stuff the Triple Alliance is made of."

On the following evening, as soon as tea was over, the two friends
slipped off down into the playground, where they were 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.