called upon to undergo, what perils they would
pass through; but even if they could have foreseen them all it is very
doubtful whether they would have hesitated. They paid the man, and,
chartering a conveyance, drove away to the nearest hotel, where they put
up for the remainder of the night, fully determined that the following
morning should see their project put into execution, and that the
evening should find them duly enrolled as officers in the Chilian navy.

CHAPTER TWO.

JIM ENTERS THE CHILIAN NAVY.

Although the two lads went to bed early, intending to get a good night's
rest so that they might be up and doing betimes the next morning, they
soon found that sleep was well-nigh out of the question, by reason of
the uproar that never ceased the whole night through. The mercurial
Chilians were wrought up to a pitch of the highest excitement and
enthusiasm, and bands of them persisted in marching through the streets,
shouting _vivas_ at the top of their voices and singing war-songs. It
appeared that the inhabitants of Valparaiso had been dreading an attack
on that city by the Peruvian fleet, although war had not as yet been
actually declared; and the activity which Terry and Jim had observed on
the heights behind the city was due to the fact that the soldiers and
citizens had been busily engaged in throwing up earthworks and other
defences in order to repel the expected attack. But the timely arrival
of part of the Chilian fleet, under Admiral Rebolledo Williams, had put
an end to their anxiety, and they were now testifying to the relief they
felt in the manner usually adopted by Southern nations.

After lying in bed for some two or three hours, endeavouring
unsuccessfully to get to sleep, the two lads rose and looked out of
their window at the scenes that were being enacted in the streets below
them, and when they had been thus employed for a quarter of an hour they
no longer felt any desire for sleep. Huge bonfires had been lighted
wherever there was room to place them, and processions of men and women
marched to and fro, carrying torches, and singing their national songs
with astonishing verve and enthusiasm. Groups of people collected round
the bonfires, and danced until the early hours of the morning, when they
gradually broke up and dispersed to their homes. It was broad daylight
before the last of the revellers had disappeared; and the two lads,
recognising the futility of now attempting to secur