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For, as though determined to do all the damage he possibly could before slipping away, Villavicencio had ordered a number of his broadside guns to be shifted aft, to enable him to maintain as heavy a fire as possible from that part of the ship; and so rapidly did he now fire from his stern ports that the series of explosions looked almost like a continuous sheet of flame, while the solid shot and shell fell round the Chilian ships like hail.
"I cannot pretend to understand it all, but from what I do comprehend, I see that if I could fulfil my promise to my dead shipmate and captain, and see justice done to his widow and child, I have greater reason than ever for hurrying back to Spain to try and counteract the schemes of Father Mendez, and to oppose the Marquis Don Anibal Villavicencio, who will of course stir heaven and earth to maintain his position."
Villavicencio appeared to be sunk in thought for a few seconds, during which he ejaculated "Caramba!" and "Carrajo!" several times. The last item of information seemed to be both unexpected and unpleasant. Presently, however, he muttered to himself, "Well, I don't suppose it matters very much.
"Ah-h-h," breathed Villavicencio, through his teeth, "so you were the man in command of the cruiser. I thought you might be when I heard your name, but you struck me as being rather young for the post. By the way, how old are you?" Jim told him, not without a certain curious sinking sensation about his heart. "So young as that?
But be it as it may, to be the lawful wife of Don Rafael de Villavicencio is an honour I cannot lose, and with that alone I shall live contented. But if my conduct after I am your wife give me any claim to your esteem, I will thank Heaven for having brought me through such strange circumstances and such great misfortunes to the happiness of being yours.
"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.
What he said Jim did not know, but the command to fire did not come. Instead, the rifles were grounded with a clash, and Douglas heard somebody walking toward him. Then the Peruvian skipper's voice broke the intense silence. "Take off that bandage," he commanded; and the handkerchief being stripped from Jim's eyes he found himself looking into those of Villavicencio.
There was a short pause, broken only by the rustling of papers, and then a low, carefully modulated voice replied: "Bring the fellow in, then, sentry"; and Jim was ushered into the presence of Captain Villavicencio, the famous captain of the Peruvian corvette.
Having arrived there, the intense light from the brilliant sun nearly blinded him after his imprisonment in the pitchy blackness of his cell; but as soon as he could see clearly he at once perceived, drawn up in single line across the quarter-deck, a body of men armed with rifles, and he knew that this was indeed the firing-party which Villavicencio had promised him.
Although he could not account for this sudden commencement of hostilities on the part of the Union, Jim on his own part had only been waiting for the proper moment to open fire himself, and now he, in turn, gave Villavicencio a most unpleasant surprise by returning his fire with a very much larger gun than the Peruvian imagined that the Huemul carried.
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