on to repair the
vessel. Still, he had the glory, and perhaps it was worth it to the
company."

"Were there other races like that?" Dick asked.

"Yes, for years the racing went on until there were so many fires,
explosions and collisions, that the steamer inspection law was put
through to regulate the conditions of travel. It certainly was high time
that something was done to protect the public, too, for such universal
recklessness prevailed that everybody was in danger. Boats were
overloaded; safety valves were plugged; boilers carried several times as
much steam as they had any right to do, and many lives had been
sacrificed before the government stepped in and put a stop to this
strife for fame and money. Since then the traffic on the Hudson has
dropped to a plane of sanity and is now carried on by fine lines of
boats that conform to the rules for safety and efficient service."

"And what became of Mr. Vanderbilt?" interrogated Dick, who was a New
Yorker to the core and had no mind to lose sight of the name with which
he was familiar.

"Oh, Mr. Vanderbilt was a man who had many irons in the fire," replied
Mr. Ackerman, smiling at the boy's eagerness. "He did not need to be
pitied for just about this time gold was discovered in California and as
the interest of the country swung in that direction Vanderbilt, ever
quick to seize an opening wherever it presented itself, withdrew some of
his steamers from the Hudson and headed them around to the Pacific coast
instead."

"And your family, Mr. Ackerman, were mixed up in all this steamboat
rumpus?" commented Steve suddenly.

"Yes, my grandfather was one of the Hudson River racers and quite as bad
as the rest of them," the man replied. "Nevertheless he was a stanch,
clever old fellow, and because he did his part toward building up the
commerce and prosperity of the nation I have always regarded him with
the warmest respect. I do not approve of all his methods, however, any
more than I approve of many of the cut-throat business methods of to-day
which sometime will be looked back upon with as much shame as these have
been. There are moments, I must confess, when I wonder if we, with all
our supposed enlightenment, have made any very appreciable advance over
the frank and open racing done by our forefathers on the Hudson,"
reflected he half-humorously. "Perhaps we are a trifle more humane; and
yet there is certainly much to be desired in the way we still sacrifice
the