Chapter Nine.The Battle of Angamos.Although somewhat disappointed at their failure to find the Peruvian fleet lying in Arica Bay, the men on board theBlanco Encaladalooked forward, with all the pleasure of anticipation, to the time when they should overtake the marauding warships, bring them to action, and destroy them. And Commodore Riveros’ offer of a hundredpésosto the man who should first sight the enemy, only increased the anxiety of the flagship’s crew to fever-heat, and men were to be found aloft upon the look-out at all hours of the day and night. It had been made known, too, that Captain Latorre, who had been promoted to theAlmirante Cochrane, had also offered a similar reward; and every man aboard theBlancomade up his mind thathisship should have the honour of bringing the Peruvians to action.Leaving Arica on the 4th of October, the inshore squadron, with the flagship leading the way, steamed slowly down the coast, exploring every nook and cranny where the enemy might by any possibility be lurking—for it was evident that they must have been hiding somewhere when the Chilians had steamed northward a few days before. But no sign of an enemy was seen during that day, nor during the next, in and on the 6th the fleet steamed into the harbour of Mejillones de Bolivia, in order to coal.Commodore Riveros, bearing in mind his own attempt on the Peruvians at Arica, and feeling convinced that their fleet must be somewhere close at hand, gave the strictest orders that no men should be allowed to go ashore, and that a patrol of steam-launches should ply up and down the harbour the whole night through, in order to prevent the attempt of similar tactics on the part of the enemy. He had also seen fit to express approval of the manner in which Jim Douglas had carried out the task assigned to him in Arica Bay, and he therefore sent for him to his cabin and informed the young man that he was to take command, in theBlanco Encalada’slaunch, of the flotilla which was to do patrol-duty during the night—a circumstance which afforded Jim the utmost satisfaction, and emboldened him to ask as a favour that Terry O’Meara should again be allowed to accompany him; to which request Riveros immediately acceded.Night came on with no sign of the enemy; but as Mejillones was in Bolivia, and had only very recently been occupied by the Chilians, the danger was almost as likely to come from the direction of the shore as from the sea, as the port was full of Bolivian and Peruvian refugees who would stop at nothing to effect the destruction of part of the Chilian fleet. As soon as the dusk began to fall, the launches of the two ironclads were hoisted out, their crews picked, and at half-past six Jim and his friend Terry took their places in the flagship’s boat, which steamed off slowly in one direction round the harbour, while that of theAlmirante Cochranestarted, under easy steam, in the opposite direction. Both launches were provided with a Gatling gun in the bows, and their crews were armed with rifles and revolvers, and orders had been given that any strange craft upon failing to answer a challenge should be fired into immediately.It occupied the launches about an hour, running under easy steam, to circumnavigate Mejillones harbour, and Jim’s boat had already made her round five or six times without any suspicious circumstance occurring, and he himself was beginning to feel very tired and sleepy, when about a mile and a half away, at the northern extremity of the bay, he fancied he saw a spark of light flare up for a moment and then go out suddenly, as though hastily quenched.He was broad awake immediately, with every sense on the alert, and he strained his eyes into the darkness—for there was only a very thin crescent moon shining—in order to try to make out where the light had come from and what had caused it.“Terry,” he whispered to his chum, who was sitting drowsily over the little engines, with the starting lever loosely clutched in his hand, “did you catch sight of a glimmer of light away there to the northward just now?”“Light? No; I saw no light,” replied Terry, suddenly pulling himself together. “Did you? Whereabouts was it, old boy? This continual going round and round has become rather monotonous, and I am afraid that I was very nearly asleep.”“Well, it was over in that direction,” explained Douglas, pointing, “and it looked as though some one had suddenly opened the slide of a dark lantern, and as quickly closed it again. However, itmay, of course, only have been my fancy—for I, like you, have been frightfully sleepy for the last two hours; and in any case it could hardly have been an enemy, for the light was quite two miles away from the ironclads. No, I must have been— Hallo! though, thereisthe light again, and, by jingo! how quickly it is travelling over the water, too. Here, Terry, man, wake up! There is something amiss, after all. Go full speed ahead, for all you are worth. That light is heading straight for theBlanco Encalada, and if it should be an enemy’s boat which is carrying it we shall have all our work cut out to intercept her before she reaches the flagship. I wonder whereabouts theCochranelaunch is. She would be of great assistance to us now. Get every knot you can out of your engines, old man, for I fear foul play.”Terry O’Meara needed no second bidding, for he also had caught sight of the swiftly moving point of light, and the circumstance reminded him very forcibly of their own attempt to torpedo the Peruvian fleet lying in Arica Bay. He pushed over his regulator to its top notch, and started the weary stokers to the task of shovelling on coal with all possible dispatch. The tiny screw revolved faster and faster, churning and frothing the water up astern, and the launch darted away like a greyhound slipped from the leash. The seamen handled their rifles and revolvers, to make sure that they were loaded, opening and closing the breaches with a smart click, while the men in charge of the Gatling gun moved up forward, close to their weapon, and trained it up and down, and from side to side, to assure themselves that the mechanism was in perfect working order.For a few seconds Douglas’s heart seemed to stand still with anxiety, for it appeared as though the launch would not be able to intercept the rapidly moving spark of light—which he was now convinced belonged to a torpedo-boat—before it reached theBlanco Encalada, for which ship the boat was undoubtedly heading. But little by little, as soon as the engines got into their swing, the launch drew ahead, and after about ten minutes’ steaming Jim saw that he would, all being well, cross the stranger’s bows before she reached the flagship.The launch was showing no lights, and the torpedo-boat—if such she was—was still too far away for a hail to reach her. Jim was therefore in hopes of taking her by surprise, and ordered the men to maintain perfect silence, but to be ready to open fire directly he gave the word.Closer and closer the two converging craft swept toward each other, until barely a quarter of a mile separated them, and then, just at the critical moment, when Jim was about to shout his challenge across the water, an accident happened which had well-nigh proved disastrous for the Chilians. A seaman who had remained behind in the cockpit was ordered to go forward and join the crew of the Gatling gun, which it was now discovered was one man short, and in clambering along the narrow strip of deck which ran round the little steamer the man stumbled and dropped his rifle. Unluckily, the weapon fell muzzle downward, and the fixed bayonet dropped edgewise into the tiny crank-pit. There was a sudden shock and a noise of cracking metal, and the screw ceased revolving with a jerk that shook the launch from stem to stern, while her way, of course, fell off immediately.“Caramba!” ejaculated Jim, keeping one eye fixed upon the spark of light which was now rapidly travelling past them, “if we can’t put that machinery right in two minutes, then—good-bye to theBlanco! Quick, Terry, is there any hope, do you think?” he asked, dropping on one knee beside his chum, who had already shut off steam and was crouching over the machinery.“Wait a bit, Jim,” replied Terry, working away like a madman with spanner and screw-wrench; “if I can but loosen this nut I can disconnect this bent rod and replace it in half a jiffy.”The young man heaved and strained at the spanner, with the perspiration dripping off his forehead, but he could not get the refractory nut to turn. The stout steel handle quivered under the strain, and Terry’s muscles stood out on his bare arms like whipcord, but still the nut would not budge. In a second Jim threw his strength into the balance; the spanner showed signs of slipping round the nut, but the next second it flew round, and the nut gave at last.It was then only a few seconds’ work to take out the bent rod and replace it with a new one; but the suspected torpedo-boat had by that time drawn ahead of the launch. Jim, however, was not the sort of man to say “die,” and at his quick word of command the boat leaped forward once more after the enemy, and under the increased pressure of steam due to the stoppage, actually began to gain upon the chase. Douglas put his hands to his mouth and sent a sharp challenge ringing across the water toward her. This was immediately followed by a slight commotion aboard the suspected Peruvian, which showed that the hail had been heard; but there was no sign of her stopping; indeed, the next second a strong volume of flame gushed up from her funnel, which proved that her engineers had shovelled on more coal and turned on the forced draught.Jim almost groaned in his agony of mind, for it seemed as though the accident to the launch had doomed the flagship to destruction, and he was just about to order his men to fire the Gatling gun at the dimly seen shape, in the hope of hitting her, despite the fact that the smoke would hide the chase from him, when he saw a long steel-coloured shape glide past the bows of his own boat.His heart gave a great thump at the sight, for he knew that he had had a narrow escape from death. The torpedo-boat was not carrying a spar-torpedo, but was towing the infernal machine, which she doubtless meant to drag under the flagship’s bows. It was one of the newly invented Lay torpedoes, and a terrible weapon when effectively used. But alarm at his own narrow escape was swamped in the feeling of relief for the safety of theBlanco Encalada; for the torpedo-boat would be obliged to manoeuvre a little to get her torpedo into place, and thus there was just a chance that he might yet be able to intercept her. In a second he had whirled the wheel hard over and was off along the Peruvian’s wake, telling the men to keep a bright look-out for the torpedo, and to commence firing in the direction of the torpedo-boat.Then the quick, metallic clatter of the Gatling broke out, mingled with the whip-like crack of the rifles, and the darkness was illuminated by the vivid flashes of flame. From the Peruvian a series of hoarse screams, oaths, and yells told plainly enough that the Chilians had made good practice, and that some at least of the hailing bullets had found their billets; but the craft was all too surely drawing away, and it became a question whether, even now, the launch would be in time to save theBlanco Encalada.Suddenly Jim perceived a speck of fire break out aboard the flagship, which quickly broke into a great glow of flame, and he heaved a sigh of relief which was almost a sob, for he knew that her people had taken alarm from the firing and were prepared. In a few seconds the beacon-fire spread a lurid glare wide over the waters of the bay, and the Peruvian torpedo-boat was plainly disclosed to view, together with a phosphorescent glimmer which indicated the position of the deadly torpedo.“Now, men!” cried the young Englishman, “now is your chance, while the light lasts. Train the gun on the torpedo, and fire at it until you hit it. Riflemen, do the same, and remember that theBlanco’ssafety depends upon your shooting.”“Ay, ay, sir!” responded the Chilians, and a second later the Gatling in the bows began to chatter out its deadly message, while the seamen rapidly loaded and fired their rifles, in the hope of destroying the infernal machine before it could reach theBlanco Encalada. But, try as they might, it seemed impossible to hit that fish-like object which dashed through the water ahead of them. Twice the Chilians had hit the torpedo-boat’s helmsman, and twice he had been replaced, while the shrieks that came from the boat itself testified to the execution inflicted upon her crew. Still she was creeping nearer and nearer to the flagship, the crew of which were vainly trying to depress the muzzles of their great guns sufficiently to reach the Peruvian, and but a few more short seconds were needed for the latter to complete her fell work.Then, all in a moment, the end came. Jim did not know how it happened, whether it was due to his own men, or to those on board the flagship; but a bullet struck the torpedo fair and square. The next instant there was a stunning concussion, and the water between pursuer and pursued seemed to be blown into a great hollow sphere, the sides of which then rushed together again, while a tall column of water heaped itself up fully thirty feet into the air, to collapse into spray which drenched to the skin every man both in the torpedo-boat and in the launch.A wild cheer broke out on board the Chilian launch and theBlanco Encalada, and their men now turned all their attention to destroy the wasp which had just been deprived of its sting. The moment that her towed torpedo had exploded she was practically powerless for injury, and she turned her nose seaward at once, hoping, by a desperate rush, to get clear away. And so she doubtless would, had it not been for the launch belonging to theAlmirante Cochrane.This craft had, like Jim’s boat, several times made the circuit of the bay; and she was away down at the south end of the harbour when her lieutenant in charge first heard the sounds of firing. He immediately guessed the cause and, putting his engines at full speed, raced along toward the spot where he could see the rifles flashing, and before he had gone very far he had theBlanco Encalada’sbeacon-fire to help him.As the launch came rushing along toward her consort, Jim blew his steam-whistle three times to attract her attention, and he was only just in the nick of time, for the Peruvian would have been in front of theCochrane’slaunch in another half-minute. But like a hawk upon its prey theCochrane’sboat dashed forward, her commander determining to hazard all in one stroke, instead of using his guns. He aimed straight for a point which the torpedo-boat must pass in a few seconds, and went ahead full speed.The impact was so violent that the Peruvian torpedo-boat collapsed like an eggshell, theCochrane’slaunch driving right over the wreck without doing herself any very serious injury. The torpedo-boat’s boilers exploded as she sank, and probably killed every remaining man among her crew, for not a single living being was to be found when the Chilians proceeded to search for the survivors.This exciting little episode over, Jim and his consort resumed their patrol of the harbour until daylight, when their long and trying vigil ceased. The ships finished coaling by five o’clock in the afternoon of the new day, and immediately stood out to sea, much to Douglas’s relief, for he felt that another night like the last would have been too much for him. Once outside the harbour, the two ironclads turned their heads to the south again; and Riveros made the signal that Antofagasta was to be their next port of call.It was 3:30 a.m. on the 8th of October when Jim was awakened by a stentorian cry from the deck of “Two ships ahead!” Galvanised into alertness he listened intently, and heard the officer of the watch calmly reply, “Where away?”There was a short pause, and then the seaman answered, “Three points on our port bow. They are hull-down; but there are two columns of smoke approaching at a great speed from the south-east. They are about twelve miles away and, so far as I can make out, are just abreast of Point Angamos.”Jim did not wait to hear the reply of “Very good. Keep your eye on the smoke, and report any further developments,” but jumped into his clothes and hurried up on deck just in time to hear the bugles call “Hands on deck. Clear ship for action.” It was quite evident that the smoke could not be coming from the second Chilian division; for, in that case, there would have been three columns of smoke instead of two. Therefore the strangers could scarcely be other than the long-sought-for Peruvian ships theHuascarand theUnion.A few seconds after the bugle had sounded the men came tumbling up on deck, full of excitement at the idea of a fight; and with many a jovial laugh and jest they hurried away to their quarters. Jim made the rounds, saw that the men were at their stations, that the guns were ready and run out, and that plenty of ammunition had been supplied to the turrets, and then he reported to the first lieutenant that the ship was “clear for action.” The first lieutenant at once made his report to the captain, who, in turn, reported to Commodore Riveros, who had already entered the conning-tower. Several signals were made to theAlmirante Cochrane, which was steaming about a cable’s-length astern; and the two ships surged forward in silence to the encounter which was to seal the fate of Peru, to destroy her sea-power, and to go down to history as the battle of Angamos.Jim was wandering from gun to gun, seeing that everything was in order, and waiting for the action to commence, when he heard a roar of anger and execration coming from the deck above, and, running up from below, he saw that the ships were theHuascarand theUnion, and that they had turned tail, having evidently discovered the proximity of the Chilians, and were steaming to the southward as fast as they could go. But Commodore Riveros had anticipated some such action, and as theBlanco Encalada, owing to a foul bottom, could only steam about eight knots, he sent forward in chase of the Peruvians theCochrane, which was capable of nearly eleven knots.Latorre’s ship instantly leaped forward at full speed upon the signal being made, and Jim soon observed through his telescope that theCochranewas a good deal faster than the Peruvians, and that she must inevitably overtake them in a few hours’ time. Riveros also sent word down to his engine-room staff that the very last knot was to be got out of his ship, and the effect of the increased steam-pressure was soon observable on theBlanco.At about a quarter to eight there was another change of tactics on the part of the Peruvians. The corvetteUnion, which up to that time had been keeping station on theHuascar’sport quarter, suddenly slowed down and passed under her stern, turned to the eastward, and made for Arica under a full head of steam.Jim Douglas immediately reported the occurrence to Commodore Riveros, who, after debating for a minute or two as to whether or not he should follow the corvette, finally decided in favour of pursuing theHuascar, as she was the more formidable craft of the two; and the Chilian ironclad accordingly was kept on her previous course. Jim then returned to his post, and kept his glass fixed upon the flying steamers in front of him; and hardly had he taken up his position again when he saw theHuascarput her helm over and head to the northward, steaming toward theCochraneand the Chilian flagship.A second later he saw a brilliant flash of flame leap from theHuascar’sturret; there was a huge cataract of spray as the shot struck the water midway between herself and theCochrane, and then a cloud of greyish-green smoke spouted up on board the Chilian vessel, showing that the shell had exploded on board her, somewhere about her bows. TheAlmirante Cochranedid not reply for several minutes, but silent and grim as death itself, she held steadily on her course toward the monitor.Then, when she had approached to within a distance of a little over a mile, she in turn opened fire with both her forward turret-guns on theHuascar, and the battle of Angamos had begun in real earnest. The effect of the projectiles on board the Peruvian was terrible; for both shells struck her on the port bow, penetrated her armour, and exploded inside her hull, and thus temporarily jammed her turret-tracks, and covered the deck with débris.Jim closed up his telescope with a snap, and made his way to the forward turret of theBlanco Encaladato ascertain how long it would be before the gun captains thought they might effectively open fire; for he was most anxious to share in the combat before all was over. At that moment the officer in the fire-top shouted the news that the range had now lessened to 3000 yards, and the word was immediately given to fire both forward turret-guns.A moment later there was a terrific gush of white flame, a cloud of fleecy smoke, and a tremendous roar as both guns spoke simultaneously, followed by a hoarse, screaming roar as the shells sped through the calm morning air toward their mark. Both missiles struck on the unarmoured portion of theHuascar’sbows, and pierced her through and through, without exploding, however, as the thickness of steel penetrated was insufficient to detonate the projectiles. The Peruvian at once replied with a shot from her 300-pounder, which struck theBlanco’snavigating bridge and blew it to pieces.Meanwhile theCochranehad by this time circled round, and was running on a course parallel to that of the monitor, and at the same time driving her toward her consort, so that the unfortunate ship was now between two fires.Crash! crash! roared the guns as the two Chilian ironclads converged upon their quarry; and so excellent was their gunnery that every shot told. Half an hour after the action had commenced theHuascar’stiller-chains were shot away, and she at once yawed to starboard, almost in the track of theCochrane. Captain Latorre instantly saw that this was his opportunity to ram, and he accordingly sent his ship straight at the helplessHuascar. But the aberrations of the Peruvian ship’s course introduced an element of uncertainty which defied calculation, and the result was that theCochranedashed past her stern, missing her by a short five yards.And now theBlanco Encaladaclosed in on the other side of the doomed ship, which was already on fire in several places from the disastrous effect of the Chilian shells, and pounded her mercilessly; while the Peruvians, on the other hand, fought their sorely pressed ship with a desperate gallantry that excited the utmost admiration of their opponents, and in the face of a perfect inferno of fire rove new tiller ropes. But it was all to no purpose. A shell from theBlanco, fired by Jim’s own hand, exploded immediately afterwards in her stern, killing every man at the relieving-tackles, and causing the now almost wrecked ship again to fall out of control.It was at this moment that a shell from theCochraneexploded right inside theHuascar’sconning-tower, and blew the gallant Peruvian admiral and one of his lieutenants to pieces. It was clear that the Peruvians were beaten, yet several brave spirits strove desperately to regain the control of their ship, and, if it might be, break away to the northward and get clear. But it was too late; for a shell had already exploded in the engine-room and had penetrated one of the boilers.Lieutenant Garezon, the sole remaining Peruvian officer, then called a brief council of war, at which it was resolved to sink the ship rather than yield; and orders were accordingly sent to MacMahon, the chief engineer, to open the injection-valves and thus flood the vessel; but even as the Scotsman set about his task a number of Peruvian seamen ran forward and waved white cloths and towels, in token of surrender.The Chilian fire immediately ceased, of course, but the battle was even yet not quite over, for down below, in the seclusion of the engine-room, it was not known that the men on deck had surrendered, and the engines were still kept moving. The Chilians therefore reopened their fire, and theBlanco Encaladarushed up close alongside the now fast-sinking monitor, intending to ram her, but was stayed in her deadly purpose by the exhibition of fresh signals of surrender.At length a boat, manned by a lieutenant, an engineer, half a dozen seamen, and four soldiers, was dispatched from theCochraneto go on board and take possession of theHuascar. They met with no resistance; and Jim, who, in a boat from theBlanco, had also boarded, at once rushed below, just in time to prevent the Peruvian engineers from sinking the ship. A little longer delay and he would have been too late; for theHuascarhad already nearly two feet of water over her engine-room floor when he rushed in, revolver in hand, and many of the shot-holes in the hull were by that time all but flush with the water’s edge. At the point of his pistol he drove Macmahon and the other engineers away from the valves and closed them. The battle of Angamos was over at last. TheHuascar’smen were then secured, a prize-crew placed on board, and under escort of theAlmirante CochraneandBlanco Encaladashe went under her own steam into the harbour of Mejillones, where she was temporarily patched up and rendered more or less seaworthy.Two days later the three ships left in company for Valparaiso, where they arrived on the 14th of October, amid the salutes of the forts and the frantic cheers of the populace, who were thankful beyond measure to be freed from the menace of theHuascar, which, they had felt, might attack any of their seaports during the absence of the Chilian fleet. Commodore Riveros was promoted to be Rear-Admiral, Captain Latorre to be Commodore, and Jim was made First Lieutenant of theBlanco Encalada.
Although somewhat disappointed at their failure to find the Peruvian fleet lying in Arica Bay, the men on board theBlanco Encaladalooked forward, with all the pleasure of anticipation, to the time when they should overtake the marauding warships, bring them to action, and destroy them. And Commodore Riveros’ offer of a hundredpésosto the man who should first sight the enemy, only increased the anxiety of the flagship’s crew to fever-heat, and men were to be found aloft upon the look-out at all hours of the day and night. It had been made known, too, that Captain Latorre, who had been promoted to theAlmirante Cochrane, had also offered a similar reward; and every man aboard theBlancomade up his mind thathisship should have the honour of bringing the Peruvians to action.
Leaving Arica on the 4th of October, the inshore squadron, with the flagship leading the way, steamed slowly down the coast, exploring every nook and cranny where the enemy might by any possibility be lurking—for it was evident that they must have been hiding somewhere when the Chilians had steamed northward a few days before. But no sign of an enemy was seen during that day, nor during the next, in and on the 6th the fleet steamed into the harbour of Mejillones de Bolivia, in order to coal.
Commodore Riveros, bearing in mind his own attempt on the Peruvians at Arica, and feeling convinced that their fleet must be somewhere close at hand, gave the strictest orders that no men should be allowed to go ashore, and that a patrol of steam-launches should ply up and down the harbour the whole night through, in order to prevent the attempt of similar tactics on the part of the enemy. He had also seen fit to express approval of the manner in which Jim Douglas had carried out the task assigned to him in Arica Bay, and he therefore sent for him to his cabin and informed the young man that he was to take command, in theBlanco Encalada’slaunch, of the flotilla which was to do patrol-duty during the night—a circumstance which afforded Jim the utmost satisfaction, and emboldened him to ask as a favour that Terry O’Meara should again be allowed to accompany him; to which request Riveros immediately acceded.
Night came on with no sign of the enemy; but as Mejillones was in Bolivia, and had only very recently been occupied by the Chilians, the danger was almost as likely to come from the direction of the shore as from the sea, as the port was full of Bolivian and Peruvian refugees who would stop at nothing to effect the destruction of part of the Chilian fleet. As soon as the dusk began to fall, the launches of the two ironclads were hoisted out, their crews picked, and at half-past six Jim and his friend Terry took their places in the flagship’s boat, which steamed off slowly in one direction round the harbour, while that of theAlmirante Cochranestarted, under easy steam, in the opposite direction. Both launches were provided with a Gatling gun in the bows, and their crews were armed with rifles and revolvers, and orders had been given that any strange craft upon failing to answer a challenge should be fired into immediately.
It occupied the launches about an hour, running under easy steam, to circumnavigate Mejillones harbour, and Jim’s boat had already made her round five or six times without any suspicious circumstance occurring, and he himself was beginning to feel very tired and sleepy, when about a mile and a half away, at the northern extremity of the bay, he fancied he saw a spark of light flare up for a moment and then go out suddenly, as though hastily quenched.
He was broad awake immediately, with every sense on the alert, and he strained his eyes into the darkness—for there was only a very thin crescent moon shining—in order to try to make out where the light had come from and what had caused it.
“Terry,” he whispered to his chum, who was sitting drowsily over the little engines, with the starting lever loosely clutched in his hand, “did you catch sight of a glimmer of light away there to the northward just now?”
“Light? No; I saw no light,” replied Terry, suddenly pulling himself together. “Did you? Whereabouts was it, old boy? This continual going round and round has become rather monotonous, and I am afraid that I was very nearly asleep.”
“Well, it was over in that direction,” explained Douglas, pointing, “and it looked as though some one had suddenly opened the slide of a dark lantern, and as quickly closed it again. However, itmay, of course, only have been my fancy—for I, like you, have been frightfully sleepy for the last two hours; and in any case it could hardly have been an enemy, for the light was quite two miles away from the ironclads. No, I must have been— Hallo! though, thereisthe light again, and, by jingo! how quickly it is travelling over the water, too. Here, Terry, man, wake up! There is something amiss, after all. Go full speed ahead, for all you are worth. That light is heading straight for theBlanco Encalada, and if it should be an enemy’s boat which is carrying it we shall have all our work cut out to intercept her before she reaches the flagship. I wonder whereabouts theCochranelaunch is. She would be of great assistance to us now. Get every knot you can out of your engines, old man, for I fear foul play.”
Terry O’Meara needed no second bidding, for he also had caught sight of the swiftly moving point of light, and the circumstance reminded him very forcibly of their own attempt to torpedo the Peruvian fleet lying in Arica Bay. He pushed over his regulator to its top notch, and started the weary stokers to the task of shovelling on coal with all possible dispatch. The tiny screw revolved faster and faster, churning and frothing the water up astern, and the launch darted away like a greyhound slipped from the leash. The seamen handled their rifles and revolvers, to make sure that they were loaded, opening and closing the breaches with a smart click, while the men in charge of the Gatling gun moved up forward, close to their weapon, and trained it up and down, and from side to side, to assure themselves that the mechanism was in perfect working order.
For a few seconds Douglas’s heart seemed to stand still with anxiety, for it appeared as though the launch would not be able to intercept the rapidly moving spark of light—which he was now convinced belonged to a torpedo-boat—before it reached theBlanco Encalada, for which ship the boat was undoubtedly heading. But little by little, as soon as the engines got into their swing, the launch drew ahead, and after about ten minutes’ steaming Jim saw that he would, all being well, cross the stranger’s bows before she reached the flagship.
The launch was showing no lights, and the torpedo-boat—if such she was—was still too far away for a hail to reach her. Jim was therefore in hopes of taking her by surprise, and ordered the men to maintain perfect silence, but to be ready to open fire directly he gave the word.
Closer and closer the two converging craft swept toward each other, until barely a quarter of a mile separated them, and then, just at the critical moment, when Jim was about to shout his challenge across the water, an accident happened which had well-nigh proved disastrous for the Chilians. A seaman who had remained behind in the cockpit was ordered to go forward and join the crew of the Gatling gun, which it was now discovered was one man short, and in clambering along the narrow strip of deck which ran round the little steamer the man stumbled and dropped his rifle. Unluckily, the weapon fell muzzle downward, and the fixed bayonet dropped edgewise into the tiny crank-pit. There was a sudden shock and a noise of cracking metal, and the screw ceased revolving with a jerk that shook the launch from stem to stern, while her way, of course, fell off immediately.
“Caramba!” ejaculated Jim, keeping one eye fixed upon the spark of light which was now rapidly travelling past them, “if we can’t put that machinery right in two minutes, then—good-bye to theBlanco! Quick, Terry, is there any hope, do you think?” he asked, dropping on one knee beside his chum, who had already shut off steam and was crouching over the machinery.
“Wait a bit, Jim,” replied Terry, working away like a madman with spanner and screw-wrench; “if I can but loosen this nut I can disconnect this bent rod and replace it in half a jiffy.”
The young man heaved and strained at the spanner, with the perspiration dripping off his forehead, but he could not get the refractory nut to turn. The stout steel handle quivered under the strain, and Terry’s muscles stood out on his bare arms like whipcord, but still the nut would not budge. In a second Jim threw his strength into the balance; the spanner showed signs of slipping round the nut, but the next second it flew round, and the nut gave at last.
It was then only a few seconds’ work to take out the bent rod and replace it with a new one; but the suspected torpedo-boat had by that time drawn ahead of the launch. Jim, however, was not the sort of man to say “die,” and at his quick word of command the boat leaped forward once more after the enemy, and under the increased pressure of steam due to the stoppage, actually began to gain upon the chase. Douglas put his hands to his mouth and sent a sharp challenge ringing across the water toward her. This was immediately followed by a slight commotion aboard the suspected Peruvian, which showed that the hail had been heard; but there was no sign of her stopping; indeed, the next second a strong volume of flame gushed up from her funnel, which proved that her engineers had shovelled on more coal and turned on the forced draught.
Jim almost groaned in his agony of mind, for it seemed as though the accident to the launch had doomed the flagship to destruction, and he was just about to order his men to fire the Gatling gun at the dimly seen shape, in the hope of hitting her, despite the fact that the smoke would hide the chase from him, when he saw a long steel-coloured shape glide past the bows of his own boat.
His heart gave a great thump at the sight, for he knew that he had had a narrow escape from death. The torpedo-boat was not carrying a spar-torpedo, but was towing the infernal machine, which she doubtless meant to drag under the flagship’s bows. It was one of the newly invented Lay torpedoes, and a terrible weapon when effectively used. But alarm at his own narrow escape was swamped in the feeling of relief for the safety of theBlanco Encalada; for the torpedo-boat would be obliged to manoeuvre a little to get her torpedo into place, and thus there was just a chance that he might yet be able to intercept her. In a second he had whirled the wheel hard over and was off along the Peruvian’s wake, telling the men to keep a bright look-out for the torpedo, and to commence firing in the direction of the torpedo-boat.
Then the quick, metallic clatter of the Gatling broke out, mingled with the whip-like crack of the rifles, and the darkness was illuminated by the vivid flashes of flame. From the Peruvian a series of hoarse screams, oaths, and yells told plainly enough that the Chilians had made good practice, and that some at least of the hailing bullets had found their billets; but the craft was all too surely drawing away, and it became a question whether, even now, the launch would be in time to save theBlanco Encalada.
Suddenly Jim perceived a speck of fire break out aboard the flagship, which quickly broke into a great glow of flame, and he heaved a sigh of relief which was almost a sob, for he knew that her people had taken alarm from the firing and were prepared. In a few seconds the beacon-fire spread a lurid glare wide over the waters of the bay, and the Peruvian torpedo-boat was plainly disclosed to view, together with a phosphorescent glimmer which indicated the position of the deadly torpedo.
“Now, men!” cried the young Englishman, “now is your chance, while the light lasts. Train the gun on the torpedo, and fire at it until you hit it. Riflemen, do the same, and remember that theBlanco’ssafety depends upon your shooting.”
“Ay, ay, sir!” responded the Chilians, and a second later the Gatling in the bows began to chatter out its deadly message, while the seamen rapidly loaded and fired their rifles, in the hope of destroying the infernal machine before it could reach theBlanco Encalada. But, try as they might, it seemed impossible to hit that fish-like object which dashed through the water ahead of them. Twice the Chilians had hit the torpedo-boat’s helmsman, and twice he had been replaced, while the shrieks that came from the boat itself testified to the execution inflicted upon her crew. Still she was creeping nearer and nearer to the flagship, the crew of which were vainly trying to depress the muzzles of their great guns sufficiently to reach the Peruvian, and but a few more short seconds were needed for the latter to complete her fell work.
Then, all in a moment, the end came. Jim did not know how it happened, whether it was due to his own men, or to those on board the flagship; but a bullet struck the torpedo fair and square. The next instant there was a stunning concussion, and the water between pursuer and pursued seemed to be blown into a great hollow sphere, the sides of which then rushed together again, while a tall column of water heaped itself up fully thirty feet into the air, to collapse into spray which drenched to the skin every man both in the torpedo-boat and in the launch.
A wild cheer broke out on board the Chilian launch and theBlanco Encalada, and their men now turned all their attention to destroy the wasp which had just been deprived of its sting. The moment that her towed torpedo had exploded she was practically powerless for injury, and she turned her nose seaward at once, hoping, by a desperate rush, to get clear away. And so she doubtless would, had it not been for the launch belonging to theAlmirante Cochrane.
This craft had, like Jim’s boat, several times made the circuit of the bay; and she was away down at the south end of the harbour when her lieutenant in charge first heard the sounds of firing. He immediately guessed the cause and, putting his engines at full speed, raced along toward the spot where he could see the rifles flashing, and before he had gone very far he had theBlanco Encalada’sbeacon-fire to help him.
As the launch came rushing along toward her consort, Jim blew his steam-whistle three times to attract her attention, and he was only just in the nick of time, for the Peruvian would have been in front of theCochrane’slaunch in another half-minute. But like a hawk upon its prey theCochrane’sboat dashed forward, her commander determining to hazard all in one stroke, instead of using his guns. He aimed straight for a point which the torpedo-boat must pass in a few seconds, and went ahead full speed.
The impact was so violent that the Peruvian torpedo-boat collapsed like an eggshell, theCochrane’slaunch driving right over the wreck without doing herself any very serious injury. The torpedo-boat’s boilers exploded as she sank, and probably killed every remaining man among her crew, for not a single living being was to be found when the Chilians proceeded to search for the survivors.
This exciting little episode over, Jim and his consort resumed their patrol of the harbour until daylight, when their long and trying vigil ceased. The ships finished coaling by five o’clock in the afternoon of the new day, and immediately stood out to sea, much to Douglas’s relief, for he felt that another night like the last would have been too much for him. Once outside the harbour, the two ironclads turned their heads to the south again; and Riveros made the signal that Antofagasta was to be their next port of call.
It was 3:30 a.m. on the 8th of October when Jim was awakened by a stentorian cry from the deck of “Two ships ahead!” Galvanised into alertness he listened intently, and heard the officer of the watch calmly reply, “Where away?”
There was a short pause, and then the seaman answered, “Three points on our port bow. They are hull-down; but there are two columns of smoke approaching at a great speed from the south-east. They are about twelve miles away and, so far as I can make out, are just abreast of Point Angamos.”
Jim did not wait to hear the reply of “Very good. Keep your eye on the smoke, and report any further developments,” but jumped into his clothes and hurried up on deck just in time to hear the bugles call “Hands on deck. Clear ship for action.” It was quite evident that the smoke could not be coming from the second Chilian division; for, in that case, there would have been three columns of smoke instead of two. Therefore the strangers could scarcely be other than the long-sought-for Peruvian ships theHuascarand theUnion.
A few seconds after the bugle had sounded the men came tumbling up on deck, full of excitement at the idea of a fight; and with many a jovial laugh and jest they hurried away to their quarters. Jim made the rounds, saw that the men were at their stations, that the guns were ready and run out, and that plenty of ammunition had been supplied to the turrets, and then he reported to the first lieutenant that the ship was “clear for action.” The first lieutenant at once made his report to the captain, who, in turn, reported to Commodore Riveros, who had already entered the conning-tower. Several signals were made to theAlmirante Cochrane, which was steaming about a cable’s-length astern; and the two ships surged forward in silence to the encounter which was to seal the fate of Peru, to destroy her sea-power, and to go down to history as the battle of Angamos.
Jim was wandering from gun to gun, seeing that everything was in order, and waiting for the action to commence, when he heard a roar of anger and execration coming from the deck above, and, running up from below, he saw that the ships were theHuascarand theUnion, and that they had turned tail, having evidently discovered the proximity of the Chilians, and were steaming to the southward as fast as they could go. But Commodore Riveros had anticipated some such action, and as theBlanco Encalada, owing to a foul bottom, could only steam about eight knots, he sent forward in chase of the Peruvians theCochrane, which was capable of nearly eleven knots.
Latorre’s ship instantly leaped forward at full speed upon the signal being made, and Jim soon observed through his telescope that theCochranewas a good deal faster than the Peruvians, and that she must inevitably overtake them in a few hours’ time. Riveros also sent word down to his engine-room staff that the very last knot was to be got out of his ship, and the effect of the increased steam-pressure was soon observable on theBlanco.
At about a quarter to eight there was another change of tactics on the part of the Peruvians. The corvetteUnion, which up to that time had been keeping station on theHuascar’sport quarter, suddenly slowed down and passed under her stern, turned to the eastward, and made for Arica under a full head of steam.
Jim Douglas immediately reported the occurrence to Commodore Riveros, who, after debating for a minute or two as to whether or not he should follow the corvette, finally decided in favour of pursuing theHuascar, as she was the more formidable craft of the two; and the Chilian ironclad accordingly was kept on her previous course. Jim then returned to his post, and kept his glass fixed upon the flying steamers in front of him; and hardly had he taken up his position again when he saw theHuascarput her helm over and head to the northward, steaming toward theCochraneand the Chilian flagship.
A second later he saw a brilliant flash of flame leap from theHuascar’sturret; there was a huge cataract of spray as the shot struck the water midway between herself and theCochrane, and then a cloud of greyish-green smoke spouted up on board the Chilian vessel, showing that the shell had exploded on board her, somewhere about her bows. TheAlmirante Cochranedid not reply for several minutes, but silent and grim as death itself, she held steadily on her course toward the monitor.
Then, when she had approached to within a distance of a little over a mile, she in turn opened fire with both her forward turret-guns on theHuascar, and the battle of Angamos had begun in real earnest. The effect of the projectiles on board the Peruvian was terrible; for both shells struck her on the port bow, penetrated her armour, and exploded inside her hull, and thus temporarily jammed her turret-tracks, and covered the deck with débris.
Jim closed up his telescope with a snap, and made his way to the forward turret of theBlanco Encaladato ascertain how long it would be before the gun captains thought they might effectively open fire; for he was most anxious to share in the combat before all was over. At that moment the officer in the fire-top shouted the news that the range had now lessened to 3000 yards, and the word was immediately given to fire both forward turret-guns.
A moment later there was a terrific gush of white flame, a cloud of fleecy smoke, and a tremendous roar as both guns spoke simultaneously, followed by a hoarse, screaming roar as the shells sped through the calm morning air toward their mark. Both missiles struck on the unarmoured portion of theHuascar’sbows, and pierced her through and through, without exploding, however, as the thickness of steel penetrated was insufficient to detonate the projectiles. The Peruvian at once replied with a shot from her 300-pounder, which struck theBlanco’snavigating bridge and blew it to pieces.
Meanwhile theCochranehad by this time circled round, and was running on a course parallel to that of the monitor, and at the same time driving her toward her consort, so that the unfortunate ship was now between two fires.Crash! crash! roared the guns as the two Chilian ironclads converged upon their quarry; and so excellent was their gunnery that every shot told. Half an hour after the action had commenced theHuascar’stiller-chains were shot away, and she at once yawed to starboard, almost in the track of theCochrane. Captain Latorre instantly saw that this was his opportunity to ram, and he accordingly sent his ship straight at the helplessHuascar. But the aberrations of the Peruvian ship’s course introduced an element of uncertainty which defied calculation, and the result was that theCochranedashed past her stern, missing her by a short five yards.
And now theBlanco Encaladaclosed in on the other side of the doomed ship, which was already on fire in several places from the disastrous effect of the Chilian shells, and pounded her mercilessly; while the Peruvians, on the other hand, fought their sorely pressed ship with a desperate gallantry that excited the utmost admiration of their opponents, and in the face of a perfect inferno of fire rove new tiller ropes. But it was all to no purpose. A shell from theBlanco, fired by Jim’s own hand, exploded immediately afterwards in her stern, killing every man at the relieving-tackles, and causing the now almost wrecked ship again to fall out of control.
It was at this moment that a shell from theCochraneexploded right inside theHuascar’sconning-tower, and blew the gallant Peruvian admiral and one of his lieutenants to pieces. It was clear that the Peruvians were beaten, yet several brave spirits strove desperately to regain the control of their ship, and, if it might be, break away to the northward and get clear. But it was too late; for a shell had already exploded in the engine-room and had penetrated one of the boilers.
Lieutenant Garezon, the sole remaining Peruvian officer, then called a brief council of war, at which it was resolved to sink the ship rather than yield; and orders were accordingly sent to MacMahon, the chief engineer, to open the injection-valves and thus flood the vessel; but even as the Scotsman set about his task a number of Peruvian seamen ran forward and waved white cloths and towels, in token of surrender.
The Chilian fire immediately ceased, of course, but the battle was even yet not quite over, for down below, in the seclusion of the engine-room, it was not known that the men on deck had surrendered, and the engines were still kept moving. The Chilians therefore reopened their fire, and theBlanco Encaladarushed up close alongside the now fast-sinking monitor, intending to ram her, but was stayed in her deadly purpose by the exhibition of fresh signals of surrender.
At length a boat, manned by a lieutenant, an engineer, half a dozen seamen, and four soldiers, was dispatched from theCochraneto go on board and take possession of theHuascar. They met with no resistance; and Jim, who, in a boat from theBlanco, had also boarded, at once rushed below, just in time to prevent the Peruvian engineers from sinking the ship. A little longer delay and he would have been too late; for theHuascarhad already nearly two feet of water over her engine-room floor when he rushed in, revolver in hand, and many of the shot-holes in the hull were by that time all but flush with the water’s edge. At the point of his pistol he drove Macmahon and the other engineers away from the valves and closed them. The battle of Angamos was over at last. TheHuascar’smen were then secured, a prize-crew placed on board, and under escort of theAlmirante CochraneandBlanco Encaladashe went under her own steam into the harbour of Mejillones, where she was temporarily patched up and rendered more or less seaworthy.
Two days later the three ships left in company for Valparaiso, where they arrived on the 14th of October, amid the salutes of the forts and the frantic cheers of the populace, who were thankful beyond measure to be freed from the menace of theHuascar, which, they had felt, might attack any of their seaports during the absence of the Chilian fleet. Commodore Riveros was promoted to be Rear-Admiral, Captain Latorre to be Commodore, and Jim was made First Lieutenant of theBlanco Encalada.
Chapter Ten.The Gun-Runners.The ovation accorded to the victorious Chilians upon their return to Valparaiso was enthusiastic in the extreme; the officers were everywhere fêted and made much of; and Jim Douglas and Terry O’Meara came in for a very large share of attention owing to the fact that they were British. The sympathies of Great Britain had been decidedly turned in favour of Chili by the atrocities which had been committed by the Peruvian fleet in its war against commerce, and by which English ships had suffered to a very serious extent.After the battle of Angamos Commodore—or rather Admiral as he was now—Riveros had been greatly exercised in his mind as to what course he should pursue with regard to the corvetteUnion. She had effected her escape before the battle commenced, and when last seen was steaming in the direction of Arica, the most southerly port which the Peruvians possessed. She was a very heavily armed ship, and was nearly, if not quite, as formidable as theHuascarhad been, and thus still constituted a standing menace to the unfortified ports of Chili. Riveros was in a quandary, for he already had more work on his hands than he knew how to deal with; yet the Chilians resident in the coast ports were clamouring for him to proceed to sea again and hunt down the cruiser. But he did not in the least know where to look for her; nor could he, by the most diligent inquiry, gain any intelligence of her. She might be at any one of the numerous Peruvian ports; and were he to go in search of her she would quite probably slip past him again in the night, as she and the monitor had once before done.The fleet had been lying at Valparaiso for nearly a month undergoing the repairs and refit of which they so sorely stood in need, when one morning Jim, from his station on theBlanco Encalada’sbridge, where he was on duty, observed a signal flying from the official residence of the Secretary for War. In a moment he had his glass to his eye, and began to spell out the signal, which, when completed, ran as follows: “Blanco Encalada. Admiral Riveros to call here without delay. I have important orders for him.”“Hallo!” thought Jim, “what’s in the wind now? More work for somebody, I’ll be bound. I wonder whether theUnionhas been up to any fresh tricks? She has kept remarkably—suspiciously—quiet for some time now.”Then the young man made his way down to the admiral’s cabin and delivered the message, with the result that the admiral’s barge was piped away, and five minutes later Riveros was being pulled across the sparkling blue waters of the bay, to learn what it was that Señor Baquedano wanted to communicate to him.Several hours elapsed before the gallant Chilian returned aboard, and when he finally did so his first action was to send for Jim Douglas and request him to accompany him to his cabin. Arrived there, the admiral closed the door, locked it, and then leaning across the table toward Douglas, remarked in a low tone:“Señor Douglas, I am paying you no empty compliment, when I say that I consider you a remarkably efficient and promising young officer. You have carried out, with the utmost credit to yourself, several exceedingly difficult pieces of work, and for that reason I am going to detail you for a service which I suspect will prove even more difficult than any which you have yet been called upon to perform.”Jim bowed, and did his best not to look too pleased.“As you, of course, are aware,” continued the admiral, smiling, “we lost sight of theUnioncorvette before the battle of Angamos, and as we had more important business on hand at the moment, we were not able to pursue her; consequently she got clear away. The Chilians in the coast towns have for some time been living in mortal dread of her appearing, some fine day, off one or another of their ports, and bombarding it; and for some weeks past I have been daily expecting orders to sail in pursuit of her and to hunt her down. We have, however, until to-day had no definite news of her whereabouts upon which we could work. But this afternoon I was summoned ashore and informed by his Excellency, General Baquedano, that the Peruvians are expecting several cargoes of arms from Europe, and he has been informed by one of our spies that theUnionhas been dispatched to the mouth of the Straits of Magellan to convoy those vessels to Callao, or whatever Peruvian port they are bound for. If, then, we dispatch a vessel down to the Straits we are almost certain to fall in with the corvette and bring her to action; and if we are lucky we may also secure the arms-carrying vessels. That would of course be in itself a service of inestimable value to our government, since if our enemies cannot obtain arms and ammunition they will soon be obliged to give up the struggle. To make a long story short, you, Señor Douglas, are the man whom I have selected to perform this difficult, arduous, and decidedly dangerous task. We have recently purchased a steamer, which we have armed so powerfully that she is to all intents and purposes a cruiser, and you will be given the command of her. Your task is, as I have just explained, to hunt down and destroy theUnion, and if possible to capture the gun-running steamers which she has been sent to convoy. This new cruiser of ours has been named theAngamos, in honour of our recent victory; and I shall look confidently to you to uphold the honour of her name. She is quite ready to sail, and you must commission her to-morrow, and sail the same day. It is a very important service for so young a man as yourself, but from what I have already seen of you I am confident of your ability to bring your task to a successful termination. That is all, I think, that I have to say to you, Señor Douglas, except that, should you wish to do so, you have my permission to number your friend, the young engineer, among your crew. Now, good day, young sir, and the best of good luck to you.”Jim saluted in silence, feeling rather at a loss to know what to say by way of thanks, and marched out of the cabin, “as proud as a dog with two tails.” He had never anticipated anything like this when he entered the Chilian service, and the news seemed almost too good to be true. Yet he speedily pulled himself together and hurried off to find his friend O’Meara, whom he came across in his cabin, smoking, and to whom he promptly imparted the joyful news. And half an hour later the two lads had packed up their slender stock of baggage and were quite ready for their new adventure. Bearing in mind the admiral’s order that he should lose no time in getting his new command ready for sea Jim, accompanied by his chum, went the rounds of the flagship, saying good-bye to their numerous friends, who betrayed no little curiosity as to the reason of the Englishmen’s somewhat sudden departure. But Jim thought it best to keep his own counsel, and only enlightened the Chilians so far as to say that his friend and he had been selected for a special service, the nature of which he was not at liberty to disclose.A shore-boat was then signalled for, and upon her arrival alongside the two lads got into her and had themselves and their baggage conveyed ashore, where they chartered another boat in which they were rowed out to theAngamos. The object of the double journey was to keep, as far as possible, their movements secret.Having arrived on board, Jim found that everything was in readiness for a start, except for the fact that certain stores had not yet come off from the shore. He mustered his crew aft, however, and proceeded to read his commission to them. His appointment to the command was received with cheers of delight, for the crew was made up, for the most part, of men drafted from the other ships of the squadron, consequently they either knew Jim personally or had heard something of his exploits. They therefore knew what sort of commander they were sailing under, and looked forward to a lively and adventurous cruise. Douglas then sent the purser and a few men ashore to hurry up the belated stores; and by midnight everything and everybody was on board—and the ship ready. But remembering Admiral Riveros’ orders as to sailing on the morrow, he waited until daybreak, and then signalled that everything was in readiness for his departure, and inquired whether it was the admiral’s pleasure that he should sail at once. The answer promptly came back that the sooner he sailed the better; and Jim, ordering the saluting guns to be manned and loaded, made his way with a proud step to the navigating bridge, and rang his engines to half-speed ahead, the anchor having already been got up.There was a responsive tinkle from the bridge-telegraph, at which the young commander smiled, for he recognised, in the long-continued response, the hand of Mr Terence O’Meara. A slight tremor thrilled through the hull as the screw began to revolve, and the shipping in the harbour drifted slowly astern as the fine 1180-ton cruiser gathered way and threaded her path out of the anchorage. Then, as she passed theBlanco Encalada, the guns roared out their salute, and a tempest of cheers burst out on board the flagship as her crew recognised who it was that was standing on the cruiser’s bridge; and Jim could see the glances of astonishment and the questioning looks writ large upon the faces of his recent companions. But theAngamoswas past the flagship in about half a minute, and Jim then put his engines at full speed. The cruiser, which had only very recently been built, was capable of steaming at the rate of fourteen knots, consequently she was at least two knots faster than theUnion, the ship she was being sent to hunt down. She very soon covered the length of the harbour and vanished from the sight of the fleet beyond Punta Angeles.Although from the information in Jim’s possession it was to be supposed that theUnionwas by this time several days’ steam ahead of him, it was yet by no means certain where she really was; and it was quite within the bounds of possibility that they might sight her at any moment. Douglas therefore took the precaution to have a man in the fore-topmast crosstrees, with instructions to keep his eyes wide open, and to report any three-masted, one-funnelled steamer that might happen to put in an appearance. A fresh man was sent aloft every two hours, since the weather was hot, and it was distinctly irksome to be obliged to remain aloft, exposed to the full glare of the sun for any length of time; moreover, Jim kept a man at the masthead day and night. There was therefore absolutely no chance of theUnionbeing missed should she come within twenty miles from theAngamos, for a man with a powerful telescope would be able to cover at least that distance from the cruiser’s fore-topmast head.But despite the strict look-out maintained aboard theAngamos, the days passed without any sign of theUnionmaking her appearance. The gun-running vessels Jim did not expect to meet until several days after his arrival off the Straits of Magellan; but he could not quite understand not having yet sighted the Peruvian corvette. Past Concepcion they swept, on the afternoon of the second day out from Valparaiso; then past Valdivia, and still there was no sign of the enemy; then Childe Island was dropped astern, and on the fifth day out at about two o’clock in the afternoon Cape Pillar, at the north end of Desolation Island and the entrance to the Straits, was sighted, but the sea was still bare of the ship of which they had come in search.Still, as Jim remembered, theUnionwas a very fast boat, only two knots slower than theAngamosherself, and he thought it not improbable that she might be found lurking somewhere among the numerous islands which make the navigation of Magellan Straits so difficult and dangerous. The young skipper therefore took his cruiser into every little creek and inlet that he came to, in the hope of finding his quarry there; or, if the water was too shoal, sent away boat expeditions to explore. But still there was no sign of theUnion, and a week after leaving Valparaiso theAngamosdropped her anchor off Punta Arenas, and Jim went ashore to interview the governor of that port, in the forlorn hope that he might have seen the Peruvian pass, or have heard something of her whereabouts.Then Douglas received a surprise which he little expected. He found Señor Morales, the Governor, in a state of great perturbation. That worthy man had a body of only forty men under his command to garrison the place; and he gave Jim the astonishing news that theUnion, with brazen effrontery, had called in at Punta Arenas that very morning, and that her skipper, taking an armed force ashore with him, had seized Morales, and placed the town under contribution for a supply of coal and a quantity of provisions which he needed.There was no resisting him, averred the unhappy governor, for the Peruvians numbered quite eighty men and were all fully armed, while the corvette’s guns were trained on the town, so that, in the event of resistance being offered, she could have brought the place about their ears.To make a long story short, said the governor, theUnionhad coaled and taken in a supply of provisions—neither of which had been paid for, by the way—and had steamed off down the Straits to the eastward not three hours before the Chilian cruiser had hove in sight. He was quite sure thatel Señor Capitanwould catch the scoundrel if he sailed at once. And, moreover, thecarnicerohad had the audacity to boast that he was going to convoy two cargoes of arms, which were coming from Europe, back to Peru; that he should return through the Straits; and that he should knock the town to pieces as he went past, as payment for the articles that he had received.Jim ground his teeth with anger upon hearing the recital of this insolence, and he vowed that, could he but find theUnion, he would make Captain Villavicencio eat his words. But unfortunately theAngamoswas herself short of coal and fresh water, and several hours—very precious hours—were spent in getting these necessaries on board; so that it was already dark before Douglas finally got away, having promised the Governor that he would do all in his power to prevent the Peruvian from carrying out his threat. But theUnionwas by this time a good many miles ahead, and the navigation of the tortuous and intricate channel, with its furious currents, was not a thing to be undertaken at any great speed at night. Consequently Douglas was obliged to crawl slowly along at about five knots an hour, with two leadsmen in the fore chains, at the very time when he wanted to be steaming fourteen; and he feared that theUnionwould have got such a lengthy start, while daylight lasted, that it would be a very difficult matter indeed to overhaul her. But there was just one hope for him; he reflected that she would almost certainly wait at the eastern entrance of the Straits for her convoy, and, if she were there, he would find her, and bring her to action.The moment that daylight dawned, Jim, whose nerves were by this time torn to fiddle-strings by frequent necessary stoppages during the night, put his vessel at full speed again, and, still with two leadsmen sounding the whole time, theAngamosswept along the narrow waters, finally emerging at the Argentine end of the Straits. A fresh disappointment was, however, in store for the young Englishman; for still there was no sign of the corvette; and now he did not in the least know in what direction to look for her. Finally, after cruising to and fro off the entrance for some hours, in the hope of sighting the chase, he determined to reach over toward the Falkland Islands, in the hope that theUnionmight have gone there to meet the convoy.TheAngamoshad, by about midnight on the next night, traversed close upon half the distance to the Islands, and Jim was almost beginning to despair of ever catching the elusive corvette, when a hail came down from one of the men who were still stationed at the masthead: “Light ahead! bearing about a point on our port bow!”Douglas’s heart jumped. Here, surely, must be the craft of which he was in search. He had to wait a few seconds to control his excitement, and then he replied: “How far distant is the light, and what does it look like?”“It’s about eight miles distant,” replied the seaman, “and looks like the light at a ship’s masthead; but I can now see two red lights, one over the other, arranged just below the white one; and I should say that the three of them, shown together as they are, mean a signal of some sort; for I can see neither port nor starboard lights showing in their usual places.”“Aha!” thought Jim, “this is not so bad, after all; this approaching craft can hardly be our friend theUnion, I should think; it is more likely that she will prove to be one of the gun-running steamers, and if so—well, her career as a gun-runner will close somewhat abruptly, I think.—Masthead ahoy, what is it now?” he continued aloud, as the seaman aloft gave an excited yell, which he immediately suppressed.“Why, sir,” the fellow answered, “I have just sighted a second set of lights, almost dead astern of the first lot; we have just this moment opened them. There are certainlytwosteamers approaching, sir; and—ah! one of them has just sent up a rocket—I expect it is because she has sighted us.”“Then, by jingo!” soliloquised the Englishman, “they will be the gun-runners, and no mistake about it. How I wish I knew what lights it has been arranged for theUnionto show as a signal to them. However, I don’t; so that cannot be helped.” Aloud, he went on, addressing the excited Chilian at the masthead, “Keep your eye on those ships, Pedro; and report any change to me at once.”“Ay, ay, sir!” replied the man, “they are still coming this way.” Then Jim called up his lieutenant, a young fellow named Manuel, and instructed him to get the ship immediately cleared for action, and to douse every single one of the lights on board at once. He then went back to the bridge, and, as soon as every light on board had been extinguished, ordered the quartermaster at the wheel to turn the ship’s head eight points to starboard; thus, a few minutes later, theAngamoswas running at full speed, on a course at right angles to her previous one, and was leaving the gun-runners on her port quarter.Douglas still continued to watch their lights intently, and soon perceived that his failure to give them a signal of some sort had occasioned quick suspicion to their skippers, for they gradually slowed up; and presently the lights drew close together, by which Jim could guess that the steamers had run alongside each other to permit of a conference between the two captains.A few minutes later Jim turned theAngamoseight points to port, bringing her back to her old course, but at a distance of about four miles from the supposed gun-runners. He held on in this direction until he was well astern of them, and then circled right round and headed straight after them, immediately in their wake, at full speed. After a pause of about a quarter of an hour the Peruvian skippers again went ahead on their old course, doubtless much perturbed in their minds at the sudden and extraordinary disappearance of the craft which, a short time before, had seemed to be coming directly toward them. And so simple were they that they did not suspect Jim’s subsequentmove, but went straight ahead, keeping all their lights burning as before; thus he was able to keep them in full view, although they could not see him. Probably it never occurred to either of them to cast a single glance astern!Jim had reckoned on the suspected steamers being slower than his own cruiser, and he soon saw that he was steaming about three knots to their two, and overhauling them fast. The lieutenant had some time ago reported the ship as cleared for action; and the look-out aloft stated that there was no other sail in sight; consequently, Jim reckoned on bringing the enemy to book in about half an hour’s time, and dealing summarily with him before theUnioncould complicate matters by putting in an appearance; a prospect which caused him no little satisfaction, as he felt that he might have had all his work cut out to deal effectively with the three, had the corvette been opposed to him at the same time.TheAngamos, vibrating from stem to stern under the rapid revolutions of her screw, plunged along through the black night, while, three miles ahead, the guiding-lights shone out clearer and clearer every moment. Half an hour passed and the cruiser was very, very near; so near, indeed, that Jim could plainly hear the throbbing of the gun-runner’s machinery; and they must also have caught the sound of his, for he suddenly saw another rocket rush up into the still night air, and directly afterwards a red glow began to hover over the tops of their funnels, showing that they were trying to increase their speed by coaling up furiously.But it was of no use. The gun-runners only gained a very few minutes’ grace. TheAngamoswas much too fast a ship for them; and a few minutes later she ranged up on the starboard side of the sternmost steamer, while Jim, seizing a speaking-trumpet, hailed at the top of his voice: “What ship is that? Heave-to! I wish to speak to you!”
The ovation accorded to the victorious Chilians upon their return to Valparaiso was enthusiastic in the extreme; the officers were everywhere fêted and made much of; and Jim Douglas and Terry O’Meara came in for a very large share of attention owing to the fact that they were British. The sympathies of Great Britain had been decidedly turned in favour of Chili by the atrocities which had been committed by the Peruvian fleet in its war against commerce, and by which English ships had suffered to a very serious extent.
After the battle of Angamos Commodore—or rather Admiral as he was now—Riveros had been greatly exercised in his mind as to what course he should pursue with regard to the corvetteUnion. She had effected her escape before the battle commenced, and when last seen was steaming in the direction of Arica, the most southerly port which the Peruvians possessed. She was a very heavily armed ship, and was nearly, if not quite, as formidable as theHuascarhad been, and thus still constituted a standing menace to the unfortified ports of Chili. Riveros was in a quandary, for he already had more work on his hands than he knew how to deal with; yet the Chilians resident in the coast ports were clamouring for him to proceed to sea again and hunt down the cruiser. But he did not in the least know where to look for her; nor could he, by the most diligent inquiry, gain any intelligence of her. She might be at any one of the numerous Peruvian ports; and were he to go in search of her she would quite probably slip past him again in the night, as she and the monitor had once before done.
The fleet had been lying at Valparaiso for nearly a month undergoing the repairs and refit of which they so sorely stood in need, when one morning Jim, from his station on theBlanco Encalada’sbridge, where he was on duty, observed a signal flying from the official residence of the Secretary for War. In a moment he had his glass to his eye, and began to spell out the signal, which, when completed, ran as follows: “Blanco Encalada. Admiral Riveros to call here without delay. I have important orders for him.”
“Hallo!” thought Jim, “what’s in the wind now? More work for somebody, I’ll be bound. I wonder whether theUnionhas been up to any fresh tricks? She has kept remarkably—suspiciously—quiet for some time now.”
Then the young man made his way down to the admiral’s cabin and delivered the message, with the result that the admiral’s barge was piped away, and five minutes later Riveros was being pulled across the sparkling blue waters of the bay, to learn what it was that Señor Baquedano wanted to communicate to him.
Several hours elapsed before the gallant Chilian returned aboard, and when he finally did so his first action was to send for Jim Douglas and request him to accompany him to his cabin. Arrived there, the admiral closed the door, locked it, and then leaning across the table toward Douglas, remarked in a low tone:
“Señor Douglas, I am paying you no empty compliment, when I say that I consider you a remarkably efficient and promising young officer. You have carried out, with the utmost credit to yourself, several exceedingly difficult pieces of work, and for that reason I am going to detail you for a service which I suspect will prove even more difficult than any which you have yet been called upon to perform.”
Jim bowed, and did his best not to look too pleased.
“As you, of course, are aware,” continued the admiral, smiling, “we lost sight of theUnioncorvette before the battle of Angamos, and as we had more important business on hand at the moment, we were not able to pursue her; consequently she got clear away. The Chilians in the coast towns have for some time been living in mortal dread of her appearing, some fine day, off one or another of their ports, and bombarding it; and for some weeks past I have been daily expecting orders to sail in pursuit of her and to hunt her down. We have, however, until to-day had no definite news of her whereabouts upon which we could work. But this afternoon I was summoned ashore and informed by his Excellency, General Baquedano, that the Peruvians are expecting several cargoes of arms from Europe, and he has been informed by one of our spies that theUnionhas been dispatched to the mouth of the Straits of Magellan to convoy those vessels to Callao, or whatever Peruvian port they are bound for. If, then, we dispatch a vessel down to the Straits we are almost certain to fall in with the corvette and bring her to action; and if we are lucky we may also secure the arms-carrying vessels. That would of course be in itself a service of inestimable value to our government, since if our enemies cannot obtain arms and ammunition they will soon be obliged to give up the struggle. To make a long story short, you, Señor Douglas, are the man whom I have selected to perform this difficult, arduous, and decidedly dangerous task. We have recently purchased a steamer, which we have armed so powerfully that she is to all intents and purposes a cruiser, and you will be given the command of her. Your task is, as I have just explained, to hunt down and destroy theUnion, and if possible to capture the gun-running steamers which she has been sent to convoy. This new cruiser of ours has been named theAngamos, in honour of our recent victory; and I shall look confidently to you to uphold the honour of her name. She is quite ready to sail, and you must commission her to-morrow, and sail the same day. It is a very important service for so young a man as yourself, but from what I have already seen of you I am confident of your ability to bring your task to a successful termination. That is all, I think, that I have to say to you, Señor Douglas, except that, should you wish to do so, you have my permission to number your friend, the young engineer, among your crew. Now, good day, young sir, and the best of good luck to you.”
Jim saluted in silence, feeling rather at a loss to know what to say by way of thanks, and marched out of the cabin, “as proud as a dog with two tails.” He had never anticipated anything like this when he entered the Chilian service, and the news seemed almost too good to be true. Yet he speedily pulled himself together and hurried off to find his friend O’Meara, whom he came across in his cabin, smoking, and to whom he promptly imparted the joyful news. And half an hour later the two lads had packed up their slender stock of baggage and were quite ready for their new adventure. Bearing in mind the admiral’s order that he should lose no time in getting his new command ready for sea Jim, accompanied by his chum, went the rounds of the flagship, saying good-bye to their numerous friends, who betrayed no little curiosity as to the reason of the Englishmen’s somewhat sudden departure. But Jim thought it best to keep his own counsel, and only enlightened the Chilians so far as to say that his friend and he had been selected for a special service, the nature of which he was not at liberty to disclose.
A shore-boat was then signalled for, and upon her arrival alongside the two lads got into her and had themselves and their baggage conveyed ashore, where they chartered another boat in which they were rowed out to theAngamos. The object of the double journey was to keep, as far as possible, their movements secret.
Having arrived on board, Jim found that everything was in readiness for a start, except for the fact that certain stores had not yet come off from the shore. He mustered his crew aft, however, and proceeded to read his commission to them. His appointment to the command was received with cheers of delight, for the crew was made up, for the most part, of men drafted from the other ships of the squadron, consequently they either knew Jim personally or had heard something of his exploits. They therefore knew what sort of commander they were sailing under, and looked forward to a lively and adventurous cruise. Douglas then sent the purser and a few men ashore to hurry up the belated stores; and by midnight everything and everybody was on board—and the ship ready. But remembering Admiral Riveros’ orders as to sailing on the morrow, he waited until daybreak, and then signalled that everything was in readiness for his departure, and inquired whether it was the admiral’s pleasure that he should sail at once. The answer promptly came back that the sooner he sailed the better; and Jim, ordering the saluting guns to be manned and loaded, made his way with a proud step to the navigating bridge, and rang his engines to half-speed ahead, the anchor having already been got up.
There was a responsive tinkle from the bridge-telegraph, at which the young commander smiled, for he recognised, in the long-continued response, the hand of Mr Terence O’Meara. A slight tremor thrilled through the hull as the screw began to revolve, and the shipping in the harbour drifted slowly astern as the fine 1180-ton cruiser gathered way and threaded her path out of the anchorage. Then, as she passed theBlanco Encalada, the guns roared out their salute, and a tempest of cheers burst out on board the flagship as her crew recognised who it was that was standing on the cruiser’s bridge; and Jim could see the glances of astonishment and the questioning looks writ large upon the faces of his recent companions. But theAngamoswas past the flagship in about half a minute, and Jim then put his engines at full speed. The cruiser, which had only very recently been built, was capable of steaming at the rate of fourteen knots, consequently she was at least two knots faster than theUnion, the ship she was being sent to hunt down. She very soon covered the length of the harbour and vanished from the sight of the fleet beyond Punta Angeles.
Although from the information in Jim’s possession it was to be supposed that theUnionwas by this time several days’ steam ahead of him, it was yet by no means certain where she really was; and it was quite within the bounds of possibility that they might sight her at any moment. Douglas therefore took the precaution to have a man in the fore-topmast crosstrees, with instructions to keep his eyes wide open, and to report any three-masted, one-funnelled steamer that might happen to put in an appearance. A fresh man was sent aloft every two hours, since the weather was hot, and it was distinctly irksome to be obliged to remain aloft, exposed to the full glare of the sun for any length of time; moreover, Jim kept a man at the masthead day and night. There was therefore absolutely no chance of theUnionbeing missed should she come within twenty miles from theAngamos, for a man with a powerful telescope would be able to cover at least that distance from the cruiser’s fore-topmast head.
But despite the strict look-out maintained aboard theAngamos, the days passed without any sign of theUnionmaking her appearance. The gun-running vessels Jim did not expect to meet until several days after his arrival off the Straits of Magellan; but he could not quite understand not having yet sighted the Peruvian corvette. Past Concepcion they swept, on the afternoon of the second day out from Valparaiso; then past Valdivia, and still there was no sign of the enemy; then Childe Island was dropped astern, and on the fifth day out at about two o’clock in the afternoon Cape Pillar, at the north end of Desolation Island and the entrance to the Straits, was sighted, but the sea was still bare of the ship of which they had come in search.
Still, as Jim remembered, theUnionwas a very fast boat, only two knots slower than theAngamosherself, and he thought it not improbable that she might be found lurking somewhere among the numerous islands which make the navigation of Magellan Straits so difficult and dangerous. The young skipper therefore took his cruiser into every little creek and inlet that he came to, in the hope of finding his quarry there; or, if the water was too shoal, sent away boat expeditions to explore. But still there was no sign of theUnion, and a week after leaving Valparaiso theAngamosdropped her anchor off Punta Arenas, and Jim went ashore to interview the governor of that port, in the forlorn hope that he might have seen the Peruvian pass, or have heard something of her whereabouts.
Then Douglas received a surprise which he little expected. He found Señor Morales, the Governor, in a state of great perturbation. That worthy man had a body of only forty men under his command to garrison the place; and he gave Jim the astonishing news that theUnion, with brazen effrontery, had called in at Punta Arenas that very morning, and that her skipper, taking an armed force ashore with him, had seized Morales, and placed the town under contribution for a supply of coal and a quantity of provisions which he needed.
There was no resisting him, averred the unhappy governor, for the Peruvians numbered quite eighty men and were all fully armed, while the corvette’s guns were trained on the town, so that, in the event of resistance being offered, she could have brought the place about their ears.
To make a long story short, said the governor, theUnionhad coaled and taken in a supply of provisions—neither of which had been paid for, by the way—and had steamed off down the Straits to the eastward not three hours before the Chilian cruiser had hove in sight. He was quite sure thatel Señor Capitanwould catch the scoundrel if he sailed at once. And, moreover, thecarnicerohad had the audacity to boast that he was going to convoy two cargoes of arms, which were coming from Europe, back to Peru; that he should return through the Straits; and that he should knock the town to pieces as he went past, as payment for the articles that he had received.
Jim ground his teeth with anger upon hearing the recital of this insolence, and he vowed that, could he but find theUnion, he would make Captain Villavicencio eat his words. But unfortunately theAngamoswas herself short of coal and fresh water, and several hours—very precious hours—were spent in getting these necessaries on board; so that it was already dark before Douglas finally got away, having promised the Governor that he would do all in his power to prevent the Peruvian from carrying out his threat. But theUnionwas by this time a good many miles ahead, and the navigation of the tortuous and intricate channel, with its furious currents, was not a thing to be undertaken at any great speed at night. Consequently Douglas was obliged to crawl slowly along at about five knots an hour, with two leadsmen in the fore chains, at the very time when he wanted to be steaming fourteen; and he feared that theUnionwould have got such a lengthy start, while daylight lasted, that it would be a very difficult matter indeed to overhaul her. But there was just one hope for him; he reflected that she would almost certainly wait at the eastern entrance of the Straits for her convoy, and, if she were there, he would find her, and bring her to action.
The moment that daylight dawned, Jim, whose nerves were by this time torn to fiddle-strings by frequent necessary stoppages during the night, put his vessel at full speed again, and, still with two leadsmen sounding the whole time, theAngamosswept along the narrow waters, finally emerging at the Argentine end of the Straits. A fresh disappointment was, however, in store for the young Englishman; for still there was no sign of the corvette; and now he did not in the least know in what direction to look for her. Finally, after cruising to and fro off the entrance for some hours, in the hope of sighting the chase, he determined to reach over toward the Falkland Islands, in the hope that theUnionmight have gone there to meet the convoy.
TheAngamoshad, by about midnight on the next night, traversed close upon half the distance to the Islands, and Jim was almost beginning to despair of ever catching the elusive corvette, when a hail came down from one of the men who were still stationed at the masthead: “Light ahead! bearing about a point on our port bow!”
Douglas’s heart jumped. Here, surely, must be the craft of which he was in search. He had to wait a few seconds to control his excitement, and then he replied: “How far distant is the light, and what does it look like?”
“It’s about eight miles distant,” replied the seaman, “and looks like the light at a ship’s masthead; but I can now see two red lights, one over the other, arranged just below the white one; and I should say that the three of them, shown together as they are, mean a signal of some sort; for I can see neither port nor starboard lights showing in their usual places.”
“Aha!” thought Jim, “this is not so bad, after all; this approaching craft can hardly be our friend theUnion, I should think; it is more likely that she will prove to be one of the gun-running steamers, and if so—well, her career as a gun-runner will close somewhat abruptly, I think.—Masthead ahoy, what is it now?” he continued aloud, as the seaman aloft gave an excited yell, which he immediately suppressed.
“Why, sir,” the fellow answered, “I have just sighted a second set of lights, almost dead astern of the first lot; we have just this moment opened them. There are certainlytwosteamers approaching, sir; and—ah! one of them has just sent up a rocket—I expect it is because she has sighted us.”
“Then, by jingo!” soliloquised the Englishman, “they will be the gun-runners, and no mistake about it. How I wish I knew what lights it has been arranged for theUnionto show as a signal to them. However, I don’t; so that cannot be helped.” Aloud, he went on, addressing the excited Chilian at the masthead, “Keep your eye on those ships, Pedro; and report any change to me at once.”
“Ay, ay, sir!” replied the man, “they are still coming this way.” Then Jim called up his lieutenant, a young fellow named Manuel, and instructed him to get the ship immediately cleared for action, and to douse every single one of the lights on board at once. He then went back to the bridge, and, as soon as every light on board had been extinguished, ordered the quartermaster at the wheel to turn the ship’s head eight points to starboard; thus, a few minutes later, theAngamoswas running at full speed, on a course at right angles to her previous one, and was leaving the gun-runners on her port quarter.
Douglas still continued to watch their lights intently, and soon perceived that his failure to give them a signal of some sort had occasioned quick suspicion to their skippers, for they gradually slowed up; and presently the lights drew close together, by which Jim could guess that the steamers had run alongside each other to permit of a conference between the two captains.
A few minutes later Jim turned theAngamoseight points to port, bringing her back to her old course, but at a distance of about four miles from the supposed gun-runners. He held on in this direction until he was well astern of them, and then circled right round and headed straight after them, immediately in their wake, at full speed. After a pause of about a quarter of an hour the Peruvian skippers again went ahead on their old course, doubtless much perturbed in their minds at the sudden and extraordinary disappearance of the craft which, a short time before, had seemed to be coming directly toward them. And so simple were they that they did not suspect Jim’s subsequentmove, but went straight ahead, keeping all their lights burning as before; thus he was able to keep them in full view, although they could not see him. Probably it never occurred to either of them to cast a single glance astern!
Jim had reckoned on the suspected steamers being slower than his own cruiser, and he soon saw that he was steaming about three knots to their two, and overhauling them fast. The lieutenant had some time ago reported the ship as cleared for action; and the look-out aloft stated that there was no other sail in sight; consequently, Jim reckoned on bringing the enemy to book in about half an hour’s time, and dealing summarily with him before theUnioncould complicate matters by putting in an appearance; a prospect which caused him no little satisfaction, as he felt that he might have had all his work cut out to deal effectively with the three, had the corvette been opposed to him at the same time.
TheAngamos, vibrating from stem to stern under the rapid revolutions of her screw, plunged along through the black night, while, three miles ahead, the guiding-lights shone out clearer and clearer every moment. Half an hour passed and the cruiser was very, very near; so near, indeed, that Jim could plainly hear the throbbing of the gun-runner’s machinery; and they must also have caught the sound of his, for he suddenly saw another rocket rush up into the still night air, and directly afterwards a red glow began to hover over the tops of their funnels, showing that they were trying to increase their speed by coaling up furiously.
But it was of no use. The gun-runners only gained a very few minutes’ grace. TheAngamoswas much too fast a ship for them; and a few minutes later she ranged up on the starboard side of the sternmost steamer, while Jim, seizing a speaking-trumpet, hailed at the top of his voice: “What ship is that? Heave-to! I wish to speak to you!”
Chapter Eleven.Captain Villavicencio catches a Tartar.For the space of quite half a minute there was no reply; and then, in response to Jim’s repeated summons, both steamers, as if by previous arrangement, began to send blue rockets flying into the air; while both set up a most unearthly shrieking on their steam-whistles. They had by this time recognised that the suspicious stranger was not theUnion; but, knowing that she must be somewhere in the vicinity, they determined to attract her attention by some means or other, should she be anywhere within sight or hearing.But Jim smiled grimly to himself as he saw and heard their despairing efforts, for he had kept a man at the masthead for the express purpose of ascertaining whether the Peruvian corvette was anywhere in the vicinity, and the last report, received less than five minutes before, assured him that she was nowhere to be seen.He waited patiently, therefore, until the discordant blasts on the sirens had ceased, and then hailed again for the skipper to heave-to, vowing that he would fire into him if he did not do so. The young Englishman had imagined that he saw, by the light of the rockets, a number of men scampering about the decks, but he concluded that it was merely the effect of terror and astonishment, and he was totally unprepared for the gun-runner’s next move. The fellow had, when he saw that there was no hope of escape, hastily prepared his ship for action; and the last words were hardly out of Jim’s mouth when a perfect storm of machine-gun fire broke out aboard the flying steamer, and the bullets whistled round Douglas like hail, killing the quartermaster at the wheel, and several other seamen who were not under shelter.The cruiser immediately yawed wildly, and in another minute would have crashed into the gun-runner, probably sending both craft to the bottom, had not Jim seized the wheel, as it spun out of the dead man’s fingers, and brought theAngamosback to her course just in the nick of time. At the same moment he saw the leading steamer circle round in a wide curve and head directly for him, evidently with the idea of helping her consort in the fight against the Chilian.There was no time for any more palaver, thought Jim; the fellows meant to fight, and to disable him if they could, and he must be ready for them. In a voice hoarse with anger at the useless slaughter of five of his men, he gave the order to fire; and immediately the guns of theAngamosbegan to speak.She was armed with several Gatling and Nordenfeldt guns, three 12-pounder breech-loaders, six 3-pounders, and one 8-inch breech-loading Armstrong gun, throwing a projectile weighing 170 pounds, which was mounted forward; and, immediately upon Jim’s command her whole broadside crashed out, raking the foolhardy steamer from end to end, and making her fairly reel under the impact of the iron shower. Away forward, Manuel, the first lieutenant, had observed the approach of the second steamer; and he now laid the big 8-inch gun directly for her bows, firing when she had approached to within about four hundred yards of the cruiser. The gun’s deep roar rang out loud above the din of the smaller weapons, and a brilliant flash of white light leaped out on board the steamer, the missile blowing a huge hole in her starboard bow, and setting her on fire forward; as was seen by the blaze which at once sprang up on board her.At the same time theAngamospassed ahead of the first steamer, which, by the light of the beacon-fires now lighted aboard all three vessels, was seen to be named theMiraflores; and, running alongside the second, theHuemul, she delivered every gun of her starboard broadside, bringing down the steel foremast, riddling the funnel with rifle and machine-gun bullets, and killing every man on deck who was not under cover. At the same time a 12-pounder shell, which struck a heap of ammunition which had been placed on theHuemul’sdeck to feed a 32-pounder breech-loader, blew up the whole lot, killing the unfortunate gun’s crew, and lifting the gun itself bodily over the side into the sea. TheAngamosthen slowed down a little, and a few seconds later theMirafloresovertook her and discharged every available gun into the cruiser, killing several more men, and dismounting one 32-pounder and two 3-pounder quick-firing guns.But the cruiser’s people had meanwhile again loaded their guns on the port broadside, and were not slow in avenging the death of their comrades. They did not require the stimulus which Jim sought to impart to them, by urging them in his excitement to “slap it into the beggars!” for they worked their guns like demons, and, notwithstanding their rage and fury, made such excellent practice that theMirafloresbegan to look more and more like a wreck every minute. At last, in desperation, her captain actually tried to run his ship aboard theAngamos, with the idea of boarding her; but the cruiser was several knots faster than the gun-runner, and Jim, perceiving the fellow’s intention, turned theAngamosto starboard and so avoided the collision, at the same time pouring in another broadside with all his undamaged guns.Instantly there arose a dense cloud of steam on board theMiraflores, accompanied by a loud hissing noise; her speed suddenly slackened; and Douglas knew that one of the cruiser’s shells had penetrated a boiler; and he shuddered in spite of himself at the thought of the scene which was now probably enacting down in the gun-runner’s engine-room. But, just as he was looking at the stricken ship through his glass, to see whether she had surrendered, he was deafened and well-nigh stunned by an appalling explosion which came from somewhere astern of theAngamos; and pieces of wood and iron, fragments of charred human bodies, exploding cartridges, and wreckage of all descriptions began to hurtle round his ears; while, from the shelter of the chart-house, to which he precipitately retreated, he saw an enormous column of black smoke hanging over the place near which he had last seen theHuemul; and he had little difficulty in accounting to himself for the disaster.The steamer had been set on fire forward by one of the cruiser’s shells, which had exploded a quantity of ammunition on her deck; and this fire rapidly spreading, had communicated itself to some of the powder and cartridges which formed the greater part of her cargo. This had forthwith exploded, and, in its turn, blown up the remainder, causing a most terrible catastrophe; for, when the smoke of the explosion cleared away, there was not a trace of theHuemulleft upon the surface of the water. She and her gallant crew had been blown, literally, to atoms.Appalled by the suddenness and extent of the disaster, both theMirafloresand theAngamosceased firing for several minutes; and, by the light of the fires which were still burning on board both vessels, Jim could see the gun-runner’s crew dashing wildly about, as though in the last extremity of terror, while the ship herself was almost shrouded from view by the dense clouds of steam, coloured ruddy yellow in the light of the braziers, which still gushed in volumes from her pierced boilers.The cruiser’s men quickly recovered their equanimity, however; and, running to their guns, poured in another broadside upon the demoralised crew of theMiraflores. This was more, apparently, than flesh and blood could endure; for Douglas saw several men immediately rush upon the captain, who was still inciting them to continue the fight, and cut the unfortunate man down. The crew then rushed aft in a body, hauled down the Peruvian flag, under which both ships had been sailing, hailed at the same time that they surrendered, and begged for quarter. The men frantically waved handkerchiefs, towels, in fact anything white that they could lay their hands upon, to emphasise the fact that they had struck.“I detest being obliged to give quarter to mutineers,” said Douglas to his young first lieutenant; “and these fellows undoubtedly are such, for they murdered their captain, and surrendered against his wishes; but I must accept their surrender, I suppose, as it would simply be murder to continue firing into them now; they are all half crazy with fright. Have the port and starboard quarter-boats manned and lowered, Señor Manuel, if you please, and bring off the crew of that ship; but take the precaution of first putting them all in irons. After you have transferred them to theAngamosI will put a prize-crew aboard, under your command; and you shall keep me company until we return to Valparaiso. I have a little plan at the back of my mind which I hope to be able to put into execution and I will tell you what it is before you finally go aboard theMiraflores. Now, be as quick as you can, for there has been a good deal of firing during this action, and theUnionmay put in an appearance at any moment; and I do not wish to see her—just yet.”Manuel saluted, and ran away aft to give orders about the boats, and, five minutes later, they were being pulled across the water toward the now motionless gun-runner. Jim saw Manuel climb up her tall sides; and then he went into his chart-house to await the lieutenant’s return, and to think out the details of the plan about which he had spoken to Manuel. However, he first sent a man into the fore-topmast crosstrees, and one into the main, with orders to keep a bright look-out for the appearance of the Peruvian corvette.Some two hours later Manuel returned, bringing with him the whole of the Peruvian ship’s crew, most of whom consisted of ne’er-do-wells of almost every nationality under the sun: and a choice-looking lot of rascals they were. Jim wisely refused to accept the parole of any of them, placed them, still in irons, in the cruiser’s punishment cells, and took the precaution to post a strong guard over them. He then received the report of his lieutenant, which was to the effect that the damage on board theMirafloreswas, with the exception of the shell in her boiler-room, mostly superficial, and could soon be repaired by the prize-crew. Several of her guns had been badly damaged; but the young man suggested that they could be replaced, together with the damaged weapons belonging to theAngamos, from the gun-runner’s cargo, which consisted, in part, of a number of similar pieces.Jim carefully digested the report, and then unfolded his latest plan to Manuel, which was to the effect that theMiraflores, with a prize-crew aboard, and theAngamos, should impersonate the two Peruvian gun-runners expected by theUnion; and that they should hoist the enemy’s flag and go in search of him; thus getting close enough to bring the elusive corvette to action. The lieutenant was therefore ordered to get aboard at once, with his prize-crew, execute the necessary repairs, re-arm the ship out of the cargo she carried, and, as the boiler was too badly damaged to admit of repair at sea, to cut off steam from it altogether, and fire up under the remaining three, which could, even then, give theMirafloresa speed of about nine knots.Manuel accordingly selected his crew, and again went aboard the gun-runner; where he and his men worked with such a will that by mid-day the repairs were complete enough to allow of a start being made. The remaining repairs were of such a nature that it was possible to execute them while the ship was under way. Steam was then raised in the three sound boilers, and, the water being quite smooth, theMirafloreswas brought alongside the cruiser, which then replaced her damaged guns, and hoisted fresh ones out of the gun-runner’s hold with her own derricks.At length, by five o’clock in the afternoon of the day after the battle, both ships were in a condition to proceed; and, much to Jim’s satisfaction, there had been no sign of theUnionto disturb them. They were now ready to go in search of her; and, with two well-armed ships under his command, Douglas swore that he would pay Captain Villavicencio in full for all the injury that he had done in the past to Chilian commerce. The Peruvian flag was then hoisted aboard both ships, and each also arranged three lanterns upon her foremast, for use after dark, in the same manner as they had been previously arranged, as a signal, on board the gun-runners. Before starting Jim also questioned the captured crew as to what they knew of the plans of their skipper, and where he had expected to meet theUnion. The men refused information at first, but, upon being told that they would be kept upon half-rations until they chose to speak, they said that they had expected to meet the corvette almost midway between the Falkland Islands and Cape Virzins, at the eastern mouth of the Straits; also that both captains had mistaken theAngamosfor theUnionwhen they first sighted her. Jim could not understand how it was that in that case there were no signs of the corvette, but he determined not to leave the locality until he had found her and brought her to action.With theMirafloressteaming along in his wake, in the same formation as that adopted by the gun-running steamers, Jim started off on his search for theUnion, heading west-south-west for the mouth of the Straits of Magellan, with a man at either masthead of each of the two vessels, and a prize of fiftypésosto the seaman who should first sight her. He did not feel altogether happy at the idea of sailing under the Peruvian flag and adopting such a ruse, even for a short period; but his orders to capture or sink theUnionwere precise and imperative, and he considered that, in this case at least, the end justified the means employed, for he knew that he would never succeed in getting alongside the corvette if her captain were once allowed to entertain the slightest suspicion that the two ships were Chilians. True, theAngamoswas a faster ship; but theUniondrew far less water; and, since she would probably be found—if found at all—somewhere among the shoal waters of the Straits, she might be able to get away by dodging into shallow water among the numerous islands, where theAngamos, with her deeper draught, would be unable to follow.Darkness fell very shortly after the two ships had started on their run toward the Straits; and the lanterns on their foremasts were lighted after the same manner as on the previous night; while they surged along over the indigo-coloured water at the rate of about nine knots an hour, a sharp look-out being maintained meanwhile for the appearance of theUnion. But to the great disappointment of everybody, that craft most persistently refused to put in an appearance; and when the next morning dawned the high, rocky cliffs of Tierra del Fuego and the Patagonian coast lay before them, and it became evident that the Peruvian had either retreated up the Straits, or that she was still behind them.About nine o’clock the two ships, still flying the Peruvian colours, entered the Straits, and immediately slowed down to half-speed, not only on account of the intricate navigation, but also to give theUniona better chance of overtaking them if it should happen that she really was still astern. Catharine Point was passed and left behind, and the two steamers crossed Lomas Bay into the “First Narrows,” where Jim thought it possible that theUnionmight be waiting; but she was not there. They were steaming slowly across Elizabeth Bay, and Douglas was beginning to fear that the corvette had eluded him, after all, when a voice, hoarse with excitement, hailed from aloft:—“On deck there! I can see three mastheads showing above that hummock of rock at the entrance to the ‘Second Narrows’; and there is a column of smoke visible, too, so the craft must be a steamer. We shall open her out in a few minutes now, and I think she must be that detestable corsair we are looking for.”Jim was, as usual, on the navigating bridge when the hail floated down; and his first act was to seize a speaking-trumpet and shout the news to Manuel on the bridge of theMiraflores. His second was to spring up the ratlines, seat himself alongside the seaman in the crosstrees, and take a good look at what he could see of the stranger from that elevation. A prolonged scrutiny convinced him that the craft could be none other than theUnion; and he hurried down to give his final orders, both ships having been kept practically prepared for action ever since the moment on the evening before when they started in company to look for the corvette. There was consequently very little to do in the way of preparation; and a quarter of an hour after sighting the Peruvian’s mastheads both Chilian ships were ready for the fray.They had not steamed another cable’s-length when it became evident that a sharp look-out must also have been kept aboard the corvette; for her masts began to slide along the top of the ridge of rock, showing that she was under way; and a few minutes later the entire ship swept into view, flying the Peruvian ensign, and so leaving no room to doubt that she was the long-sought-forUnion.Directly she hove in sight Jim signalled to theMirafloresto close up and come alongside him, at a distance of half a cable’s-length away, and both ships quickened up their speed, by such small degrees as to be imperceptible, to nine knots, which was as fast as the cruiser’s consort could steam. Presently a long, dismal wail came floating across the water from theUnion, and Douglas saw that she wished to attract his attention to a signal which she had just hoisted.He at once dived into the chart-house for the signal-book, and presently he and his second lieutenant were poring over it in an effort to read the communication. But, to Jim’s intense annoyance, the signal, when translated, seemed to have no meaning, and he realised that the corvette was making a private and pre-arranged signal, which he was, of course, unable to read.“Confound it, Aranjuez!” he exclaimed, angrily, to his second lieutenant, “what are we to do now? I did not anticipate this; and if we are not careful he will take alarm and sheer off. I wish I had thought of looking among the papers of theMiraflores’ captain; they might have contained the key to this private signal.”“Well, señor,” replied the lieutenant, “we must delay making a signal of any sort until the very last moment. Then, when he shows signs of becoming suspicious and sheering off, we will hoist, very slowly, a string of flags meaning nothing in particular. It will take him some little time to decipher the flags; and we shall gain a few minutes while he tries to fathom their meaning from his own private signal-book. We ought, by that time, to be close enough to him for you to be able to open fire effectively if the men will only keep calm and shoot straight. Should we fail to disable him with the first few shots, however, he will be off and we may be unable to catch him again.”“Precisely! This is the best—the only thing we can do, Aranjuez,” replied Jim, gazing steadily through his telescope at theUnion. “I am not afraid of being unable to catch him if he will stick to deep water; but I feel convinced that if he takes the alarm he will be certain to run for shoal water at once. Have you got that bunting ready?” he continued, “for, if so, we had better run up a string of flags; he seems to be slowing down, as though he didn’t altogether like our looks. Quick! bend on and send them up. There, that’s it—not too fast now; not too fast. Ah, he has begun to move again, Aranjuez. Don’t hoist that signal any farther; if he only keeps as he is going for another ten minutes he will be under our guns. Oh, good luck, good luck! he’s coming along at full speed, or I’m a Dutchman!”Jim was right; theUnionwas coming along at full speed; yet her captain was not quite such a fool as the young man took him to be. He had seen the two Chilians from his mastheads before they had seen him; and he had been watching them closely ever since; with the result that he had arrived at the conclusion that some trick was being played on him. But he fell into the error of mistaking the cruiser for theHuemul, and of believing that the crews of both vessels, corrupted by Chilian gold, had seized the ships, after murdering their officers. Villavicencio, therefore, promptly made up his mind to retake the gun-runners, which he felt certain were no longer in Peruvian hands, since his signals remained unanswered; and when he had approached to within a mile and a half of the two Chilian craft, he very much astonished Jim Douglas by opening fire upon him with his heavy 8-inch bow-guns.Although he could not account for this sudden commencement of hostilities on the part of theUnion, Jim on his own part had only been waiting for the proper moment to open fire himself, and now he, in turn, gave Villavicencio a most unpleasant surprise by returning his fire with a very much larger gun than the Peruvian imagined that theHuemulcarried. For a few seconds the skipper of theUnionhesitated as to whether he should not, even now, turn and run; for, taken altogether, matters seemed to be rather in the nature of an elaborately-laid trap.But Villavicencio, now that Admiral Grau was dead, was the bravest man in the naval service of Peru; and his hesitation was but momentary. He continued to steam ahead at full speed, but put his helm over to starboard, causing the corvette to swerve slightly to port, and thus presented her whole starboard broadside to the approaching Chilians, who now hauled down the Peruvian flag and hoisted their own ensign. Then, as soon as his broadside guns bore on the enemy, Villavicencio fired, and a storm of shot and shell came flying round theAngamosand her consort, hulling the latter badly, and dismounting two of the recently replaced 12-pounder breech-loaders.Jim ground his teeth as he saw the terrible execution wrought by theUnion’sbroadside; and, exhorting his men to keep cool, ordered them to load and fire as fast as they could. Once more the cruiser’s 8-inch gun roared out, sending its vengeful messenger shrieking toward the corvette. The shell struck right at the base of that ship’s foremast, and there exploded, scattering death and destruction all round it. The huge spar remained upright for a second or two, then it swayed slightly forward and to one side; the rigging, which had been badly cut up by fragments of flying shell, suddenly parted; and the mast went over the side with a crash that was plainly audible aboard the Chilian ships; and high above the crash of rending wood rang, loud and painfully clear, the agonised shrieks of the poor maimed wretches who had been crushed by its fall.“Now’s your time,” shouted Jim, “they are lumbered up with the wreck of the foremast, and will not be able to fire their big gun until they have cleared it away. Fire into her now with every gun that will bear, and keep at it until she strikes.Mirafloresahoy! pass under my stern and take up a position on theUnion’sport side when we come level with her; I will engage her to starboard. That’s the style, lads,” he continued enthusiastically, as a couple of 12-pounder shells exploded, one on the corvette’s navigating bridge and the other at the base of her conning-tower,—“that’s the style! Keep it up, and show them how the Chilians fight.”The Peruvian skipper, however, was quicker in getting his wreckage cleared away than Jim had anticipated, and theAngamoshad not fired many rounds before the cumbersome spar was cut adrift and went floating astern, and Villavicencio got his guns to work again. Their recent disaster, moreover, had not disturbed their aim; for the next 8-inch shell fired by theUnionblew away theMiraflores’ funnel, and killed her helmsman, with the result that she turned sharply to port, with smoke and flame sweeping along her deck from the cavity which the shell had blown in it, and very narrowly escaped ramming theAngamos. The latter had by this time approached to within half a mile of theUnion, and now got her machine-guns to work, mowing down the Peruvians who were not under cover as with a scythe, for the deck of the corvette was crowded with men.After ten minutes of furious bombardment, and with theMiraflorescrawling slowly up to take part again in the encounter, Villavicencio, brave as he was, realised that he had walked into a trap and had caught a Tartar; for he now recognised theAngamosfor what she really was—a cruiser. Something had happened to theHuemul, that was perfectly clear, and theMirafloreswas also in Chilian hands; he therefore considered that he was not justified in risking theUnionany longer in an engagement which could have but one ending, considering the fact that the corvette was now the only effective ship which the Peruvians possessed in their sadly depleted navy. He consequently put up his helm and, describing a wide sweep to port, made off toward the entrance to the “Second Narrows,” maintaining, however, a well-directed fire as he went with his 8-inch stern gun, which weapon dropped shell with remarkable precision aboard the cruiser and her consort.Jim had just signalled theMirafloresthat he was going to chase theUnion, and that the prize was to rendezvous at Punta Arenas, when an event occurred which made a rendezvous as unnecessary as it was impossible for the second gun-runner.For, as though determined to do all the damage he possibly could before slipping away, Villavicencio had ordered a number of his broadside guns to be shifted aft, to enable him to maintain as heavy a fire as possible from that part of the ship; and so rapidly did he now fire from his stern ports that the series of explosions looked almost like a continuous sheet of flame, while the solid shot and shell fell round the Chilian ships like hail. TheMirafloreshad by this time dropped about a quarter of a mile astern of theAngamos, and the latter was gaining rapidly on the corvette, when theUnionfired what was intended to be her last shot, a shell from an 8-inch gun. But that shell was the saving of her for, having pierced the unarmoured sides of theMirafloresas though they had been paper, the explosion took effect right among the tightly packed ammunition-cases which constituted her cargo, and the next second she went into the air, as theHuemulhad done, with an appalling roar, followed by a tremendous shower of all kinds of débris.From the very nature of the explosion Jim felt practically certain that no one could possibly be left alive out of her whole company, yet there was nevertheless just one chance in a thousand that there might be; and with a groan of disappointment at being obliged to abandon the chase of theUnion, he turned his ship round and began to search for possible survivors.But he found none. A few poor unrecognisable human remnants were all that rewarded him for his attempt at rescue; and after a precious hour lost in this way, he once more turned his ship’s head and went off at full speed after theUnion.But that hour’s start had been sufficient for the corvette, and had enabled her to evade pursuit among the numerous islands which dot the Straits. Douglas haunted the Straits for a whole week, searching every nook and corner of them for the Peruvian; but theUnion’scaptain had done his work well, and the fugitive was nowhere to be found. And at length, unwilling though he was to give up his search, but anxious not to lose time when theAngamosmight be required for other and more important work, he started back for headquarters, arriving at Valparaiso just a month after he had left it. He had carried out one part of his task, which was to prevent the two cargoes of arms from falling into the hands of the Peruvians; but theUnionstill remained at large, and was destined to give the Chilians a great deal more trouble before they finally closed her brilliant and adventurous career.
For the space of quite half a minute there was no reply; and then, in response to Jim’s repeated summons, both steamers, as if by previous arrangement, began to send blue rockets flying into the air; while both set up a most unearthly shrieking on their steam-whistles. They had by this time recognised that the suspicious stranger was not theUnion; but, knowing that she must be somewhere in the vicinity, they determined to attract her attention by some means or other, should she be anywhere within sight or hearing.
But Jim smiled grimly to himself as he saw and heard their despairing efforts, for he had kept a man at the masthead for the express purpose of ascertaining whether the Peruvian corvette was anywhere in the vicinity, and the last report, received less than five minutes before, assured him that she was nowhere to be seen.
He waited patiently, therefore, until the discordant blasts on the sirens had ceased, and then hailed again for the skipper to heave-to, vowing that he would fire into him if he did not do so. The young Englishman had imagined that he saw, by the light of the rockets, a number of men scampering about the decks, but he concluded that it was merely the effect of terror and astonishment, and he was totally unprepared for the gun-runner’s next move. The fellow had, when he saw that there was no hope of escape, hastily prepared his ship for action; and the last words were hardly out of Jim’s mouth when a perfect storm of machine-gun fire broke out aboard the flying steamer, and the bullets whistled round Douglas like hail, killing the quartermaster at the wheel, and several other seamen who were not under shelter.
The cruiser immediately yawed wildly, and in another minute would have crashed into the gun-runner, probably sending both craft to the bottom, had not Jim seized the wheel, as it spun out of the dead man’s fingers, and brought theAngamosback to her course just in the nick of time. At the same moment he saw the leading steamer circle round in a wide curve and head directly for him, evidently with the idea of helping her consort in the fight against the Chilian.
There was no time for any more palaver, thought Jim; the fellows meant to fight, and to disable him if they could, and he must be ready for them. In a voice hoarse with anger at the useless slaughter of five of his men, he gave the order to fire; and immediately the guns of theAngamosbegan to speak.
She was armed with several Gatling and Nordenfeldt guns, three 12-pounder breech-loaders, six 3-pounders, and one 8-inch breech-loading Armstrong gun, throwing a projectile weighing 170 pounds, which was mounted forward; and, immediately upon Jim’s command her whole broadside crashed out, raking the foolhardy steamer from end to end, and making her fairly reel under the impact of the iron shower. Away forward, Manuel, the first lieutenant, had observed the approach of the second steamer; and he now laid the big 8-inch gun directly for her bows, firing when she had approached to within about four hundred yards of the cruiser. The gun’s deep roar rang out loud above the din of the smaller weapons, and a brilliant flash of white light leaped out on board the steamer, the missile blowing a huge hole in her starboard bow, and setting her on fire forward; as was seen by the blaze which at once sprang up on board her.
At the same time theAngamospassed ahead of the first steamer, which, by the light of the beacon-fires now lighted aboard all three vessels, was seen to be named theMiraflores; and, running alongside the second, theHuemul, she delivered every gun of her starboard broadside, bringing down the steel foremast, riddling the funnel with rifle and machine-gun bullets, and killing every man on deck who was not under cover. At the same time a 12-pounder shell, which struck a heap of ammunition which had been placed on theHuemul’sdeck to feed a 32-pounder breech-loader, blew up the whole lot, killing the unfortunate gun’s crew, and lifting the gun itself bodily over the side into the sea. TheAngamosthen slowed down a little, and a few seconds later theMirafloresovertook her and discharged every available gun into the cruiser, killing several more men, and dismounting one 32-pounder and two 3-pounder quick-firing guns.
But the cruiser’s people had meanwhile again loaded their guns on the port broadside, and were not slow in avenging the death of their comrades. They did not require the stimulus which Jim sought to impart to them, by urging them in his excitement to “slap it into the beggars!” for they worked their guns like demons, and, notwithstanding their rage and fury, made such excellent practice that theMirafloresbegan to look more and more like a wreck every minute. At last, in desperation, her captain actually tried to run his ship aboard theAngamos, with the idea of boarding her; but the cruiser was several knots faster than the gun-runner, and Jim, perceiving the fellow’s intention, turned theAngamosto starboard and so avoided the collision, at the same time pouring in another broadside with all his undamaged guns.
Instantly there arose a dense cloud of steam on board theMiraflores, accompanied by a loud hissing noise; her speed suddenly slackened; and Douglas knew that one of the cruiser’s shells had penetrated a boiler; and he shuddered in spite of himself at the thought of the scene which was now probably enacting down in the gun-runner’s engine-room. But, just as he was looking at the stricken ship through his glass, to see whether she had surrendered, he was deafened and well-nigh stunned by an appalling explosion which came from somewhere astern of theAngamos; and pieces of wood and iron, fragments of charred human bodies, exploding cartridges, and wreckage of all descriptions began to hurtle round his ears; while, from the shelter of the chart-house, to which he precipitately retreated, he saw an enormous column of black smoke hanging over the place near which he had last seen theHuemul; and he had little difficulty in accounting to himself for the disaster.
The steamer had been set on fire forward by one of the cruiser’s shells, which had exploded a quantity of ammunition on her deck; and this fire rapidly spreading, had communicated itself to some of the powder and cartridges which formed the greater part of her cargo. This had forthwith exploded, and, in its turn, blown up the remainder, causing a most terrible catastrophe; for, when the smoke of the explosion cleared away, there was not a trace of theHuemulleft upon the surface of the water. She and her gallant crew had been blown, literally, to atoms.
Appalled by the suddenness and extent of the disaster, both theMirafloresand theAngamosceased firing for several minutes; and, by the light of the fires which were still burning on board both vessels, Jim could see the gun-runner’s crew dashing wildly about, as though in the last extremity of terror, while the ship herself was almost shrouded from view by the dense clouds of steam, coloured ruddy yellow in the light of the braziers, which still gushed in volumes from her pierced boilers.
The cruiser’s men quickly recovered their equanimity, however; and, running to their guns, poured in another broadside upon the demoralised crew of theMiraflores. This was more, apparently, than flesh and blood could endure; for Douglas saw several men immediately rush upon the captain, who was still inciting them to continue the fight, and cut the unfortunate man down. The crew then rushed aft in a body, hauled down the Peruvian flag, under which both ships had been sailing, hailed at the same time that they surrendered, and begged for quarter. The men frantically waved handkerchiefs, towels, in fact anything white that they could lay their hands upon, to emphasise the fact that they had struck.
“I detest being obliged to give quarter to mutineers,” said Douglas to his young first lieutenant; “and these fellows undoubtedly are such, for they murdered their captain, and surrendered against his wishes; but I must accept their surrender, I suppose, as it would simply be murder to continue firing into them now; they are all half crazy with fright. Have the port and starboard quarter-boats manned and lowered, Señor Manuel, if you please, and bring off the crew of that ship; but take the precaution of first putting them all in irons. After you have transferred them to theAngamosI will put a prize-crew aboard, under your command; and you shall keep me company until we return to Valparaiso. I have a little plan at the back of my mind which I hope to be able to put into execution and I will tell you what it is before you finally go aboard theMiraflores. Now, be as quick as you can, for there has been a good deal of firing during this action, and theUnionmay put in an appearance at any moment; and I do not wish to see her—just yet.”
Manuel saluted, and ran away aft to give orders about the boats, and, five minutes later, they were being pulled across the water toward the now motionless gun-runner. Jim saw Manuel climb up her tall sides; and then he went into his chart-house to await the lieutenant’s return, and to think out the details of the plan about which he had spoken to Manuel. However, he first sent a man into the fore-topmast crosstrees, and one into the main, with orders to keep a bright look-out for the appearance of the Peruvian corvette.
Some two hours later Manuel returned, bringing with him the whole of the Peruvian ship’s crew, most of whom consisted of ne’er-do-wells of almost every nationality under the sun: and a choice-looking lot of rascals they were. Jim wisely refused to accept the parole of any of them, placed them, still in irons, in the cruiser’s punishment cells, and took the precaution to post a strong guard over them. He then received the report of his lieutenant, which was to the effect that the damage on board theMirafloreswas, with the exception of the shell in her boiler-room, mostly superficial, and could soon be repaired by the prize-crew. Several of her guns had been badly damaged; but the young man suggested that they could be replaced, together with the damaged weapons belonging to theAngamos, from the gun-runner’s cargo, which consisted, in part, of a number of similar pieces.
Jim carefully digested the report, and then unfolded his latest plan to Manuel, which was to the effect that theMiraflores, with a prize-crew aboard, and theAngamos, should impersonate the two Peruvian gun-runners expected by theUnion; and that they should hoist the enemy’s flag and go in search of him; thus getting close enough to bring the elusive corvette to action. The lieutenant was therefore ordered to get aboard at once, with his prize-crew, execute the necessary repairs, re-arm the ship out of the cargo she carried, and, as the boiler was too badly damaged to admit of repair at sea, to cut off steam from it altogether, and fire up under the remaining three, which could, even then, give theMirafloresa speed of about nine knots.
Manuel accordingly selected his crew, and again went aboard the gun-runner; where he and his men worked with such a will that by mid-day the repairs were complete enough to allow of a start being made. The remaining repairs were of such a nature that it was possible to execute them while the ship was under way. Steam was then raised in the three sound boilers, and, the water being quite smooth, theMirafloreswas brought alongside the cruiser, which then replaced her damaged guns, and hoisted fresh ones out of the gun-runner’s hold with her own derricks.
At length, by five o’clock in the afternoon of the day after the battle, both ships were in a condition to proceed; and, much to Jim’s satisfaction, there had been no sign of theUnionto disturb them. They were now ready to go in search of her; and, with two well-armed ships under his command, Douglas swore that he would pay Captain Villavicencio in full for all the injury that he had done in the past to Chilian commerce. The Peruvian flag was then hoisted aboard both ships, and each also arranged three lanterns upon her foremast, for use after dark, in the same manner as they had been previously arranged, as a signal, on board the gun-runners. Before starting Jim also questioned the captured crew as to what they knew of the plans of their skipper, and where he had expected to meet theUnion. The men refused information at first, but, upon being told that they would be kept upon half-rations until they chose to speak, they said that they had expected to meet the corvette almost midway between the Falkland Islands and Cape Virzins, at the eastern mouth of the Straits; also that both captains had mistaken theAngamosfor theUnionwhen they first sighted her. Jim could not understand how it was that in that case there were no signs of the corvette, but he determined not to leave the locality until he had found her and brought her to action.
With theMirafloressteaming along in his wake, in the same formation as that adopted by the gun-running steamers, Jim started off on his search for theUnion, heading west-south-west for the mouth of the Straits of Magellan, with a man at either masthead of each of the two vessels, and a prize of fiftypésosto the seaman who should first sight her. He did not feel altogether happy at the idea of sailing under the Peruvian flag and adopting such a ruse, even for a short period; but his orders to capture or sink theUnionwere precise and imperative, and he considered that, in this case at least, the end justified the means employed, for he knew that he would never succeed in getting alongside the corvette if her captain were once allowed to entertain the slightest suspicion that the two ships were Chilians. True, theAngamoswas a faster ship; but theUniondrew far less water; and, since she would probably be found—if found at all—somewhere among the shoal waters of the Straits, she might be able to get away by dodging into shallow water among the numerous islands, where theAngamos, with her deeper draught, would be unable to follow.
Darkness fell very shortly after the two ships had started on their run toward the Straits; and the lanterns on their foremasts were lighted after the same manner as on the previous night; while they surged along over the indigo-coloured water at the rate of about nine knots an hour, a sharp look-out being maintained meanwhile for the appearance of theUnion. But to the great disappointment of everybody, that craft most persistently refused to put in an appearance; and when the next morning dawned the high, rocky cliffs of Tierra del Fuego and the Patagonian coast lay before them, and it became evident that the Peruvian had either retreated up the Straits, or that she was still behind them.
About nine o’clock the two ships, still flying the Peruvian colours, entered the Straits, and immediately slowed down to half-speed, not only on account of the intricate navigation, but also to give theUniona better chance of overtaking them if it should happen that she really was still astern. Catharine Point was passed and left behind, and the two steamers crossed Lomas Bay into the “First Narrows,” where Jim thought it possible that theUnionmight be waiting; but she was not there. They were steaming slowly across Elizabeth Bay, and Douglas was beginning to fear that the corvette had eluded him, after all, when a voice, hoarse with excitement, hailed from aloft:—
“On deck there! I can see three mastheads showing above that hummock of rock at the entrance to the ‘Second Narrows’; and there is a column of smoke visible, too, so the craft must be a steamer. We shall open her out in a few minutes now, and I think she must be that detestable corsair we are looking for.”
Jim was, as usual, on the navigating bridge when the hail floated down; and his first act was to seize a speaking-trumpet and shout the news to Manuel on the bridge of theMiraflores. His second was to spring up the ratlines, seat himself alongside the seaman in the crosstrees, and take a good look at what he could see of the stranger from that elevation. A prolonged scrutiny convinced him that the craft could be none other than theUnion; and he hurried down to give his final orders, both ships having been kept practically prepared for action ever since the moment on the evening before when they started in company to look for the corvette. There was consequently very little to do in the way of preparation; and a quarter of an hour after sighting the Peruvian’s mastheads both Chilian ships were ready for the fray.
They had not steamed another cable’s-length when it became evident that a sharp look-out must also have been kept aboard the corvette; for her masts began to slide along the top of the ridge of rock, showing that she was under way; and a few minutes later the entire ship swept into view, flying the Peruvian ensign, and so leaving no room to doubt that she was the long-sought-forUnion.
Directly she hove in sight Jim signalled to theMirafloresto close up and come alongside him, at a distance of half a cable’s-length away, and both ships quickened up their speed, by such small degrees as to be imperceptible, to nine knots, which was as fast as the cruiser’s consort could steam. Presently a long, dismal wail came floating across the water from theUnion, and Douglas saw that she wished to attract his attention to a signal which she had just hoisted.
He at once dived into the chart-house for the signal-book, and presently he and his second lieutenant were poring over it in an effort to read the communication. But, to Jim’s intense annoyance, the signal, when translated, seemed to have no meaning, and he realised that the corvette was making a private and pre-arranged signal, which he was, of course, unable to read.
“Confound it, Aranjuez!” he exclaimed, angrily, to his second lieutenant, “what are we to do now? I did not anticipate this; and if we are not careful he will take alarm and sheer off. I wish I had thought of looking among the papers of theMiraflores’ captain; they might have contained the key to this private signal.”
“Well, señor,” replied the lieutenant, “we must delay making a signal of any sort until the very last moment. Then, when he shows signs of becoming suspicious and sheering off, we will hoist, very slowly, a string of flags meaning nothing in particular. It will take him some little time to decipher the flags; and we shall gain a few minutes while he tries to fathom their meaning from his own private signal-book. We ought, by that time, to be close enough to him for you to be able to open fire effectively if the men will only keep calm and shoot straight. Should we fail to disable him with the first few shots, however, he will be off and we may be unable to catch him again.”
“Precisely! This is the best—the only thing we can do, Aranjuez,” replied Jim, gazing steadily through his telescope at theUnion. “I am not afraid of being unable to catch him if he will stick to deep water; but I feel convinced that if he takes the alarm he will be certain to run for shoal water at once. Have you got that bunting ready?” he continued, “for, if so, we had better run up a string of flags; he seems to be slowing down, as though he didn’t altogether like our looks. Quick! bend on and send them up. There, that’s it—not too fast now; not too fast. Ah, he has begun to move again, Aranjuez. Don’t hoist that signal any farther; if he only keeps as he is going for another ten minutes he will be under our guns. Oh, good luck, good luck! he’s coming along at full speed, or I’m a Dutchman!”
Jim was right; theUnionwas coming along at full speed; yet her captain was not quite such a fool as the young man took him to be. He had seen the two Chilians from his mastheads before they had seen him; and he had been watching them closely ever since; with the result that he had arrived at the conclusion that some trick was being played on him. But he fell into the error of mistaking the cruiser for theHuemul, and of believing that the crews of both vessels, corrupted by Chilian gold, had seized the ships, after murdering their officers. Villavicencio, therefore, promptly made up his mind to retake the gun-runners, which he felt certain were no longer in Peruvian hands, since his signals remained unanswered; and when he had approached to within a mile and a half of the two Chilian craft, he very much astonished Jim Douglas by opening fire upon him with his heavy 8-inch bow-guns.
Although he could not account for this sudden commencement of hostilities on the part of theUnion, Jim on his own part had only been waiting for the proper moment to open fire himself, and now he, in turn, gave Villavicencio a most unpleasant surprise by returning his fire with a very much larger gun than the Peruvian imagined that theHuemulcarried. For a few seconds the skipper of theUnionhesitated as to whether he should not, even now, turn and run; for, taken altogether, matters seemed to be rather in the nature of an elaborately-laid trap.
But Villavicencio, now that Admiral Grau was dead, was the bravest man in the naval service of Peru; and his hesitation was but momentary. He continued to steam ahead at full speed, but put his helm over to starboard, causing the corvette to swerve slightly to port, and thus presented her whole starboard broadside to the approaching Chilians, who now hauled down the Peruvian flag and hoisted their own ensign. Then, as soon as his broadside guns bore on the enemy, Villavicencio fired, and a storm of shot and shell came flying round theAngamosand her consort, hulling the latter badly, and dismounting two of the recently replaced 12-pounder breech-loaders.
Jim ground his teeth as he saw the terrible execution wrought by theUnion’sbroadside; and, exhorting his men to keep cool, ordered them to load and fire as fast as they could. Once more the cruiser’s 8-inch gun roared out, sending its vengeful messenger shrieking toward the corvette. The shell struck right at the base of that ship’s foremast, and there exploded, scattering death and destruction all round it. The huge spar remained upright for a second or two, then it swayed slightly forward and to one side; the rigging, which had been badly cut up by fragments of flying shell, suddenly parted; and the mast went over the side with a crash that was plainly audible aboard the Chilian ships; and high above the crash of rending wood rang, loud and painfully clear, the agonised shrieks of the poor maimed wretches who had been crushed by its fall.
“Now’s your time,” shouted Jim, “they are lumbered up with the wreck of the foremast, and will not be able to fire their big gun until they have cleared it away. Fire into her now with every gun that will bear, and keep at it until she strikes.Mirafloresahoy! pass under my stern and take up a position on theUnion’sport side when we come level with her; I will engage her to starboard. That’s the style, lads,” he continued enthusiastically, as a couple of 12-pounder shells exploded, one on the corvette’s navigating bridge and the other at the base of her conning-tower,—“that’s the style! Keep it up, and show them how the Chilians fight.”
The Peruvian skipper, however, was quicker in getting his wreckage cleared away than Jim had anticipated, and theAngamoshad not fired many rounds before the cumbersome spar was cut adrift and went floating astern, and Villavicencio got his guns to work again. Their recent disaster, moreover, had not disturbed their aim; for the next 8-inch shell fired by theUnionblew away theMiraflores’ funnel, and killed her helmsman, with the result that she turned sharply to port, with smoke and flame sweeping along her deck from the cavity which the shell had blown in it, and very narrowly escaped ramming theAngamos. The latter had by this time approached to within half a mile of theUnion, and now got her machine-guns to work, mowing down the Peruvians who were not under cover as with a scythe, for the deck of the corvette was crowded with men.
After ten minutes of furious bombardment, and with theMiraflorescrawling slowly up to take part again in the encounter, Villavicencio, brave as he was, realised that he had walked into a trap and had caught a Tartar; for he now recognised theAngamosfor what she really was—a cruiser. Something had happened to theHuemul, that was perfectly clear, and theMirafloreswas also in Chilian hands; he therefore considered that he was not justified in risking theUnionany longer in an engagement which could have but one ending, considering the fact that the corvette was now the only effective ship which the Peruvians possessed in their sadly depleted navy. He consequently put up his helm and, describing a wide sweep to port, made off toward the entrance to the “Second Narrows,” maintaining, however, a well-directed fire as he went with his 8-inch stern gun, which weapon dropped shell with remarkable precision aboard the cruiser and her consort.
Jim had just signalled theMirafloresthat he was going to chase theUnion, and that the prize was to rendezvous at Punta Arenas, when an event occurred which made a rendezvous as unnecessary as it was impossible for the second gun-runner.
For, as though determined to do all the damage he possibly could before slipping away, Villavicencio had ordered a number of his broadside guns to be shifted aft, to enable him to maintain as heavy a fire as possible from that part of the ship; and so rapidly did he now fire from his stern ports that the series of explosions looked almost like a continuous sheet of flame, while the solid shot and shell fell round the Chilian ships like hail. TheMirafloreshad by this time dropped about a quarter of a mile astern of theAngamos, and the latter was gaining rapidly on the corvette, when theUnionfired what was intended to be her last shot, a shell from an 8-inch gun. But that shell was the saving of her for, having pierced the unarmoured sides of theMirafloresas though they had been paper, the explosion took effect right among the tightly packed ammunition-cases which constituted her cargo, and the next second she went into the air, as theHuemulhad done, with an appalling roar, followed by a tremendous shower of all kinds of débris.
From the very nature of the explosion Jim felt practically certain that no one could possibly be left alive out of her whole company, yet there was nevertheless just one chance in a thousand that there might be; and with a groan of disappointment at being obliged to abandon the chase of theUnion, he turned his ship round and began to search for possible survivors.
But he found none. A few poor unrecognisable human remnants were all that rewarded him for his attempt at rescue; and after a precious hour lost in this way, he once more turned his ship’s head and went off at full speed after theUnion.
But that hour’s start had been sufficient for the corvette, and had enabled her to evade pursuit among the numerous islands which dot the Straits. Douglas haunted the Straits for a whole week, searching every nook and corner of them for the Peruvian; but theUnion’scaptain had done his work well, and the fugitive was nowhere to be found. And at length, unwilling though he was to give up his search, but anxious not to lose time when theAngamosmight be required for other and more important work, he started back for headquarters, arriving at Valparaiso just a month after he had left it. He had carried out one part of his task, which was to prevent the two cargoes of arms from falling into the hands of the Peruvians; but theUnionstill remained at large, and was destined to give the Chilians a great deal more trouble before they finally closed her brilliant and adventurous career.