“Don’t do that!” exclaimed Tommy, quickly. “If you’ll let me take ’em, I’ll get some of the boys and clear ’em away for nothing, and we’d be glad of the chance.”
“You’re welcome to them,” replied the man, whose name was Mr. Fillmore. “But what are you going to do with them?”
“I think we can use some of ’em to make our back-stop with!” exclaimed Tommy, and he hurried off with a big idea in his mind.
CHAPTER IX
TOMMY’S NINE PLAYS
“Say, that’s a great idea!” exclaimed Joie Grubb.
“I should say it was,” added Georgie Pennington.
“Wonder why we didn’t think of it ourselves?” asked Teddy Bunker.
“Oh, it takes Tommy Tiptop to do things,” declared Sammie Sandlass, ruffling his red hair. “It’s a good thing he came to town.”
“Oh, well, it just happened to come to me,” said Tommy, who blushed a bit at all this praise, though he could not help liking it. It was the day after he had had his idea about building a back-stop from the lumber of the old boxes, and he and his chums were clearing the packing cases out of the cellar of the florist’s shop and out of the alleyway.
“Look out for nails in your hands!” warned Mr. Fillmore, as he watched the boys at work. “You can’t play ball if you get all scratched up.”