Little by little I got acquainted with him, and pretty soon I was doing a lot of steering for him in his daylight watches.

When I got to New Orleans I inquired about ships leaving for Para and discovered that there weren't any, and learned that there probably wouldn't be any during that century.

It had not occurred to me to inquire about those particulars before leaving Cincinnati, so there I was.

I couldn't get to the Amazon.
I had no friends in New Orleans and no money to speak of.

I went to Horace Bixby and asked him to make a pilot out of me.