"Right you are," answered Browning. And then, after a pause, he continued: "Got a letter this morning. Important news." "Of what?" asked several. "About the intercollegiate games to come off in New York. Friend of mine at Princeton says they are bound to beat us." "Not on your life!" came in a chorus; and on the moment the affair of the examination papers was forgotten and all of the boys were talking about the contests to come off and wondering who of the Yale students would take part. CHAPTER VIII. PICKING OUT A TEAM. "One, two, drop!" At the word there was a sudden thud as four bodies fell to the ground. Immediately afterward there was a creaking and a sound of straining as the four prostrate men pulled with all their might at a rope. Then there were long breaths and grunts, and presently one of the four exclaimed: "I say, Merriwell, I didn't suppose you were going to say 'drop' until you had counted three!" "You had no business to suppose any such thing," responded Frank, seriously, and yet with a smile; "the man who gives the word in a tug of war sometimes doesn't count at all, and you've got to get used to falling at one word only." "It will be a pistol shot in New York, won't it?" "That isn't decided on. You didn't get the rope under your knee when you fell, Taylor." "I know," responded the one addressed, "and that was because the word 'drop' came before I was ready for it." "Look out for it next time, then. That will do for the present." At this word the four young men stood up and looked at Merriwell to await his next command. They were in the gymnasium at Yale. A corner of the main exercise hall had been set apart for them and screened so that their work could not be seen or interrupted by other students. Four short pieces of wood had been nailed to the floor at intervals of about five feet. At each of these blocks or cleats a student stood with his hand upon a rope that was tied to a post a few feet distant from the nearest cleat. These four were stripped to the thinnest of athletic costumes, but Frank, who stood by directing their work, was in his usual street clothes. He was training the four to represent the college in a tug of war that was to be one feature of some intercollegiate games to take place early in the following month. The contests were to consist of all kinds of indoor exercises, as the season for outdoor sports had come to an end. There was to be leaping, wrestling, trapeze and horizontal bar work, maneuvers on the giant swings, fencing and so on. The entries for these events were not limited to any one class; freshmen could contest as well as seniors, and as a matter of fact many ambitious fellows in the freshman class were in training for the big event. Every day the wrestlers got together in the gymnasium and varied their work at the machines by wrestling with each other.