only thirty-one years of age, but was the senior officer of the two
ships; the _Covadonga_ was commanded by Carlos Condell, whose name has
also passed into history. As has been said, Admiral Williams, having
kept too close in under the land, altogether missed the Peruvian fleet,
which escorted President Prado safely into Arica. The _Huascar_,
Captain Grau, and the _Independencia_, Captain J.G. Moore, thereupon
proceeded southward in the hope of falling in with some of the Chilian
ships, and, having looked into Pisagua to make sure that the squadron of
Rebolledo Williams was not lurking there, went on again toward Iquique,
off which port they appeared at daybreak on the morning of May 21.
Jim, having had nearly a week in which to recover from his attack of
prostration, was by this time quite himself again; and it was with keen
satisfaction that he reported himself to the commander as fit for duty,
upon the appearance of the two Peruvian warships. The lion-hearted
captain, when he saw the enormous superiority of the vessels opposed to
him, recognised at once that he would have no chance in the coming
encounter; but, quite undaunted, prepared at once for action, and
signalled to the _Covadonga_ to do the same. Both gunboats were
fortunately under steam at the time, although the little _Esmeralda's_
boilers were in such a shocking condition that she could muster only
sufficient power to move herself as fast as a man could walk. In a few
minutes both vessels were as completely prepared for action as it was
possible for them to be, and, calling aft his crew, many of whom were
invalids, Prat made a short speech to them, which exhibited the lion
courage of the man who has been called "the hero of Chili." He said:
"Children, the odds are against us, but our flag has thus far never been
lowered in the presence of the enemy, and I hope that it will not be to-
day. As long as I live that flag shall fly in its place; and if I die,
my officers will know how to do their duty."
The men were then dismissed to their quarters, and almost immediately
afterwards--at eight o'clock in the morning--the _Huascar_ fired the
first shot, which fell right between the two Chilian ships, and then
began one of the most memorable sea-fights that have ever been recorded
in history. The Chilians at once replied with every available gun, and
the action instantly became fierce, the _Huascar_ singling out the
_Esmeralda_ as her antagonist, while the _Covadonga_ was attacked by the
_Independencia_.
The Peruvian ironclads steamed slowly along toward their prey, the
_Huascar_ firing her two 10-inch turret-guns as she came, but she was
somewhat handicapped by the circumstance that there was great risk of
her shot striking the town, which was, of course, still in Peruvian
hands. But each of these shells weighed as much as 300 pounds; and
whenever they hit the unfortunate sloop at which they were aimed, the
effect was terrible. One of them pierced her thin side, and penetrating
to the engine-room, burst there, killing every one of the engineers, and
partially disabling the crazy engines. Arturo Prat, however,
immediately detached from among the invalids a squad of men to do duty
in the engine-room, and redoubled his fire upon his opponent, keeping up
such a furious fusillade with his small-arms that Captain Grau of the
_Huascar_ mistook it for machine-gun fire; and so excellent was the aim
of the marksmen that it destroyed the Peruvians who were working the
unprotected guns, and prevented them from being replaced.
Jim was here, there, and everywhere, encouraging and cheering on his
men, both with voice and example; but the odds were most fearfully
against the Chilians. Shot fell upon the unfortunate _Esmeralda_ like
hail, and one of them shivered Douglas's sword in his hand as he waved
it above his head. The undaunted crew of the sloop were too fully
occupied with the work of fighting the _Huascar_ to take any notice of
what was happening in the town behind them, and suddenly a shower of
shells began to hurtle over the devoted craft from shoreward. The
Peruvians there had dragged down to the beach a battery of field-pieces,
with which they now opened a galling fire upon the _Esmeralda_. Her
present berth at once became untenable, for she had not enough men left
to work the guns on both broadsides, and Commander Prat at once rang
down to his engine-room for "full speed ahead," the anchor having been
raised at the beginning of the action; and the doomed vessel's engines
began the last revolutions that they were ever to make.
As soon as she was seen to be slowly steaming farther out into the bay,
the captain of the _Huascar_ determined to try to ram his opponent, and
thus end the fight at once. He accordingly steamed for the _Esmeralda_
at a speed of about eight knots, steering north-east, while the sloop
was steering due north but was only just moving through the water.
Douglas at once divined the intention of the Peruvian and shouted a
warning to Prat, who had left the bridge for a few moments in order to
assist with the repairing of a gun, the mechanism of which had become
jammed, and the gallant commander immediately sprang to his bridge-
telegraph, and rang for all the steam his boilers could give him. But
the engineers were already getting every possible ounce of work out of
the crazy machinery, and the sloop's speed could not be increased! For
two dreadful minutes the combatants paused, as if by mutual consent,
while the _Huascar_ rushed onward, like some fearful sea-monster, at its
prey.
But Captain Grau stopped his engines just a few seconds too soon, and
the _Esmeralda_ was within an ace of scraping clear. She was nearly
past--only a few yards more and she would be in safety--but her wretched
engines chose just that precise moment to break down, and the sloop at
once lost her way. The next second the Peruvian monitor struck her with
a concussion that threw every man to the deck; but the blow was
fortunately a glancing one, and the _Huascar_ rubbed harmlessly along
the sides of the sloop, coming to a standstill alongside her in
consequence of the entanglement of some raised port-shutters.
Now was the Chilian's last opportunity to snatch success out of the jaws
of failure, and Captain Prat immediately seized it.
Waving his sword above his head, he shouted: "Boarders, away! Follow me
all who are able!" And he sprang over the side of his ship on to the
decks of the _Huascar_.
Douglas was the second man aboard the Peruvian monitor, and he raced
along her deck, followed by only twelve men, in the wake of his gallant
commander. The Peruvians were not prepared for the attack, as they had
quite expected to sink the little sloop with the first blow of the
_Huascar's_ ram; but they quickly recovered from their surprise and
swarmed out of the turret, and up from below, charging furiously upon
the boarders, with drawn cutlasses and revolvers. Scarcely a man, it
appeared, had been touched aboard the Peruvian, owing to the great
thickness of her armour-plating, and her crew, being practically intact,
brought an overwhelming force to bear upon the handful of invaders, who
were instantly surrounded by their enemies.
There were but fourteen of them, all told, against quite a hundred of
the _Huascar's_ people, but they fought like the heroes they were, and
repeatedly charged home with their cutlasses, into the thick of the foe.
Prat, still at the head of his men, laid about him with his red-stained
sword, and encouraged them, both by voice and example, in the which he
was ably seconded by Douglas, who took upon himself the task of guarding
his captain's rear. Cut and thrust, cut and thrust, the little band
raged at the Peruvians; and for a few seconds it really seemed as though
their desperate valour would prevail. But, alas, they had all long
since emptied their revolvers, and only their blades remained to them,
many of which had been broken by the delivery and warding of furious
blows, so that many of the men were obliged to use their bare fists, or
their pistols held club-wise.
Such an unequal conflict could not long endure; the Chilians were
falling, man after man, but all fighting desperately to the very last.
Then, from somewhere up aloft, rifle-bullets began to hurtle among them,
and then the end was very near. Looking upward, Douglas saw that a
number of Peruvians, armed with rifles, had clambered up on the roof of
the turret, and up into the _Huascar's_ low fighting-tops, and were
firing directly downward into them.
It was one of these bullets that put an end to the career of the gallant
Chilian commander. He and Jim were fighting, shoulder to shoulder, and,
at the head of only five men, were endeavouring to cut a way through
their foes in order to regain their own ship. Indeed, their desperate
valour had nearly carried them through when Prat, suddenly dropping his
reeking sword, put both hands up to his face, and, after swaying on his
feet for a second, fell into Jim's arms. His face, as Douglas saw when
the dead hands fell away, was literally shot to pieces by at least half
a dozen bullets which must have struck simultaneously. Nothing could be
done for the gallant sailor, for he must have died instantaneously, so
Jim allowed him to sink gently to the deck, and took up his own defence
again. There were only two men now left, beside himself, and escape
seemed absolutely hopeless, when a volley of rifle-bullets plumped into
the circle of Peruvians, evidently fired by some of the few remaining
members of the sloop's crew. Taken by surprise, the Peruvians scattered
for a moment; and Jim, with the two Chilian seamen, took advantage of
the opening and dashed through the crowd, gaining the _Huascar's_ side
in safety. But to his horror he found that the two ships had drifted
apart, and that the _Esmeralda_ was even now steaming away, at a very
slow speed, certainly, but still far beyond the reach of the three
deserted men on the _Huascar_!
Jim took one hasty look round and then, putting his hands above his
head, plunged downward into the sea, and began to strike out after his
own ship. A few bullets splashed harmlessly into the water alongside
him, and then the Peruvians turned their attention to other and larger
prey. The _Huascar_ went ahead once more and, taking a wide circle,
presented her stem once more at the unfortunate _Esmeralda_. Jim then
recognised that the sloop was doomed, and that it would be of no use for
him to strive to regain her. It would be better to endeavour to reach
the _Covadonga_, should she still be afloat, and he looked round to see
whether he could see her.
To his great surprise, even as he was looking for her, he heard a shout
and saw the gunboat heading directly for him, with the _Independencia_
in hot pursuit. Carlos Condell, seeing the fate of his consort, and
realising that he was hopelessly outmatched, had evidently determined to
retreat while his engines were still intact; and the _Covadonga_ was now
heading out of the bay at full speed to the southward.
For a moment Douglas thought that the ship would run over him, but a
second glance showed him that it was evidently Condell's intention to
try to pick him up. As the _Covadonga_ approached, her captain sent his
engines hard astern, checking the vessel's speed sufficiently to allow
of Jim being picked up by a rope which, already noosed, was cleverly
thrown to him.
Although the lad thought that his body must certainly be torn in half by
the strain upon the rope, he was safely hauled aboard and deposited on
deck, whereupon Captain Condell again sent his engines ahead at full
speed and resumed his flight. Jim was soon upon his feet again, and
almost before he had fully recovered his breath an officer came up to
him to tell him that Commander Condell wished to see him, in order to
receive a report from him as to what had, up to now, occurred aboard the
_Esmeralda_. Jim therefore made his way to the little conning-tower
where Carlos Condell was directing the fighting of his ship; but before
he had time to enter he saw the final act in the fight between the
_Huascar_ and the _Esmeralda_.
The Peruvian had dashed straight at the sloop and, stopping his engines
when only eighty feet away from her, had struck her fairly on the
starboard broadside, piercing a huge hole in her side, through which the
water poured in cataracts. That finished the fight; and at ten minutes
after twelve o'clock mid-day the gallant little _Esmeralda_, with her
colours still flying, and guns still firing, plunged downward out of
sight into the deep blue waters of Iquique bay, having fought a most
heroic battle against overwhelming odds.
Jim was not long in making his report to Captain Condell, and with a
glance at the _Independencia_, which was hard upon the _Covadonga's_
heels, firing as she came, he now ran down below to change into dry
clothes and equip himself with another sword and revolver; having, of
course, lost his own when he jumped into the sea.
The _Independencia_ was a slightly faster craft than the _Covadonga_,
but she drew a good deal more water; and Captain Condell, with masterly
skill, availed himself of this circumstance to the full, by running
across shoals over which the Peruvian ship dared not follow him, and by
keeping quite close in to the shore where she could not approach.
Luckily, too, the _Independencia's_ gunners were raw, and found great
difficulty in hitting the little gunboat; but whenever they did the
execution on board the small craft was tremendous, by reason of the huge
size of the projectiles.
At last, finding that he could not hit the _Covadonga_ in a vital spot,
or bring her to a standstill, Captain Moore, the Peruvian captain,
determined to risk his own ship in an endeavour to bring the running
fight to a close. The combatants were now off Punto Gruesos, where the
shore was steeper, and the water consequently of greater depth, and
Moore decided to ram his opponent. He gradually edged closer and closer
to the _Covadonga_--continually firing his heavy guns, to which the
Chilian replied with a withering small-arm fire--until he was separated
by only about a cable's-length from the gunboat.
He now suddenly changed his course from south to south-south-east and
steered straight for the _Covadonga_, which was within a hundred yards
of the beach, and had herself just touched a rock in her passage over
it. But alas for the Peruvian, she missed her blow, and struck
immediately upon the rock over which the gunboat had a moment before
passed, becoming immovably fixed there.
"Now," roared Condell to the helmsman, "up with the helm, and we will go
about and destroy that fellow completely. Senor Douglas," he continued,
to Jim, "kindly go down and superintend the working of that forward 70-
pounder gun; I am told that the lieutenant in charge has been killed by
the _Independencia's_ last shot."
Jim ran off, as requested, and took charge of the weapon, while the
_Covadonga_, describing a wide curve, wheeled round until she presented
her bow to the wrecked Peruvian, and at a distance of about half a mile,
began to plump shell right into her stern. Jim made excellent practice
with the gun, and put shot after shot into the hapless vessel, each of
which, entering her stern, passed through the whole length of the ship,
finally setting her on fire in several places. Then, the
_Independencia's_ hull having very nearly filled with water, she fell
over on her side and became a complete wreck. Jim, however, still
continued his firing until a man on board the Peruvian crawled aft and,
hauling down the colours, hoisted a white flag in its place. The
_Covadonga_ then, and only then, ceased firing.
But unfortunately she could not enjoy the fruits of her victory, for, at
the very moment when the Peruvian surrendered, the _Huascar_, having
picked up the survivors of the _Esmeralda's_ crew, made her appearance
beyond the western end of the island which forms the south side of the
bay of Iquique. The gunboat was, of course, no match for the monitor;
and Condell was therefore reluctantly compelled to abandon the
_Independencia_ and seek his own safety in flight to the southward.
Jim therefore fired a gun in defiance at the _Huascar_, which
immediately took up the pursuit, and the _Covadonga_ steamed away toward
Antofagasta, which she reached on the following day, having run the
_Huascar_ out of sight; that ship being unable to steam very fast in
consequence of an injury to her bow, caused by the ramming of the
_Esmeralda_.
CHAPTER SIX.
THE INCA'S PROPHECY.
On reaching Antofagasta the _Covadonga_ went into the roads and lay
inside the reef which stretches across their entrance; and there, her
captain, Carlos Condell, telegraphed to Valparaiso, giving details of
the previous day's fight, and asking for further orders, while he set
about repairing the very extensive damage which had been sustained by
his ship in her fight with the _Independencia_. On the following day
Condell received news from Valparaiso to the effect that the Chilian
fleet had gone north to Callao; and was instructed that he himself was
to rejoin as soon as he received word from Iquique that Admiral Williams
had returned to that port. He was further instructed to proceed,
meanwhile, as rapidly as possible, with the repairs to his own ship.
The gunboat was accordingly hauled alongside the wharf at Antofagasta,
her heavy guns were lifted out of her, and the vessel was careened in
order that the shot-holes below her water-line might be plugged.
As the work on the _Covadonga_ would, it was expected, occupy at least a
fortnight, Jim Douglas applied to Commander Condell for leave to go
ashore occasionally, that he might explore the quaint old town, which
dated back to a period long anterior to the conquest of Peru by Pizarro
and his band of adventurers.
During his short sojourn on board the _Covadonga_ Jim had formed a
rather intimate acquaintanceship with her first lieutenant, a man named
Jorge Montt; and one evening, after he had returned from one of his
periodical surveys of the town, Jim entered the tiny mess-room to find
Montt discoursing at length to an eager circle of listeners upon the
legends and traditions of old Peru.
"Yes," Montt was saying, as Douglas entered, "it is an undisputed fact
that there are thousands--nay, tens of thousands--of the descendants of
the ancient Inca race now living in Peru, Bolivia, and upper Chili, who
implicitly believe that a time will come when the Incas will regain
their old supremacy, drive all the Latin races out of this part of South
America, and re-establish the old Inca monarchy once more, in all its
pristine glory. You know, of course, that there are many stories extant
in this country as to the existence of vast hoards of buried treasure?
Well, it is prophesied, I believe, that one day a man shall arise in
Peru who shall head a vast Indian insurrection and drive the
`oppressors' into the sea; and his power will, it is said, be derived
from these enormous hoards of buried treasure, the locality of which is
well known among the Incas, and which will be revealed to the
`Libertador'--when he makes his appearance. The study of these Indian
traditions is very interesting, I assure you, gentlemen," he concluded.
"But then," remarked Jim, who had sat down and was listening intently,
"nearly all semi-civilised races have traditions of the same sort. Take
the North American Indians, for instance; or the Zulus. Why, even the
Chinese believe that one day a chief will arise among them who shall
lead them to the conquest of the whole world! I do not think there is
very much in these old legends. Every nation has them, in some form or
other."
"Yes, that is so," agreed Montt; "but I have studied the history of the
Inca races very closely, and, so far as my experience goes, there is no
nation on earth whose prophecies are so likely to come to pass as are
theirs. I am personally aware of many occasions on which prophecies
made by members of this strange race have come true in the most
marvellous way. For myself, I feel convinced that the Incas really have
some means, unknown to us, of foretelling future events; for I once
visited in my youth an old woman in this very town of Antofagasta, who
prophesied many things about my future, many of which have, so far, come
true, and the rest of which will doubtless happen in due time."
Montt finished his remarks to the accompaniment of a chorus of derisive
laughter, and a number of voices were raised in protest against his
attempted imposition upon their credulity. Whereupon the lieutenant
became somewhat angry, and replied shortly:
"Well, gentlemen, you may believe me or not, as you please; but it is
the truth that I am telling you; and I can take you to that identical
personage, if you wish, for I believe she still lives here, and you can
therefore experiment for yourselves, should you feel so inclined. For
my own part I believe implicitly everything that she told me. Now, are
any of you willing to accompany me to this Inca woman's house and put
her powers to the test?"
There was a lengthy pause, for all the officers were either Chilians or
of Chilian descent, and the South American races are notoriously
superstitious. But Jim, being an Englishman, had no qualms; and he
felt, for some reason or other, a great curiosity to see this strange
personage. He therefore replied:
"Well, Montt, if none of these other gentlemen feel disposed to go with
you, perhaps you will have no objection to take me? I am very much
interested in all matters of this kind, and I have been impressed by
what you have just told us. I should very much like to go with you, if
you don't mind."
Montt bowed gravely and answered: "By all means, Senor Douglas; I shall
be only too pleased; for I am sure that the woman would interest you,
whether you believe in second sight or not. I shall be off duty to-
morrow evening, after six o'clock. We shall dine at half-past, as
usual, I suppose: how would half-past seven suit you as the time for
going ashore? We could be back before midnight, easily, if we went at
that time."
"Yes," Douglas agreed, "that time will suit me very well, Senor Montt;
and I shall look forward to our expedition with great interest."
The conversation then turned upon other matters, and the subject was
dropped; but the next evening, after dinner, Douglas reminded Montt of
their arrangement; and the two men, dressing themselves in mufti,
stepped off the _Covadonga_ on to the wharf, and made their way up into
the town.
They walked along the sea-front, where the horse-trams were wont to ply
before the electric cars were introduced, right away up to the north end
of the promenade, until they came to the Hotel de Sucre, where they
turned off to the right, up a very narrow and badly-lighted side-street,
which conducted them into a part of the city very much resembling the
place in Iquique into which Jim had been inveigled. Indeed Jim began to
have some doubts as to the wisdom of their little adventure when he saw
the evil glances and scowls of hatred which everywhere met them on their
progress; for it was not so very long that the Chilians had occupied the
place.
However, Montt betrayed not the slightest uneasiness, and assured his
friend that the Bolivians always looked askance at strangers in the
city, and as they were both dressed in mufti, so that their connection
with the Chilians was not apparent, the young Englishman decided not to
worry himself about the matter, but to trust entirely to his companion's
discretion.
They traversed a number of narrow side-streets and gloomy alleys, and
presently came out in the broad _Plaza de la Libertad_, where some
patriotic orator was volubly holding forth about the rights of man and
the iniquity of the Chilian invasion. Montt hurriedly seized Jim's arm
as the Englishman was on the point of crossing the road to hear what the
orator had to say, and guided him away to the left, so that they skirted
the _plaza_ instead of crossing it.