,
apparently in the same position as she had taken up when the mist began
to appear before his eyes, and she was laughing, a grim, noiseless
chuckle that disclosed all her white, pointed teeth.

Suddenly the spell broke, and Montt and Jim rose to their feet
simultaneously, the former wiping the cold perspiration from his brow,
and smiling in a curiously strained manner.

"Well, Mama," he said, "you have shown us some very strange things, I
must say. I only hope that the last part of your prophecy concerning
myself will not come true. Here you are, Mama," he went on, feeling in
his pockets for a coin, "here is a five-_peso_ piece for you. I hope
you will consider the payment sufficient."

The old Inca woman grabbed the coin and hid it away in the recesses of
her girdle. "Quite sufficient, gallant cavalier," she replied. "Your
generosity has not withered with the years. You are a brave man; and I
would that I might have shown you a more pleasant ending to your life;
but fate is fate, and there is no changing it. _Adios, senores, adios_;
I do not think we shall ever meet again. You, Senor Englishman, go
forward to honour and fame; while you, Don Jorge Montt, go forward to
honour and--death! But you will meet it with the brave heart; and it
will not be very bitter when it comes."

By this time the two men had reached the door, which the Mama now
opened, and a moment later Montt and Douglas were in the street, which
was now illuminated by the rays of the full moon. As the door closed
behind them Montt shivered, although the night was oppressively hot, and
Jim could have sworn that he heard the sound of an animal's pads
retreating down the passage behind them.

The two men swiftly pulled themselves together, however, and started off
for the _Covadonga_, which they reached just as the first faint flush of
dawn made its appearance in the eastern sky.

CHAPTER SEVEN.

A NIGHT-ATTACK.

The day following the joint adventure of Douglas and Montt in
Antofagasta 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 shore 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 warships _Huascar_ and _Union_
were prowling up and down the coast, and, as each one