his paper, and said, "Put away your work, and pass on to supper."

Acton and Diggory, both tingling with excitement, lingered behind until
the rest had left the room; then, when the coast was clear, they slipped
out into the garden, and hurried down the sloping path. It was
considerably lighter than it had been before tea; the clouds had cleared
away, and there were plenty of stars.

"Locked," muttered Acton, examining the shed. "Locked," he repeated,
trying the door leading into Locker's Lane. "I don't believe there's
anything in it. They might get over the wall if one gave the other a
leg up, but then how's the last man to get back again?"

"Well, if there's nothing in it," answered Diggory, "how should Joe
Crump have got to know we had any fireworks in the place? There must--
Hush! what's that?"

There was a sound of footsteps coming down the path from the house.
"_Cave!_" cried Acton. "It's Blake; let's hide!"

Several shrubs growing in the garden and overhanging the boarded
partition threw one corner of the playground into deep shadow. The boys
rushed into the angle, and, crouching down in the inky darkness, were at
once hidden from the view of any one who might advance even to within a
few feet of their hiding-place.

They had hardly time to conceal themselves, when a man, the outline of
whose figure they could just make out in the gloom, came through the
garden door, and, advancing a few yards, stood still, turning his head
from side to side as though looking to make sure that the quadrangle was
empty.

"He heard us talking," whispered Acton.

The new-comer having apparently come to the conclusion that he was
alone, walked slowly across to the shed, halted in front of the door,
and the next moment there was the sound of a key being fitted into the
lock. At that instant Diggory, who had been craning his neck forward to
get a better view of the intruder, suddenly gripped Acton's arm, and,
putting his mouth close to the latter's ear, whispered,--

"_It isn't Blake; it's old Noaks!_ Now keep quiet," he added, as his
companion made a movement as though he meant to rush out of their
hiding-place; "let's see what he does."

"He's the thief who stole all those things!" answered Acton excitedly.
"He must have another key, and he's going to bag something now."

Noaks (for certainly it was he) disappeared inside the shed; but in a
few seconds he was out again, and once more stood waiting as though
und