Then he says: "How are you on the deef and dumb, Bilgewater ?" The duke said, leave him alone for that; said he had played a deef and dumb person on the histronic boards.

So then they waited for a steamboat.
About the middle of the afternoon a couple of little boats come along, but they didn't come from high enough up the river; but at last there was a big one, and they hailed her.

She sent out her yawl, and we went aboard, and she was from Cincinnati; and when they found we only wanted to go four or five mile they was booming mad, and gave us a cussing, and said they wouldn't land us.

But the king was ca'm.

He says: "If gentlemen kin afford to pay a dollar a mile apiece to be took on and put off in a yawl, a steamboat kin afford to carry 'em, can't it ?" So they softened down and said it was all right; and when we got to the village they yawled us ashore.