This second defeat was a severe blow to the defenders of Regall. Their two foremost champions had been vanquished and by a beardless boy, for Captain Smith at this time had barely passed his twenty-first year. There were no more challenges from the disheartened garrison. They lost all desire to afford pastime for the ladies and they ceased to find the Christians subjects for contemptuous jests as they had done in the early days of the siege. Their sallies were now of rare occurrence and were easily repelled, so that the work of preparation for the final assault upon the city went forward with little interruption. Our hero, in whom love of action was second nature, chafed sorely under the slow and tedious engineering operations. At length he sought and obtained permission from Prince Moyses to send a challenge into the city. This message was couched in the most courteous terms and was addressed to the ladies of Regall, our hero shrewdly suspecting that in this way he would more quickly touch the honor of the men. Captain John Smith begged to assure the ladies of Regall that he was not so enamored of the heads of their servants, but that he was ready to restore them upon proper terms. He urged the ladies to send forth a champion who would risk his head in the effort to regain those of the vanquished Turks. Captain Smith concluded by expressing his willingness that his own head should accompany the others in case the champion of the ladies proved the victor in the proposed combat. In due time an acceptance of this challenge was received from one Boni Mulgro, and a day was set for the trial of arms. The conditions of this third duel were similar to those that governed the two preceding combats, with the exception of one important particular. John Smith, being the challenger on this occasion, the choice of weapons rested with his adversary. Mulgro had no stomach for a contest with the lance, of which Smith had proved himself a master. He chose to fight with the pistol, battle axe and falchion. In the use of these weapons, and especially the battle axe, he was expert. This wise decision of the Turk came near to undoing our hero as the sequel will show. At the signal of attack, the combatants advanced upon each other but not at the charge as would have been the case had lances been their weapons. Instead, they caused their horses to curvet and prance and change suddenly from one direction to another. These manœuvres, resembling those of two wrestlers, were designed to disconcert the aim, and in the present instance did so with such complete effect that each of the champions emptied two pistols without touching his enemy.