CHAPTER XV

. HAND-TO-HAND WITH THE PIRATES 359

A Fight against Odds of Three Gunboats to One--Decatur and Macdonough Leading the Boarders--Cold-blooded Murder and the Vengeance that Followed--When Reuben James Won Fame--Eleven against Forty-three in a Hand-to-hand Struggle, and the Remarkable Result--The Handy _Constitution_--Fired their Gun as the Boat Sank under them--When Somers and his Mates Went to their Death in a Fireship--End of the War with the Pirates.

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