it was the cook. "Well, then,
come along. It's half past five, and time to go to work."

He took us to the kitchen and set us to work. First we both peeled
potatoes. Then he set us doin' all sorts of things, carryin' dishes,
bringin' his terbaker, and I had to carry water; and finally he made me
wipe dishes which a girl was washin'. And such a lot of swearin' you
never heard in your life. The cook was singin' a song which went
somethin' like this, as far as I can remember:

There was a little girl, and she lived with her mother,
And the world all over couldn't find such a nother,
Tum-a-ter-a-um-a lida bugaroo,
Tum-a-ter-a-um-a lida bugaroo.

She had hair on her head like thorns on the hedges,
And the teeth in her jaws was a set of iron wedges,
Tum-a-ter-a-um-a lida bugaroo,
Tum-a-ter-a-um-a lida bugaroo.

And he was throwin' things into the skillet and callin' to the girl who
was washin' dishes. She wore slippers that slipped back and forth on her
feet; her apron was twisted; her hair was twisted in a little knot; she
had on a brass ring, and he called her Susie. Then he'd sing:

There goes Susie Skinner,
How in the hell you know?
I know her by her apron strings,
And her shoe strings draggin' on the floor,
Gol dern her,
And her shoe strings draggin' on the floor.

By and by breakfast was ready, and Mitch and me could hardly wait. We
couldn't eat till all the passengers was served, for they made us go in
and take away the soiled dishes. And so when it came our turn, we just
pitched into the liver and potatoes and the pancakes.

And it must have been about half past ten, and hot. It was hot like the
sun under a burning glass, and the river smelled and the dead fish. Only
a little breeze began to stir after a while, and then it was better. We
had nothin' to do now, and stood by the railin' lookin' at the kids on
shore. "Don't you bet they wish they were here?" said Mitch. "Well,
we've struck it, at last, and by Saturday, we'll see Tom Sawyer, and
tell him all about our trip."

I began to hear the sound of a fiddle, and a lot of laughin'; so Mitch
and me edged around the deck till we got toward the front right under
the little cupola where the wheel was, where the captain stood when the
boat was runnin'. And there sat a lot of men, the captain and several
others, with some glasses and beer bottles; and a white-haired man, his
name was Col. La