and turned back all late-returning automobiles.
Meanwhile, under the cover of an impenetrable darkness, a force of 4,000 men was quietly landed in the ships' boats, which, in strings of half a dozen, were towed by steam launches to the beach and rowed ashore through the scarcely perceptible surf. The whole force had landed shortly after midnight. Drawn up in column of fours, it commenced a rapid march on Fort Hamilton, some six miles distant.
Realizing that there was a bare chance that no warning had reached its garrison of 600 men, the commander of the expedition hurried forward a bicycle detachment, 300 strong, for a surprise attack. The main body advanced by the road which skirts the shore of Gravesend Bay. When it was within three miles of the fort, the distant roll of musketry fire
