These boarders were repelled in the same fashion. The _Dolphin's_ crew fired their small battery with great effect into both ships. They too, torn and battered, passed on at last to mend their leaks. After them came two more ships as well-armed and as well-manned as those that had passed out of the fight. The gunners of the _Dolphin_ disposed of one of these quickly, and she hurried to get out of range. The crew of the other one, however, approaching on the starboard side, boarded the _Dolphin_ where the earlier assailants had entered, and swarmed up the deck crying in the Turkish tongue: "Yield yourselves! Yield yourselves!" Their leaders also promised that the lives of the Englishmen would be spared, and their ship and goods delivered back to them. "Give no ear to them! Die rather than yield!" cried Captain Nichols. His men fought on doggedly, plying their ordnance against the ship; playing upon the boarders with small shot; meeting them in hand-to-hand encounters. Suddenly smoke poured out from the hatches of the _Dolphin_. The infidels, fearing that their own ship would catch fire from the burning vessel, retreated from the _Dolphin_, and permitted their ship to fall far astern of her. The _Dolphin's_ intrepid crew now set to work to quench the flames and succeeded. A haven was near, into which they put, the enemy ships having gone ashore in other places to save themselves from wreck. In these three battles, the _Dolphin_ lost only six men and one boy, with eight men and one boy hurt. The Moslems lost scores of men. Master Nichols was wounded twice. The ship arrived safely in the Thames, near London--a plain merchant ship, manned by ordinary sailors, but as meritorious of honor as any ship that fought under Nelson or Drake. I was glad that the story had been passed down to me. I thought of the two boys in the crew--one killed, the other wounded. I resolved that when my chance came to help rid the seas of these buccaneers I would try to fight as nobly. CHAPTER IV _THE ROSE OF EGYPT_ The Egyptian Murad had surprised the sailors of Baltimore by purchasing a schooner that had seen service as a privateer. He had changed its name from _Sally_ to _The Rose of Egypt_. He announced that he intended to open trade with Mediterranean cities, and that he would make our town his headquarters. Enlisting a crew from idle men along the wharves, he began to load the vessel with goods for which there was a market in the Orient.