it chanced to hit her. And evidently the
Peruvians in that particular battery had taken alarm at something; for a
tiny point of light appeared on the ramparts, and then quickly flared up
into a bright blaze. A beacon-fire had been lighted, and at any moment
now its glare might reveal the presence of the torpedo-boat to the
Peruvians.

Jim immediately passed the word down to the engine-room for all the
steam she could carry, and the little vessel's speed at once increased
by a knot or two. They were nearly in safety now, being about five
hundred yards beyond the point, and a few minutes more would take them
under the shadow of the higher ground upon which the Pierola battery was
placed, when the glare from the beacon would be unable to reach them.
But Jim's great fear now was lest the other batteries also might take
the alarm and light their beacons; in which case he could not possibly
escape discovery.

By a happy chance, however, the _Janequeo_ glided into the deep shadow,
unobserved; and Jim now ordered the speed to be reduced so that the boat
should not make so much "fuss" in going through the water, when she
stole along at a speed of about ten knots, fifteen being her maximum, of
which she was quite capable, as she was a perfectly new boat. The men
in Pierola, being half a mile away from the Mayo battery, had evidently
not noticed the beacon light, nor were their suspicions aroused, for all
was perfectly quiet as the _Janequeo_ crept safely past, with not a
light gleaming anywhere in the battery to show that anybody was awake.
This battery and the two lying next to it, to the north, had, as it
happened, borne the brunt of the fighting that day, and presumably the
men were overcome by fatigue. Next, the Torre del Merced and Fort Santa
Rosa were safely passed, and the lights of Callao itself swung in sight;
the railway station, which lay close to the waterside, was particularly
brilliantly lighted, while the sounds proceeding therefrom seemed to
indicate that troops were either arriving at, or were being dispatched
from, the place.

They were now only about a quarter of a mile from the southern end of
the mole, and Douglas passed the word round for his crew to hold
themselves in readiness, although the entrance to the harbour where the
ships were lying was still half a mile distant, the mole being nearly
five hundred yards in length. The queer-shaped bombs were then got up
on deck, and Jim busied himself upon