“Then that accounts for the bunch of red which I saw one of the men throw on board just now,” said Captain Saunders. “There goes the first basketful. It is going up rapidly; the crane is swinging inboard; it is being dumped on deck. Now the crane is travelling back and the basket is lowered again. The men fall to. They are loading with a will, for an officer has gone down among them and is directing. I suppose the poor devils stopped too often to taste the fruit. The second basketful is going up! up! up! That also is dumped. What’s this? The basket is not coming back! No, hooks are being lowered on the end of the chain. They must have put in all the vegetables that were on top and have reached the meat. Ah, they are commencing at the bow and not amidships. There goes a shoulder of beef! Inboard with it! Out comes the crane arm again and down go the hooks! Another shoulder of beef! Those fellows are working like mad. Why, Dartmoor, they must be nearly famished. I suppose they didn’t appreciate what a rich haul they had come across. Merciful God, if Thou wilt but stay Thine hand!”
The brief, fervent prayer was echoed by all who heard. The faces of men and boys had become ashen pale. Two hundred men were on the transport _Loa_, two hundred hungry men, and there were thousands of others in the fleet. The launch contained enough fresh provisions to give them all a treat for at least one day.
The _Blanco Encalada_ had steamed only a short distance away, and then had swung around and lay rolling in the trough, waiting, her crew evidently watching the work that was being pushed forward. Other ships of the fleet, realizing from the signals what was happening, had edged closer in.
“They are working their way aft,” continued Captain Saunders. “Some smaller pieces are being sent up the side. You say the infernal machine is located exactly amidships?”
“Yes, sir,” answered Harvey, in a whisper.
“There, there!” The captain held his hand out, as if in a warning. “The officer is bending over; a sailor bends over with him. The hook is being made——”
A blinding flash sprang from the side of the transport, a flash that dazzled the eye even in the bright day, and for one infinitesimal measurement of time everything stood out plainly—the side of the ship, the lighter, the men bending over, the men grouped among the provisions, and those who had manned the chains. Then, in contrast with the lightning-like movement of the great glare was the slow movement of the steamship, parting in twain. She opened as though a giant wedge had cleft her in two; she had been rent asunder by a force that was titanic. And as she thus divided, a roar the like of which no man in Callao had ever heard came thundering over the water. The great sound waves threw themselves upon buildings, causing them to tremble to their foundations, and thrust upon sensitive ear-drums with deafening force. Then they swept on, over the seacoast city, over the pampas country, up to Lima, rattling windows there, and passed from the City of the Kings to the spurs of the Andes, which threw them back in a prolonged echo, so that all the valley seemed filled with sound.