-Admiral, Captain Latorre to be
Commodore, and Jim was made First Lieutenant of the _Blanco Encalada_.

CHAPTER TEN.

THE GUN-RUNNERS.

The ovation accorded to the victorious Chilians upon their return to
Valparaiso was enthusiastic in the extreme; the officers were everywhere
feted and made much of; and Jim Douglas and Terry O'Meara came in for a
very large share of attention owing to the fact that they were British.
The sympathies of Great Britain had been decidedly turned in favour of
Chili by the atrocities which had been committed by the Peruvian fleet
in its war against commerce, and by which English ships had suffered to
a very serious extent.

After the battle of Angamos Commodore--or rather Admiral as he was now--
Riveros had been greatly exercised in his mind as to what course he
should pursue with regard to the corvette _Union_. She had effected her
escape before the battle commenced, and when last seen was steaming in
the direction of Arica, the most southerly port which the Peruvians
possessed. She was a very heavily armed ship, and was nearly, if not
quite, as formidable as the _Huascar_ had been, and thus still
constituted a standing menace to the unfortified ports of Chili.
Riveros was in a quandary, for he already had more work on his hands
than he knew how to deal with; yet the Chilians resident in the coast
ports were clamouring for him to proceed to sea again and hunt down the
cruiser. But he did not in the least know where to look for her; nor
could he, by the most diligent inquiry, gain any intelligence of her.
She might be at any one of the numerous Peruvian ports; and were he to
go in search of her she would quite probably slip past him again in the
night, as she and the monitor had once before done.

The fleet had been lying at Valparaiso for nearly a month undergoing the
repairs and refit of which they so sorely stood in need, when one
morning Jim, from his station on the _Blanco Encalada's_ bridge, where
he was on duty, observed a signal flying from the official residence of
the Secretary for War. In a moment he had his glass to his eye, and
began to spell out the signal, which, when completed, ran as follows:
"_Blanco Encalada_. Admiral Riveros to call here without delay. I have
important orders for him."

"Hallo!" thought Jim, "what's in the wind now? More work for somebody,
I'll be bound. I wonder whether the _Union_ has been up to any fresh
tricks? She has kept remarkab