“Up!” yelled Rockley.  “Pull! pull! pull!”

“Stay down!” roared Tom.  “Down!  Don’t give in an inch!”

But the cry could not be obeyed.  Half the team was up and sneezing and before order could be restored the rope had gone over to the Rockleys’ side a distance of two and a half feet.

“Hurrah, the Rockleys are winning!” yelled Ben Hurdy.  “Haul ’em over, boys!”

“Down!” ordered Tom.

“What on earth made the men sneeze?” demanded Dick, gazing around sharply.

“Smells like pepper,” replied Major Larry Colby, who was close at hand.

“Would anybody be mean enough to use that?”

“Perhaps.”

“Up!” cried Rockley once more.  “Pull! pull! pull!”

His team gave a savage haul as ordered, and up came Tom’s men in spite of themselves.  Then began a tug of war in dead earnest, with the rope nearly three feet in the Rockleys’ favor.

CHAPTER XXII

A SWIM AND SOME SNAKES

The majority of the cadets were now inclined to think that Rockley’s team would win the contest.  They had seen Tom’s followers sneezing, but thought this might come from the dampness of the ground.

“Don’t give in, Tom!” cried Sam, dancing around.  “You’ve got to beat him!”

“Bah! you act like a monkey,” said Lew Flapp.  “Rockley’s fellows are bound to win.”

In the meantime the rope was moving rapidly backward and forward.  Once Rockley and his men had Tom’s team dangerously close to the line.  But Tom ordered a drop and there the team clung, refusing to budge an inch further.

“Time is almost up,” said George Strong.  “Three minutes more!”

“Up!” cried Rockley.

“Up and pull for all you are worth!” cried Tom.  “Pull, I tell you!  Make every ounce of muscle count!”

And pull Tom’s team did as never before, and Tom with them, watching for the first sign of returning weakness.  But the team was now on its mettle and made the Rockleys come over the line in spite of the frantic orders from Rockley himself to drop.

“It’s ours!” screamed Tom, and with a final haul brought the opponents over the line with a rush.  Rockley, flat on his back on the grass, trying in vain to dig his heels into the soil, and the others floundering just as vainly.

A cheer went up for Tom’s team, while Rockley and his followers left the field in disgust.

“It was well won, Tom!” said Dick enthusiastically.  “I never saw a better tug of war in my life.”

“I’d like to know who threw that pepper,” answered Tom, with an angry glance toward Lew Flapp and his cronies.

“Did somebody throw pepper?” asked Mr. Strong.

“I think they did, although I’m not sure.  Anyway, something came along and made the most of us sneeze.”

“It’s too bad, Rover.  I’ll try to make sure of this,” said the teacher.  But though he made an investigation nothing came of it.