LIFE ON THE MISSISSIPPI.

that it was to do Mr. W------a benevolence,—tell him where he was.

It took five minutes for the entire preposterousness of the thing to
filter into Mr. Bixby's system, and then I judge it filled him nearly
up to the chin; because he paid me a compliment—and not much of

a one either. He
said—

' Well, tak-
ing you by-and-
large, you do
seem to be more
different kinds of
an ass than any
creature I ever
saw before.
What did you
suppose he
wanted to know
for?'

I said I
thought it might
be a convenience
to him.

' C o n v e n i-
ence! D-nation I

Didn't I tell you that a man's got
to know the river in the night the
same as he'd know his own front
hallt*

1 Well, I can follow the front hall in
the dark it I know it is the front hall;
but suppose you set me down in the
middle of it in the dark and not tell me
which hall it is; how am / to know 1'
' Well, you've got to, on the river !'

* All right. Then I'm glad I never said anything to Mr. W------'

* I should say so. Why, he'd have slammed you through the
window and utterly ruined a hundred dollars' worth of window-sash
and stuff.'

<ALL WELL—BUT