made his way round
to that portion of the timber which floated opposite the ironclad's
stern. Jim meant to affix his torpedo to the ship's stern-post, so
that, if it did not actually sink her, it might at least blow away both
rudder and propeller, and so render the ship useless.

Arrived at the stern, he saw that she was his old enemy, the _Manco
Capac_, and he at once set to work. The men laid the spar down on the
boom and pushed it out until one end was touching the _Manco Capac's_
stern-post, the other remaining on the boom. They then lashed the boom-
end securely, and Jim, having slung the bomb round his shoulders,
started to crawl out along the spar, while the Chilians sat on the other
end to make it still more steady.

It would have been a perilous enough journey at any time, but in the
dark and with a heavy weight slung round the shoulders it was trebly
difficult. Furthermore, the place fairly swarmed with sharks, and
Douglas knew what his fate would be should he lose his hold and fall
into the water, even if he did not happen to be dragged to the bottom at
once by the weight round his neck. Several times his knees or his hands
slipped, making the spar quiver ominously, but, fortunately, he retained
his hold on the pole, and at last, after many a narrow escape, arrived
under the ironclad's overhanging counter.

Here the worst part of his task was over, for he could now support
himself by clinging to the rudder, and he soon found a large nut, close
to the water's edge, from which he could suspend the deadly torpedo. He
quickly unslung it from round his shoulders, and presently had it lashed
firmly in position against the curve of the _Manco Capac's_ counter, the
lower edge of the bomb being just about a couple of inches clear of the
water. He then fixed the fuse alongside the rudder-post, and after
listening to hear whether any one was about, he struck a match and
applied it to the loose end.

This being the first torpedo, he had cut a length of fuse to burn for
two hours, so that he would have time to do all his work and get away
before the first explosion occurred, but when the fuse was lighted it
seemed to fizz away with alarming rapidity, and Jim was so startled that
he nearly fell into the water.

"That fuse will never burn for two hours," he told himself; "there must
be something wrong with it, for at that rate it will not last thirty
minutes." He therefore made his second journey along the pol