heavy door somewhat sharply behind him. Douglas heard him pause for a
few seconds, and then step sharply across the stone-flagged _patio_,
from the other side of which he fancied he heard the sound of a low
laugh and some words spoken in an undertone. But he paid no particular
attention to the matter and, in order to pass the time, rose from his
seat and began to move round the room. The apartment was so extremely
dark, however, that he presently walked over to the window, in order to
pull aside the curtains which he supposed, were excluding the light.
Greatly to his surprise, however, he found that there were no curtains
before the window, but that the gloom was caused by the fact that a kind
of iron shutter was securely fastened across the outside. This was
indeed a curious sort of waiting room, and--
A sudden thought flashed across Jim's mind, and he darted quickly to the
door and turned the handle, pulling it toward him as he did so.
It was as he had surmised; the door had been locked or bolted on the
outside; and he knew now why Lopes had paused those few seconds before
crossing the _patio_. Jim was a prisoner, and he had walked into the
trap with his eyes open. Oh! what a fool he had been! He might have
known that a person of importance such as the _intendente_ of Iquique
would not have had his residence among the slums of the city. But what
on earth, he wondered, had been their object in making a prisoner of
him? How came it about that he had been expected, and that a man had
been posted at the pier, ready to receive him and lead him into this
ambush?
Then he suddenly remembered the dispatches he carried from the Admiral;
and he realised that a person on shore with a telescope could have seen
him put off from the flagship, and have observed his progress the whole
way from her to the quay. What, too, more natural than that the
Peruvians should be anxious to get a Chilian officer into their hands,
especially a flag-officer, who would be almost certain to have a very
considerable knowledge of the Chilian admiral's plans? There were many
ways by which that information could be extracted by unscrupulous and
desperate men, and Jim shuddered as he realised the danger in which he
stood. The first thing that he now did was to take the dispatches from
his inner breast pocket, and secrete them, as well as he could under the
circumstances, next his skin, resolving at the same time that he would
give up his life rather than part with them, or disclose to the
Peruvians any of the admiral's plans.
The only weapon which Jim had brought ashore was, of course, his dress
sword; but he resolved that he would make some use of that before they
should place him in any closer confinement, or lay hands on his papers.
The next thing to be done was to examine the room, to see whether any
means of escape presented itself; and in the first place he scrutinised
the window which was secured with the iron shutters outside. But a very
few seconds sufficed to show him that there was no possibility of
getting out by that way, and he looked round for a second door to the
apartment. The walls were, however, lined with massive bookshelves, and
there was no trace of any door save that by which he had entered.
Strangely enough, there was not even so much as a fireplace to the room;
and after half an hour's careful search Douglas was reluctantly
compelled to acknowledge that he was helpless to do anything further at
present, and that he would have to await developments before taking any
action.
He therefore made himself as comfortable as possible in an easy-chair,
keeping his ears open at the same time, so that he might have due
warning of the approach of an enemy. The house was so silent that, so
far as any sound was concerned, it might have been uninhabited. Douglas
had been waiting for half an hour, when he discovered that he was
becoming exceedingly drowsy, and that the air of the room seemed not
only to be unaccountably close but also to have a rather queer new odour
in it. Jim yawned portentously several times, and at length moved over
to the window to try whether the air would be any fresher there, for he
put down its oppressiveness to the fact that there was no chimney in the
room. But, so far as he could ascertain, the window seemed to be
hermetically sealed; and upon inspection he found that the glass in it
was so abnormally thick that to break it would be practically an
impossibility.
Douglas now began to find that his breathing was becoming distinctly
difficult and, seized with a vague sense of new danger, he ran to the
door and hammered vigorously upon it, shouting at the same time for some
one to come and release him. But his blows and shouts only echoed
emptily round the _patio_, and not a soul put in an appearance. He felt
as though all the strength were going out of his limbs, and he presently
staggered to a sofa, upon which he flung himself, powerless to stand
upon his feet any longer. Strange visions began to float before him,
and curious fancies flitted through his brain, which felt as though some
one had bound an iron strap round it and was gradually increasing the
pressure until it seemed as though his head must split asunder.
How much longer would it be, he wondered dully, before the coxswain in
charge of the _Blanco Encalada's_ steam-launch became anxious about his
long absence, and instituted inquiries, or returned to the flagship with
the news? Admiral Williams was certainly not the man to allow to pass
unchallenged such a gross violation of International Law as the seizure
and imprisonment of a properly accredited envoy; but then, the people
who had been guilty of this outrage had doubtless acted unofficially,
and the _intendente_ would consequently deny all knowledge of the
business. Surely, though--
But by this time Jim's thoughts had become more and more confused, and
his brain was refusing to act coherently. Flashes of lurid light passed
before his eyes, and the horrible feeling of suffocation became ever
more and more acute. Finally, with what he fancied was a shout for
assistance, but it was, in reality, only a weak whisper, Jim lost
consciousness altogether, and rolled from his couch on to the floor,
where he lay like a log, breathing stertorously.
Almost at the same moment a section of the book-case surrounding the
room moved inward, apparently of its own volition, and two men, one of
whom was the man Lopes, crept cautiously into the apartment. Hastily
seizing Jim's inanimate body by the arms and legs, they dragged him out
of the room, carried him down a long narrow passage and, opening the
door of another room, took him inside and placed him on a bed which it
contained.
"What a time the youngster took to go off, Manuel!" said the second
fellow, addressing Lopes while he industriously searched Jim's pockets.
"I hope we have not given him an overdose, and killed him; for I expect
the information that we shall extract from him will be worth a great
deal more than that contained in the papers which he is sure to carry.
By the way, I wonder where they can be? They are certainly not in his
pockets. You are certain you have not made a mistake, _amigo mio_, and
got hold of the wrong man?"
"_Carrajo_! no," exclaimed Lopes testily. "This is the fellow, without
doubt; I watched him all the way from the ship. Here, lend me your
knife, and I will rip up his clothes; he is certain to have suspected
treachery after I locked him in, and will have secreted the documents
somewhere. Ah! here they are. Now, read them out to me, Carlos, while
I try to bring the _hijo_ round."
There was silence for a few minutes, broken only by the rustle of paper;
then, with an oath, the man called Carlos dashed the packet down,
saying, in a voice hoarse with excitement and rage: "_Carramba_, Lopes
you are a fool! you have made a mistake somewhere. This is not the man
at all! I suspected as much when I saw that it was only a boy that you
had captured. These papers are simply a notification from the admiral
of the Chilians that the condensation of water is to cease! While we
have been wasting time here the other fellow will have come ashore and
returned again, with the papers still in his possession! Oh! Lopes,
you are a mule, _cabeza de porco_! All our trouble has been in vain."
"Softly, softly, my friend," replied Manuel. "Even if we have, as you
say, secured the wrong messenger, all our trouble will _not_ have been
useless. You may have observed, _caro mio_, that this is a flag-
officer, and he will be certain to have knowledge of a great many of
Rebolledo Williams's plans. Very well; when he recovers we will take
measures to induce him--ha! ha!--to tell us all he knows. After the
attention of an hour or so which we will give him, and with the
assistance of certain little instruments which we possess, we will get
out of him all the information he has. It is wonderful," he went on
musingly, "how communicative a man will become--under certain
circumstances."
The man Carlos looked at his fellow-scoundrel for a few moments, and
then broke out into a hoarse chuckle.
"All right, _querido_; I understand," he laughed. "We will remove him,
however, for the present, to less comfortable quarters, as he seems to
be on the point of recovery. Lift up his feet, _mi amigo_, while I take
his arms as before." Suiting the action to the word, the two men seized
Jim's body and carried it away down another passage, until they came to
a flight of stone stairs, down which they went into the very bowels of
the earth, as it seemed. Presently they encountered a massive stone
door which, on being opened, disclosed a damp and unspeakably filthy
cell. Into this they tossed the unfortunate officer, and, without
caring, apparently, whether they broke every bone in his body or not,
kicked him unmercifully into the centre of the dungeon, and then turned
and left him.
Although the two scoundrels had been under the impression that Jim
Douglas was on the point of recovery from unconsciousness when they thus
callously tossed him into the cell, they were mistaken; for they found,
upon revisiting him several hours later, that he was still in a state of
insensibility. The two rascals then became not a little alarmed for the
success of their scheme, and they at once did all in their power to
revive their victim, with the result that, late that same evening, he
recovered his senses, although he was much too dazed to answer the
questions which they tried to put to him. The men therefore gave up
their attempt for that night, and left Jim in peace, handing him a
little bread and water, and promising themselves that they would return
early the next morning.
Douglas recovered his faculties soon after Carlos and Lopes had left
him, and while eating his frugal meal tried to unravel the mystery of
his capture, and to calculate how long it would probably be before
Admiral Williams should take any steps to find him. He was, however,
still very dull and heavy, and presently dropped into a deep sleep, from
which he was awakened, just as dawn was breaking, by the entrance of his
captors. They immediately began to interrogate him about the number of
men in the fleet, the condition of the ships, the number of their guns,
and, above all, as to the plans which Admiral Williams had formed for
the forthcoming attack on Peruvian ports.
Jim, of course, firmly refused to give them any information whatever
upon the matters in question, but loudly denounced the way in which he
had been treated, and demanded to be set at liberty immediately. Carlos
and his accomplice merely laughed, and Lopes remarked: "So you refuse to
tell us anything, do you, my young cockerel? Well, we shall see, we
shall see. I will wager that you change your mind within the next half-
hour; what say you, Carlos, eh? Now, once more will you tell me what--"
"No!" roared Douglas, in a fit of exasperation, "I will tell you
_nothing_! and you may do what you please, I will still keep silent. My
captain will know how to avenge me if you offer me any injury."
"Hark how loudly it crows, Manuel," laughed Carlos, showing all his
teeth. "However, I think we had better not waste any more time; bring
in the playthings, Lopes, my brave."
The latter went out of the cell, and presently returned, carrying an
iron brazier filled with glowing charcoal, and bearing under his left
arm a cloth which, when unrolled, disclosed to Jim's horrified gaze a
glittering array of instruments, the suggestiveness of the shapes of
which left little doubt as to what was their ghastly use. The poor lad
turned sick and faint, and the sweat began to pour off him at the mere
sight of those fearful appliances. Still, he did not falter, and he
swore to himself that not all their tortures should make a traitor of
him.
"Now, Carlos!" exclaimed Lopes, throwing himself upon Jim, who struggled
vainly to free himself from the clutches of the two powerful men who
held him. In a few moments he was bound hand and foot, and Carlos
removed the naval sword which they had not, as yet, taken from the young
Chilian officer. Douglas was then flung on his back, and both arms and
legs were lashed securely to iron rings cemented into the floor of the
cell. This done, with a sardonic laugh, the two men stood upright and
looked at the recumbent form of their prisoner. Then Carlos stepped
across the dungeon and, chuckling all the while, thrust several of the
steel instruments of torture in among the glowing charcoal of the
brazier.
Half-fainting, and with every nerve and sense strained to its utmost,
Jim suddenly fancied that he heard a faint sound, coming apparently from
a great distance. It sounded, to his fevered imagination, almost like a
bugle call, but it was so exceedingly faint that he thought his ears
must have deceived him. He looked at the two rascals above him, but
they were talking, and had evidently heard nothing. Carlos drew out
from the brazier a long, curved piece of steel, but it was not yet red-
hot and he replaced it, with a malevolent glance at Douglas.
Then suddenly there rang out, high, clear, and quite unmistakable, the
sound of a trumpet; and it was blown at no very great distance away,
either! Jim recognised it immediately; it was the alarm, and he felt
that some crisis was at hand.
"_Carrajo_!" exclaimed the man Lopes, turning a pale face to his
confederate, "what does that mean? Run up above, man, quickly, and find
out. Surely it cannot be that--" He broke off, as a dull boom rumbled
through the stagnant air and made the very stone cell quiver. "Quick,
Carlos; quick, man, and see what is the matter."
Without further bidding Carlos opened the door and sprang up the stairs,
just as an appalling crash was heard, apparently quite close at hand,
even if not in the very building itself. Then there was another rending
explosion, and another, not quite so close at hand this time. Lopes,
quivering with fear, glanced at Douglas, and then at the open door, as
though meditating flight, and he had evidently just made up his mind to
decamp when Carlos came plunging down the stone steps.
"_Amigo mio_!" he gasped hoarsely, "something has gone terribly wrong
somewhere, for the Chilian squadron is bombarding Iquique; and what is
more, all the shells are falling in this quarter. The streets are full
of dead, and a man I saw flying past just now says that a body of
marines is already on shore, and coming this way. We must fly at once,
or we shall be too late! Can it be that this is in return for our
having seized this youngster? Come along, my friend, quickly; and it
would be well to give the boy a tap on the head and thus spare his
countrymen the trouble of carrying him away, if they find him. But,
come quickly man, or we are both lost. Those cursed shells are
beginning to fall in this direction again!"
And indeed he was right; the dungeon fairly rocked under the hideous
concussion of the bursting missiles, while the roar of falling masonry
could plainly be heard above, mingled with shrieks which came to their
ears, strangely muffled by the distance.
"I don't like to leave that boy," muttered Lopes, who seemed much the
cooler of the two men, "but if I stay here we shall both be buried
alive. No, Mr Officer, I will not kill you," he said, drawing back his
lips from his teeth with an evil smile; "I will leave you here, so that
your friends may have the satisfaction of killing you themselves!"
Then, as another fearful crash sounded above, he kicked the brazier of
coal over so that the glowing embers scattered themselves over Jim's
body, and, calling to his friend, exclaimed, "_Adios, senor_!" as the
two men ran up the stone stairs. Jim suffered excruciating pain as the
embers burnt their way through his clothes and ate into his flesh; but
at length he contrived to roll and shake himself free of them.
Meanwhile, his two enemies could hardly have gone a dozen steps upward
when there came a most deafening concussion close by, and a shower of
dust and flying fragments of masonry scattered itself round Douglas,
nearly blinding him. He felt that he was lost; for, bound as he was, he
could do nothing to help himself; but as he lay there waiting for death
he was astonished to find that one of the cords confining his wrists was
slackening, and the next moment it had parted; a fragment of glowing
charcoal had providentially fallen upon it and burnt it through. With
one hand free, he found himself able, with some difficulty, to release
the other; after which a few seconds were sufficient to enable him to
cast loose the lashings from his feet. He then stumbled and groped his
way up the steps, passing, as he did so, the mangled bodies of Lopes and
of Carlos, who had been literally blown to pieces. The house above was
a mere shapeless mass of wreckage, and Jim had little difficulty in
clambering over the debris into the street. As he emerged from the
wrecked building there was a rattling volley, and a shower of bullets
whistled past the young officer's head. His own men were firing at him,
under the impression that he was one of the enemy! He snatched a
handkerchief from his pocket and waved it, just in time to avoid being
riddled by a second discharge.
A moment later Douglas was shaking hands with his rescuers, who had so
nearly escaped being merely his avengers. It now appeared that the
coxswain of the launch, suspecting treachery, had followed Jim and his
guide to the house, outside which he had waited for some time in the
hope that he was mistaken, and that Jim would presently make his
appearance. But when an hour had passed, the man felt convinced that
something was wrong, and hurried back to the ship to report. Admiral
Williams had thereupon sent an ultimatum to the _intendente_ that,
unless Senor Douglas was returned to the _Blanco Encalada_ by daybreak,
he would bombard.
The unfortunate official, knowing nothing of the occurrence complained
of, had failed, of course, to produce the young man; and Rebolledo
Williams had carried out his threat, very nearly destroying the man whom
he wished to save in so doing. Under cover of the heavy gun-fire a
party of marines had been landed, and, under guidance of the coxswain,
had gone toward the house where Jim was known to be. The men, seeing
the place in ruins, naturally concluded that Jim was dead, and were on
the point of retreating when the lad put in an appearance among the
ruins.
Having happily accomplished their errand, the detachment now returned to
the ships, having to fight their way back through the streets in the
face of an almost overwhelming Peruvian force. But they won through
eventually, and regained their boats without great loss. That afternoon
Jim reported to the admiral, who thereupon determined to bombard in grim
earnest on the following morning. Needless to say Jim slept sounder
that night than he had done in the dungeon on the previous evening.
CHAPTER FIVE.
THE BATTLE BETWEEN THE ESMERALDA AND THE HUASCAR.
On the following morning, shortly after daybreak, Rebolledo Williams
began his preparations for a further bombardment of Iquique; but, just
as he was on the point of opening fire, the _Blanco Encalada's_ yeoman
of signals presented himself with a report that the Chilian gunboat
_Magellanes_--a vessel of 772 tons displacement and of eleven knots
speed--had just made her appearance in the bay, coming up from the
southward, and flying the signal, "Have important news to communicate."
The admiral therefore ordered operations to be suspended for the moment,
and waited impatiently for the captain of the _Magellanes_ to come
aboard and make his report. The little vessel was evidently in a hurry,
for she steamed in at full speed, and did not bring up until close
alongside the flagship. The anchor then splashed down to the
accompaniment of a roar of chain-cable through the hawse-pipe the
captain's gig was lowered away; and a few minutes later that individual
was being pulled across the short space of water between his own ship
and the _Blanco Encalada_.
Captain Simpson was closeted for over an hour with his admiral; at the
end of which time the signal was made for the whole fleet to heave short
in readiness for an early departure. The _Magellanes_ was also ordered
to accompany the squadron. As the ships were to go northward at top
speed it was impossible to take the _Esmeralda_ along as well, in
consequence of her phenomenally low rate of speed. But as she herself
would be at the mercy of almost any hostile ship that might happen to
heave in sight while the main body of the fleet was absent, it was
decided to leave with her the gunboat _Covadonga_; and these two vessels
were ordered to continue the blockade of the port to the best of their
ability.
The news brought by the _Magellanes_ very soon filtered through the
fleet, and was to the effect that her skipper had been sent from
Valparaiso to inform the admiral that the Peruvian President Prado
intended to leave Callao, on the night of May 16, for Arica, in the
paddle-transport _Oroya_; and that he was to be accompanied by the
_Independencia, Huascar, Chalaco_, and _Limena_. Admiral Williams was
therefore ordered to abandon the blockade of Iquique, and, proceeding
northward immediately, was to endeavour to intercept the squadron and,
by forcing a fleet action, to destroy it, and so deal a fatal blow at
the naval power of Peru. Simpson also reported that while on his way to
join the flag he had fallen in, off the mouth of the river Loa, with the
Peruvian warships _Union_ and _Pilcomayo_, and that he had fought a
running action of over two hours with them; his final escape being
entirely due to his superior speed; as either of the Peruvian vessels
would alone have been more than a match for his own little ship.
This news occasioned the utmost bustle and activity among the Chilians.
Every man was most eager to be off, for the prospect of a decisive
action appealed irresistibly to all, both officers and men.
Jim Douglas, however, was found by the ship's surgeon to be suffering
from a very severe attack of prostration, which had doubtless been
brought on by his recent experiences ashore at Iquique. Sorely against
his will, he was removed aboard the little _Esmeralda_, together with a
number of other sick men, the admiral having decided that since he was
almost certain to be obliged to fight a severe battle, he would take
with him no men save such as were absolutely sound.
Amid the commiseration of his friends, among whom was, of course,
Terence O'Meara, Jim, together with other sick men from the flagship's
crew, was put into a steam-launch and conveyed to the gunboat, from the
deck of which he watched, half an hour later, while comfortably seated
in a deck-chair, the departure of the Chilian squadron, consisting of
the _Blanco Encalada, Almirante Cochrane, O'Higgins, Chacabuco,
Magellanes_, and _Abtao_, the last-named being filled with combustibles
so that she might serve, if necessary, as a fire-ship.
The poor lad felt very keenly disappointed at being unable to accompany
the fleet and take part in the action which everybody confidently looked
forward to as being inevitable; but, had he only known it, fortune was
at that moment about to smile on him, for Rebolledo Williams did not
catch a glimpse of the Peruvians, while the _Esmeralda_ and _Covadonga_
were presently to take part in a fight which has since become world-
famous, by reason of the dauntless bravery which was exhibited by the
Chilians in the face of overwhelming odds.