First [the king and the duke] done a lecture on temperance; but they didn’t make enough for them both to get drunk on. Then in another village they started a dancing-school; but they didn’t know no more how to dance than a kangaroo does. . . . They tackled missionarying, and mesmerizing, and doctoring, and telling fortunes, and a little of everything; but they couldn’t seem to have no luck. gradesaver

In this text, the question is not included. However, we are still able to determine what the quote means within the larger context of the work.

These lines refer to The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. In these lines, we learn that Jim and Huck are travelling with the duke and the dauphin. Huck describes the journey that the four embarked on. He tells us that the duke and the dauphin engaged in various scams in order to raise money. However, despite their efforts, they were unable to earn a significant amount of money.