"I am afraid there are very few, Dick boy," returned the elder man kindly. "I suppose that is somewhat of a disappointment to you. You would have preferred to sail the seas in the days when every small liner carried her guns as a defence against raiders and was often forced to use them, too. But when international law began to regulate traffic on the high seas and the ocean thoroughfare ceased to be such a deserted one pirates went out of fashion, and every nation was granted equal rights to sail the seas unmolested. It was because this freedom was menaced by German submarines in the late war and our privilege to travel by water threatened that our nation refused to tolerate such conditions. A code of humane laws that had been established for the universal good was being broken and we could not permit it. For you must remember that now there are almost as many laws on the ocean as on the land. There are rules for all kinds of vessels, of which there are a far greater variety than perhaps you realize. Not only have we steamships, cruisers, and battleships but we have schooners, barques, brigs, tugboats, dredgers, oil-tankers, turret ships for freight, cargo boats, steam tramps, coalers, produce ships, ice-breakers, train ferries, steam trawlers, fire boats, river boats, harbor excursion boats, coasters, whalebacks, steam yachts, launches and lake steamers. Each of these is carefully classified and has its particular traffic rules, and in addition to these is obliged to obey certain other general marine laws to which all of them are subject, in order that travel by water may be made safe." "Don't all ships have to be inspected, too?" asked Stephen. "Yes; and not only are they inspected but to protect the lives of their passengers and crew, as well as preserve their cargo, they must adhere to specified conditions. The number of passengers and crew is regulated by law, as is the amount of the cargo. Ocean liners, for example, must have aboard a certain number of lifeboats, rafts, belts, life preservers, fire extinguishers, lines of hose; and the size of all these is carefully designated. There must be frequent drills in manning the boats; the fire hose must be tested to see that it works and is in proper condition; and in thick weather the foghorns must be sounded at regular intervals. There is no such thing now as going to sea in haphazard fashion and trusting to luck. Everything that can be done for the safety of those who travel the ocean must be done." He paused a moment, then added: