alian.
"We have lost our anchors, and were nearly wrecked in the gale; we
want to ride near you during the night."

{165} "All right! but only until daylight," replied the officer, and
ordered a line to be lowered.

Without a moment's delay, a boat under the command of young Lawrence
put off from the Intrepid. On meeting the pirate boat, he took the
line and rowed back to the ketch.

The Americans, in their red jackets and fezzes, hauled away with a
right good will, and brought their little craft steadily in toward
the huge black hull of the frigate, where they were soon being made
fast under her port side.

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