_Janequeo_ dropped back in the
water with a loud "squelching" noise.

But they were free! Free at last; though every man on board was
trembling like a leaf in the wind under the stress that they had
undergone. There was no time for delay, however. Many precious minutes
had been lost, and there were all too few left in which to complete the
work that had to be done. Jim passed the word once more for steam for
five knots, the screw began to revolve, and the _Janequeo_ stole forward
again on her errand of destruction. Jim feared that there might be a
second chain across the harbour, a little higher up, but the Peruvians
had evidently considered the single barrier sufficient, for there were
no more booms.

Now he could see the towering spars of two school hulks, and in a few
minutes he passed slowly and silently by them, but without stopping.
They were old and practically worthless hulks; he would destroy them
after he had annihilated the ironclad monsters which were capable of
doing efficient work.

With carelessness that amounted to fatuity there seemed to be no watch
kept on board the ships, and there were no lights visible. All was as
still and silent as the grave. The _Union_ was the next craft in line;
she was a gunboat, and had already shewn herself capable of stinging
pretty severely, but he promised himself to attend to her on the return
journey, and pushed on still farther up the harbour. The ships were
apparently all lying on the _Janequeo's_ port side, so it became
necessary to shift the bombs over. By the time that this was done Jim
saw a dark, shapeless mass looming up in front of him, crowned by one
short, squat funnel and one mast; and he knew that he was approaching
either the _Atahualpa_ or the _Manco Capac_, the two monitors which had
done so much damage to the Chilian fleet.

Here at last was a foe worthy of attention, and Jim stopped his engines
altogether, allowing the _Janequeo_ to slide along through the water by
her own momentum. It was a fortunate thing that he did so, for when the
torpedo-boat was within twenty feet of the monitor she suddenly collided
with a floating wooden boom which had been placed round the ironclad.
The impact was very slight, however, and Jim presently had his little
craft securely moored alongside. He then got overboard on to the boom,
with half a dozen men, and, carrying the bomb gingerly in his arms, and
followed by his men bearing one of the torpedo-spars,