probability the
Chilians would bombard the place, and then endeavour to take Lima, the
Peruvian capital; so that there promised to be plenty of excitement and
adventure in store for everybody.

At length all preparations were completed, and on the 2nd of April 1880,
exactly a week after Jim had returned to Valparaiso in the _Angamos_,
the fleet, consisting of the _Blanco, Huascar, Angamos, Pilcomayo,
Mathias Cousino_, and the two torpedo-boats _Guacolda_ and _Janequeo_,
left that port and, steaming out of the bay, headed to the northward.

The ships, which had of course been coaled and provisioned at
Valparaiso, had no need to call in anywhere for stores, but headed
direct for Callao, which was openly stated to be their destination as
soon as they were out of the harbour; and on April 9 the squadron
arrived within a couple of hours' steam of the Peruvian port. At three
o'clock in the afternoon of the same day the two torpedo boats, under
convoy of the _Huascar_, went on ahead to scout; and, arriving off the
port just about dusk, Lieutenant Goni of the _Guacolda_ rashly
determined to make a raid on the Peruvian shipping on his own account,
and accordingly slipped away into the harbour toward the place where the
enemy's warships were known to be lying.

The _Union_ was soon identified as one of the ships lying at anchor, and
Goni promptly headed for her. But when about half a mile distant from
her quarry, the torpedo-boat accidentally ran down a fishing-smack,
drowning all the crew except three, and losing one of her own torpedo-
spars. It was by this time quite dark, and in the confusion the precise
position of the _Union_ had been lost; but Goni, having rescued the
three surviving fishermen, forced them to pilot him to the spot where
the corvette was lying, only to discover, when he got close to her, that
her skipper had surrounded her with a boom. But undismayed by this, the
gallant Chilian forthwith destroyed the boom, and then discovered that
he had lost his second spar, and consequently was unable to torpedo the
ship herself. The _Union_ then opened a smart machine-gun fire, and the
_Guacolda_ was compelled to beat a retreat, much to Lieutenant Goni's
annoyance.

Unfortunately, this ill-timed attack had put the Peruvians thoroughly on
the alert, and as soon as daylight appeared they hauled their fleet,
consisting of the _Union, Rimac, Chalaco, Oroya_, and _Atahualpa_ into
shoal water behind the breakwater