So he hurried along, until he had caught up to the boys, and then he exclaimed:
“Say, do you play ball?”
“Play ball?” repeated the taller of the two, looking curiously at Tommy. “Who are you, anyhow?”
“Oh, I’m a new boy. I’ve just moved here. I want to get up a ball nine. My name is Tommy Tiptop. I just got this new bat. My old one was run over by the moving wagon. Don’t you fellows want to be on my nine?”
“Your nine?” asked the other boy, who had very black and snapping eyes. “Since when have you had a nine?”
“I’m just getting up one,” went on Tommy. “I thought maybe you would like to join. Do you belong to one now?”
“No, neither of us do,” put in the boy who had spoken first. “My name is Teddy Bunker,” he added in more friendly tones.
“And mine is Billie Ruggler,” said his companion. “Let’s see the bat.”
Tommy handed it over, and both his newly made acquaintances tested it, tapping it on the pavement and swinging it in the air.
“It’s a good one, all right,” was Billie’s opinion.