Meanwhile Sailing Master Trippe is having a bad quarter of an hour. He runs his gunboat alongside another enemy ship. Boarding is the order of the day. That is a good way for Americans, as well as Tripolitans, to fight. Trippe springs into the enemy gunboat. Midshipman Henley and nine sailors follow. Then the ships drift apart. Here now is a situation. Trippe sees that, being too weak for defense, it is necessary to attack. He lunges at the enemy captain with his pike. The Tripolitan is a good swordsman, and his scimitar is sharp. He rains blows on Trippe’s chest and shoulders—wounds him eleven times in all. But the sailing master gets in one effective thrust with his pike, and this more than evens up matters. Another Moor, whose cutlass is descending on Trippe’s head from behind, is bayoneted by Marine Sergeant Jonathan Meredith. Having lost their captain and twenty of their comrades, the remaining Tripolitans now surrender. To cap the climax, Decatur boarded a third enemy gunboat, somewhat smaller than his first prize. Here occurred that famous hand-to-hand combat between Decatur and the gigantic Moorish captain. The devotion of Seaman Daniel Frazier, and his own coolness gave Decatur victory. All but three of the enemy were killed or wounded before they would surrender. This was real schooling for a young Navy. Lieutenant Richard Somers, bravest of the brave, had not been able to join Decatur. So single-handed he attacked the five enemy craft west of the entrance. “They still advanced to within pistol-shot,” Somers wrote, “when they wore round and stood for the batteries. I pursued them until in musket shot of the batteries, which kept up a continued fire of round shot and grape.” That was how Somers fought. The _Constitution’s_ heavy battery, reënforced by six Neapolitan 29-pounders, had been engaging these same batteries at point-blank range. Several times she was brought within four hundred yards of the rocky coast of which no chart was available. The bomb vessels had launched a quantity of their huge 13-inch shells into the city, but many of them did not explode. At four-thirty the wind shifted and a withdrawal was signaled. Preble covered it in great style. “Tacked ship,” he wrote, “and fired two broadsides in stays, which drove the Tripolitans out of the castle and brought down the steeple of a mosque.” This three-hour battle had proved highly successful. But do you think the commodore was contented? Admiral Gleaves tells how, after the battle, Decatur came on board the _Constitution_ to make his report. Approaching Preble on the quarter-deck, he said: “Sir, I have the honor to report that I have captured three of the enemy’s gunboats.” “Three, Sir!” replied the commodore, “where are the rest of them?” This incident well illustrates the inflexible character of Edward Preble. In his official report, however, he was careful to express complete satisfaction with the manner in which his subordinates had conducted their attacks.