ch they
call a policy, by which they bind themselves to pay me 300 pounds if I
should lose my ship and cargo. You see, my lad, the risks of the sea
are very great, and there's no knowing what may happen between this and
the coast of France, to which we are bound after touching at Ramsgate.
D'ye understand?"

Billy shook his head, and with an air of perplexity said that he "wasn't
quite up to that dodge--didn't exactly see through it."

"Supposin'," said he, "you does lose the sloop an' cargo, why, wot
then?--the sloop an' cargo cost somethin', I dessay?"

"Ah, Billy, you're a smart boy--a knowing young rascal," replied Mr
Jones, nodding approval; "of course they cost something, but therein
lies the advantage. The whole affair, sloop an' cargo, ain't worth more
than a few pounds; so, if I throw it all away, it will be only losing a
few pounds for the sake of gaining three hundred. What think you of
that, lad?"

"I think the Submarine Insurance Company must be oncommon green to be
took in so easy," replied the youngster with a knowing smile.

"They ain't exactly green either, boy, but they know that if they made
much fuss and bother about insuring they would soon lose their
customers, so they often run the risk of a knowin' fellow like me, and
take the loss rather than scare people away. You know, if a grocer was
in the habit of carefully weighing and testing with acid every sovereign
he got before he would sell a trifle over the counter,--if he called
every note in question, and sent up to the bank to see whether it wasn't
a forgery, why, his honest customers wouldn't be able to stand it.
They'd give him up. So he just gives the sovereign a ring and the note
a glance an' takes his chance. So it is in some respects with insurance
companies. They look at the man and the papers, see that all's right,
as well as they can, and hope for the best. That's how it is."

"Ha! they must be jolly companies to have to do with. I'd like to
transact some business with them submarines," said the boy, gravely.

"And so you shall, my lad, so you shall," cried Mr Jones with a laugh;
"all in good time. Well, as I was saying, the cargo ain't worth much;
it don't extend down to the keel, Billy, by no means; and as for the
sloop--she's not worth a rope's-end. She's as rotten as an old coffin.
It's all I've been able to do to make her old timbers hold together for
this voyage."

Billy Towler opened his eyes very wide at this,