"That fellow was the real stuff," remarked Jim.

"As good as they make them," agreed Joe. "And foxy, too. Remember how he kept that cable cut because he didn't want the folks at Washington to queer his game. He had his work cut out and he wasn't going to be interfered with."

"Something like Nelson, when his chief ran up the signal to withdraw,"

suggested Denton. "He looked at it with that blind eye of his and said he couldn't see it."

"Dewey was a good deal like Nelson," said Joe. "Do you remember how he trod on the corns of that German admiral who tried to b.u.t.t in?"

"Do I?" said Jim. "You bet I do."

The party met with a warm welcome when they went ash.o.r.e at Manila.

American officers and men from the garrison thronged the dock to meet the veterans of the diamond, whose coming had been widely heralded.

Many of them knew the players personally and all knew them by reputation.

The baseball teams went to their hotel and after they were comfortably settled in their new quarters, the two chums accompanied by the girls went out for a stroll. But they had not gone far before they were startled by excited shouts a little way ahead of them and saw groups of people scattering right and left in wild panic and confusion.

Down the street came a savage figure, running with the speed of a hare, and holding in either hand a knife with which he slashed savagely right and left at all that stood in his way.

His eyes were flaming with demoniacal fury, foam stood out upon his lips, and from those lips issued a wailing cry that ended in a shriek:

"Amuck! Amuck!"

CHAPTER XXII

TAKING A CHANCE

There was a scream from the frightened girls and a gasp from the young men as they saw this messenger of death bearing down upon them.

They knew at a glance what had happened. A Malay, yielding to the insidious mental malady that seems peculiar to his race, had suddenly gone mad and started out to kill. That he himself would inevitably be killed did not deter him for a moment. He wanted to die, but he wanted at the same time to take as many with him as possible.

He had made his offering to the infernal G.o.ds, had blackened his teeth and anointed his head with cocoa oil, and had started out to slay.

With his eyes blazing, his head rolling from side to side like a mad dog, and with that blood-chilling cry coming from his foam-flecked lips, he was like a figure from a nightmare.

For a moment the Americans stood rooted to the spot. That instant past, Baseball Joe, as usual, took the lead.

"Look after the girls, Jim!" he cried, and started full tilt toward the awful figure that came plunging down the street.

Mabel and Clara screamed to him to stop, but he only quickened his pace, running like a deer, as though bent on suicide. The Malay saw him coming, and for a second hesitated. He had seen everyone else scurry from him in fear. What did this man mean by coming to meet him?

It was just this instant of indecision upon which Joe had counted, and like a flash he seized it.

When within twenty feet of the Malay, Joe launched himself into the air, and came down flat on the hard dirt road, as he had done many a time before when sliding to base.

The Malay, confused by the unlooked-for action, slashed down at him. Had Joe gone straight toward him, the knife would have been buried in him. But here again his quickness and the tactics of the ballfield came into play.

Instead of going straight toward his antagonist, his slide had been a "fall away."

Many a time when sliding to second he had thrown himself this way out of the reach of the ball, while his extended hand just clutched the bag.

So now, his sinewy arm caught the Malay by the leg, while his body swung round to the right. Down went the Malay with a crash, his blood-stained knives clattering on the ground and the next instant Joe was on his back.

His hands closed upon the man's throat with an iron grip.

But there was no more fight left in the would-be murderer. The fall had jarred and partially stunned him. In an instant Jim had joined Joe, other men came rushing up; and the danger was over.

The crazed man was secured with ropes and carried away, while Joe, perspiring, panting and covered with dust, received the enthusiastic congratulations of the rapidly gathering crowd.

"Pluckiest thing I ever saw in my life!" exclaimed the colonel of the army command, who had witnessed the exploit.

"That fall-away slide of yours was great, Joe!" cried Larry Barrett, who had come up. "I never saw a niftier one on the ballfield."

"You made the bag all right!" grinned Denton.

"He never touched you!" chuckled Burkett.

"If he had it would have been some touch," declared McRae, as he picked up one murderous-looking knife and pa.s.sed it round for inspection.

It was a wicked weapon, nearly a foot in length, with a handle so contrived as to get all the weight behind the stroke and a wavy blade capable of inflicting a fearful wound.

"Has a bowie knife skinned a mile!" e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed Curry, expressing the general sentiment.

Joe hated to pose as a hero but it was some time before the crowd would let him get away and rejoin the girls who were waiting for him.

All the plaudits of the throng were tame compared with what he read in the eyes of Mabel and his sister.

The baseball teams stayed nearly a week in Manila, making short excursions in the suburbs as far as it could be done with safety. Two games were played, one between the Giants and All-Americans, which resulted in favor of the latter, and another between the Giants and a picked nine from the army post.

Many of Uncle Sam's army boys had been fine amateur players and a few had come from professional teams, so that they were able to put up a gallant fight, although they were, of course, no match for the champions of the world.

"But they certainly put up a fine game," was Joe's comment. "They had two pitchers who had some good stuff in 'em."

"That's just what I was thinking," returned Jim.

"One of those pitchers used to play ball on a professional team from Los Angeles," said McRae, who was standing near. "I understand he had quite a record."

"I wonder what made him give up pitching and join the army," remarked Jim curiously.

"Oh, I suppose it was the love of adventure," answered the manager.

"That might be it," said Joe. "Some fellows get tired of doing the same thing, and when they have a chance to leave home and see strange places, they grab it."

While warming up prior to this last game, Joe's attention was attracted by a muscular Chinaman, who was standing in the crowd that fringed the diamond, interestedly watching the players at practice. He recognized him as a famous wrestler who had taken part in a bout at a performance the night before and who had thrown his opponents with ease.