Three Men in a Boat

kiff.-Towers and towed.-A use discovered for lovers.-Strange disappearance of an elderly lady.-Much haste,

e; that goes without saying. He had had a hard time in the City, so he exp

ard time on the river for a change; ch

m to stop in the boat, and get tea ready, while Harris and I towed, because getting tea was such a worrying work, and Harris a

h as much patience and care as you would take to fold up a new pair of trousers, and f

for thirty seconds, that, when you looked round again, you would find that it had got itself altogether in a heap in the middle of the field, and had twisted itself up, and tied itse

are a credit to their profession-conscientious, respectable tow-lines-tow-lines that do not imagine they are crochet-work, and try to knit themselves up

, and folded it in two, and laid it down gently at the bottom of the boat. Harris had lifted it up scientifically, and had put it into George's hand. George had taken it firmly, and held it away from hi

it. The man on the bank, who is trying to disentangle it, thinks all the fault lies

why couldn't you wind it up properly, you silly dummy?" he grunts from time to time as he struggles wi

thinks the whole cause of the muddle rest

don't you think what you are doing? You go about things in such a

st piece that comes to his hand and hauling at it. Of course, this only gets it into a tighter tangle than ever. Then the second man climbs out of the boat and comes to help him, and they get in each other's way, and hinder one another. The

iced a couple of men on the bank. They were looking at each other with as bewildered and helplessly miserable expression as I have ever witnessed on any human cou

dignant tone. "We just got out to disentangle the

vidently regarded as a mean and ung

eld by some rushes, and we brought it back to them. I be

se two men walking up and down the bank

an animated discussion, while the man in the boat, a hundred yards behind them, is vainly shrieking to them to stop, and making frantic signs of distress with a scul

stop, quite gently a

?" he shouts cheerily. "I've

n't you hear?" not quit

, you dunder-headed idi

verything he knows. And the small boys on the bank stop and jeer at him, and pitch stones a

frequent look round to see how their man is getting on. It is best to let one person tow. When two are doing it, they get chatterin

their work, George told us, later on in the evening, when we wer

between them, and, attached to the boat-hook was a tow-line, which trailed behind them, its end in the water. No boat was near, no boat was in sight. There must have been a boat attached to that tow-line at some time or other, that was certain; but what had become of it, what ghastly fate had overt

He got the hitcher instead, and reached over, and drew in the end of the tow-line; and they made a loop in it, and

an towed those four hulking chap

ouple grasped the idea that, for the last two miles, they had been towing the wrong boat. George fancied that, if it had no

om her surprise, and, when she did, sh

then where

cover the old lad

lied he di

he water, and we were camping on the opposite bank, noticing things in general. By-and-by a small boat came in sight, towed through the water at a tremendous pace by a powerful barge

up of forty thousand linen sheets. Two men, a hamper, and three oars immediately left the boat on the larboard side, and reclined on the bank, and one and a half moments afterwards, tw

llows sat up and stared at one another. It was some seconds before they realised what had happened to them, but, when they did, they began to shout lustily for

come a danger and an annoyance to every other boat they pass. Going at the pace they do, it is impossible for them to get out of anybody else's way, or for anybody else to get out of theirs. Their line gets hitched across your

ves tied up. They get the line round their legs, and have to sit down on the path and undo each other, and then they twist it round their necks, and are nearly strangled. They fix it straight, however, at last, and start off at a run, pulling the boat along at quite a dangerous pa

; "he's gone right o

all at once occurs to one of them that she will pin up her fro

it off, and you shou

he matter?" th

stop,"

't w

top-go o

is they want," says one; and Emil

t?" she says; "a

all right; only go on

y n

ou keep stopping. You must

some

must keep th

l tell 'em. Are we

icely, indeed, o

ficult at all. I tho

gh. You want to keep on s

my red shawl, it's

Mary's on chance, and Mary does not want it, so they bring it back and have a pocket-comb instead. It is about twenty minutes bef

moment in the boat whi

board that night, and we had either to lay up just about there, or go on past Staines. It seemed early to think about shutting up then, however, with the sun still

in the scenery during these last few miles. You do not chat and laugh. Every half-mile you cover seems like two. You can hardly believe you are only where you are, and you are convinced that the map must

ious to get in-at least she was anxious to get in. It was half-past six when we reached Benson's lock, and dusk was drawing on, and she began to get excited then. She said she must be in to supper. I said it w

next lock before seven, and then there is only one

. She said no, she did not see any lock; and I said, "Oh!" and pulled

"I can't see any

when you do see one?" I asked hesit

myself; so I laid down the sculls, and took a view. The river stretched out straigh

ve lost our way, do yo

as I suggested, we might have somehow got int

egan to cry. She said we should both be drowned, and

thought; but my cousin thought not,

the fact evidently was that I was not rowing as fast as I fancied I was, b

It was a good, reliable map; and, besides, I recollected the lock myself. I had been through it twice. Where were we? What had happened to

ask me the same question; and then we both wondered if we were both asleep, and if so, who was th

eird and uncanny. I thought of hobgoblins and banshees, and will-o'-the-wisps, and those wicked girls who sit up all night on rocks, and lure people into whirl-pools and things; and I wished I

sort could have sounded. Heavenly melody, in our then state of mind, would only have still further harrowed us. A soul-moving harmony, correctly performed, we should have taken as a spirit-warning, and

nd soon the boat from which the

t was not their fault.) I never saw more attractive, lovable people in all my life. I hailed them, and asked if th

for over a year. There ain't no Wallingford lock now, sir. You're close to Cleeve n

ess them; but the stream was running too strong just there to allow of th

nd, I think, I invited them all to come and spend a week with me, and my cousin said her mother would be so p