the hind quarter--the cabin,
in which we had the cosiest of state-rooms, with one round window in the
roof, and two shelves or boxes nailed up against the wall to sleep in.

There was a good deal of confusion on deck while we were getting under
way. The captain shouted orders (to which nobody seemed to pay any
attention) through a battered tin trumpet, and grew so red in the face
that he reminded me of a scooped-out pumpkin with a lighted candle
inside. He swore right and left at the sailors without the slightest
regard for their feelings. They didn't mind it a bit, however, but went
on singing--

"Heave ho!
With the rum below,
And hurrah for the Spanish Main O!"

I will not be positive about "the Spanish Main," but it was hurrah for
something O. I considered them very jolly fellows, and so indeed they
were. One weather-beaten tar in particular struck my fancy--a thick-set,
jovial man, about fifty years of age, with twinkling blue eyes and a
fringe of gray hair circling his head like a crown. As he took off his
tarpaulin I observed that the top of his head was quite smooth and flat,
as if somebody had sat down on him when he was very young.

There was something noticeably hearty in this man's bronzed face, a
heartiness that seemed to extend to his loosely knotted neckerchief. But
what completely won my good-will was a picture of enviable loveliness
painted on his left arm. It was the head of a woman with the body of a
fish. Her flowing hair was of livid green, and she held a pink comb in
one hand. I never saw anything so beautiful. I determined to know that
man. I think I would have given my brass pistol to have had such a
picture painted on my arm.

While I stood admiring this work of art, a fat wheezy steamtug, with
the word AJAX in staring black letters on the paddlebox, came puffing up
alongside the Typhoon. It was ridiculously small and conceited, compared
with our stately ship. I speculated as to what it was going to do. In a
few minutes we were lashed to the little monster, which gave a snort and
a shriek, and commenced backing us out from the levee (wharf) with the
greatest ease.

I once saw an ant running away with a piece of cheese eight or ten times
larger than itself. I could not help thinking of it, when I found the
chubby, smoky-nosed tug-boat towing the Typhoon out into the Mississippi
River.

In the middle of the stream we swung round, the current caught us, and
away we flew lik