e
Peruvians got their aim right, and sent a perfect hail of Gatling,
Nordenfeldt, and rifle-bullets hurtling into the wrecked launch, so that
her men began to fall in all directions. Beacon-fires were also lighted
in bow and stern and at amidships, so that the vivid red glare shed a
lurid radiance over everything within a hundred yards. And by their
light Douglas saw that the ship which he had attacked was _not_ the
_Huascar_ at all; neither was the craft lying close to her the _Union_!
They were a pair of old hulks, roughly metamorphosed so as to resemble
the warships, and heavy barriers of floating timber had been thrown out
all round them, while they had been armed with machine-guns and crowds
of riflemen. The monitor and the corvette had escaped out of Arica
harbour to continue their depredations elsewhere, and the _Pilcomayo_
had probably gone with them. The Chilians had walked into a cleverly
set trap and were paying dearly for their mistake.

Jim quickly recovered his presence of mind, and springing out of the
launch while the bullets whistled about his ears, started to examine the
boat in order to ascertain whether she were still seaworthy. He soon
discovered that although there were numerous holes in her planking, they
were all above the water-line, as luck would have it, and although a
long piece of her keel was gone, it had not started the boat's timbers
so far as he could see.

"Now, boys," he shouted, "if we can get the launch back into the water
we may escape after all. Who will lend me a hand?"

The men needed no second bidding, but sprang to their young leader's
assistance, and worked with all the energy of despair. Man after man
fell under the deadly hail of fire from the hulk, but as fast as they
fell others took their places, until at last, under their furious
exertions, the little steamer began to quiver, and then moved slightly
backward off the boom. There was an ominous cracking of timber for a
few seconds, as some part of her splintered planking caught in the
obstruction, and then, with a rending, tearing noise, it gave way, and
the launch slid into the water of the bay, shipping a ton or two of it
over her stern as she splashed in. But she was afloat once more, and
could she only come unscathed through that inferno of bullets, the few
remaining members of her crew might, even yet, hope to escape at last.

"Into the boat with you," cried Jim; "into the boat, all but four men.
You, Ter