I had been out of health a few years before; I spent six months at Cedar Keys and Tampa, and got well.

Fish were plenty here, and of a kind that bring a good price farther north.

I loaded my tug with ice, and came down here in her.

I did a first-rate business buying from boats and in catching fish myself, and for a time I made money, though ice was so dear that I had to sell in the South." "Did you have a pilot on board of your tug ?" asked the captain.
"No, sir; I was my own pilot.

I had the charts, and I studied out the bottom, so that I knew where I was in the darkest night." "Then you are just the person we want if you are a pilot in these waters." "What waters, sir?
We are now off Cape St.Blas and Apalachicola Bay.
I have been into the bay, but I am not a pilot in those waters, as you suggest." "I have just opened my orders, and I find we are ordered to Cedar Keys," interposed the commander.
"That is quite another thing, sir; and there isn't a foot of bottom within five miles of the Keys to which I have not been personally introduced.