She had been looking at the other people a little enviously, especially at a girl of her own age who had many friends to see her, and her arms full of flowers.
Very soon the gong sounded, and Alice, who had never heard one, put her hands to her ears to shut out the noise. As soon as the man had passed by Alice said,--
"That is a gong, dear," said her papa, "and is now being used to notify the people who are not sailing on the steamer that it is time to go ashore."
The people who left kissed their friends hurriedly, and went down the gang-plank as if afraid they might be carried away, after all.
After the people were on the dock and the mailbags had been put on the steamer, very slowly but surely the great steamer backed out into the river. Tugs turned her around, and carefully she steamed toward the ocean, trying to avoid the many boats moving about the river in all directions.
[Illustration: THE GREAT STEAMER BACKED OUT INTO THE RIVER.--_Page 21._]
Alice was rather frightened, and thought they certainly would run into some of them.
Many of the passengers were still waving to their friends, who were also waving to them from the dock as long as they could distinguish it at all.
Very soon they could see the famous statue of the Goddess of Liberty, that holds its light so high in the air; then lovely Staten Island, with its green hills and fine houses.
The two forts, Hamilton and Wordsworth, which guard the entrance to the harbor, were soon left behind, and on the left could be seen Coney Island, with its large hotels and elephant and high elevator.
Suddenly, as they were looking at the largest hotel of all, the one at Rockaway Beach, the steamer stopped. Alice, rather startled, said,--
"They are going to drop the pilot," said her papa.
"Oh, no," said Mr. Winter; "do you see that small boat rowing towards us?"
"Yes, papa. Will he drop into that? He never can; he will surely fall into the water."
Mr. Winter smiled and told her to go and watch from the rail, which she did, and soon saw the pilot go down the side of the steamer by a rope and drop into the little row-boat, where two men were waiting to row him to the pretty pilot-boat No. 4, which was quite a distance away.
The steamer started immediately, and in five minutes the row-boat was only a speck on the water.