"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 one say, 'Are you ready?' They're behind that
hedge. We can't get through, it's too thick; but you fellows stop