just as half a dozen men
were on the point of descending.

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:

"How did you get away?"

"It's too long a story to tell now when we need all our breath. Are you
trying to reach home?"

"No; the store."

"Then you know what Billings' crowd are intendin' to do."

"Yes, and help is needed at once."

Sam made no reply. Both the men he had over-thrown were on their feet
again, and, with a dozen others, were close in the rear, making every
effort to overtake the fugitives.

The race was virtually won, however, unless other rioters were met on
the road. The boys yet had thirty or forty