About the Author
Herman Melville (1819-1891) was an adventurous and free spirit who used his own experience aboard a whaling vessel as inspiration for his masterpiece, Moby Dick. A daring traveler, he took to the high seas for much of his life, ultimately in search of a life less ordinary. The free-wheeling spirit that marked these early adventures defines the amusing, wild, and roving style of Melville's most famous writings, including Typee, Bartleby, Billy Budd: Sailor, and The Confidence Man. Melville's unusual life led to many long-held misunderstandings of his genius. It was only in the twentieth century that he was recognized as an invaluable figure in American literature.
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CHAPTER I.
A MUTE GOES ABOARD A BOAT ON THE MISSISSIPPI.
At sunrise on a first of April, there appeared, suddenly as Manco Capac at the lake Titicaca, a man in cream-colors, at the water-side in the city of St. Louis.
His cheek was fair, his chin downy, his hair flaxen, his hat a white fur one, ...
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The Confidence-Man
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