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.