Answer:
C. The narrator wakes Simon Wheeler and would be grateful if Wheeler can tell the narrator about a Rev. Leonidas W. Smily.
Explanation:
The passage that the question is based from is the second paragraph of the short story "The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County" by Mark Twain.
<em>I found Simon Wheeler dozing comfortably by the barroom stove of the little old dilapidated tavern in the ancient mining camp of Boomerang, and I noticed that he was fat and bald-headed, and had an expression of winning gentleness and simplicity upon his tranquil countenance. He roused up and gave me good-day. I told him a friend of mine had commissioned me to make some inquiries about a cherished companion of his boyhood named Leonidas W. Smily—Rev. Leonidas W. Smily—a young minister of the gospel, who he had heard was at one time a resident of this village of Boomerang. I added that if Mr. Wheeler could tell me anything about this Rev. Leonidas W. Smily, I would feel under many obligations to him.</em>
The passage describes the moment the narrator's first encounter with Simon Wheeler, the man his friend had asked him to meet in his search for a Mr. Rev. Leonidas W. Smily. The whole paragraph is a description of the man Wheeler and how he had appeared to the narrator in the tavern. The narrator had seen him dozing off, which followed a more detail description of the man he was to interact with.
Thus, the statement that summarizes best the whole passage is that "the narrator wakes Simon Wheeler and he would be grateful if Wheeler can tell the narrator about a Rev. Leonidas W. Smily.
