There was no panic. Every man was at his post, cool and alert. The carpenter came on deck with the reassuring statement that the vessel was not making water, but on the other hand the engineer reported that the three starboard propellers were useless, and that the motors actuating them had to be shut off. Thus with only the three port propellers working, the speed of the _Olive Branch_ was reduced to a bare fifteen knots. "I'll make them pay for this!" exclaimed Captain Brookes, coolly. "Keep her as she is, and at daybreak I'll show them what the _Olive Branch_ is capable of doing." The short twilight changed into day, and the rising sun revealed the presence of the Peruvian fleet barely seven miles to the eastward. There were four armoured cruisers--the _Santa Rosa_, _Lima_, _Independencia_, and _Restauracion_, the first three built at Elswick, and the last-named having been constructed at Stettin--and three gunboats. The latter were the lame ducks of the fleet, and in order to protect them the speed of the cruisers had to be reduced from twenty-three to fourteen knots. 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.