flagship, and, by the help of the chart and compass, knew exactly where
to find the fleet again when his perilous mission had been accomplished.
He steamed along northward over the three or four miles which separated
him from Arica in extended column of line abreast, so that the chances
of detection should be as much reduced as possible, and so that they
could pick up any small craft which might perchance be cruising about in
the neighbourhood; and he had already arranged a simple code of signals,
whereby the three small steamers might communicate with one another
without attracting undue attention to themselves.
Half an hour after pushing off from the _Blanco Encalada_, the flotilla
came abreast of the southern extremity of Santa Catharina island, and
Jim knew that in another five minutes he would obtain a full view of the
harbour, when he would also know whether his intended prey lay in the
roads or not. The heart of every man in the little flotilla beat fast,
and his breath came thickly under the stress of the intense excitement
of the moment; and Jim, from his position in the stern of the _Blanco's_
launch, tried to pierce the darkness with his eyes to get the first
glimpse of the Peruvian vessels.
A moment later the three boats, closer together now, swept round the
northern end of the island, and Arica roadstead lay in full view before
them.
It was now the hour before the dawn, and consequently the night was at
its darkest, but Jim could hardly repress a cry of delight as he caught
sight of four indistinct, dark masses, looming up on the surface of the
bay. There were no lights showing anywhere, save in one or two isolated
houses on shore, where sickness probably kept the inmates awake; but he
had not expected to find any lights showing among the Peruvian fleet,
since they would naturally desire to keep their whereabouts hidden from
chance Chilian prowlers. But in Jim's mind there was no doubt that the
four shapeless blurs lying close together, about half a mile away, were
the vessels of which he had come in search; and he passed the word to
the other launches to select each her own particular vessel, torpedo
her, and then steam away back to the Chilian fleet. He himself intended
to be responsible for two of the Peruvians, while his consorts were
instructed to take one a-piece. No conditions, he thought to himself,
could have been more favourable to the enterprise. So far as he could
make out, no suspicion had been aroused that the Chilians were in the
vicinity; the night was dark, and the town seemed to be asleep. In
fact, their enemies appeared to be indulging in a feeling of security
from which they would awake--too late!
The order was now passed for the launches to ease down to half-speed, so
that the sound of the churning propellers might be less perceptible, and
the three boats crept forward almost in complete silence upon their
prey. Jim could now plainly make out the brig-rig of the monitor
_Huascar_, and the three masts and single funnel of the corvette
_Union_, and these two ships he intended to account for with his own
torpedo-boat. Away to the right, close under the forts, and about four
hundred yards from the _Huascar_, lay what looked like a couple of other
monitors. He had quite expected, or at least hoped, to find one other
monitor there, the _Manco Capac_, but not a third; for, according to the
information received, the fourth ship should have been the _Pilcomayo_
gunboat. But, no matter; it would be as easy to blow up an ironclad
monitor as a gunboat; and Jim ordered each of the other two torpedo-
boats to select one of the monitors lying under the forts, while he
himself steamed toward the vessels which he took to be the _Huascar_ and
the _Union_.
After waiting about five minutes, to allow of the other two launches
getting close to their objectives, Jim inquired in a low tone if all was
in readiness; and upon being informed that everything was prepared,
called in a whisper to Terry O'Meara, "Full speed ahead, and give her
every ounce of steam she can carry!"
In response to this command the little steamer's propeller suddenly
started to revolve at a tremendous rate under the pressure of steam
which Terry let into the cylinders; her stern dipped several inches
deeper into the water, and with a rippling noise like that of tearing
silk at her bows, she darted toward the nearest ship, which Douglas took
to be the _Huascar_, and which could not have been more than five
hundred yards away.
Nearer and nearer they rushed, the men in the bows craning their necks
eagerly forward to see where the torpedo would strike, and Jim, in the
stern, crouching over the tiller and holding his boat's bows fair and
square for the middle of his prey. It occurred to him, for a moment, as
being rather curious that even now he could detect no signs of life
aboard either of the Peruvian ships, for he had fully calculated on the
launches being seen and an alarm raised ere he had approached so close.
But no suspicion entered his mind, and he thanked his lucky stars that
he had been fortunate enough to catch the enemy totally unprepared. It
would make his task so much the easier.
Now the little steamer was quite close to the Peruvian monitor, and in a
few seconds more the blow would be struck which would send a warship and
her entire crew to the bottom. Oh, the fools! he thought to himself,
not to take more care of their ship. They were doomed; nothing could
now save them; success was within his grasp. Five seconds more--then
three--then two. Now the spar with its deadly torpedo was almost
touching the _Huascar's_ side--
_Crash_!
A rending sound of ripping and tearing timber and another awful crash
came immediately afterward, and every man in the _Blanco Encalada's_
launch was hurled off his feet, and thrown either into the bottom of the
boat or overboard, while the little steamer's bows rose bodily out of
the water until her keel reached an angle of almost forty-five degrees,
and there she stuck, still quivering in every timber from the shock.
In a second Jim realised the terrible truth. By some means or other the
Peruvians had got wind of the intended attack, and had placed a stout
boom of timber all round the ship, and it was upon this obstacle that
the Chilian launch had charged at full speed, running right up on to it
with the force of the blow, and remaining there immovable and almost a
wreck.
Jim's first thought was of how to warn the people in the other two
launches, for if the enemy had been prepared for attack in one quarter,
he would certainly have taken the same precautions in the other. Ah,
yes! There were several blue rockets in a locker in the stern-sheets;
these would serve to show that something had gone wrong, and might
perhaps save the others from a similar mishap.
Jim scrambled out of his seat and was just raising the locker lid when a
long streak of flame burst from the _Huascar's_ side. There was a
deafening, thudding roar, and a stream of machine-gun bullets screeched
and hummed over their heads. They had indeed walked right into a
cunningly contrived trap, and the Peruvians had been on the watch for
them the whole time.
The next minute there was a dull roar away to starboard, and Jim saw,
out of the corner of his eye, a huge column of water leap up, with
something dark poised upon the top of it. In a second he realised that
one at least of his consorts had been successful and had torpedoed her
prey; but even before the column of water had subsided, there broke out
a crash of musketry aboard the second monitor, and sparks of fire sprang
up in different parts of her, which quickly brightened into a lurid
glare and showed that her people were lighting beacon-fires, the better
to see who their attackers might be and their whereabouts.
Truly it was the Chilians who had been taken by surprise, not their
enemies! And what a mess they had made of it all, too!
But there was no time now to think about the other launches; they would
have to look after themselves; for Jim's whole energies were now
directed toward the saving of his own boat's crew. After the first
volley of machine-gun fire from the ship which he had attacked, the
Peruvians got their aim right, and sent a perfect hail of Gatling,
Nordenfeldt, and rifle-bullets hurtling into the wrecked launch, so that
her men began to fall in all directions. Beacon-fires were also lighted
in bow and stern and at amidships, so that the vivid red glare shed a
lurid radiance over everything within a hundred yards. And by their
light Douglas saw that the ship which he had attacked was _not_ the
_Huascar_ at all; neither was the craft lying close to her the _Union_!
They were a pair of old hulks, roughly metamorphosed so as to resemble
the warships, and heavy barriers of floating timber had been thrown out
all round them, while they had been armed with machine-guns and crowds
of riflemen. The monitor and the corvette had escaped out of Arica
harbour to continue their depredations elsewhere, and the _Pilcomayo_
had probably gone with them. The Chilians had walked into a cleverly
set trap and were paying dearly for their mistake.
Jim quickly recovered his presence of mind, and springing out of the
launch while the bullets whistled about his ears, started to examine the
boat in order to ascertain whether she were still seaworthy. He soon
discovered that although there were numerous holes in her planking, they
were all above the water-line, as luck would have it, and although a
long piece of her keel was gone, it had not started the boat's timbers
so far as he could see.
"Now, boys," he shouted, "if we can get the launch back into the water
we may escape after all. Who will lend me a hand?"
The men needed no second bidding, but sprang to their young leader's
assistance, and worked with all the energy of despair. Man after man
fell under the deadly hail of fire from the hulk, but as fast as they
fell others took their places, until at last, under their furious
exertions, the little steamer began to quiver, and then moved slightly
backward off the boom. There was an ominous cracking of timber for a
few seconds, as some part of her splintered planking caught in the
obstruction, and then, with a rending, tearing noise, it gave way, and
the launch slid into the water of the bay, shipping a ton or two of it
over her stern as she splashed in. But she was afloat once more, and
could she only come unscathed through that inferno of bullets, the few
remaining members of her crew might, even yet, hope to escape at last.
"Into the boat with you," cried Jim; "into the boat, all but four men.
You, Terry, get to your engines, and give me all the steam you can,
while the others bale the boat clear of all that water. Now, you four
men," he went on, "I am going to ask you to help me in a very dangerous
task. I am not going to leave this ship with my duty unfinished. I
intend to torpedo her, at all hazards! Cut loose that spar at once, and
we will place it along the boom in such a way that the torpedo touches
this ship's side. I will then cut a short length of fuse, and attach it
to the explosive, so that it will burn for about a minute. That will
just give us time to get out of reach before the powder blows up, and
will not leave the Peruvians sufficient to displace the torpedo. Now
then, grapple hold of the spar, you four men, and stand by to push all
together when I give the word. Be ready, Terry, my boy, to go ahead
with your engines directly we scramble on board, for a second's delay
may mean that we shall all be blown to smithereens. Give me that piece
of fuse, Carlos. There, that has fixed that up," continued Douglas, as
he cut and placed the slow match in the opening provided for it. "Now
then, all together--lift!"
As Jim gave the word the men gripped the spar, lifted it, and pushed it
forward until the pointed barrel-like apparatus at its further extremity
touched the ship's side. The Peruvians up above were by this time aware
of what the Chilians contemplated, and turned all their attention to the
men engaged upon the dangerous task of fixing the spar, thus giving
those in the launch a welcome respite.
But owing to the hulk's high bulwarks and her great amount of "sheer,"
they could not fire directly into Jim's party, and the bullets plugged
harmlessly into the boom about a yard behind the Chilians. Jim then
ordered the men to place all their weight upon the spar, and this having
been done, he clambered nimbly along it until he came to the torpedo.
Then he rearranged the fuse, struck a match and applied it.
There immediately began a violent splutter of sparks, accompanied by a
fizzing noise, and Jim knew that no power on earth could now avert the
imminent explosion. Like a cat he worked his way backwards along the
spar, which bent and heaved under his weight, until presently he stood
once more upon the beam.
"Now, there's no time to waste," gasped Douglas, as the five men stood
in the shelter of the hulk's tall sides. "We must make a rush all
together, and trust to getting aboard the launch unhit. But if any of
us are wounded, the wounded must remain where they are; for any attempt
at rescue will mean the death of us all. Now then--go!"
As one man the five brave fellows sprang forward, hoping to reach the
launch before the Peruvians were ready for them. But the latter were on
the look-out, and as the men left their shelter, rifles and machine-guns
cracked and roared once more. Two men fell, literally riddled with
shot, but the others scrambled aboard the launch, and Jim gasped out,
"Go ahead, Terry!" not a moment too soon.
The launch had not got more than fifty yards away when there was an
appalling explosion, and the whole side of the hulk seemed to fall
bodily inward. She heeled over, and almost instantly plunged into the
depths of the bay, the waters of which at once closed over her, dragging
down the living and the dead, in the fearful vortex which she created.
Jim then sent up a blue rocket to call the other boats away, for it was
hopeless to attempt anything farther that night, and half an hour later
he was rejoined, just as day was dawning, by the _Almirante Cochrane_
launch, which was almost in a worse state than his own. She brought
word that the two monitors had been the _Manco Capac_ and _Atahualpa_,
and that the Hereschoff torpedo-boat, under Juarez, had blown up the
latter, but had herself been destroyed by the _Manco Capac_. Three men
only had been rescued from her crew, and these were on board the
_Cochrane's_ boat, which had herself lost nearly three-quarters of her
men. Taking it all round, however, the attacking force had not done so
badly, having destroyed a two thousand-ton ironclad and sunk a hulk full
of men and guns, with a loss of one small torpedo-boat, and seventeen
men killed.
Jim then gave orders for the wounded to be made as comfortable as
possible under the circumstances, and the two launches continued their
journey back to the fleet, which was reached about eight o'clock. The
young man immediately made his report to the commodore, and the latter,
who seemed to have no mind of his own, then called another council of
officers to decide whether they should enter the bay and destroy the
_Manco Capac_ and the forts, or whether they should take up the pursuit
of the other three Peruvian warships which had eluded them in so
mysterious a way.
It was unanimously decided to pursue, so as to prevent them from doing
any further damage; and Riveros therefore divided his squadron into two
parts, consisting of the _Almirante Cochrane_ and _Blanco Encalada_ in
one division; and the _O'Higgins, Loa_, and _Mathias Cousino_ in the
other. One column, consisting of the three latter vessels, was to steam
a hundred miles due westward, and then head south, while the admiral
would proceed in the same direction, but would keep close in along the
coast.
These arrangements having been made, the captains returned to their
respective ships, the anchors were raised, and the fleet separated into
two divisions--one going south direct, and the other going west in the
first instance.
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 the _Blanco Encalada_ looked
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 hundred _pesos_ to 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 the _Almirante
Cochrane_, had also offered a similar reward; and every man aboard the
_Blanco_ made up his mind that _his_ ship 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 the
_Blanco Encalada's_ launch, 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 the
_Almirante Cochrane_ started, 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, it _may_, 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, there _is_ the 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 the
_Blanco 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 the _Cochrane_ launch 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 the _Blanco 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 the _Blanco_! 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."