How does Mark Twain begin his story of "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County"?

Twain's story, The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County" is written in 1st person narration. The narrator begins by saying that a friend of his had asked him to visit Simon Wheeler and ask about a mutual friend named Leonidas W. Smiley. The narrator says that he will do so, although he has a feeling that Leonida W. Smiley is not a real person and that perhaps his old friend really just wanted the narrator and Wheeler to get together so that Simon could tall a story he really wanted to tell, that of Jim Smiley.

The narrator then goes to the local tavern and finds Simon Wheeler dozing by the bar-room stove. He is quickly trapped in the corner and subjected to the type of rambling and disjointed story that many of us have heard sitting for an afternoon and talking with our grandfathers. Wheeler seems not to care much for conversations, instead just wanting to share his long, long story.