rying isn't all right," said Sam. "They may have nothing but soda in those bottles."
They hurried along faster than ever but, strange to say, failed to catch up to Lew Flapp and his cronies, who were making for the hermit's den with all possible speed.
"Maybe they got scared, thinking we might be spying on them," suggested Tom, and hit upon the exact truth of the matter.
After that nearly a week passed in camp without anything unusual happening. Lew Flapp and his cronies kept their distance, and so strict was the guard set by Captain Putnam and his assistants that hazing became, for the time being, out of the question.
To pass the time more pleasantly some of the cadets organized several tug-of-war teams. This sort of thing pleased Tom very much and he readily consented to act as anchor man on one of the teams. Another team had Pender for an anchor man, with Rockley and seven others on the rope.
"Let us have a regular contest," said one of the cadets, and all was arranged for a match on the following morning after drill.
The students were enthusiastic over the match, some thinking one side would win and others favoring the opponents.
