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 passed 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!" ejaculated 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.