;*36 LIFE OX THE MISSISSIPPI.

1 Here !' (calling me by name),' you take her and lie a while—
you're handier at it than I am. Trying to play yourself for a
stranger and an innocent!—why, I knew you before you had spoken
seven words; and I made up my mind to find out what was your little
game. It was to draw me out. Well, I let you, didn't I ? Now
take the wheel and finish the watch; and next time play fair, and you
won't have to work your passage.'

Thus ended the fictitious-name business. And not six hours out
from St. Louis! but I had gained a privilege, any way, for I had been
itching to get my hands on the wheel, from the beginning. I seemed
to have forgotten the river, but I hadn't forgotten how to steer a
steamboat, nor how to enjoy it, either.