There was no use in arguing with a person like this. i promptly put such a strain on my memory that by and by even the shoal water and the countless crossing-marks began to stay with me. but the result was just the same. i never could more than get one knotty thing learned before another presented itself. now i had often seen pilots gazing at the water and pretending to read it as if it were a book; but it was a book that told me nothing. a time came at last, however, when mr. bixby seemed to think me far enough advanced to bear a lesson on water-reading. so he began—

q:
a:
what conclusion can you make from the first paragraph?
a) mr. bixby dislikes the narrator.
b) the narrator is angry with mr. bixby.
c) the narrator thinks mr. bixby is stubborn.
d) mr. bixby thinks the narrator is stubborn.