When Alma1 first fled from King Noah, Mormon notes that Alma "hid himself that they found him not. And he being concealed for many days did write all the words which Abinadi had spoken" (Mosiah 17:4). How long this process took and how long Alma was alone are subject to interpretation, but it apparently was long enough to allow the threat of retaliation or death by king Noah to subside somewhat. Mormon notes that when Alma finally emerged from this concealment he taught "as many as would hear his word" . . . "And he taught them privately, that it might not come to the knowledge of the king" (Mosiah 18:3). Mormon also notes that Alma "went about privately among the people, and began to teach the words of Abinadi" (Mosiah 18:1). Thus, although Alma might have conducted his teaching process with great care, he was probably not going about it in complete secrecy. For instance, if Alma preached "among the people," then how did Alma hope to control those people who refused his message? Would they go to the king? Or what about the neighbors of those who accepted his message? Perhaps by the time Alma emerged from his concealment, tensions had eased somewhat between him and King Noah. Perhaps Noah, who initially "sent his servants after [Alma] that they might slay him" (Mosiah 17:3) no longer considered Alma a great political threat. Nevertheless, this "privately" conducted preaching process could not go on for very long before Alma substantially increased the number of his contacts and thus increased the chances for a political confrontation with the king. Mormon notes that "as many as did believe [Alma] did go forth to a place which was called Mormon" (Mosiah 18:4), perhaps because the formation of a new religious group soon become too much of a political irritation for Noah in the local land of Lehi-Nephi. This flight of converts to the place called Mormon might have helped control the situation for a time, but one has to ponder here that if Noah was really serious about killing Alma, it wouldn't have taken him long to discover that people were packing up their belongings and moving out of Lehi-Nephi.
Because of the apparent secrecy surrounding Alma's location, we might assume, as many have, that Noah knew nothing concerning Alma's location. This might have been true, but the reasons for Alma being left alone might have had more to do with politics. If Alma was well thought of by the people of Noah, and there was a significant distance between the waters of Mormon (where Alma was located) and Lehi-Nephi (where Noah was located), then Noah might not have considered the need to deal with Alma an imminent priority. Thus, while King Noah perhaps made token "searches" (Mosiah 18:5), catching Alma might not have been his top priority as king. Nevertheless, if Alma started to influence the attitudes of the people toward their government, and the numbers of people moving out of Lehi-Nephi started increasing, then Alma and his followers would most definitely start to become a real political threat to King Noah.
Where is all this reasoning leading to? Just this, that (1) the "privately" conducted or politically sensitive manner of Alma's preaching could have allowed for some time to pass between Alma's flight and Noah's final decision to send his army after Alma and his followers; and (2) the distance between the waters of Mormon and Lehi-Nephi might have been just as much of a factor in keeping Noah's servants from thorough searches of that area as it's secrecy. [Alan C. Miner, Personal Notes]