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Updated: May 14, 2025
The Janequeo was now abreast the Union, and, as she drew level, the latter ship discharged every gun that she could bring to bear. It was simply impossible that she could miss. There was a ripping and tearing of iron as the shower of steel struck the torpedo-boat.
Caramba! but it is a brilliant as well as a daring idea; what say you, gentlemen? Yes, Senor Douglas, you shall have the torpedo-boat Janequeo, and with her everything that you require. As for a crew, I cannot order men to go on such an expedition as you contemplate, but I believe that if you call for volunteers you will get your complement. At least, I hope so, for the honour of the Chilian navy.
Douglas's face became drawn, and his eyes took on a very strained look, as he realised what it would mean if he could not get the Janequeo off; the Peruvians would give very short shrift to a body of men who had been caught in the attempt to torpedo their fleet.
"You are the young Chilian naval officer who was in charge of the torpedo-boat which destroyed three of our ships the night before last, are you not?" Jim replied that he was. "Well," resumed Villavicencio, "you will be sorry, I am sure, to hear that all your comrades were drowned when the Janequeo that was the name of the boat, I believe went down. You are the sole survivor.
Having thus foiled all the endeavours of a general who had gained high reputation in the wars of Italy, Germany, and Flanders, Janequeo proceeded to attack the recently constructed fortress of Puchanqui, not far from which she defeated and slew the commandant, Aranda, who had advanced to meet her with a part of the garrison.
The Janequeo was out of sight in half a minute; and when she had vanished the squadron got under way once more, and continued its usual nightly cruise on and off the port; while Admiral Riveros, standing on the navigating bridge, strained his ears in an attempt to catch the sounds which should tell him that Jim's effort had been unsuccessful, and that he and his gallant crew were no more.
The Peruvians probably thought that a hostile craft would never get so far without being discovered. The Janequeo was therefore run right under her stem, and the torpedo was affixed without any difficulty, a fuse timed for an hour and a half being lighted.
The seven of them made short work of unlashing the spar and getting it back to the torpedo-boat, and the Janequeo was soon under way again and stealing up the harbour once more. The Atahualpa was the next ship they came to, and to their unbounded satisfaction they found that she was unprotected by a boom.
Thus they were in a particularly perilous predicament, for if they were discovered now no power on earth could save them; but Jim was thankful beyond measure that he had not been running in at full speed, otherwise the Janequeo would most certainly have broken her back and sunk on the instant.
If he only had a light, he reflected, things would not be quite so bad, and he rummaged among his pockets in the endeavour to find a box of matches which he knew had been in his pocket when he was thrown overboard off the Janequeo.
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