"It's too late to turn back, but most likely he won't notice us in this light if we walk straight on." They passed him successfully, and were just opposite the entrance, when three more boys sauntered through the doorway.

A gleam of light from the house happened to fall on Diggory's cap and broad white collar, and immediately the shout was raised, "_Birchites!_" There was a rush of feet, a wild moment of grabbing and dodging, and Mugford, who had managed somehow to shake himself free from the grasp of his assailants, dashed off at full speed down the road.

After running for about two hundred yards, and finding he was not followed, he pulled up, waited and listened, and then began cautiously to retrace his steps.
There was no sign either of his companion or the enemy; and though he ventured back as far as the double doors, which were now closed, not a soul was to be seen.

He knew in a moment that his class-mate had been captured, but all hope of attempting anything in the shape of a rescue was out of the question.

It was impossible for him single-handed to storm the fortress, and so, after lingering about for some minutes in the hope that his friend would reappear, he ran home as fast as he could, and bursting into the schoolroom, where most of his schoolfellows sat reading round the fire, threw them into a great state of consternation and dismay by proclaiming in a loud voice the alarming intelligence that Diggory had been taken prisoner, and was at that moment in the hands of the Philistines!.