As the ketch now drifted into a patch of moonlight, the pirate officer spied the anchors with their cables coiled up.
"Keep off! You have lied to me," he shouted, and ordered his men to cut the hawser.
As if by magic, the deck of the ketch swarmed with men, whose strong arms forced their vessel up against the side of the Philadelphia.
"Americans! Americans!" cried the dazed Tripolitans.
"Board! board!" shouted Decatur, as he made a spring for the deck of the frigate, followed by his gallant men.
Although taken by surprise, the Tripolitans fought hard. They were called the best hand to hand fighters in the world, but they were no match for American sailors. As Preble's orders were "to carry all with the sword," no firearms were used. The only weapons { 166} were cutlasses. The watchword was "Philadelphia," which they were to use in the darkness.
The Americans formed a line from one side of the ship to the other, and, with Decatur as leader, swept everything before them on the main deck. On the gun deck, Lawrence and McDonough did the same thing. In fifteen minutes, every Tripolitan had been cut down or driven overboard. In spite of the close, sharp fighting, not one of our men received a scratch.
But now comes the tug of war! Every man knows exactly what to do, for he has been well drilled. Some hand up kegs of powder and balls of oakum soaked in tar. Others carry these along the deck and down below. Now they drag two eighteen-pounders amidships, double-shot them, and point them down the main hatch, so as to blow out the bottom of the ship. In a few minutes everything is ready.
"Start the fires!" A puff of smoke, a little blaze, then flames everywhere!
Quick and sharp comes the order to leap aboard the ketch. Decatur, sure that the work thus far is well done, is the last man to leave.
Now all are safe aboard the Intrepid. The order is given to cast off. The ketch still clings to the blazing frigate, from whose portholes the flames are shooting out. The gunpowder left on the deck is covered only with canvas. Life is in peril. They find that the stern rope has not been cast off. Up rush Decatur and his { 167} officers, and cut the hawser with their swords. The boat swings clear, and the men row for their lives.