y of a
phonograph.

But just then, when Joe was at his wit's end, help came from an unexpected
quarter. A big black man, glowering threateningly, elbowed his way through
the curious group that had gathered about them, grasped the girl by the
arm, and dragged her away. There was no mistaking the jealousy that
prompted the action. Joe drew a deep sigh of deliverance, while Jim was
crimson with suppressed laughter.

Mabel was the only one, except Joe himself, who could not see the joke.
There were two pink spots in her cheeks, her eyes were very bright, her
head was held high, and poor Joe had some explaining to do before the
party left Australia, which they did soon after, and started on their
journey to Ceylon.

They reached Colombo in Ceylon, the island of spices, the richest gem in
the Indian ocean, and disembarked late one afternoon. At the hotel in the
English quarter, while the women of the party went to their rooms to
refresh themselves and dress for dinner, the men, after a hasty toilet,
went into the lobby of the hotel where, as always, their first thought was
to get hold of the papers from home.

Joe's eyes fell on a New York paper and he snatched it up eagerly and
turned to the sporting page for the latest news of the diamond. He gave a
startled exclamation as he saw the bold headline that stretched across the
top of the page:

"_Joe Matson, the Pitching King, Signs with the All-Star League!_"

CHAPTER XXIV

THE BLOW FALLS

Baseball Joe's first sensation was one of unutterable surprise, followed a
moment later by fierce indignation.

"What's the matter, Joe?" asked Jim, coming up behind him.

"Matter enough!" growled Joe, thrusting the offending paper under his
comrade's nose. "Look at this!"

Jim looked and gave a long whistle of surprise.

"What does it mean?" he ejaculated, as his eyes went from the headlines to
the story, which covered the greater part of the page.

"Mean?" snorted Joe. "It means a stab in the back. It means that those
skunks are trying to do by lying what they couldn't do by bribery. It
means that while we're thousands of miles away they are trying to gull the
public and get other ball players to jump their contracts by a barefaced
lie like this. I wish I had hold of the fellow who's doing this--I'd make
him sweat for it!"

"Of course it's a lie," assented Jim, "and a lie out of whole cloth. But
what beats me is why they should do it? It's bound to be a boomerang.