rry them far, whichever side the
torpedo-boat presented to the enemy.

She was gliding through the water at a speed of about five knots when,
suddenly, there was a slight grating sound, the _Janequeo's_ bows lifted
out of the water, and the boat came to a dead stop, with her screw still
slowly churning up the water astern. The shock caused some of the men
on deck to lose their footing, and the whole row of bombs on the port
side splashed overboard as the _Janequeo_ heeled in that direction. In
a second Jim was on his feet and, rushing to the engine-room, bade the
man in charge to stop his engines. Then he dashed on deck again, half
expecting to hear the crash of guns opening fire upon him, while he
listened intently in order to ascertain whether his presence had been
betrayed by the disturbance.

There was no sound of alarm, however; and Douglas presently realised
that, strange as it appeared, the _Janequeo_ was still undiscovered.
Then, silently, he and his men set about the task of discovering what
had caused the obstruction, and they were not long in finding that a
stout chain had been stretched across the entrance evidently to prevent
just such an attack as this, and that the _Janequeo_ had run in upon
this chain where it "sagged" in the middle, her momentum carrying her
right up on to it, for her fore-foot was nearly out of the water. Thus
they were in a particularly perilous predicament, for if they were
discovered now no power on earth could save them; but Jim was thankful
beyond measure that he had not been running in at full speed, otherwise
the _Janequeo_ would most certainly have broken her back and sunk on the
instant. The loss of half the bombs was very serious too, but he still
had six of them left, and if he could sink a ship with each he would not
have done so badly on the whole.

The question now, however, was, how were they going to get clear of the
chain, and, once clear, how were they going to surmount the obstacle and
get into the harbour? But, "one thing at a time," thought Douglas. Let
them get off the chain first of all; and that without breaking the
torpedo-boat in half or alarming the enemy. He listened again intently
for any sound which would indicate that the Peruvians were stirring, and
then, hearing nothing, he sent his engines astern at full speed, with
the concentrated energy of a quarter of an hour's pent-up steam. The
water frothed and boiled under the boat's counter, making,