ight than he had done in the dungeon on the previous evening.

CHAPTER FIVE.

THE BATTLE BETWEEN THE ESMERALDA AND THE HUASCAR.

On the following morning, shortly after daybreak, Rebolledo Williams
began his preparations for a further bombardment of Iquique; but, just
as he was on the point of opening fire, the _Blanco Encalada's_ yeoman
of signals presented himself with a report that the Chilian gunboat
_Magellanes_--a vessel of 772 tons displacement and of eleven knots
speed--had just made her appearance in the bay, coming up from the
southward, and flying the signal, "Have important news to communicate."
The admiral therefore ordered operations to be suspended for the moment,
and waited impatiently for the captain of the _Magellanes_ to come
aboard and make his report. The little vessel was evidently in a hurry,
for she steamed in at full speed, and did not bring up until close
alongside the flagship. The anchor then splashed down to the
accompaniment of a roar of chain-cable through the hawse-pipe the
captain's gig was lowered away; and a few minutes later that individual
was being pulled across the short space of water between his own ship
and the _Blanco Encalada_.

Captain Simpson was closeted for over an hour with his admiral; at the
end of which time the signal was made for the whole fleet to heave short
in readiness for an early departure. The _Magellanes_ was also ordered
to accompany the squadron. As the ships were to go northward at top
speed it was impossible to take the _Esmeralda_ along as well, in
consequence of her phenomenally low rate of speed. But as she herself
would be at the mercy of almost any hostile ship that might happen to
heave in sight while the main body of the fleet was absent, it was
decided to leave with her the gunboat _Covadonga_; and these two vessels
were ordered to continue the blockade of the port to the best of their
ability.

The news brought by the _Magellanes_ very soon filtered through the
fleet, and was to the effect that her skipper had been sent from
Valparaiso to inform the admiral that the Peruvian President Prado
intended to leave Callao, on the night of May 16, for Arica, in the
paddle-transport _Oroya_; and that he was to be accompanied by the
_Independencia, Huascar, Chalaco_, and _Limena_. Admiral Williams was
therefore ordered to abandon the blockade of Iquique, and, proceeding
northward immediately, was to endeavour to intercept the squadron and,