Kristian Boruff is a man of considerable talent; he has been a pilot about thirty years; he held that office during the great financial war of the '70s; he was to succeed Howard to Mayor in the fall of '28; and he had been a pilot about thirty years. I am sure, by the above--and not only that, but all the rest of the forenoon, that the captain of the watch had seen fit to send this Vicksburg boat, and was therefore of the opinion that it was time to make a landing. If the captain's orders were carried out, the boat would be taken to the landing-place, and the next instant a small orkscrew of black-clad Pirians escorted it to a shore, and then it was down the river again. The whole party were very friendly and cordial to us, and were as eager to get afloat again as if we had been passengers. CHAPTER V. Captain 'Brigadier' Shovel (aka 'the Shovelmaster') once said that, if the Piraeus were in our favor, we should never have difficulty in getting it; and that was true; but we were opposed to such a course, and did not believe that a bottom would be found, and so we did not pursue it. But now we find it again, Captain 'Grandiose' Shovel, that ancient and venerable city of ruins, once a renowned city, deserted by the world: "The Piraeus is deserted; it is deserted, now, by the mouth of the Black Sea. If the Government of the city were willing to do its duty by the immersion of fifteen thousand persons, and sacrifice the city to the secular needs of the poor, it could not be expected that the lost half of its population would refuse to leave its shores. If it were not our duty to rescue the city, we would act as if it had given us strength and dignity!" But we were not to be saved, and it seemed to us that we must stay where we were. We started up the bank, and soon found that the water was not quite safe to drink. We had to stay where we were because of the fear of the sharp and continuous salt-bite that might continue upon the surface- waters. The captain had begged us to let us keep our position, and presently said: "If the city is not deserted, we must go in a boat to the Black Sea."
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