PERPLEXING LESSONS. 35

and marks of one trip mixed up with the shoal soundings and marks
of another, either, for they're not often twice alike, You must keep
them separate.'

When I came to myself again, I said—

* When I get so that I can do that, I'll be able to raise the dead,
and then I won't have to pilot a steamboat to make a living. I want*
to retire from this business. I want a slush-bucket and a brush;
I'm only fit for a roustabout. 1 haven't got brains enough to be a
pilot; and if I had I wouldn't have strength enough to carry them
around, unless I went on crutches/

* Now drop that! When I say I'll learn l a man the river, I
mean it. And you can depend on it, I'll learn him or Mil him/

1 * Teach' is not in the river vocabulary.