joined a minute
later by Acton, who, unlocking the shed, took down from the peg on which
it hung the key of the door in the outer wall.

"You'll have plenty of time," he said, glancing at his watch, "and with
this moonlight you'll soon be able to see if they're about. I'll keep
the door, and let you in when you come back."

The next moment the two members of the Alliance were trotting down
Locker's Lane. It was a bright, frosty night, and the hard ground rang
beneath their feet like stone. They turned off on to the grass, lest
the noise should give the enemy warning of their approach; and when
within about a hundred yards of Horace House, pulled up to consider for
a moment what their plan of action should be, before proceeding any
further.

"I don't see any one," said Jack Vance.

"Perhaps they are hiding," answered Diggory. "Look here! let's get into
this field and run down on the other side of the hedge until we get
opposite the gate."

The stronghold of the Philistines was silent as the grave. The two
chums crouched behind a thick bush, and peering through its leafless
branches could see nothing but the closed double doors, and a stretch of
blank wall on either side.

"There's no one about," whispered Vance; "I don't believe old Noaks has
told them."

"Wait a minute," answered Diggory. "I'll see if I can stir any of
them;" and so saying, he knelt up, and cried in an audible voice,
"Now, then, are you all ready?"

Diggory and Jack Vance dropped flat on their stomachs, for the words had
hardly been uttered when the doors were flung open, and at least ten of
the Philistines rushed out into the road with a yell of defiance.
Many of them were bigger than Acton, and what would have been the fate
of the two Birchites had they kept to the road instead of acting on
Diggory's suggestion of advancing under cover of the hedge, one hardly
dares to imagine.

"Hullo!" cried young Noaks, who had headed the sortie. "There's nobody
here, and yet I'll swear I heard them somewhere."

"So did I," answered another voice; "they must have cut and run."

"There's no place for them to run to," returned Noaks; "they must be
behind that hedge.--Come out of it, you skunks!"

A big stone came crashing through the twigs within a yard of Diggory's
head. The two boys crouched close to the low earth bank and held their
breath.

"They must be about somewhere," cried Noaks. "I knew they were coming,
and I'm sure I heard some