“I wonder if I’ll be able to play ball to-morrow?” he asked of Old Johnny Green, as they walked along.
“Play ball! Well, I declare! You boys beat all! Here you’ve been close to being badly hurt, to say the least, and the first thing you think of is baseball.”
“But I’m the captain of the team,” explained Tommy. “I have to be there. I wonder if I can run on this ankle,” and he was about to try a little sprint, when the old man caught him by the arm.
“None of that, Tommy!” he exclaimed. “If you are going to play ball you don’t want to strain your ankle until you have to. Just take it easy—go home and rest.”
“Will you come home with me?” asked Tommy, “and—and tell my mother how it happened—how you saved me?”
“Well, yes, if you want me to,” agreed Johnny Green, slowly, “though I’m not much on calling to folks’ houses. My clothes don’t look very good,” he added.
“My mother doesn’t care for clothes,” declared Tommy.
You may well imagine there was some excitement in the Tiptop household when Tommy’s story was told. And you may also well imagine that Old Johnny Green was thanked over and over again, for the part he had played.
When Sam and Jakie learned how narrowly Tommy had escaped, they were very much frightened, and their fathers came over to tell Mr. Tiptop that they had punished their sons, though the boys had said that they did not know Tommy was on the wheel when they started it, and this was true.
Mr. Tiptop was rather stern about the matter, and told how Jakie had often done mean things, and Mr. Norton promised to see if he could not make his boy behave himself in the future.