"Why—er—I don't understand," stammered Peleg Snuggers.
"I'll explain after you are inside the ball," said Tom. "Here's the cord," and he led the general utility man to the hole and helped him to get down.
Not suspecting a trick, Snuggers crawled into the big snowball. Before he could do anything with the cord given to him the cadets rushed forward and gave the snowball a push toward the edge of the hill.
"Hi! stop that!" roared the general utility man, trying to back out.
"Hold tight—the snowball is getting away from us!" yelled Tom. "Somebody keep it from going down the hill!"
"We can't hold it back!" screamed Larry, grinning at the same time.
"It's bound to go—too bad!" wailed another.
"Say, let me git out!" yelled Peleg Snuggers, but at that moment the snowball began to turn over. "I'll be killed! Oh, dear, I think you did this a-purpose, you rascals!"
"Never!" came back promptly.
"Enjoy the ride while you have the chance, Peleg!"
"You've got a free ticket to the bottom of the hill!"
