r 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 moment