ouple of
engineers and fifty stokers," suggested Eric.

"Even supposing he did," said the other, "suppose he had every man on
board terrorized, or so heavily bribed that they would obey him to the
letter, still his troubles would have hardly begun. In the old days, as
long as there was food and water aboard, a sailing ship could cruise
around for months at a time. A steamer needs coal."

"She could take the coal from the bunkers of the ships she held up,"
suggested the boy.

"It would be a good deal more of a job than you reckon," the other
answered. "She couldn't do it at all if there was any sea running, and
even on a calm day, it's a tricky proposition. If you've ever seen a
man-o'-war on a sea cruise trying to coal from a naval collier, that's
built just for that very purpose, you'd get an idea how hard it is.
Meantime, what would the crew and passengers of the liner be doing?"

"Putting in coal, or getting shot down if they resisted."

"You've a bloodthirsty turn of mind," his friend rejoined. "I know the
idea, 'scuppers pouring blood,' and that sort of business, eh?"

"Sure," answered Eric.

"You're forgetting a lot of things," the other said. "An old time
sailing-ship just had the one deck. When a boarding pirate crew had won
the deck, they were masters of the ship. But a modern steamer is like a
building with several floors, one on top of the other. A pirate crew
which could put aboard a steamer as many men as the steamer itself
carried, and still handle itself, would be a small army. What's more, on
a modern steamship, with half a dozen stairways and the whole inside a
labyrinth of rooms, the pirates would be ambushed like rats in a trap a
dozen times over."

"Yes, there's something in that," the boy agreed.

"Then there's the wireless," continued Homer. "Supposing a pirate
steamer hailed a craft. Long before the first boatload of men could
board, or before the ships could have grappled, the wireless operator
would send an 'S O S' call, with a description of the piratic vessel and
the latitude and longitude. The pirate couldn't get coal aboard in less
than twelve hours, and by that time half a dozen vessels would be
steaming at full speed to the spot."

"What difference would that make?" said Eric. "If the pirate were armed
with heavy guns, she could stand off a fleet of commercial vessels that
didn't have any armament."

"Your imagination is working in great shape, Eric," his engineer friend
repl