THREE MEN IN A BOAT

CH-9 and 10
 GEORGE PUT TO WORK.THE PROBLEM OF TOW
LINES AND INCIDENTS RELATED TO THEM.
• The author and Harris decided to make George do the
work now. When they passed him the towline, it was very
tangled. According to the author it is the characteristic
of tow lines in general no matter how neatly they are
coiled to begin with, they always find ways to tangled.
• Author was reminded of a time when one windy morning,
two men managed to untangled their tow line, only to find
that the boat had drifted away.
• George had a similar assuming incident to share, where a
boy and a girl were pulling the tow line, without realizing
that there was no boat behind them anymore. Instead,
George an his friends hitched their boat to the line and it
was quite some time later the boy and the girl realized
that the boy and the girl lost their boat and were pulling
along strangers.
• In another incident, the author and George saw a boat with
five men relaxing onboard, being towed by a boy and a horse.
The man who was steering, incidentally pulled the wrong line,
the boat ran into the bank, making most of the men fall
overboard. The author also related his opinion why having your
boat towed by the women was an adventure. They would
chatter among themselves, stop towing suddenly, and the
remember something or the other that they needed for the
boat.
• The friends reached penton hook and since it was too early to
sleep, they decided to keep going till Runny mead.
• The author recalled an instance when he and a female cousin
were boating and it was getting late. They had mapped their
course so that they would pass through Wallingford, however
much they rowed, they didn’t reach it. the river had then
seemed to take on a dreamlike, haunting, ghostly aspect, and
they had been most relived when they heard the sound of
badly sung songs, signaling another boating party.
THERE ATTEMPTS TO MAKE BOAT CANVAS. THE MAKING OF
TEA AND EATING SUPPER. THE APPEAL OF A DESERTED
ISLAND. NARRATION OF A FUNNY INCIDENT BY GEORGE.
RESTLESS NIGHT FOR THE AUTHOR.

• By the time the friends decided to stop for a

night, all they wanted is to eat and sleep. They
drew up in a pleasant spot, but rather than eat
immediately, George suggested to put up the
canvas covering on the boat.
• However tis turned to became a more difficult
task than they had thought. After a long time
they managed to get the hoops up, but when it
came to putting the canvas cover over them,
Harris and George got rolled up in it and could not
free themselves.
• After the canvas was up, the friends put the
tea while they got the supper ready.

• According to the author the best way to get

the tea ready while on a boat, was to put the
kettle on the stove and ignore it, talking
loudly of how one doesn't actually want any
tea. This supposedly inspires the kittle to boil
faster.
• For more than half an hour, they ate
steadily, inspiring the author to discuss the
importance of food, and how it was a sunset
path to virtue and contentment.
• Smoking their pipes afterwards, the friends
discussed ho nice it would be to live on a
deserted island, more so since George
assured Harris that it would not be damp if
it was well drained.
• George was reminded of a funny incident where his
father and his friend stopped at an inn. When they
went up to bed, both the friends got into the same
bed, one the right way and the other with his feet on
the pillow.
• They both thought there was someone else in their
bed and tried to throw the other off, resulting in both
of them landing on the floor with no idea of what had
actually happened.
• Soon the three friends went to bed, but
though he was very tired, the author was not
able to sleep.
• He found the boat a very hard bed to sleep in
and seemed to have something digging into his
back. Finally he got up and went out onto the
bank, admiring the star-lit night.