nning explosion, and the launch seemed to disappear,
as if by magic, in a tornado of flame, for not even a fragment of her
appeared on the water afterwards. The roar of the machine-guns at once
ceased, and every man on board the ship wiped away the cold sweat of
fear which had burst out on his forehead at the prospect of being
torpedoed; for there is no arm in the naval service so dreaded by the
sailor.

Tranquillity was now gradually restored, and half an hour later peace
once more reigned; but not a single man in the whole squadron could
bring himself to go below again until day dawned. On every ship huge
fires were lighted, and boats were sent to patrol the fleet in order to
prevent a repetition of the occurrence; but it was not until daylight
revealed a sea empty of craft save those of the Chilians that the
fearful strain of suspense was relaxed.

Admiral Williams personally thanked Douglas and O'Meara for their quick
action, which had undoubtedly saved the flagship, and very probably some
of the other vessels of the squadron. He also questioned the lads
closely, in order to ascertain whether they had heard or seen anything
which would furnish a clue to the nationality of the occupants of the
launches, but they could tell him nothing; and the Admiral was at length
driven to the conclusion that his assailants must have come down the
coast from Antofagasta, and must have consisted of a couple of the
ancient torpedo-launches which the Bolivians were known to possess, but
which Williams had left out of his calculations as being too unimportant
to be taken into consideration. How dearly this oversight might have
cost him has already been seen.

The following, or rather, the same morning, the ships' boats were
lowered, and, assisted by flat-bottomed craft from the shore, began the
work of embarking the remainder of the troops. It continued during the
whole morning, and by mid-day the balance of the military contingent was
distributed among the ships, which then got up their anchors and turned
their bows to the northward once more, still under easy steam for the
benefit of the old and rotten _Esmeralda_, two of whose boilers were so
eaten away by rust as to be useless. A particularly keen look-out for
hostile ships was kept, in view of the alarming incident in Caldera Bay,
but nothing of a suspicious character was sighted, and on the evening of
the 13th of February the fleet anchored before the town of Antofagasta,