"D'you see ?" cried the latter eagerly.
"Yes." "Well, what then ?" "Why, it must have something to do with this row about Browse." "Of course: the fellows who did it didn't want, I suppose, to be seen talking together too much just before it happened, and so they invented this way of making their plans." "But who can it be ?" asked Mugford.

"It seems to me it's just like one of those secret society things in Russia." "So it is, and we must find out who they are," answered Diggory, smacking his lips with great relish.

"We'll see once more what can be done by the Triple Alliance." The more the three friends thought over the matter of the cipher letter, the more their curiosity and interest were excited.
"I believe it's either Noaks or Mouler," said Mugford; "they were both of them siding with Thurston, and trying to kick up a row at the meeting." "Oh, they'd neither of them have the sense to invent a thing like this," answered Jack.

"They may be in it, but there's some one else besides." Diggory scouted the idea of letting any other boys share their secret.
The honour of having discovered and exposed the plot must belong to the Triple Alliance alone, and it must be said that they had accomplished their task unaided by any outsiders.
That evening and the following day the greater portion of their free time was spent in discussing the great question as to what should be done.

The cipher note evidently had direct connection with the attack on Browse, but the translation of the letter was in itself like finding a key without knowing the whereabouts of the lock which it fitted.