Ten seconds passed. Then the torpedo on the end of the boom struck the "El Cid" under the stern. There was a crash--a vast upheaval of water and fragments.
The great ironclad rolled over on her side and lay half submerged.
Of the two men who had done this, one swam ashore bearing the other, wounded to the death.
A mighty cheer arose from the Chilian fleet, repeated from the shore with redoubled volume.
"El Cid" lay sullen and silent; two of her guns were pointing under water, two up to the clouds.
The "Arapiles" fired the last shell at her own admiral--now a corpse, torn to pieces by the torpedo.
Then some one scrambled along the deck of the wrecked monster and lowered the Spanish flag.
"I think we'll keep that money," remarked Grant, as he lit another cigar.
The Chilian fleet had relieved New York. Elated by her victory over Peru, and thirsting for revenge against Spain for the latter's merciless bombardment of Valparaiso in 1866, the Chilians, as soon as they had learned of the declaration of war against the United States, tore up the treaty of truce and armistice made with Spain in 1871, and announced themselves an ally of this country. Realizing the weakness of our navy, and the unprotected position of our seaports, Chili instantly dispatched her three ironclads to New York. They made the voyage with remarkable celerity, stopping only for coal and provisions, and reached the beleaguered city just in the nick of time, as has already been detailed.
It was fortunate that the "Zaragoza" had been obliged to put so far out to sea that she could not return in season to take part in the conflict, otherwise the result might have been different.
As it was, when she came back a day later, and discovered the position of affairs, she took to her heels without delay.
It is not necessary here to speak of the greeting which the Chilians received, or the thanks which were lavished upon them by the people of the United States. Neither need we picture the dismay of the citizens of New York when they came to realize the fearful damage which had been inflicted upon their city. Fully one-half of the town lay in ruins. The metropolis was the metropolis no longer. The proudest city of the Great Republic had been at the mercy of a conqueror, and, as if this humiliation were not deep enough, she owed her preservation from utter destruction to the guns of an insignificant Republic of South America.