o knots faster
than the _Union_, the ship she was being sent to hunt down. She very
soon covered the length of the harbour and vanished from the sight of
the fleet beyond Punta Angeles.

Although from the information in Jim's possession it was to be supposed
that the _Union_ was by this time several days' steam ahead of him, it
was yet by no means certain where she really was; and it was quite
within the bounds of possibility that they might sight her at any
moment. Douglas therefore took the precaution to have a man in the
fore-topmast crosstrees, with instructions to keep his eyes wide open,
and to report any three-masted, one-funnelled steamer that might happen
to put in an appearance. A fresh man was sent aloft every two hours,
since the weather was hot, and it was distinctly irksome to be obliged
to remain aloft, exposed to the full glare of the sun for any length of
time; moreover, Jim kept a man at the masthead day and night. There was
therefore absolutely no chance of the _Union_ being missed should she
come within twenty miles from the _Angamos_, for a man with a powerful
telescope would be able to cover at least that distance from the
cruiser's fore-topmast head.

But despite the strict look-out maintained aboard the _Angamos_, the
days passed without any sign of the _Union_ making her appearance. The
gun-running vessels Jim did not expect to meet until several days after
his arrival off the Straits of Magellan; but he could not quite
understand not having yet sighted the Peruvian corvette. Past
Concepcion they swept, on the afternoon of the second day out from
Valparaiso; then past Valdivia, and still there was no sign of the
enemy; then Childe Island was dropped astern, and on the fifth day out
at about two o'clock in the afternoon Cape Pillar, at the north end of
Desolation Island and the entrance to the Straits, was sighted, but the
sea was still bare of the ship of which they had come in search.

Still, as Jim remembered, the _Union_ was a very fast boat, only two
knots slower than the _Angamos_ herself, and he thought it not
improbable that she might be found lurking somewhere among the numerous
islands which make the navigation of Magellan Straits so difficult and
dangerous. The young skipper therefore took his cruiser into every
little creek and inlet that he came to, in the hope of finding his
quarry there; or, if the water was too shoal, sent away boat expeditions
to explore. But still the