The plan succeeds and the revolutionaries capture four chests of silver and one of gold, conveyed by the "Surprise" to Valparaiso and then overland to Santiago. Sir David fights a duel with one of his officers and dies. Popular local sentiment gradually turns against the British, and Aubrey receives news that the junta plans to impound his frigate. He decides to pre-empt action against "Surprise" by cutting out the Peruvian fifty-gun frigate "Esmeralda" at Callao in Peru to strengthen the Chilean navy. "Surprise" conducts a hard-fought broadside action and eventually the British-Chilean force takes the ship. Aubrey suffers wounds in the thigh and shoulder. Maturin and Jacob send a coded message of the successful cutting-out to Sir Joseph Blaine which the schooner takes to the "Isaac Newton", as Dobson's friends agree to carry the message across Panama to meet a returning merchantman. "Ringle" carries the news to Valparaiso.