ut the new vessel, and even
learned the hour and dock at which she was to receive her cargo.

Our Government was warned, and a revenue cutter got ready to intercept
the _Silver Heels_ as soon as she should really have started on her
voyage.

The Cubans were attempting to load and despatch their vessel from the
port of New York, and so it was expected that, with all the police boats
and cutters available here, it would be an easy matter to catch and
convict all concerned in the expedition.

A detective was sent to watch the dock at which the _Silver Heels_ was
to be loaded. Sure enough, the vessel slipped up to the pier as soon as
night had fallen, and the detective watched suspicious-looking cases
being hastily put on board, and suspicious-looking characters taking
passage in her. He became convinced that a filibustering expedition was
indeed being sent out. To make quite sure, he watched until the last of
her load was put on board. The last man had reached the deck, and the
vessel, in tow of a river tug, had once more pulled out of the dock.

He then hurried down to the Battery and told what he had seen, and with
several other officers got on board the cutter and started to intercept
the _Silver Heels_ as she came down the Bay on her way to sea.

To you who do not know New York Harbor, it may be as well to explain
that New York, or Manhattan, Island lies between the Hudson River and
the Sound, an arm of the sea which is called the East River as it flows
by New York.

This East River which, as it widens, becomes Long Island Sound,
separates Manhattan Island from Long Island, which, as its name
suggests, is a long strip of land stretching along the coast for miles
above and below New York city, forming the beautiful New York Bay and
Harbor below the city, and the equally lovely Long Island Sound above
the city.

The Atlantic Ocean washes the outer shore of Long Island, and ships
leaving the port of New York can reach the sea either by going above the
city through Hell Gate and Long Island Sound, or below the city down the
Harbor and Bay, and out through the Narrows, past Sandy Hook and Fire
Island.

The route to Cuba is _down_ the Bay. To attempt to make the journey by
the Sound route is to go a good day's journey out of the way, so it
never entered the heads of the officers on the cutter that the _Silver
Heels_ would start for Cuba by any such out-of-the-way route.

Putting off from the Battery, which is the