Bay as
intimately as he did Valparaiso harbour; and as Jim stood beside him in
the tiny shelter, watching him peer through the darkness and ever and
anon give the wheel a slight turn this way or that, he realised that he
had on board most of the elements which go to make up success. Luck was
all that was wanting; and, as fortune is supposed to favour the brave,
Jim had high hopes of bringing his expedition to a successful issue.

Away through the blackness swept the little torpedo-boat, with not a
light showing anywhere on board her. The men had even been forbidden to
smoke; and the stokers down below put coal on as carefully as though the
furnaces were a lady's drawing-room fire, so that there might be no
flicker of flame hovering over the top of the funnel, or even so much as
a spark to betray their whereabouts. In a little less than half an hour
after leaving the _Blanco Encalada_ the _Janequeo_ sneaked round the
south-east corner of San Lorenzo Island, being very careful not to
collide with the big buoys which marked each Chilian vessel's moorings.
These passed, she slid in between San Lorenzo and Fronton, and entered
the Boqueron Passage, coming in sight of the small lighthouse which was,
strangely enough, still allowed to show its light at the back of the Dos
de Mayo battery. Luckily for the daring little vessel searchlights had
not yet come into vogue, or she could scarcely have hoped to escape
discovery, for when she crossed the Camotal Bank, previous to turning to
starboard in order to run up Callao Bay, she was so close inshore that
her crew could plainly hear the shouts of the Peruvian soldiers who
occupied the Mayo battery, and who were evidently holding a high
carousal. For this circumstance Jim thanked his lucky stars, for there
was the less likelihood of any men being on watch; while the noise they
were making would prevent them from hearing, as a careful listener might
have done, the throbbing of the _Janequeo's_ engines and the churning of
her propeller.

Just as they had rounded the point, however, and the boat had turned her
nose north-east, the bacchanalian sounds from the battery suddenly
ceased, and lights began to flicker among the earthworks. Jim felt his
heart stand still, for discovery now would mean the utter ruin of his
project, to say nothing of the death of all of them; for a shot from one
of those enormous 20-inch guns would send the frail _Janequeo_ to the
bottom like a stone, if