Three Men in a Boat

N FINE NIGHTS. - DITTO,WET NIGHTS. - COMPROMISE

IS WORLD, FEARS SUBSEQUENTLY DISMISS

the maps, and

at up to Chertsey, andGeorge, who would not be able to get away from the City till theafternoon (George goes to sleep at

camp out" or

out. We said it would be so wi

rowing children, the birds have ceasedtheir song, and only the moorhen's plaintive cry and the harsh croa

r-guard of the light, and pass, with noiseless, unseen feet, above thewaving river-grass, and through the sighing rushes; and Night, upon

pauses of our talk, the river, playing round theboat, prattles strange old tales and secrets, sings low the old child'ssong that it has sung so many thousand years - will sing so many thousandyears to come, before its voice gr

alf sweet, and do notcare or want to speak - till we laugh, and, rising, knock the ashes fromour burnt-out pipes, and say "Good-night," and, lulled by the lappingwater and the rustling trees, we fall asleep beneath the great, stillstars, and dream that the world is young again - young and sweet as sheused to be ere the centuries of fret and care had furrowed her fair face,ere her children's sins and f

rris

ning for the unattainable. Harris never "weeps, he knows not why."If Harris's eyes fill with tears, yo

at night by the sea-sho

ow thewaving waters; or sad spirits, chanting dirges for white co

finest Scotch whisky you ever tasted - put you right in less thanno time."Harris always does know a place round the corner where you can getsomethin

some really first-class nectar."In the present instance, however, as regarded the camping out, his

nd all the things are damp. You find a place on thebanks that is not quite so puddly as oth

andclings round your head and makes you mad. The rain is pouring steadi

you that the other man is simply playing the fool. Just as you get yoursi

are you up to?

o, can't you?""Don't pull it; you've got

you've got it all wrong!" you roar, wishing that you couldget a

you think about the whole business, and, atthe same time, he starts round in the same direction to come and explainhis views to you. And you follow each other round and rou

o hasspilled the water down his sleeve, and has been cursing away to himselfsteadily for the last ten mi

he things. Itis hopeless attempting to make a wood fire, so

rainwater, the beefsteak-pie is exceedingly rich in it, and thejam, and th

nd your tobacco is dam

nebriates, iftaken in proper quantity, and this restores t

bosom. You wake upand grasp the idea that something terrible really has happened. Yourfirst impression is that the end of the world has come; and then youthink that this cannot be, and that it is

tically, hitting out right and left with armsand legs, and yelling lustily the while, and at last something gives way,and you find your head in the fresh air. Two feet of

" he says, recognising

eyes; "what's happened?""Bally ten

for "Bill!" and the groundbeneath you heaves and rocks, and th

ampled wreck, and in an unnecessarilyaggressive mood - he being un

severe colds in the night; you also feel very quarrelsome, and you sw

ts; and hotelit, and inn it, and pub. it, like respectable

cy you would imagine that he wasan angel sent upon the earth, for some reason withheld from mankind, inthe shape of a small fox-terrier. There is a sort of Oh-what-a-wicked-world-this

a dozen chickens that he had killed; andhad dragged him, growling and kicking, by the scruff of his neck, out ofa hundred and fourteen street fights; and had had a dead cat broughtround for my inspection by an irate female, who called me a murderer; andhad been summoned by the man next door but one for having a ferocious dogat large, t

them out to march round the slums tofight other disreputable dogs, is Montmorency's idea of "life;" and so

ld take withus; and this we had begun to argue, when Harris said he'd had enoughoratory for one night, and proposed that we should go

that a little whisky, warm, with a slice of lemon,would do my complaint good, the debate was,