Under the Chilian Flag Part 12

Away through the blackness swept the little torpedo-boat, with not a light showing anywhere on board her. The men had even been forbidden to smoke; and the stokers down below put coal on as carefully as though the furnaces were a lady's drawing-room fire, so that there might be no flicker of flame hovering over the top of the funnel, or even so much as a spark to betray their whereabouts. In a little less than half an hour after leaving the _Blanco Encalada_ the _Janequeo_ sneaked round the south-east corner of San Lorenzo Island, being very careful not to collide with the big buoys which marked each Chilian vessel's moorings.

These pa.s.sed, she slid in between San Lorenzo and Fronton, and entered the Boqueron Pa.s.sage, coming in sight of the small lighthouse which was, strangely enough, still allowed to show its light at the back of the Dos de Mayo battery. Luckily for the daring little vessel searchlights had not yet come into vogue, or she could scarcely have hoped to escape discovery, for when she crossed the Camotal Bank, previous to turning to starboard in order to run up Callao Bay, she was so close insh.o.r.e that her crew could plainly hear the shouts of the Peruvian soldiers who occupied the Mayo battery, and who were evidently holding a high carousal. For this circ.u.mstance Jim thanked his lucky stars, for there was the less likelihood of any men being on watch; while the noise they were making would prevent them from hearing, as a careful listener might have done, the throbbing of the _Janequeo's_ engines and the churning of her propeller.

Just as they had rounded the point, however, and the boat had turned her nose north-east, the baccha.n.a.lian sounds from the battery suddenly ceased, and lights began to flicker among the earthworks. Jim felt his heart stand still, for discovery now would mean the utter ruin of his project, to say nothing of the death of all of them; for a shot from one of those enormous 20-inch guns would send the frail _Janequeo_ to the bottom like a stone, if it chanced to hit her. And evidently the Peruvians in that particular battery had taken alarm at something; for a tiny point of light appeared on the ramparts, and then quickly flared up into a bright blaze. A beacon-fire had been lighted, and at any moment now its glare might reveal the presence of the torpedo-boat to the Peruvians.

Jim immediately pa.s.sed the word down to the engine-room for all the steam she could carry, and the little vessel's speed at once increased by a knot or two. They were nearly in safety now, being about five hundred yards beyond the point, and a few minutes more would take them under the shadow of the higher ground upon which the Pierola battery was placed, when the glare from the beacon would be unable to reach them.

But Jim's great fear now was lest the other batteries also might take the alarm and light their beacons; in which case he could not possibly escape discovery.

By a happy chance, however, the _Janequeo_ glided into the deep shadow, un.o.bserved; and Jim now ordered the speed to be reduced so that the boat should not make so much "fuss" in going through the water, when she stole along at a speed of about ten knots, fifteen being her maximum, of which she was quite capable, as she was a perfectly new boat. The men in Pierola, being half a mile away from the Mayo battery, had evidently not noticed the beacon light, nor were their suspicions aroused, for all was perfectly quiet as the _Janequeo_ crept safely past, with not a light gleaming anywhere in the battery to show that anybody was awake.

This battery and the two lying next to it, to the north, had, as it happened, borne the brunt of the fighting that day, and presumably the men were overcome by fatigue. Next, the Torre del Merced and Fort Santa Rosa were safely pa.s.sed, and the lights of Callao itself swung in sight; the railway station, which lay close to the waterside, was particularly brilliantly lighted, while the sounds proceeding therefrom seemed to indicate that troops were either arriving at, or were being dispatched from, the place.

They were now only about a quarter of a mile from the southern end of the mole, and Douglas pa.s.sed the word round for his crew to hold themselves in readiness, although the entrance to the harbour where the ships were lying was still half a mile distant, the mole being nearly five hundred yards in length. The queer-shaped bombs were then got up on deck, and Jim busied himself upon the task of attaching the fuses to them. He was obliged to work by the sense of touch alone, as he dared not, of course, use a light of any description. By the time that he had finished his preparations the _Janequeo_ had almost reached the northern end of the mole, and the moment was at hand for the great attempt to be made. Douglas now lessened speed still further, for he did not quite know what shape the defences to the harbour would take. He antic.i.p.ated that there would almost certainly be a number of floating mines to pa.s.s through; and it was more than likely that a patrol of the place might be maintained by launches steaming with their lights out.

A few minutes later the adventurers arrived abreast the northern end of the mole, and were made aware of the fact by a slight diminution of the pitchy blackness caused by the wall of the mole being left on their starboard quarter. The light on the pierhead was, of course, extinguished while hostilities were in progress; for the Peruvians were much too sensible to leave any beacon by which an enemy might easily make the mouth of the harbour. Jim could now see the forest of spars belonging to the ships which he had come to destroy outlined against the luminous haze formed by the lights of the town, although his own little craft was shrouded in dense blackness; and he ordered the man at the wheel to port his helm a few spokes, upon which the _Janequeo_ turned gradually to starboard until she came abreast of the harbour entrance, which was only about two hundred feet in width. He then stopped his engines altogether, and, when the torpedo-boat had come to a standstill, he proceeded to listen with all intentness for suspicious sounds. But everything was as still as the grave, and Douglas began to hug to himself the conviction that events seemed to be turning out fortunately.

He could hear no sounds aboard the Peruvian warships; and there was no sign of any patrol launches being about. Having, therefore, taken all the precautions in his power, he started his engines once more and went ahead, dead slow, turning to starboard until the _Janequeo's_ bows pointed straight for the harbour entrance. Nearer and nearer she stole, while her crew waited in readiness for action, every muscle tense and quivering with antic.i.p.ation and excitement. The bombs had been ranged in two lines of six each, one on the port and one on the starboard side, so that there would be no need to carry them far, whichever side the torpedo-boat presented to the enemy.

She was gliding through the water at a speed of about five knots when, suddenly, there was a slight grating sound, the _Janequeo's_ bows lifted out of the water, and the boat came to a dead stop, with her screw still slowly churning up the water astern. The shock caused some of the men on deck to lose their footing, and the whole row of bombs on the port side splashed overboard as the _Janequeo_ heeled in that direction. In a second Jim was on his feet and, rushing to the engine-room, bade the man in charge to stop his engines. Then he dashed on deck again, half expecting to hear the crash of guns opening fire upon him, while he listened intently in order to ascertain whether his presence had been betrayed by the disturbance.

There was no sound of alarm, however; and Douglas presently realised that, strange as it appeared, the _Janequeo_ was still undiscovered.

Then, silently, he and his men set about the task of discovering what had caused the obstruction, and they were not long in finding that a stout chain had been stretched across the entrance evidently to prevent just such an attack as this, and that the _Janequeo_ had run in upon this chain where it "sagged" in the middle, her momentum carrying her right up on to it, for her fore-foot was nearly out of the water. Thus they were in a particularly perilous predicament, for if they were discovered now no power on earth could save them; but Jim was thankful beyond measure that he had not been running in at full speed, otherwise the _Janequeo_ would most certainly have broken her back and sunk on the instant. The loss of half the bombs was very serious too, but he still had six of them left, and if he could sink a ship with each he would not have done so badly on the whole.

The question now, however, was, how were they going to get clear of the chain, and, once clear, how were they going to surmount the obstacle and get into the harbour? But, "one thing at a time," thought Douglas. Let them get off the chain first of all; and that without breaking the torpedo-boat in half or alarming the enemy. He listened again intently for any sound which would indicate that the Peruvians were stirring, and then, hearing nothing, he sent his engines astern at full speed, with the concentrated energy of a quarter of an hour's pent-up steam. The water frothed and boiled under the boat's counter, making, in the intense stillness of the night, such a disturbance that Jim thought it must be heard all over the town; but, although the boat rocked from side to side under the strain, grinding her keel and bilges against the chain, she remained immovably fixed; and Jim ordered the engines to be stopped, feeling that so violent a disturbance of the water must speedily lead to their detection.

Douglas's face became drawn, and his eyes took on a very strained look, as he realised what it would mean if he could not get the _Janequeo_ off; the Peruvians would give very short shrift to a body of men who had been caught in the attempt to torpedo their fleet. Moreover, he had heard certain gruesome stories from the Chilian seamen to the effect that some of the half-caste troops which the Peruvians had with them were rather addicted to the pastime of torturing any prisoners who might be unlucky enough to fall into their hands--a relic, undoubtedly, of the customs of their Indian ancestors.

After the engines had been stopped, Jim called a hasty council of the crew, consulting with them as to what was best to be done. They could not possibly force the boat over the chain, because, even were the engines powerful enough, the _Janequeo_ would break her back in the process.

"If only we had a couple of good strong files we might manage even yet,"

whispered Douglas, leaning over the side and feeling at the chain. "The links are not more than half an inch thick, and we could soon cut them.

Does anybody know whether there are any good stout files aboard?"

As he ceased speaking a man dived down through the tiny engine-room hatch, and presently reappeared, bearing in his hands two large files.

"We have these, senor," he whispered excitedly to Jim; "they were brought on board this morning from the _Blanco_, when I was doing some repairs to the engines, and I forgot to take them back before we started. How will they do?"

Douglas eagerly seized the tools and ran his thumb along the edges.

They were very rough and coa.r.s.e, being hardly worn at all, and were just what was wanted for the purpose. Given sufficient time, and immunity from detection, the work of getting clear of the chain by filing it through would be easy.

"That's the very thing, El Lobo," e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed Douglas in a low voice.

"Now, start on the job at once. Let one man cut the upper side of the link, and one the lower, and we shall be free in next to no time. Who will take first spell with me?"

Every man silently held out his hand for the other file, and Jim selected a fellow of herculean proportions to take first turn with him.

In a few seconds the low rasping sound of the rapidly moving files broke the stillness of the night, and seemed preternaturally loud by comparison with that stillness. The remaining members of the crew concentrated all their powers in the act of listening, so that they might give instant warning to the workers, should the noise appear to attract any attention from the sh.o.r.e.

Jim and his fellow-labourer were soon bathed in sweat, while Douglas's hands, unaccustomed to such toil, grew red and raw and blistered under the friction; for the files, as is quite usual in engineering departments, were unprovided with wooden handles over the rat-tail shank. Moreover, the task threatened to be long and difficult, in consequence of the awkwardness of the conditions. Jim's spell of work came to an end after a quarter of an hour, however, and another couple of men took their places at the chain. But they had not been working more than five minutes when there was a heavy splash, followed by a cry of disappointment from both men.

It appeared that, while working, the two files had suddenly met in the middle of a stroke, with the result that one of them had been knocked out of its user's hand and had gone overboard. This was a serious loss, indeed, and one that might cost the whole of them their lives; but, as Jim said, it was no use crying over spilt milk, the file was gone, and there was an end of it. The other man must work doubly hard, that was all. Meanwhile, he went down into the engine-room and prowled round to see whether, by some lucky chance, there might not be another file lying about. He was successful in finding a small one, but it was very much worn, and not likely to be of much use; nevertheless, in the hands of a strong man it might still be made to cut a little. He immediately took it up on deck and gave it to one of the crew. To his great relief, he found that one part of the chain was nearly severed. By the time that it was entirely cut through, the lower part of the link was half- severed; and then it was but a short job to completely cut it with the large file.

At length it was done. There was a final rasp of the file, a little snapping noise, a sudden splash as the chain fell into two halves and disappeared below the surface, and the _Janequeo_ dropped back in the water with a loud "squelching" noise.

But they were free! Free at last; though every man on board was trembling like a leaf in the wind under the stress that they had undergone. There was no time for delay, however. Many precious minutes had been lost, and there were all too few left in which to complete the work that had to be done. Jim pa.s.sed the word once more for steam for five knots, the screw began to revolve, and the _Janequeo_ stole forward again on her errand of destruction. Jim feared that there might be a second chain across the harbour, a little higher up, but the Peruvians had evidently considered the single barrier sufficient, for there were no more booms.

Now he could see the towering spars of two school hulks, and in a few minutes he pa.s.sed slowly and silently by them, but without stopping.

They were old and practically worthless hulks; he would destroy them after he had annihilated the ironclad monsters which were capable of doing efficient work.

With carelessness that amounted to fatuity there seemed to be no watch kept on board the ships, and there were no lights visible. All was as still and silent as the grave. The _Union_ was the next craft in line; she was a gunboat, and had already shewn herself capable of stinging pretty severely, but he promised himself to attend to her on the return journey, and pushed on still farther up the harbour. The ships were apparently all lying on the _Janequeo's_ port side, so it became necessary to shift the bombs over. By the time that this was done Jim saw a dark, shapeless ma.s.s looming up in front of him, crowned by one short, squat funnel and one mast; and he knew that he was approaching either the _Atahualpa_ or the _Manco Capac_, the two monitors which had done so much damage to the Chilian fleet.

Here at last was a foe worthy of attention, and Jim stopped his engines altogether, allowing the _Janequeo_ to slide along through the water by her own momentum. It was a fortunate thing that he did so, for when the torpedo-boat was within twenty feet of the monitor she suddenly collided with a floating wooden boom which had been placed round the ironclad.

The impact was very slight, however, and Jim presently had his little craft securely moored alongside. He then got overboard on to the boom, with half a dozen men, and, carrying the bomb gingerly in his arms, and followed by his men bearing one of the torpedo-spars, made his way round to that portion of the timber which floated opposite the ironclad's stern. Jim meant to affix his torpedo to the ship's stern-post, so that, if it did not actually sink her, it might at least blow away both rudder and propeller, and so render the ship useless.

Arrived at the stern, he saw that she was his old enemy, the _Manco Capac_, and he at once set to work. The men laid the spar down on the boom and pushed it out until one end was touching the _Manco Capac's_ stern-post, the other remaining on the boom. They then lashed the boom- end securely, and Jim, having slung the bomb round his shoulders, started to crawl out along the spar, while the Chilians sat on the other end to make it still more steady.

It would have been a perilous enough journey at any time, but in the dark and with a heavy weight slung round the shoulders it was trebly difficult. Furthermore, the place fairly swarmed with sharks, and Douglas knew what his fate would be should he lose his hold and fall into the water, even if he did not happen to be dragged to the bottom at once by the weight round his neck. Several times his knees or his hands slipped, making the spar quiver ominously, but, fortunately, he retained his hold on the pole, and at last, after many a narrow escape, arrived under the ironclad's overhanging counter.

Here the worst part of his task was over, for he could now support himself by clinging to the rudder, and he soon found a large nut, close to the water's edge, from which he could suspend the deadly torpedo. He quickly unslung it from round his shoulders, and presently had it lashed firmly in position against the curve of the _Manco Capac's_ counter, the lower edge of the bomb being just about a couple of inches clear of the water. He then fixed the fuse alongside the rudder-post, and after listening to hear whether any one was about, he struck a match and applied it to the loose end.

This being the first torpedo, he had cut a length of fuse to burn for two hours, so that he would have time to do all his work and get away before the first explosion occurred, but when the fuse was lighted it seemed to fizz away with alarming rapidity, and Jim was so startled that he nearly fell into the water.

"That fuse will never burn for two hours," he told himself; "there must be something wrong with it, for at that rate it will not last thirty minutes." He therefore made his second journey along the pole at the best speed of which he was capable, and in a couple of minutes was standing on the boom once more. The seven of them made short work of unlashing the spar and getting it back to the torpedo-boat, and the _Janequeo_ was soon under way again and stealing up the harbour once more.

The _Atahualpa_ was the next ship they came to, and to their unbounded satisfaction they found that she was unprotected by a boom. The Peruvians probably thought that a hostile craft would never get so far without being discovered. The _Janequeo_ was therefore run right under her stem, and the torpedo was affixed without any difficulty, a fuse timed for an hour and a half being lighted. This fuse, too, Jim noticed, seemed to be burning away much faster than it ought, but there was no time to watch it, and the torpedo-boat swung off once more on her mission of destruction.

These two craft were, with the exception, perhaps, of the _Union_, which was a fast ship, the most formidable in the Peruvian fleet, and Jim experienced a thrill of satisfaction at the thought that the _Manco Capac_ and _Atahualpa_ would, at any rate, not trouble the Chilians again. There was another ship lying close at hand, which Douglas judged to be the fast transport _Oroya_, because of her paddle wheels, and he made up his mind to attend to her before running back to blow up the _Union_. He selected her paddle-box as the best place to which to attach the torpedo, and as she, too, was unprotected by any boom, he soon had the bomb fixed in position and the fuse lighted.

"Now, men," he whispered excitedly to his delighted crew, "we will run down and attend to the only other ship of theirs which is of any use-- the _Union_. Hard over with your helm, quartermaster, and we will get down the harbour again."

The wheel spun round in Pedro's sinewy grasp, and the _Janequeo's_ nose was presently pointing down the harbour.

"Full speed ahead," Douglas whispered down the tube, "we haven't much time to lose." And the little engines began to throb more rapidly, while the screw thrashed the water up astern. They soon pa.s.sed the _Atahualpa_ again, and Jim could plainly make out the jumping sparks which came from the fuse and hissed into the water, but the sight was hidden from any one up above by the overhang of the ship's counter, and he felt fairly certain that it could not possibly be discovered before the bomb had exploded and done its deadly work. As they slipped past the doomed monitor Douglas's eye suddenly caught sight of a dark figure with a rifle over its shoulder silhouetted against the luminous haze thrown off by the lights of Callao, and his heart gave a great bound, for the figure had not been there when the torpedo-boat pa.s.sed up, and she could now hardly hope to avoid detection.

Jim's fears were only too well founded, for the sentry saw the _Janequeo_ as quickly as Jim saw the sentry, and in a second the fellow roared a hoa.r.s.e challenge across the water, discharging his rifle at the boat as she swept past, without waiting for any reply. And indeed there was no need for him to expect an answer to his hail, for he knew that no boat ought to be cruising about there if she were a Peruvian; while, if she were a Chilian--

The rifle-shot was the signal for an immediate uproar; it seemed as though every man must have been asleep at his post, for the _Atahualpa's_ decks suddenly became literally alive with figures, and rifles began to flash about her in scores, while the bullets pattered round and into the torpedo-boat with most unpleasant accuracy of aim.

"There is no time to destroy the _Union_ now," hissed Douglas between his teeth; "we shall have to be satisfied with what we have already done, and, _caramba_! we shall be fortunate if we get away with whole skins. Look out, all people with thin skulls; the _Manco's_ people are training her big guns on us! Full speed ahead, below there," he roared, there being no more need now for secrecy; "give her all the steam she can carry, or they will have us for certain."

The screw was already turning at its utmost speed, however, and not another knot could be got out of the flying little steamer; indeed, she was already doing sixteen, or one knot more than they had any right to expect. Just as Jim spoke, a red rocket leaped up into the still night air with a whistling roar, bursting high up in the sky with a shower of brilliant red stars.

"A signal to the patrols in the bay!" cried Jim; and at the same moment the huge 15-inch gun on board the _Manco Capac_ roared out its vengeful message. "We shall have to hurry to get clear now, and no mistake."

The flash of the great gun, fired at such close quarters, nearly blinded the _Janequeo's_ crew, while they were dazed by the hurtling roar of the sh.e.l.l as it sped past, a few feet only above their heads. But the torpedo-boat was now moving very rapidly, and the _Manco's_ crew would not be able to load and fire their stern gun again before she was out of its range; but there was still her bow gun to be feared, and the gauntlet of the _Union_ and the two school hulks had to be run before they could get clear. It looked as if the _Janequeo_ was in for a bad ten minutes; for, after the alarm had been given, it seemed as though every ship in the harbour had lighted her beacon-fire; and Jim could see, by the glare of those which had sprung up aboard the _Union_ and her consorts, that guns, both big and small, had been run out ready to fire into the intruder as she pa.s.sed; while every vessel's side was literally black with riflemen, all waiting to pour a volley into the daring _Janequeo_.

Douglas had almost forgotten, in the prevailing excitement, the fact that torpedoes had been attached to three Peruvian vessels, and, in any case, he did not expect them to explode for at least an hour; when, just as the _Janequeo_ had got about fifty yards past the _Manco Capac_, there was a most appalling explosion from the stern of the latter craft; and Jim, turning round, saw that the air was full of blazing fragments of wreckage, and that, even as he gazed, the great monitor was beginning to settle by the stern. At the moment when the mine exploded, the monitor was just about to fire her 15-inch bow gun; but the catastrophe of course threw everything into confusion, and the weapon, flung from its trunnions in the very act of firing, discharged its deadly missile high into the air, where it exploded, sending out a blaze of flame like a miniature firework display.

"One of them done for, at any rate!" soliloquised Jim through his set teeth, as he bent over the deck-telegraph of the flying boat to ring for yet more speed. "But now they will surely find the other torpedoes and cut them adrift before they have time to explode. Confound those fuses!

The wretched things must have perished badly, or perhaps they have been wrongly timed in the manufactory."

The young man had no opportunity, however, for further reflection, for they were now dashing along toward the _Union_ and the other two ships; and after the first shock of terror at the destruction of the monitor, the Peruvians had returned to the guns, and were quite ready to send the _Janequeo_ to the bottom.