Part 6 (1/2)
CHAPTER SEVEN.
A NIGHT-ATTACK.
The day following the joint adventure of Douglas and Montt in Antof.a.gasta a telegram arrived for the skipper of the _Covadonga_, ordering him to leave the place immediately, and rejoin the flag at Valparaiso without delay. All sh.o.r.e leave was accordingly stopped, and that same evening the gunboat raised her anchor and steamed out of Chimba Bay, on her way to the headquarters port. The telegram had also contained a warning that the Peruvian wars.h.i.+ps _Huascar_ and _Union_ were prowling up and down the coast, and, as each one separately was a good deal more than a match for the little _Covadonga_, it behoved her captain to keep a very sharp look-out for any sign of the enemy, especially as the gunboat was not fast enough to enable her to rely upon her speed for safety.
Men were, consequently, posted at the mastheads, with orders to report directly any sign of a strange s.h.i.+p was seen, and the s.h.i.+p slid slowly along under the stars, keeping as close in to the land as possible. As soon as his watch was at an end that night, Douglas, feeling rather tired after his experience of the previous evening, went down below and turned into his bunk; and it was not very long before he was in the land of dreams.
It seemed to him that he had only just fallen asleep when he was rudely awakened by a commotion up on deck. He lay half awake in his bunk for a minute or two, and heard men running about overhead, the sound of excited voices shouting, and then, loud and clear above the uproar, rang out Carlos Condell's voice giving orders for the men to be called to quarters and the guns to be cast loose. Evidently, thought Jim, there was more fighting in the wind. He quickly tumbled into his clothes, slung his uniform ulster over his shoulders, for the night was cold, and stumbled up on deck, every pulse in him throbbing with excitement at the antic.i.p.ation of another encounter with the enemy.
As he dashed up through the hatchway he cannoned into, and almost knocked down, his friend Montt, who was rus.h.i.+ng forward with orders from the skipper.
”Hallo, Montt!” Jim e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed, ”what's the matter this time?”
”Two steamers have just been sighted coming out of Chaneral Bay, and heading this way,” returned the Chilian, breathlessly. ”They are believed to be the _Huascar_ and the corvette _Union_, and it looks as though they had been up to some mischief in there, for there is a big glare away to the south-east--there, you can see it for yourself!--which seems to point to their having set something on fire. But you mustn't keep me now, my friend, for it is 'all hands to quarters and prepare for action'; and, if it should prove to be as we believe, we shall have a tough fight to get clear of these two fellows.” And the gallant first lieutenant bustled away to carry out his orders.
Looking in the direction indicated by Montt, Jim could plainly see the dull, lurid glare of a large fire away to the south-east; and, outlined sharply against the glow, he could also make out, even from the level of the deck, a brig-rigged steamer, which could be none other than the Peruvian monitor; and she was accompanied by a large, three-masted, s.h.i.+p-rigged steamer which was undoubtedly the corvette _Union_. Whether the enemy had yet sighted the _Covadonga_ was still doubtful, for the gunboat was close in under the high cliffs which formed the coastline at that point, and they would hardly be on the look-out for a vessel so near in to the land. But when they got nearer to her they could hardly help sighting her; and her only hope of ultimate escape was to avoid detection, if possible, until she was nearly abreast of the Peruvians, and then to make a running fight of it, trusting more to her heels than to her fighting powers to enable her to get away.
But the _Covadonga_ could scarcely hope to avoid a fight of some sort; and her gallant skipper, Condell, was not at all the sort of man to wish to do so. He would at any time much rather stay and fight than run, even though hopelessly outmatched; but orders were orders, and he was wanted at Valparaiso, so for once he was forced to acknowledge discretion as the better part of valour.
At this moment, the ”word” having been quietly pa.s.sed, the men came tumbling up on deck, and Jim was obliged to abandon his survey of the Peruvians and attend to his duty of getting his own particular battery of guns ready for the coming encounter. In about ten minutes everything was prepared, and Montt, the first lieutenant, marched into the tiny conning-tower and reported to Condell, ”s.h.i.+p cleared for action, sir.”
Jim was then free, for a short time at any rate, to turn his attention once more to the swiftly approaching steamers, which were travelling so fast as to give the impression that they feared pursuit.
”If,” mused Jim, ”the _Almirante Cochrane_ or some other of our s.h.i.+ps are really after these fellows it will probably mean the saving of us, for the _Huascar_ and the _Union_ will in that case hardly dare to remain and fight against us.
”Ah!--” he continued, as he saw a rocket stream up into the air from the _Huascar_, ”they have sighted us, that is clear, and we shall have to fight after all. Yes; here they come! They are both altering their course now, and heading directly for us. I was afraid we should not escape detection.”
The Peruvians, which had been heading off the land, had now turned slightly, and were pointing about north-north-west, directly for the spot where the _Covadonga_ was creeping along under the land, and Jim could see the dull red glare above their funnels which showed that the stokers were coaling up vigorously.
Condell now shouted down the voice-tube to the engine-room, ordering the staff to let him have as much steam as the boilers would carry, and rang for full speed at the same time. The little gunboat began to quiver from stem to stern, from truck to keel, under the increased pulsations of the throbbing screw, while the curl of white water at her bows gradually crept higher and still higher up her stem as her speed increased, until she swept along at her best pace of about nine knots in the hour.
As she ran down the coast the _Huascar_ and the _Union_ both pointed their bows more and more sh.o.r.eward, as if to cut off the gunboat; and it began to look very much as though there was no hope for the _Covadonga_, when suddenly another rocket, blue this time, soared up from the monitor, and she described a wide circle seaward once more, her consort following her example. Jim immediately guessed that Admiral Grau had, like a prudent man, had a leadsman at work on board his s.h.i.+p, and that the Peruvian skipper had suddenly found himself in danger of running aground through standing so close insh.o.r.e.
The two hostile wars.h.i.+ps then eased down to half-speed, and kept on a course parallel with the sh.o.r.e, and at a distance of about a mile away from it. As the _Covadonga_ herself was obliged, by reason of shoals and sunken reefs, to keep at a distance of quite half a mile from the beach, this left her an avenue of escape just about half a mile in width. But although the _Huascar_ and the _Union_ could not approach closer than eight or nine hundred yards from the gunboat, she would still have to run the gauntlet of their fire, and they could easily destroy her, by gun-fire alone, at six times that distance. There did not appear to be very much hope for the _Covadonga_, thought Jim, unless she could somehow manage to disable her antagonists--a very unlikely contingency, owing to the smallness of her guns, or unless a Chilian s.h.i.+p should happen to be in the neighbourhood and be attracted to the spot by the sound of the firing which was bound to open in a few minutes.
When the _Covadonga_ had approached to within about a mile of the Peruvian ironclads, Jim saw the _Huascar_ go about and heave-to, with her bows pointing to the south, while the _Union_ came foaming along on her original course, which was parallel to that of the gunboat, and about half a mile distant from it to seaward.
”Aha!” thought he to himself, ”so that is the manoeuvre, is it? Grau is going to get us between two fires if he can. As soon as the corvette is past us she too will swing round and attack us with her bow-guns while the _Huascar_ rakes us with her stern weapons. It looks as though the _Covadonga_ were in for a hot time!”
The young Englishman's surmise soon proved correct; for directly the _Union_ had pa.s.sed out of the line of fire the _Huascar_ opened with one of her turret 300-pounder guns. The first sh.e.l.l pa.s.sed close ahead of the gunboat, but it was aimed much too high, and struck the cliffs on the _Covadonga's_ port beam, exploding with a brilliant flash of light and a roaring concussion that sent ton after ton of rock hurtling down into the sea. The corvette was now abreast of the Chilian s.h.i.+p, and as she drew level she let fly her whole broadside, consisting of one 100- pounder, one 70-pounder, and six 40-pounders, at the devoted gunboat.
The effect was as though a hurricane of fire and steel had broken loose aboard the _Covadonga_. Three of her smaller machine-guns, together with their crews, were blown to atoms, while her bulwarks were levelled with the decks in several places. The execution on board was terrible; and Jim had an exceedingly narrow escape, for at the moment when the _Union_ fired he was just entering the little conning-tower with a communication for Captain Condell, and a 100-pounder sh.e.l.l struck full upon one of the _Covadonga's_ 70-pounder gun-s.h.i.+elds, tearing a portion of it away. It then burst into a thousand fragments, one of which whizzed past Jim's head and struck the conning-tower beside him with such force that the piece of metal weighing several pounds was firmly embedded in the soft steel of which the tower was constructed, while Jim was dazed with the shock and half blinded by the flying iron dust and grains of powder.
He managed to stagger inside the citadel just as the _Huascar_ let fly with one of her 40-pounder guns, the sh.e.l.l from which struck full upon the very spot on the deck where he had been standing ten seconds previously, ripping a huge hole in the iron sheathing with which it was covered, and then exploding right over the engine-room hatch, which luckily was protected by a bomb-proof grating.
When Jim had at length cleared his eyes of dust and powder he delivered his message to the captain and was about to leave, but Condell requested him to remain, saying that he might want to make use of him. Montt was in the conning-tower, carrying out Condell's orders as to the working of the engines, while the skipper himself watched carefully through the narrow observation-slit in the citadel, waiting for the moment when he might begin to open an effectual fire upon the enemy.
At length the moment arrived. The _Covadonga_ had come up level with the Peruvian monitor, and the _Union_, being obliged to circle to seaward as she found herself in shoal water, was about three-quarters of a mile astern, although still firing incessantly. Condell gave one last look round and then shouted ”_Fire_!” through the voice-tube which led to the gunboat's little turret. Immediately there came a deafening roar and a tremendous concussion, as the two 70-pounders hurled forth their sh.e.l.ls at the _Huascar_, and a dense cloud of white smoke drifted down upon the conning-tower, filling it with acrid fumes and momentarily blotting out the view.
When it cleared away it was seen that it had been a most lucky discharge, for one sh.e.l.l had struck full upon the monitor's military mast, causing it to fall lengthwise along the s.h.i.+p, partly wrecking the funnel and a number of ventilators, while the other had apparently penetrated an open gun-port and thus reached some part of the s.h.i.+p's boiler-room, for columns of steam were seen issuing from every available opening on the monitor's mids.h.i.+p section.
”Load again, men; load again!” cried Douglas, quite forgetting himself in the excitement of the moment.
”Another discharge like that, and we shall have the fellow completely crippled. Hurrah for the gallant little _Covadonga_!”