Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 959 — page 9: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

‘* Yes; and do you not think it \7ould bea good opportunity to make use of your friend ilcrry’s knowledge of the harbor?” Laurie said this very innocently, but George gaw the point, and, bidding his superior attend to his own business, demanded what prepara- ‘tions ho should -=-.ake. ‘None, my doar boy, none,’ replied Laurie, smilingly. * You will have charzo of Steve's boat, and you ‘now he will attend t» that. ‘*Come! don’t ve sulky—lot’s ... down and have a chat about that boy.” ‘*Do you know lve half a notion to take him in my boat?” continued Laurie, who, having te his comrade out of his usual dignified de- meanor, now wished to sootho him. ‘‘Do, Laurie!” eagerly exclaimed Spence. *‘There’s no telling what may happen. Glory always gocs with Decatur, and Harry may have a chance to become something.” ‘Very vell; lll do it—for his sister’s sake,” laughed faurie, leaving the cabin to escape And 50 it ‘sppened that Harry was in the stern sheets of one of the two boats that, having escaped detoction, ny at midnight for an hour under tho walls of the Bashaw’s castle—Fort English. Fortune had favored them going in—the night \7as pitch dark, snd if noticed at all, they had been mistaken for ,'ripolitans. The very boldness with which the boats advanced would suggest this, and so they had passed unchal- dJenged. Returning, howover, they were hailed in pass- ing a brig\near the entranco, Gunboats, gal- loys, schooners and brigs lay all about, and many directly in their path. None of the offi- cers understood the language in which they were hailed, the sky was beginning to light up, detection seemed imminent, and escape next to impossible, he hail vvas quickly repeated in threa tones, and Decatur was about to chance @ Vol- ley by ordering the men to give way, when Harry, who had asked Laurie’s instructions, replied that they were out ‘‘ to reconnoiter the enemy.” This satisfied the officer in charge of the brig, who apparently only wisbed to exercise a new- ly acquired authority, and the answer being in good Arabic, he allowed the boats to pass, Delay for five minutes would have been very dangerous, for the boats were barely clear of the rocks when the moon struggled out from the clouds, that had up to that time rendered the i so dark, here had been much flashing of lights, and some excitement observed aboard the outermost Tripolitan craft during Decatur’s absence, and this caused so much uneasiness that it reached the commodore, and as the boats passed the Constitution, Preble desired the commanders to come aboard at once, ‘Don’t forget Harry,” whispered Spence, as the captain and first lieutenant left the boats. “Why, this boy seems to be your guardian angel!” smilingly exclaimed the commodore, Apts Decatur had related his stirring story, ing: What shall I do for him, gentlemen?” He wasin an unwontedly good humor over the successful entrance and departure cf the Leh and gladly assented, to the prompt propo- sition: ‘You might give him an acting order as midshipman, commodore.” The acting order was duly made out and re- ceived by Lee next day, and Spence, who was gms. remarking the curious smile “ Why that smile, Harry?” “ No parti reason—the name as much as anything else.” % e was an odd kind of a boy, not given to ng of the affairs of others, and never of his own, unless questioned—and Gentleman George was not the one to Many questions, so the matter was ae} ‘ A gale springing up from the northward, the commodore was compelled to abandon his in- tention of renewing the attack on the day suc- —* the reconnoitering, the squadron being obliged to quit its anchors. Having obtained an offing the squadron, while lying to, fell in with supplies from Malta, and to his surprise and disgust, the commodore learned that no intelligence bad received of the oe see: reinforcement. , This led Preble to decide to continue his oper- tions with his own limited means, and, pro- bably to adopt the desperate expedient, to which we will now proceed, without relating the two days’ fighting immediately preceding it. The Four Commanders. ‘Line ketch Intrepid, ow not inaptly re-named the [nfornal, was one of the vossels that arrivod ‘vith supplies from Malta, and on the night fol- towing the fourth and last attack of that ‘ear on Tripoli, Somers appeared beforo the com- modore with a proposition to take this vessel into the harbor, fitted as a \ire-ship and infer- nal, and explode it among the very center of the vossels of the Turk! The Intrepid had been captured by Decatur, and used by him in one of the most brilliant exploits of naval warfare, and Somers (between whom and Decatur there existed ~ singular pro- fessional competition—though it was never al- lowed to cool their personal friendships) now pro to terminate her career in another exploit of a most desperate and daring charac- ter. There is little doubt that, since Decatur’s re- connoiterin y, the commodore had some such idea bimself, and agreeing to the proposi- tion, he gave Somers orders to prepare at once for the execution of it. Somers called in Decatur, Laurie and Stew- art, whose advice and assistance he had in the preparation of the vessel for the desperate ser- vice in which she was to be engaged, for these t young men felt a common sympathy in is daring, and an equal in his anticipated tri- umph, A small apartment was planked up in the broadest of the Infernal, and into this one hundred barrels of gunpowder was emptied. A train was led aft to a cabin window, and an- other to the fore-peak. Port fires, to burn a certain number of minutes, were placed at the ends of the trains, and a pile of fine wood abaft the zine. Two hundred and fifty shells, with prepared fuses, were placed around the mast directly over the magazine, and the deck literally covered with all sorts of missiles, Somers made his offer on the night of Sept. 3d, and on the evening of the 4th, he called for volunteers to man one of the two boats that accompanied him, This was a very fast four-oared boat, and he needed only four men, but every man on board the Nautilus volunteered, so their commander was compelled to pick them—first pointing out the desperate character of the service, The favored four gave three cheers in reply, and each asked separately for the privilege of applying the match, and baving verbally made their wills, awaited the arrival of the other boat, which was a six-oared cutter furnished by the Constitution, and commanded by Lieutenant Wadsworth. This boat joined the Infernal about dusk, but when the boats’ crews were mustered, it was found that Lieutenant Israel, who bad been refused permission to be of the party, had managed to get out of the frigate, and being aboard, Somers allowed bim to re- main—making the unfortunate thirteen, Lieutenant Reed of the Nautilus was the last to leave the ketch. When he went over the side communication with the world ceased. CHAPTER XITI. THE END OF THE INFERNAL. AMONG the Jast to leave Somers was Decatur and Stewart, with whom he had commenced his naval career. All three knew the hazardous character of the enterprise, and the two who were to remain be- hind, felt a deep interest in the fate of him who was to go in. Somers was grave, and without any affecta- tion of levity or indifference, but quiet and tranquil as usual. After some conversation, be took a ring from his finger, and breaking it into three pieces, ve ae of his friends one, retaining the third meself, Of all the desperate service undertaken by that devoted squadron—and none ever attempt- the number of daring deeds it performed while before Tripoli—none was entered on with so many fore sof the fatal consequences to those concerned in it. While all were tran- quil and even cheerful, every man acted—in shaking hands, and expressing their feelings to their friends and comrades—as if assured they would never return. The Infernal lifted her anchor about nine that night, which was not particularly dark. The stars were visible, but there was a haze on the water that rendered objects uncertain, and it was therefore favorable, as while the rocks could be seen, the ketch was not likely to be discovered from the shore, The Argus, Vixen, Nautilus and Siren fol- lowed the ketch to within a short distance of the rocks, to attack the gunboats and galleys, 9 shorld they attempt to follow the party out on their retreat. The Siren had kept more in the offing than the others, and every eye in the brig was riveted in silent suspense on the quarter in which the ketch had disappeared from view. Soon firing \vas heard, though the reports wero neither rapid nor numerous, At this mo- ment, near ten o’clock, Lieutenant Carrol, standing with Stewart at the gangway of the Siren, exclaimed: ‘Look! See the light!” It was like the light of a lantern being carriea rapidly along a vessel’s deck, and was in the quarter where the Infernal was known to be, near the batteries. Half a minute after, the whole firmament was lighted up with a fiery glow, a burning mast, with its sails, was seen in the air, then came the awful explosion, and a darkness like that of doom succeeded, It was all over in less than a minute—the flame, the reeling of ships, the quaking of towers, ana bursting of shells. The firing ceased, and from that instant Tripoli passed the night in a stillness as pro- found as that in which the heroes of the Infer- nal havo lain from that fatal hour to this, The Nautilus showed lights, hoping to guide the retreati bouts, but none came, No one ever returned to tell how the ill-fated Infernal wns lost. All night a moaning gun was heard from the Constitution, a fitting knell for such a disaster, but in vain, and the Argus, Vixen and Nautilus which hovered near therocks untilsunrise, could. discover nothing to throw light on the manner in which the ketch was lost. Three gunboats that had been anchored near the pass the previous night had entirely disap- peared, and two or three more were hauled ashore, as if shattered. Thus perished Richard Somers, one of the “bravest of the brave,” and how he and his companions died and the damage actually done by, the explosion still remains a secret. The sad affair cast a gloom over the squadron, and two days after, the weather beginning to assume a threatening aspect, the commodore took the guns, mortars, shot and shells out of the Neapolitan craft and prizes and sent the vessels themselves to Syracuse—thus ending the attack- ing system for the year. Tbe Enterprise was one of the four vessels de- tailed to conduct these vessels into port, and in her sailed Decatur and his friends, accompanied by Stewartin the Siren. Preble, with the Constitution, Argus and Vixen, continued the blockade a few days longer, and then the long-expected Commodore Barron in the President, a 44 gun frigate, with the Con- stellation, 38, arrived. There being @ senior officer present, Preble immediately sailed for Malta, where he relin- quished command of the Constitution and then proceeded to Syracuse, Finding Decatur here, he ordered him to Mal- ta to take charge of his own frigate, feeling deeply gratified in being able to bestow so fine a ship on an officer who had so brilliantly distin- guished himself. The bot-temperss commodore never again a red in the Mediterranean, but while there he worked wonders with his small force. Pre- vious to Preble’s Sapa his command, the Bashaw was willing to relinquish all claim to tribute forever. Tunis submitted to a similar provision the same year, and Algiers had done so previously. This was more than all Christendom combined had been able to accomplish in nearly three hun- years! It was not until the spring of 1805, however, that Yusef (the Bashaw), signed the treaty which has ever since—with one slight exception —been adhered to, and, the Bashawstill holding out, General Eaton, tbe American Consul for the Barbary States, was dispatched to Upper Egypt where Hamet, the elder brother of Yusef and de- posed sovereign of Tripoli, was commanding an army of Marmalukes against the Turks to pro- pose an alliance against Tripoli, This was a long, weary journey, and before the general accomplished his p many in- teresting events took place among the ting squadron. CHAPTER XIV. HARRY AND THE COMMODORE, As Commodore Preble left the cabin of the Enterprise, and came on deck with Decatur after ordering the latter to take command of the Constitution, his glance fell upon Harry Lee, and although full of business—settling his accounts, etc.—he remembered the circum- _comicbool i < =" id f, . ‘ é . wa] ott ae y Cus i $ * . eel at Ma AN hae « 7