ed by a loud hissing noise; her speed suddenly slackened; and
Douglas knew that one of the cruiser's shells had penetrated a boiler;
and he shuddered in spite of himself at the thought of the scene which
was now probably enacting down in the gun-runner's engine-room. But,
just as he was looking at the stricken ship through his glass, to see
whether she had surrendered, he was deafened and well-nigh stunned by an
appalling explosion which came from somewhere astern of the _Angamos_;
and pieces of wood and iron, fragments of charred human bodies,
exploding cartridges, and wreckage of all descriptions began to hurtle
round his ears; while, from the shelter of the chart-house, to which he
precipitately retreated, he saw an enormous column of black smoke
hanging over the place near which he had last seen the _Huemul_; and he
had little difficulty in accounting to himself for the disaster.

The steamer had been set on fire forward by one of the cruiser's shells,
which had exploded a quantity of ammunition on her deck; and this fire
rapidly spreading, had communicated itself to some of the powder and
cartridges which formed the greater part of her cargo. This had
forthwith exploded, and, in its turn, blown up the remainder, causing a
most terrible catastrophe; for, when the smoke of the explosion cleared
away, there was not a trace of the _Huemul_ left upon the surface of the
water. She and her gallant crew had been blown, literally, to atoms.

Appalled by the suddenness and extent of the disaster, both the
_Miraflores_ and the _Angamos_ ceased firing for several minutes; and,
by the light of the fires which were still burning on board both
vessels, Jim could see the gun-runner's crew dashing wildly about, as
though in the last extremity of terror, while the ship herself was
almost shrouded from view by the dense clouds of steam, coloured ruddy
yellow in the light of the braziers, which still gushed in volumes from
her pierced boilers.

The cruiser's men quickly recovered their equanimity, however; and,
running to their guns, poured in another broadside upon the demoralised
crew of the _Miraflores_. This was more, apparently, than flesh and
blood could endure; for Douglas saw several men immediately rush upon
the captain, who was still inciting them to continue the fight, and cut
the unfortunate man down. The crew then rushed aft in a body, hauled
down the Peruvian flag, under which both ships had been sailing, hailed
a