Yet he realized that if he did not soon get away the two big boys would catch him, for they had longer legs than he had, and were much stronger.
“But if I can get far enough away from the creek they can’t throw me in unless they carry me back,” reasoned Tommy, “and if they do carry me, and the fish, they’re going to have their own troubles.”
So on he raced, and he was just thinking that he was well ahead of the two bullies, when he heard their voices close behind him, though still he could not see them.
“We’ll have him in another minute!” exclaimed Sam.
“Yes. I’d like to teach him a lesson. The idea of a new boy like him coming to town and starting a ball team. He’s got too much nerve!” said Jakie. “Can you see him?”
“No,” answered Sam.
Neither could our hero get a glimpse of the boys who were after him. He knew that a screen of bushes hid them from him. Somehow or other, they had gotten ahead of him, and had missed him.
“Oh, if I could only give them the slip!” he exclaimed.
He looked about for a hiding place, and, just ahead of him, he saw an old grist mill, that had not been used in several years. The boys often played in it, and it had many “bunks,” or secret hiding places.
“There’s where I’ll go!” exclaimed Tommy to himself. “They’ll never get me there, and I can get in before they find out that they’re ahead of me, instead of behind me.”