Hardly had they departed with their treasure, however, when one of the motorboats was stopped by a large powerboat. This took place near enough to the “Resolute” to enable Carl to read its name--“Buzzard.” The crew of this latter boat was heavily armed, and resistance being useless, the cases were transferred from the smaller boat to the “Buzzard,” which Carl now recognized as one of the much spoken of pirate outfits gotten up to terrorize other rum-running vessels. The commander of this vessel no doubt had an understanding with Captain Billings so that the latter’s employers, the New York bootlegging gang, would be cheated out of the liquor as well as the price the rum-runners had paid for it. The other motorboat, as well as the schooner “Viking” got away, but the “Resolute” was picked up by a Government dry navy patrol boat. This patrol had been on the lookout for a fleet of five English rum-laden vessels, some twenty miles out at sea off Fire Island. These English ships were supposed to be the mother ships of the rum-runners. The patrols had been given orders to board and capture the English vessels at high sea in order to test out a custom house ruling to the effect that the Federal authorities had the right to seize and search beyond the three mile limit. A comparatively small quantity of liquor was found on board, but a list was found of the foremost New York hotel managers, evidently bootleg customers. The vessel and cargo, as well as some three hundred thousand dollars in gold, found in an iron chest was seized by the authorities and taken to New York, where the officers and crew were confined to jail. At the court hearing the next morning, the Captain explained, “I delivered the liquor on the high seas and not within the jurisdiction of the United States Government. The liquor still on the ship is bound for Bermuda and not for your country. I was at the wheel and when the prohibition boat came along I took it for a pirate ship. Even when I heard the voice through the megaphone, ‘Heave to, we are Revenue men,’ I thought they were pirates and at first I intended ramming their ship. On second thought I demanded that they turn their searchlight on their flag and crew. When this was done I could see that they were indeed Revenue men and I was glad to have them come aboard a British boat outside the three mile limit.” The judge questioned Billings as to how he had come into possession of so large an amount of gold and was informed that it was customary for rum-running captains to demand gold, because of the large amount of counterfeit money the bootleggers had succeeded in passing in payment of the liquors.