Three Men in a Boat

FF. - TOWERS AND TOWED. - AUSE DISCOVERED FOR LOVERS. - STRANGE DISAPPEARANCE OF AN ELDERLY LADY. -MUCH HASTE,

rse; that goes without saying. He had had a hard time in the City, sohe e

onscience - object,though he did suggest that, perhaps, it would be better for him to stopin the boat, and get tea ready, while Harris and I towed, because gettingte

ith as much patience and care as you would take to fold up anew pair of trousers, and

for thirty seconds, that, when youlooked round again, you would find that it had got itself altogether in aheap in the middle of the field, and had twisted itself up, and tieditsel

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

ken in myself just befor

at the bottom of the boat. Harris hadlifted it up scientifically, and had put it into George's hand. Georgehad taken it firmly, and held it away from him, and had begun to unra

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

rying to do with it, ma

lly dummy?" he grunts from time to time as he struggles wildly withit, and lays

up thinks the whole cause of themuddle res

oing? You go about things in such a slap-dashstyle. You'd get a scaffolding pole entangled you wou

thisonly gets it into a tighter tangle than ever. Then the second man climbsout of the boat and comes to help him, and they get in each other's way,and hinder one another. They both get hold of the same bit

oticed a couple of men on the bank. They were looking ateach other with as bewildered and helplessly miserable expression as Ihave ever witnessed on any human c

disentangle the tow-line, and when we looked round, it wasgone!"And they seemed hurt

held by somerushes, and we brought it back to them. I b

ose two men walking up and down thebank

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

stop, quite gently a

"I've dropped my hatover-board."Then: "Hi! Tom - Di

t, and roars himself red in theface, and curses everything he knows. And the small boys on the bankstop and jeer a

y frequent lookround to see how their man is getting on. It is best to let one persontow. When two are doing it, they get chatteri

to theirwork, George told us, later on in the evening, when we we

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, noboat was in sight. There must have been a boat attached to that tow-lineat some time or other, that was certain; but what had become of it, whatghastly fate had overt

t. He got the hitcherinstead, and reached over, and drew in the end of the tow-line; and theymade a loop in it, and

oman towed those four hulking ch

o oneglance before, as when, at the lock, that young couple grasped th

straining influence ofthe sweet woman at his side, t

from her surprise, and, when she did,s

untie?""Did they ever recover

plied he di

the water, and we were camping on theopposite bank, noticing things in general. By-and-by a small boat camein sight, towed through the water at a tremendous pace by a powerfulbarge

ng up of forty thousand linensheets. Two men, a hamper, and three oars immediately left the boat onthe larboard side, and reclined on the bank, and one and a half momentsafterwards, t

fellows sat up and stared at one another. It was someseconds before they realised what had happened to them, but, when theydid, they began to shout lustily f

entydo - could meet with similar misfortunes. Besides the risk they runthemselves, they become a danger and an annoyance to every other boa

n the boat, and either throws them into the water, orcuts their face open. The best pl

elvestied up. They get the line round their legs, and have to sit down on thepath and undo each other, and then they twist it round their necks, andare nearly strangled. They fix it straight, however, at last, and startoff at a run, pulling the boat along at quite a dangerous p

teadily for a bit, after this, and then it all atonce occurs to one of them that sh

h it off, and you shou

the matter?"

stop,"

back, Emily, and see what it is they want," sa

all right?""Oh, yes, very nicely, indeed, only don't stop.""It doesn't seem difficult at all. I thought it was so hard.""Oh, no, it's simple enough. You want to keep on steady at it, that'sall.""I see. Give me out my red shawl, it's under the cushion."You find the shawl, and hand it out, and by this time another on

moment in the boat whi

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

r, afterward that we ha

You do not chat and laugh. Everyhalf-mile you cover seems like two. You can hardly believe you are onlywhere you are, and you are convinced that the map must be wrong; and,when yo

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

he next lock beforeseven, and then there is only on

and soon after that I as

ot see any lock; and I s

went by, and then I a

"You - you are sure you know a lock, when you do see

r myself; so I laid down the sculls, and took a view. The riverstretched out strai

ave lost our way, do yo

as I suggested, we mighthave somehow got into

began to cry. Shesaid we should both be drowned, and

I thought; but my cousin thought no

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

again at the map. Therewas Wallingford lock, cl

map; and, besides, I rec

? Ibegan to think it must be all a dream, and that I was really aslee

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

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

hat sortcould have sounded. Heavenly melody, in our then state of mind, wouldonly have still further harrowed us. A soul-moving harmony, correctlyperformed, we should have taken as a spirit-warning, an

and soon the boat from which t

at was not their fault.)I never saw more attractive, lovable people in all my life. I hailedthem, and asked if the

you, sir, that's been doneaway with for over a

"I had never thought of that. I wanted to fall upon all their necks andbless them; but the stream was running

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