“My men,” said he, “the ‘Philadelphia’ is in the hands of the enemy. A few days from now and we may see American guns turned against American sailors. The commodore has given us permission to sail in and blow her up. Will you go?”
Into the air flew a hundred caps, and three wild American cheers were the answer.
“I can’t take you all,” he explained; “the expedition is a dangerous one. We are going under the broadsides of the enemy, and I only want those of you who are ready. Now, lads, any of you who are willing to go, take one step aft.”
Without a second’s pause the crew of the “Enterprise,” to a man, stepped out; then, fearful lest others should get in the front rank, came towards the young commander in a body, elbowing and swearing at one another lustily.
[47]
Decatur smiled. With such a spirit there was nothing he might not accomplish. He picked out sixty-two of his youngest and steadiest men, each of them touching1 his tarry cap with a grateful “Thank’ee, sir,” as Decatur called his name.
That afternoon they tumbled joyfully2 down into a captured ketch, which had been named the “Intrepid,” and, stores aboard, hoisted3 their three-cornered sail for the harbor of Tripoli. As they hauled off, Decatur went below to see that all his supplies and combustibles were stored, when Midshipman Lawrence came towards him somewhere from the depths of the fore-hold, pushing along by the scruff of the neck a youngster, who was crying bitterly.
“I found this stowaway4, sir,” said Lawrence, with a smile.
“Please, sir,” sobbed5 the boy, “don’t send me back. I want to see this ’ere fight, and I ain’t going to do no harm. Don’t send me back, sir.”
Decatur had looked up with a fierce frown, but the anxiety on the lad’s face was pathetic, and he smiled in spite of himself.
“You can go,” he laughed, “but I’ll put you in the brig—when we get back.”
On that six days’ voyage to Tripoli the wind[48] blew a hurricane, and the masquerade of the American tars6 seemed likely to end in disaster, without even a fight for their pains. But as they sighted the coast the sea went down, and the arrangements were completed. The yellow sails of the “Siren,” their consort7, hove again into sight, and by the afternoon of the 16th of February the two vessels9 were bearing down upon the dark line that lay shimmering10 purple under the haze11 of the southern sky.
The sun dropped down, a ball of fire, into the western sea, and by eight o’clock the towers of the bashaw’s castle loomed12 dark against the amber13 of the moonlit sky. To the left the stately spars of the doomed14 frigate15 towered above the rigging in the harbor, and floating at her truck was the hated insignia of the enemy.
The piping northern breeze bellied16 the crazy sail of the ketch and sent the green seas swashing under the high stern, speeding them good luck on their hazardous17 venture. Catalano, the pilot, stood at the helm, swinging the clumsy tiller to meet her as she swayed. By his side was a tall figure, a white burnoose about his shoulders and a fez set jauntily18 on his head—Decatur. Four others, in unspeakable Tripolitan costumes, lounged about the deck or squatted19 cross-legged. But the delusion[49] went no further. For one of them, Reuben James, was puffing20 at a stubby black pipe, and another spat22 vigorously to leeward23. The others were below, lying along the sides, sharpening their cutlasses.
On they sped, Catalano heading her straight for the frigate. As the harbor narrowed and the black forts came nearer, they could see the dusky outlines of the sentries24 and the black muzzles25 that frowned on them from the battlements. Over towards the east faint glimmers26 showed where the town was, but the wind had now fallen low, and the lapping of the water along the sides alone awoke the silence. A single light shone from the forecastle of the frigate, where the anchor watch kept its quiet vigil. She swung at a long cable, a proud prisoner amid the score of watchful27 sentinels that encircled her.
As placid28 as the scene about him, Decatur turned to the pilot and gave a low order. The helm was shifted and the tiny vessel8 pointed29 for the bowsprit of the “Philadelphia.” Nearer and nearer they came, until scarcely a cable’s length separated them. They saw several turbaned heads, and an officer leaned over the rail, puffing lazily at a cigarette. He leisurely30 took the cigarette from his mouth, and his voice came across the quiet water of the harbor,—
[50]
“Where do you come from?” he hailed.
Catalano, the pilot, answered him in the lingua Franca of the East,—
“The ketch ‘Stella,’ from Malta. We lost our anchors and cables in the gale31, and would like to lie by during the night.”
The Tripolitan took another puff21, and an ominous32 stir, quickly silenced, was heard down in the hold of the ketch. It seemed an eternity33 before the answer came,—
“Your request is unusual, but I will grant it,” said the Tripolitan, at last. “What ship is that in the offing?”
The officer had seen the “Siren,” which hovered34 outside the entrance of the harbor.
“The British ship ‘Transfer,’” said Catalano, promptly35.
The ketch was slowly drifting down until a grappling-iron could almost be thrown aboard. Right under the broadside she went, and a line of dark heads peered over the rail at her as she gradually approached the bow.
The chains of the frigate were now almost in the grasp of Reuben James, on the forecastle, when the wind failed and a cat’s-paw caught the ketch aback. Down she drifted towards the terrible broadside. But at a sign from Decatur the eager Lawrence and James got into a small boat and carried a line to a[51] ring-bolt at the frigate’s bow. A boat put out from the “Philadelphia” at the same time. But Lawrence coolly took the hawser36 from the Tripolitan—“to save the gentleman trouble,” he explained—and brought it aboard the “Intrepid.” A moment more, and the ketch was warping37 down under the “Philadelphia’s” quarter. It was a moment of dire38 peril39. The slightest suspicion, and they would be blown to pieces.
Decatur leaned lightly against the rail, but his hand grasped his cutlass under his robe so that the blood tingled40 in his nails and his muscles were drawn41 and tense. Morris and Joseph Bainbridge stood at the rigging beside him, trembling like greyhounds in leash42.
Suddenly they swung around and shot out from under the shadow into a yellow patch of moonlight. The watchful eyes above the rail saw the anchor and cables and the white jackets of the sailors below decks as they strove to hide themselves in the shadows. One glance was enough. In an instant the ship resounded43 with the thrilling cry, “Americano! Americano!”
At the same moment the “Intrepid” ground up against the side of the frigate. In an instant, as if by magic, she was alive with men. Throwing off his disguise, and with a loud cry[52] of “Boarders, away!” Decatur sprang for the mizzen-chains. And now the hot blood of fighting leaped to their brains. The long agony of suspense44 was over. Lawrence and Laws sprang for the chain-plates and hauled themselves up. Decatur’s foot slipped, and Morris was the first on deck. Laws dashed at a port, pistols in hand. Nothing could withstand the fury of the charge, and over the rail they swarmed45, cutlasses in teeth, jumping over the nettings, and down on the heads of the Tripolitans below. Though Morris was first on deck, Decatur lunged in ahead of him, bringing down the Tripolitan officer before he could draw his sword. One of them aimed a pike at him, but he parried it deftly46, and Morris cut the fellow down with a blow that laid his shoulder open from collar to elbow.
Though surprised, the Tripolitans fought fiercely. They had won their title of “the best hand-to-hand fighters in the world” in many a hard pirate battle in the Mediterranean47. Around the masts they rallied, scimetars in hand, until they were cut or borne down by the fury of their opponents.
DECATUR BOARDS THE “PHILADELPHIA”
After the first order, not a word was spoken and not a shot was fired. The Americans needed no orders. Over the quarter-deck they swept—irresistible, clearing it in a trice.[53] Overwhelmed by the fierce onslaught, the Tripolitans fled for life, the sailors driving them up on the forecastle and overboard in a mass, where their falling bodies sounded like the splash of a ricochet.
So swift was the work that in ten minutes no Tripolitans were left on the deck of the frigate but the dead. Not a sailor had been killed. One man had been slashed48 across the forehead, but he grinned through the blood and fought the more fiercely. Then the watchers out on the “Siren” saw a single rocket go high in the air, which was Decatur’s signal that the “Philadelphia” was again an American vessel.
In the meanwhile the combustibles were handed up from the ketch with incredible swiftness, and the work of destruction began. Midshipman Morris and his crew had fought their way below to the cock-pit and had set a fire there. But so swiftly did those above accomplish their work that he and his men barely had time to escape. On reaching the upper deck, Decatur found the flames pouring from the port-holes on both sides and flaring49 up red and hungry to seize the tar-soaked shrouds50. He gave the order to abandon, and over the sides they tumbled as quickly as they had come. Decatur was the last to leave the[54] deck. All the men were over, and the ketch was drifting clear, while around him the flames were pouring, their hot breath overpowering him. But he made a jump for it and landed safely, amid the cheers of his men.
Then the great oars51 were got out, eight on a side, and pulling them as only American sailor-men could or can, they swept out towards the “Siren.”
The Tripolitans ashore52 and on the gunboats had hastened to their guns, and now, as the ketch was plainly seen, their batteries belched53 forth54 a terrific storm of shot that flew across the water. The men bent55 their backs splendidly to their work, jeering56 the while at the enemy as the balls whistled by their heads or sent the foam57 splashing over them. Out they went across the great crimson58 glare of the fire. It was magnificent. The flames swept up the shrouds with a roar, catching59 the woodwork of the tops and eating them as though they were tinder. She was ablaze60 from water to truck, and all the heavens were alight,—aglow at the splendid sacrifice. Then to the added roar of the batteries ashore came the response from the guns of the flaming ship, which, heated by the fierce flames, began to discharge themselves. But not all of them were fired so, for in a second all eyes were[55] dazzled by a blazing light, and they saw the great hull61 suddenly burst open, with huge streaks62 of flame spurting63 from between the parting timbers. Then came a roar that made the earth and sea shudder64. The fire had reached the magazine.
THE DANGER OF THE “INTREPID”
The waves of it came out to the gallant65 crew, who, pausing in their work, gave one last proof of their contempt of danger. Rising to their feet, they gave three great American cheers that echoed back to the forts while their guns thundered fruitlessly on.
Decatur and his men were safe under the “Siren’s” guns.
Is it any wonder that Congress gave Decatur a sword and made him a captain, or that Lord Nelson called this feat66 “the most daring act of any age”?
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1
touching
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| adj.动人的，使人感伤的 | |
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joyfully
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| adv. 喜悦地, 高兴地 | |
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hoisted
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| 把…吊起，升起( hoist的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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stowaway
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| n.（藏于轮船，飞机中的）偷乘者 | |
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sobbed
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| 哭泣，啜泣( sob的过去式和过去分词 )； 哭诉，呜咽地说 | |
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tars
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| 焦油，沥青，柏油( tar的名词复数 ) | |
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consort
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| v.相伴；结交 | |
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vessel
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| n.船舶；容器，器皿；管，导管，血管 | |
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vessels
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| n.血管( vessel的名词复数 )；船；容器；（具有特殊品质或接受特殊品质的）人 | |
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10
shimmering
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| v.闪闪发光，发微光( shimmer的现在分词 ) | |
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haze
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| n.霾，烟雾；懵懂，迷糊；vi.(over)变模糊 | |
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12
loomed
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| v.隐约出现，阴森地逼近( loom的过去式和过去分词 )；隐约出现，阴森地逼近 | |
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13
amber
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| n.琥珀；琥珀色；adj.琥珀制的 | |
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doomed
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| 命定的 | |
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frigate
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| n.护航舰，大型驱逐舰 | |
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16
bellied
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| adj.有腹的，大肚子的 | |
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17
hazardous
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| adj.(有)危险的，冒险的；碰运气的 | |
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18
jauntily
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| adv.心满意足地；洋洋得意地；高兴地；活泼地 | |
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19
squatted
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| v.像动物一样蹲下( squat的过去式和过去分词 )；非法擅自占用（土地或房屋）；为获得其所有权；而占用某片公共用地。 | |
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20
puffing
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| v.使喷出( puff的现在分词 )；喷着汽（或烟）移动；吹嘘；吹捧 | |
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21
puff
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| n.一口(气)；一阵(风)；v.喷气，喘气 | |
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spat
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| n.口角，掌击；v.发出呼噜呼噜声 | |
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23
leeward
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| adj.背风的；下风的 | |
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24
sentries
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| 哨兵，步兵( sentry的名词复数 ) | |
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25
muzzles
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| 枪口( muzzle的名词复数 )； （防止动物咬人的）口套； （四足动物的）鼻口部； （狗）等凸出的鼻子和口 | |
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26
glimmers
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| n.微光，闪光( glimmer的名词复数 )v.发闪光，发微光( glimmer的第三人称单数 ) | |
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27
watchful
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| adj.注意的，警惕的 | |
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28
placid
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| adj.安静的，平和的 | |
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pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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30
leisurely
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| adj.悠闲的；从容的，慢慢的 | |
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31
gale
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| n.大风，强风，一阵闹声（尤指笑声等） | |
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32
ominous
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| adj.不祥的，不吉的，预兆的，预示的 | |
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eternity
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| n.不朽，来世；永恒，无穷 | |
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34
hovered
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| 鸟( hover的过去式和过去分词 )； 靠近（某事物）； （人）徘徊； 犹豫 | |
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promptly
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| adv.及时地，敏捷地 | |
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hawser
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| n.大缆；大索 | |
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warping
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| n.翘面，扭曲，变形v.弄弯，变歪( warp的现在分词 )；使（行为等）不合情理，使乖戾， | |
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38
dire
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| adj.可怕的，悲惨的，阴惨的，极端的 | |
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peril
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| n.(严重的)危险；危险的事物 | |
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40
tingled
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| v.有刺痛感( tingle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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42
leash
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| n.牵狗的皮带，束缚；v.用皮带系住 | |
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43
resounded
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| v.（指声音等）回荡于某处( resound的过去式和过去分词 )；产生回响；（指某处）回荡着声音 | |
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44
suspense
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| n.（对可能发生的事）紧张感，担心，挂虑 | |
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45
swarmed
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| 密集( swarm的过去式和过去分词 )； 云集； 成群地移动； 蜜蜂或其他飞行昆虫成群地飞来飞去 | |
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46
deftly
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| adv.灵巧地，熟练地，敏捷地 | |
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47
Mediterranean
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| adj.地中海的；地中海沿岸的 | |
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48
slashed
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| v.挥砍( slash的过去式和过去分词 )；鞭打；割破；削减 | |
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49
flaring
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| a.火焰摇曳的，过份艳丽的 | |
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50
shrouds
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| n.裹尸布( shroud的名词复数 )；寿衣；遮蔽物；覆盖物v.隐瞒( shroud的第三人称单数 )；保密 | |
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51
oars
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| n.桨，橹( oar的名词复数 )；划手v.划（行）( oar的第三人称单数 ) | |
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52
ashore
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| adv.在(向)岸上，上岸 | |
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53
belched
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| v.打嗝( belch的过去式和过去分词 )；喷出，吐出；打（嗝）；嗳（气） | |
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54
forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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55
bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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56
jeering
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| adj.嘲弄的，揶揄的v.嘲笑( jeer的现在分词 ) | |
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57
foam
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| v./n.泡沫，起泡沫 | |
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58
crimson
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| n./adj.深(绯)红色(的)；vi.脸变绯红色 | |
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59
catching
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| adj.易传染的，有魅力的，迷人的，接住 | |
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60
ablaze
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| adj.着火的，燃烧的；闪耀的，灯火辉煌的 | |
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61
hull
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| n.船身；(果、实等的)外壳；vt.去(谷物等)壳 | |
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62
streaks
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| n.（与周围有所不同的）条纹( streak的名词复数 )；（通常指不好的）特征（倾向）；（不断经历成功或失败的）一段时期v.快速移动( streak的第三人称单数 )；使布满条纹 | |
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63
spurting
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| （液体，火焰等）喷出，（使）涌出( spurt的现在分词 )； （短暂地）加速前进，冲刺； 溅射 | |
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64
shudder
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| v.战粟，震动，剧烈地摇晃；n.战粟，抖动 | |
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65
gallant
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| adj.英勇的，豪侠的；(向女人)献殷勤的 | |
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66
feat
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| n.功绩；武艺，技艺；adj.灵巧的，漂亮的，合适的 | |
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