knocked down one of the Moors
for trying to rob him of an ivory miniature of his wife.

Then the Americans were made to get into the gunboats and were taken
ashore. They were marched in triumph through the streets, and the men
were thrown into prison. The officers were invited to supper by the
Bashaw, and treated as if they were guests. But as soon as the supper
was over, they, too, were taken to the prison rooms in which they were
to stay till the end of the war.

The Tripolitans afterwards got the _Philadelphia_ off the rocks during a
high tide, plugged up the holes in her bottom, fished up her guns and
anchors, and fitted her up for war. The Bashaw was proud enough of his
fine prize, which had not cost him a man or a shot, and was a better
ship than he had ever seen before.

When the American commodore learned of the loss of the _Philadelphia_ he
was in a bad state of mind. To lose one of his best ships in this way
was not at all to his liking, for he was a man who did not enjoy losing
a ship; and to know that the Moors had it and were making a warship of
it was a hard thing to bear.

From his prison Captain Bainbridge wrote letters to Commodore Preble,
which the Moors read and then sent out to the fleet. They did not know
that the letters had postscripts written in lemon-juice which only came
out when the sheet of paper was held to the heat of a fire. In these the
captain asked the commodore to try and destroy the captured ship.

Commodore Preble was a daring officer, and was ready enough for this, if
he only knew how it could be done. Lieutenant Decatur was then in
command of the _Enterprise_, the schooner which had fought with the
_Tripoli_. He asked the commodore to let him take the _Enterprise_ into
the harbor and try to destroy the captured ship. He knew he could do it,
he said, if he only had a chance. At any rate, he wanted to try.

Commodore Preble shook his head. It could not be done that way. He would
only lose his own vessel and his men. But there was a way it might be
done. The Moors might be taken by surprise and their prize burned in
their sight. It was a desperate enterprise. Every man who took part in
it would be in great danger of death. But that danger did not give much
trouble to bold young Decatur, who was as ready to fight as he was to
eat.

What was the commodore's plan, do you ask? Well, it was this. Some time
earlier the _Enterprise_ had captured the _Mastico_, a vessel from
Tripoli.