But where were the twelve Americans? Brave
fellows, where were they? They had, no doubt, failed to get as far as
they wished to, before they were discovered, and risked their lives a
little too long. They applied the fire to the trail of powder and the
ship was blown up. Tripoli had never been shaken before, nor had she ever
witnessed such a sight. The flames shot up toward the sky; the whole city
was illuminated and the report and awful force caused by the blowing up
of the ship, made the enemy's vessels in the harbor heave to and fro, and
rock as though in a storm. Men's hearts failed them; they did not know
but that they were going to sink. The city itself was shaken to its
foundation, from center to circumference. Men stood trembling and gazed
with horror and astonishment. Not another cannon was fired, and the noise
they made was no more when compared with the noise of the explosion,
than the sound of a pop-gun compared to the sound of a cannon. In fact it
was no comparison at all. Thousands stood ghastly and pale not knowing
what the next moment might reveal. The proud Bashaw had been badly "shook
up" and disturbed in his dreams of conquering the Americans.
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