"It always happens that when a man seizes upon a neglected and important idea, people inflamed with the same notion crop up all around. It happened so in this instance."
Chapter I, Page 8

"I now come to a phase of the Mississippi River life of the flush times of steamboating, which seems to me to warrant full examination — the marvelous science of piloting, as displayed there. I believe there has been nothing like it elsewhere in the world."
Chapter II, Page 27

"No, the romance and beauty were all gone from the river. All the value any feature of it had for me now was the amount of usefulness it could furnish towards compassing the safe piloting of a steamboat."
Chapter IX, Page 63

"The girl couldn't seem to have enough of that pitiful 'hero' the rest of the trip, but little I cared; I loathed her, anyway."
Chapter...