“Oh, Tommy, did you win?” asked Nellie.
“Sure we did,” he answered. “But it was hard work. I made a home run.”
“Oh, that was fine!” exclaimed Nellie’s friend, and then, for the first time, Tommy noticed that she was the girl he had saved from the bull.
“Oh, how are you?” he asked. “You’re Joie’s sister, aren’t you? Joie played fine to-day.”
“He’s very fat to play ball,” remarked Sallie. “Mamma says she doesn’t see how he does it.”
“Oh, he isn’t so fat as he was,” spoke Tommy. “He got thin helping build the back-stop, I guess.”
The back-stop had been a great help to the lads in playing ball, for the catchers were not expert enough to stop all the balls the pitchers delivered, and the structure of posts and boards, which Old Johnny Green had helped build, came in very nicely. It stopped the missed balls from rolling too far away. The old man was on hand to see the game, and he clapped loudly every time Tommy and his friends did well.
Tommy, with his sister and Sallie and some other companions, walked toward home, talking about the great game. Tommy fairly burst into the house, actually falling up the steps in his eagerness, crying out:
“We won, ma! We won! We beat the other team! Now, who says we can’t play ball?”
“Indeed, did you win, dear? I’m very glad!” replied his mother, as she stroked his damp hair with her hand. “Oh, but how warm you are, Tommy!”