Charley turned to the man. "We agree, provided you leave at once," he said.
The convict, with a surly growl, turned and rapidly retraced his steps to the fort.
The convicts were in evident haste to be gone, for their envoy had hardly got inside before they began to file out, each bearing his gun and other belongings.
Within ten minutes from the envoy's visit the last of the outlaws had scaled the walls and was lost to sight.
The hunters waited for half an hour before they removed the barricade from the door and let the fresh cool morning breeze into their stuffy prison. Even then they did not venture outside, for they still feared some trick on the part of the convicts. As the moments, passed quietly by, however, without any sign of their foes, their fears began to decrease.
"I am going to find out what has become of them," Walter at last declared. "Unless we make certain now of what they are up to, we will be afraid to venture outside for a week to come."
His companions in vain tried to dissuade him from his rash project, his mind was made up and he turned a deaf ear to their words.
Shouldering one of the rifles, he made his way to the wall, clambered over it nimbly and disappeared on the other side.
It was over half an hour before Walter returned. His companions had begun to feel uneasy about him when he appeared on the top of the wall and dropped down inside with a hearty cheer.
"Come out, all of you," he shouted, "there's nothing more to fear from the convicts."