er
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 th