Early in August, 1804, the orders for a grand attack were issued. This was to be no distant cannonade. The _Constitution_ was to attack the batteries at point-blank range. The gunboats were to board the enemy flotilla. The bomb vessels were to toss their 13-inch grenades into the town. The Bashaw, as the Tripolitan ruler was called, saw that a storm was about to break over his head. In addition to formidable batteries ashore, he had twenty-one gunboats. These were manned by from twenty-four to forty men. Each carried one large and two small guns. We must not mistake these Tripolitans. They were splendid seamen and fierce fighters. Boarding was their usual method of attack. Nine of their gunboats were stationed outside the reefs east of the harbor entrance. Five were under the powerful batteries to the westward. The remainder lay inside the harbor in reserve. [Illustration: Under sail] At two o’clock in the afternoon of August 3, the flagship displayed the long-awaited signal for attack. Our six gunboats, under Decatur, were to attack the nine Tripolitan craft east of the harbor. Only three of his detachment, for various reasons, reached the enemy. Now three against nine were big odds. But, thought our young fellows, the bigger the odds the greater the glory. And they had Stephen Decatur—himself worth a couple of gunboats—to lead them. He, like the Spartans, “was not wont to ask how many but where, the enemy were!” So Decatur led the charge. He made for a large gunboat armed with a huge 29-pound cannon and two howitzers. Her crew, as we learned later, numbered thirty-six. Decatur also has one cannon, a long 24-pounder. He sails in close until he can see the white of their eyes. Then he fires. A hail of grapeshot sweeps the enemy’s deck. As the two ships crash together our boarders are away. For a few minutes the fight is furious. But American pikes and cutlasses are irresistible. When only five of their people remain unwounded the Moors cry for quarter. Here is a victory, decided, as the old saying goes, by push of pike.