FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   71   72   73   74   75   76   77   78   79   80   81   82   83   84   85   86   87   88   89   90   91   92   93   94   95  
96   97   98   99   100   101   102   103   104   105   106   107   108   109   110   111   112   113   114   115   116   117   118   119   120   >>   >|  
ould also know whether his intended prey lay in the roads or not. The heart of every man in the little flotilla beat fast, and his breath came thickly under the stress of the intense excitement of the moment; and Jim, from his position in the stern of the _Blanco's_ launch, tried to pierce the darkness with his eyes to get the first glimpse of the Peruvian vessels. A moment later the three boats, closer together now, swept round the northern end of the island, and Arica roadstead lay in full view before them. It was now the hour before the dawn, and consequently the night was at its darkest, but Jim could hardly repress a cry of delight as he caught sight of four indistinct, dark masses, looming up on the surface of the bay. There were no lights showing anywhere, save in one or two isolated houses on shore, where sickness probably kept the inmates awake; but he had not expected to find any lights showing among the Peruvian fleet, since they would naturally desire to keep their whereabouts hidden from chance Chilian prowlers. But in Jim's mind there was no doubt that the four shapeless blurs lying close together, about half a mile away, were the vessels of which he had come in search; and he passed the word to the other launches to select each her own particular vessel, torpedo her, and then steam away back to the Chilian fleet. He himself intended to be responsible for two of the Peruvians, while his consorts were instructed to take one a-piece. No conditions, he thought to himself, could have been more favourable to the enterprise. So far as he could make out, no suspicion had been aroused that the Chilians were in the vicinity; the night was dark, and the town seemed to be asleep. In fact, their enemies appeared to be indulging in a feeling of security from which they would awake--too late! The order was now passed for the launches to ease down to half-speed, so that the sound of the churning propellers might be less perceptible, and the three boats crept forward almost in complete silence upon their prey. Jim could now plainly make out the brig-rig of the monitor _Huascar_, and the three masts and single funnel of the corvette _Union_, and these two ships he intended to account for with his own torpedo-boat. Away to the right, close under the forts, and about four hundred yards from the _Huascar_, lay what looked like a couple of other monitors. He had quite expected, or at least hoped, to find one oth
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   71   72   73   74   75   76   77   78   79   80   81   82   83   84   85   86   87   88   89   90   91   92   93   94   95  
96   97   98   99   100   101   102   103   104   105   106   107   108   109   110   111   112   113   114   115   116   117   118   119   120   >>   >|  



Top keywords:

intended

 

Huascar

 

showing

 
lights
 
torpedo
 

Chilian

 
passed
 

expected

 

launches

 

Peruvian


moment
 

vessels

 

vicinity

 

suspicion

 

aroused

 
Chilians
 

asleep

 

feeling

 

security

 
indulging

enemies

 
appeared
 

instructed

 

Peruvians

 

consorts

 

conditions

 

thought

 
enterprise
 

responsible

 

favourable


account

 

funnel

 

corvette

 

hundred

 

monitors

 

couple

 

looked

 

single

 

propellers

 

perceptible


churning

 

vessel

 

forward

 

monitor

 

plainly

 

complete

 
silence
 

select

 

surface

 

looming