, 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 passed out of the line of fire the _Huascar_ opened with one
of her turret 300-pounder guns. The first shell passed 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 ship, 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 shell struck full
upon one of the _Covadonga's_ 70-pounder gun-shields, 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 shell 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