two men returned from the further end of the drift, and ascended the ladder.
"I'll follow them and run the risk of being recognized," he said to himself, and suiting the action to the words he climbed the network of rope immediately behind the second rioter.
It was twilight when he arrived at the surface, and Billings' forces were building a row of fires directly in front of the slope.
To start toward the village immediately would be to take too many chances of detection, and Sam loitered on the outskirts of the crowd watching for the desired opportunity, which came when Fred left the slope to carry Donovan's message to Mr. Wright.
Instantly the alarm was given Sam started in pursuit, accompanied by a dozen others, and only by outstripping the rioters could he hope to make his escape.
Fred ran as he had never done before, with the howling mob at his heels, and foremost among them was Sam. Two men were in advance of the escaping prisoner; but by an apparent misstep while he ran alongside the second, the rioter was overturned, and but one remained; the others being so far in the rear as not to count in the chase.
Fred glanced over his shoulder now and then; but the darkness prevented him from recognizing his friend until the latter deliberately threw himself in front of the pursuer, and a tumble was the result.
"Keep on it's me—Sam!" the butty boy shouted, as he scrambled to his feet before the man had fully recovered his senses, and with a cry of glad surprise, Fred asked: