ightway plunged into business.

"As you are aware, gentlemen," he began, "we have now been lying before
Callao for nearly three weeks; and, despite our best endeavours, the
town still remains untaken, and the way to Lima is still closed to us.
This cannot be permitted to continue very much longer; for we are
running short of provisions and coal, while the ships' bottoms are
getting so foul that, should the need for fast steaming arise, we should
find that the vessels are incapable of making their top speed by at
least two or three knots. If we are compelled to raise the blockade of
the place so that we may put ourselves in order, the Peruvians will
naturally avail themselves of the opportunity to throw cargoes of arms,
ammunition, and provisions into the place; and thus, upon our return,
all our work will need to be done over again. Therefore, it is out of
the question for us to think of raising the blockade before Callao has
fallen; and it appears to me that the principal obstacle in the way of
our bringing that to pass is the presence of those Peruvian ships lying
behind the mole. We have proved that it is impossible to reduce the
port by gun-fire alone; a general assault, therefore, seems to be the
only alternative left us; and a general assault is equally impossible in
the face of the hurricane of shot and shell which those ships are, as we
have already seen, capable of discharging.

"Therefore, as you will doubtless have gathered from my remarks,
gentlemen, it will be necessary for us to destroy those ships, and that
soon. The question is, how are we to do it? So long as they remain
where they are, they are safe from our guns, for they are all protected
by the mole. I have therefore summoned you aboard the flagship with the
object of ascertaining whether any of you have any plans or suggestions
to offer for the solution of the difficulty. If so, I shall be very
glad to hear them."

For a considerable time there was silence in the cabin, everybody
seeming to be busily engaged in the endeavour to evolve a plan whereby
the admiral's difficulty might be overcome; but at length Jim, who had
been cogitating profoundly, with his head between his hands, looked up
and inquired whether Riveros happened to possess a chart of Callao
harbour. As it happened there was one ready to hand; and a few seconds
later Douglas was poring over it by the light of the cabin lamp, with a
pencil and a pair of compasses in his hand.