“say, that new boy has nerve!” exclaimed teddy, admiringly.
“yes,” began billie, “but if jakie gets mad, he’ll hit him, and——”
by this time tommy had nearly caught up to the boy who had his bat, and jakie, wondering at the footsteps behind him, turned around. billie was so interested in what he feared was going to happen, that he did not finish the sentence he had started.
“well, what do you want?” asked jakie, sneeringly, as he faced our hero.
“my bat, and i’m going to have it, too!” exclaimed tommy, determinedly.
“go on away, and don’t bother me! you’re too little for a bat. i’m going to keep this one, and i may let you play with it sometimes.”
jakie turned and was about to walk off, but, to his surprise, as well as to the wonder of teddy and billie, tommy stepped directly in front of the bully, who was head and shoulders taller than he.
“that’s my bat, and i’m going to have it!” exclaimed tommy, sharply. “you can’t play that kind of a trick on me, if i have just moved to town! if you don’t give me that bat right away, i’ll find out where you live, and my father will come and see your father about it.”
[pg 45]
“don’t worry me!” sneered the bully. “i’m going to keep the bat. run along now!”
“i will not!” cried tommy, and then, with such a quick motion that there was no chance to stop him, he snatched the bat from under the bully’s arm. then, instead of running away, as many boys would have done under the circumstances, tommy stood facing the other lad.
“well, you have got nerve!” exclaimed jakie. “i’ve a good notion to punch your head!”
“don’t you dare touch me!” said tommy, quietly, and there was something in his voice that made the other hesitate. “you had no right to take my bat. i said i’d get it back, and i did, and i want you to let me alone. i’m not a bit afraid of you!”
tommy had a firm grip on his bat, and, though his heart was beating rather fast, he made up his mind that he would fight with all his strength to retain his property.
“say, he’s all right!” exclaimed teddy, admiringly. “let’s go help him. i like a fellow that does things!”
“so do i!” agreed billie. “the three of us ought to be able to stand up to that mean jakie.”
“of course we can! come on,” and the two started on the run toward tommy and his enemy. tommy heard them coming, but did not turn his head to look at them. he was eyeing the bully, ready for anything that might happen. jakie saw teddy and billie approaching, and he also saw that they meant to do something. he realized that he would be no match for three determined boys, even if he was taller and stronger than any one of them.
besides, tommy looked as if he could give a pretty good account of himself alone, and he had a stout ash bat in his hands that would be an effective weapon in an encounter.
[pg 46]
“i was only fooling,” said jakie finally, laughing a bit, but he did not seem in a very jolly mood. “i’d have given your bat back, after a bit.”
“i’d have got it back, anyhow,” retorted tommy, “and i’ve got it now. if you bother me again, i’ll tell your father on you.”
“that’s right,” added teddy, coming up just then. “we are going to stick up for him, too!”
“say, you think you’re a regular team, don’t you?” sneered jakie. “don’t give me any of your back talk! i’ll fix you fellows some day, if you don’t look out.” he spoke the last roughly.
“huh! you started this!” came from billie.
“yes, he acts as though we did something,” added tommy. and then, having gained all that he needed, our hero turned away, his two chums joining him on either side.
“say, you’re all right!” exclaimed billie, clapping tommy on the back.
“weren’t you afraid?” asked teddy, when they were out of jakie’s hearing.
“yes, i was,” admitted tommy, slowly, “but i wasn’t going to let him know it. does he often do things like that?”
“lots of times,” declared teddy. “he’s one of the meanest boys in town.”
“then we won’t ask him to join our nine,” said tommy. “say, can’t you fellows come down to my house?”
“where do you live?” asked billie.
“i don’t know the name of the street, but it’s a big yellow house, and there’s a yard in front. there’s a drug store on the corner.”
“oh, that’s wickerham street,” said teddy. “i know the house you mean.”
[pg 47]
“yes, the perkins family used to live there,” went on billie. “but i can’t come now. i have to go home first.”
“so do i,” added his companion.
“well, come over when you can,” invited tommy, “and we’ll talk about baseball.”
the boys promised, and tommy hastened home to get a ball and practice with his new bat. the things were nearly all moved into the house by now, and tommy thought to help by carrying in a few small articles left on the sidewalk. the movers were preparing to leave.
“there he is again!” exclaimed the man with the big feet. “say, youngster, would you mind keeping out of my way?” he asked, pleasantly.
“don’t you want me to help?” inquired tommy.
“no, i’d rather not. you see, i haven’t had any accidents to-day, and i don’t want one to happen at the last minute. i might step on you, you see. i wouldn’t want to, of course, but look there,” and the man held up one of his big feet.
“it’s big, and i’m heavy,” he went on, “and when i do step on anything, i just naturally squash it! can’t seem to help it,” he added. “now, i haven’t stepped on anybody during this moving, and i don’t want to. so, if it’s just the same to you, i’d rather you wouldn’t get in the way. it’s hard to look where i’m stepping when i’m carrying things in front of me, and i surely wouldn’t step on you on purpose, but—well, look out! you’d better trot along and play ball until i get out of the way.”
“all right,” agreed tommy, with a laugh. “i’ll go in the house and see if i can help my mother.”
he found both his mother and father very busy, and a woman had been hired to come in and help, so that tommy’s aid was not needed.
[pg 48]
“go out and play,” advised his father, “but stay within call. i’ll want you to go to the store and get something for supper pretty soon. nellie, you go out and play, too.”
“no, i’m going up to my room,” said tommy’s sister. “oh, i’ve got the loveliest room!” she went on to her brother. “i can see away over the fields to the school. at least, it looks like a school.”
“where’s my room?” demanded tommy, thinking of the apartment for the first time. “have i got a good one?”
“you can have your choice of two,” put in his mother. “there is a small one on the second floor, or a big one in the attic, and——”
“i want the one in the attic!” said tommy, quickly. “i’m going to make a den of it, and sometimes can i have the boys up there?”
“boys? have you met some boys already?” asked his father, with a laugh.
“sure. billie ruggler and teddy bunker. they’re going to belong to my nine. here they come now!” suddenly exclaimed tommy, glancing through the window. “and they’ve got another fellow with them. i’m going to have a catch, anyhow, if we can’t play a regular game,” and then, forgetting all about his new room, tommy hurried out to meet his new friends.
“this is herbert kress,” said billie, introducing their companion. “this is the fellow i was telling you about,” he went on, pointing at tommy. “he took his bat away from jakie norton, and jakie didn’t dare grab it back.”
“if he’d tried it, he’d have had a lively tussle with all of us,” predicted teddy. “we were ready for him.”
“come on and have a catch,” proposed tommy. “will you join our new nine?” he asked of herbert.
[pg 49]
“sure. i’ll be glad to, but i don’t know much about the game. we boys never had a team before.”
“then it’s time you did!” declared tommy, with a laugh. “i’ll start one. we’ll have some fun. know any other fellows who’ll join?”
“i guess so,” replied teddy, while herbert said in a low voice to billie:
“say, this tommy tiptop certainly does things, doesn’t he?”
“yes; i’m glad he moved to town,” replied billie, eagerly.
“there’s joie grubb!” called teddy, as the boys stood in tommy’s front yard. a very fat boy was walking slowly on the other side of the street.
“does he play ball?” asked tommy, quickly. “call him over.”
“hey, joie!” shouted billie. “come on over and meet a new fellow. we’re going to have a ball nine.”
joie came over slowly and was introduced to tommy.
“do—do you mind if i sit down?” asked joie, wiping his fat face with his handkerchief. “it’s getting hot.”
“good baseball weather,” commented tommy. “do you play?”
“no. i’m too fat, i guess. anyhow, that’s what jakie norton said.”
“it’ll do you good to play ball,” advised tommy. “you won’t be so fat, then.”
“say, you ought to see what happened to jakie norton to-day,” spoke billie. and he told of the trouble about the bat.
“oh, say, if we’re going to play, come on,” begged tommy. “there are five of us, and we can play ‘two-o’-cat,’ with two batters, a catcher and a pitcher, and one fellow[pg 50] to chase the balls. we’ll draw lots to see who does the chasing, who pitches and who catches.”
“that’s the way to do it!” declared joie. “i hope i don’t have to do any chasing,” he added, with a laugh. tommy liked joie from the start—in fact, most boys did—for he was jolly and good-natured, and he didn’t in the least mind being called “fatty.”
luckily for himself, joie was one of the batters. tommy took a number of blades of grass in his hand and let the other boys draw them. the one who got the shortest was to be the runner, and the one who had the next in size the catcher, then the pitcher, and then those who had the two longest blades were to be at bat first. joie and teddy were the first batters.
next to the house into which tommy’s parents had moved was a vacant lot, and it was there that the boys went to play ball. stones served for bases, and the rear fence was the back-stop.
it was a simple game that the boys played, with only one base to run to, and there were hardly any rules. if the batter knocked a fly, and it was caught, he was out, while if he missed hitting two of the balls that were tossed to him, he was also out.
they had a good time, and soon it was tommy’s turn to bat.
“here’s where i get a home run!” he cried as he stood up to home plate, a round piece of red sandstone. “give me a good ball, joie,” for the fat boy had been advanced to pitcher, after having gotten out on an easy fly ball that only popped up a little way into the air.
the ball came slowly toward him, and tommy swung his new bat at it with all his strength. away the ball went,[pg 51] sailing high over the head of teddy bunker, who was doing the running.
“come on!” cried billie, who, with tommy, made up the batting force. “make a home run!”
“sure!” shouted tommy, as he raced for the stone that marked the first and only base.
he reached it safely, touched it with his foot and then started back for home plate. just as he got there, and while billie was capering about in delight, there came a crash of glass.
“oh, my! good night!” shouted joie.
“what’s the matter?” asked tommy.
“we’ve broken a window in your house,” said the fat pitcher. and this was but too true. teddy bunker had thrown the ball to home with such force that it went over the fence and crashed through the glass of one of the parlor windows of the house into which tommy had just moved.
