Phil took a step forward, putting out his right hand impetuously. No idea of menace entered his mind. His one idea was to stay the torrent of abuse that he knew was undeserved, no matter how black the case looked against him. It cut him to the quick to be so severely arraigned. Takishima, his mind embittered by the convincing chain of evidence, saw only a threat in the attitude of the young giant. So quickly that the eye could not follow, the Japanese stooped under the midshipman’s outstretched hand, seizing Phil’s wrist in an iron grip with his left hand, then catching the midshipman’s right leg back of the knee with his right hand, suddenly straightened his sapling-like body and threw the astonished lad with great force over his head. Phil fell with a crash to the stone pavement and lay there completely stunned. Sydney made a step forward, his blood boiling at this unprovoked jiu-jitsu attack, but Impey interposed his bulk, and calmer judgment prevailed as he realized the difference in size between himself and his one time friend. “You little coward,” he hissed angrily as he raised Phil to his feet. There was blood on the lad’s face from a cut on his head made by a sharp edge of a stone in the gravel walk. “You deserve a good thrashing for this.” Takishima stood his ground. “I am prepared,” he said quietly. “I should think you’d both be ashamed to show your faces after your deceitful conduct.” [Illustration: “_YOU DESERVE A GOOD THRASHING FOR THIS_”] Phil steadied himself by the table, gazing stupidly at the small crowd of excited Japanese and foreigners that had collected about them. He had paid no attention to the words of Takishima’s defense. The midshipmen and Takishima were in uniform, and a great depression overcame Phil as he thought of the possible publicity of the affair. The attack had been so sudden and the blow on the head so stunning that for a second no thought of revenge came into his mind. Then his dazed eyes fell upon the unruffled little figure of his assailant, and a wild fury suddenly welled into his eyes. With a savage cry he shook off Sydney’s retaining hand and in one stride reached the object of his mad rage. No jiu-jitsu art was possible. The little naval man felt himself seized as if by two iron rods and raised above the ground. For the fraction of a second he was held poised, then as a great mastiff might chastise an obstreperous terrier, Phil shook him until every bone in his body rattled. The combined efforts of Sydney and Impey became necessary to save Takishima from serious injury. Fortunately the affair was over before a large crowd could collect, and Impey managed to hurry them into their jinrikishas and drive quickly away. A half hour later Phil and Sydney were back in their room at the hotel, while Impey had gone away with the Japanese naval man. “Syd, I wouldn’t have had that happen for anything in the world.” Phil was nearly in tears as he threw himself on the bed.