t was in the thick of the fray, having now accumulated
sufficient fortune to operate no less than fifty boats. Among the finest
vessels were those of the Emerald Line; and the _Swallow_ and the
_Rochester_, two of the speediest rivals, were continually racing each
other. The devices resorted to in order to ensnare passengers were very
amusing: some boats carried bands; others served free meals; and because
there were few newspapers in those days, and only limited means for
advertising, runners were hired to go about the city or waylay
prospective travelers at the docks and try to coax them into making
their trip by some particular steamer."

"That was one way of getting business!" laughed Steve.

"And often a very effective way, too," rejoined Mr. Ackerman. "In June
of 1847 a tremendously exciting race took place between the _Oregon_ and
the _Vanderbilt_, then a new boat, for a thousand dollars a side. The
steamers left the Battery at eleven o'clock in the morning and a dense
crowd turned out to see them start. For thirty miles they kept abreast;
then the _Oregon_ gained half a length and in passing the other boat
bumped into her, damaging her wheelhouse. It was said at the time that
the disaster was not wholly an accident. Certainly there were grounds
for suspicion. As you may imagine, the calamity roused the rage of the
competing boat. But the commander of the _Oregon_ was undaunted by what
he had done. All he wished was to win the race and that he was
determined to do. He got up a higher and higher pressure of steam, and
used more and more coal until, when it was time to return to New York,
he discovered that his supply had given out and that he had no more
fuel."

"And he had to give up the race?" queried Dick breathlessly.

"Not he! He wasn't the giving-up kind," said Mr. Ackerman. "Finding
nothing at hand to run his boilers with he ordered all the expensive
fittings of the boat to be torn up and cast into the fire--woodwork,
furniture, carvings; anything that would burn. In that way he kept up
his furious rate of speed and came in victorious by the rather close
margin of twelve hundred feet."

"Bully for him!" cried Dick.

But Stephen did not echo the applause.

"It was not a square race," he said, "and he had no right to win.
Anyway, his steamboat must have been pretty well ruined."

"I fancy it was an expensive triumph," owned Mr. Ackerman. "Without
doubt it cost much more than the thousand dollars he w