id Joe. "But don't you hold
these fellows too cheap. They may have a surprise in store for us."

The snap and vim that the Japs put into their practice before the game
seemed to add point to his prophecy. They shot the ball around the bases
with a speed and precision that would have done credit to seasoned
veterans and made McRae, who watched them keenly, give his men a word of
caution.

"Don't get too gay, boys," he warned.

The game that followed was "for blood." The universities had poured out
their crowds to a man to cheer their players on to victory.

And for the first five innings the scales hung in the balance. The Keio
pitcher had a world of speed and a tantalizing drop, and only two safe
hits were made off him. Behind him his team mates fielded like demons. No
ball seemed too hard for them to get, and even when a Giant got to first
base he found it difficult to advance against the accurate throwing to
second of the Jap catcher.

At the bat the home players were less fortunate. They hit the ball often
enough but they couldn't "lean against it" with the power of their
sturdier rivals.

They were skillful bunters, however, and had the Giant players "standing
on their heads" in trying to field the balls that the clever Jap players
laid deftly in front of the plate.

By these tactics they scored a run in the sixth inning, against which the
Giants had only a string of goose eggs.

"It's like a bear against a wildcat," muttered Robbie to McRae, as the
little Jap scurried over the plate.

"And it looks as if the wildcat might win," grunted the Giant manager, not
at all pleased at the possibility.

"Not a bit of it," denied Robbie sturdily. "A good big man is better than
a good little man any time."

And his faith was justified when, in the seventh inning, the Giants, stung
by the taunts of their manager, really woke up and got into action. A
perfect storm of hits broke from their bats and had the Japanese players
running after the ball until their tongues hung out.

Five runs came in and it was "all over but the shouting." There was not
much shouting, however, for the home crowd had seen its dream of victory
shattered.

But though the Giants won handily in the end by a score of six to two, it
had been a red-hot game, and had taken some of the conceit out of the
major leaguers. It was a tip, too, to the All-Americans, who, when they
played the Waseda team a little later, went in with determination to win