But to the surprise of everyone on board the Olive Branch the Independencia turned and steamed straight for the solitary and apparently foolhardy pursuer, the Restauracion supporting her at three cables' length on her port quarter. Throughout the night the Olive Branch had been cleared for action, and all that was necessary now was for the men to go to their stations.
"She's too near to use the ZZ-rays," observed Captain Brookes to Gerald, who, at the former's request, had accompanied him to the conning-tower. "I've given orders for independent firing the moment she shows her teeth."
On came the Independencia, the foam flying from her bows, her funnels emitting dense clouds of smoke, while no less than five red and white national ensigns flew from her mast-heads and signal yard-arms.
Suddenly her forward 4.7in. Canet gun opened fire, and a huge 45-pounder came hurtling through the air. Fascinated, Gerald watched its approach, unable to tear himself away from the slit in the steel walls, though the projectile was apparently making straight for the conning-tower. Often from behind a gun had he watched the flight of a shell, but now the conditions were reversed.
The next thing he was aware of was a tremendous crash overhead, followed by the fall of splintered steel and a dense suffocating smoke.
"That's settled the charthouse and bridge," remarked Captain Brookes as calmly as if discussing some triviality, then, pressing an electric push, he gave orders for the forward turret to open fire.
The two 6in. weapons were discharged simultaneously, their noiselessness contrasting vividly with the rapid detonation of the Peruvian gun.
The doomed vessel was instantly swept out of existence. The massive, yet graceful, outlines of the cruiser seemed to melt into a hundred thousand fragments, then as the smoke slowly drifted, no trace of the Independencia was visible, only an ominous swirl in the agitated waters as the disintegrated hull plunged to its ocean grave.
Appalled by the fate of her consort, the Restauracion turned tail and fled, being joined in her flight by the remaining cruisers, the gunboats being left to their fate. But, satisfied by the moral effect of his victory, Captain Brookes desisted from the pursuit.
"We're in a pretty pickle," said Gerald as he joined his friend Stockton. "Partially crippled, and every port closed to us."