Simultaneously four searchlights were unscreened from the Armadale, and four powerful beams were focused upon the stranger. Instead of showing up a small "intermediate" liner the rays revealed the pirate cruiser Malfilio.
Ramon Porfirio, although unprepared for such a manoeuvre, had already cleared for action. The moment he saw the game was up he gave the order to open fire.
The Malfilio's six-inchers crashed. Blinded by the glare of the searchlights, the gun-layers, smart enough at their work when shelling an unarmed merchantman, were frantic with the knowledge that they were up against a heavily-armed vessel. Most of the shells flew high, but one, exploding outside the shield of the Armadale's for'ard 9.2, played havoc with the fore-bridge, wounding two officers and a signalman, and carrying away part of the chart-room.
The Armadale's reply was prompt and terrible. Every gun that could be brought to bear upon the pirate cruiser opened fire almost before the last echoes of the Malfilio's salvo had died away.
With a blinding flash that outshone the glare of the searchlights the main magazine of the Malfilio exploded. A dense cloud of smoke, like a silvery mist, hid the pirate cruiser from view; and when the last of the far-flung fragments had fallen either into the sea or upon the Armadale's deck, the shattered hull of the Malfilio had vanished, and with her went Ramon Porfirio and four hundred of the vilest sweepings of the South American and Eastern Asiatic ports.
The whole business was over almost before Burgoyne and his companions realized that an action was in progress. Within a few minutes from the time when the Malfilio opened fire her disintegrated remains were foundering to the bed of the Pacific.
For fifteen minutes the searchlights were kept playing upon the spot where the pirate cruiser had disappeared on the faint chance that there might be survivors. Civilization decrees that a pirate can be hanged or shot, but he must not be allowed to die a lingering death by drowning. But the search revealed no trace of any of the crew of the Malfilio.
"On bow and steaming lights! Wireless the rest of the squadron to take up pre-arranged positions off the secret base!"
Then at a modest fifteen knots, the Armadale, bearing evidences of the scratches she had received, steamed westward. One part of her mission was accomplished: the destruction of the hornet. There remained more work for her to do: to assist in the wiping out of the hornet's nest.