We woke up late the morning, and it was about ten o'clock when we moved off. We had already decided that we wanted to make this a good day's journey.
We agreed that we would row, and not tow, the boat. Harris said that George and I should row, and he would steer. I did not like this idea at all. I said that he and George should row, so that I could rest a little. I thought that I was doing too much of the work on this trip. I was beginning to feel strongly about it.
I always think that I am doing too much work. It is not because I do not like work. I do like it. I find it very interesting. I can sit and look at it for hours. You cannot give me too much work. I like to collect it. My study is full of it.
And I am very careful with my work, too. Why, some of the work in my study has been there for years, and it has not got dirty or anything. That is because I take care of it.
However, although I love work, I do not want to take other people’s work from them. But I get it without asking for it, and this worries me.
George says that I should not worry about it. In fact, he thinks that perhaps I should have more work. However, I expect he only says that to make me feel better.
In a boat, I have noticed that each person thinks that he is doing all the work. Harris’s idea was that both George and I had let him do all the work. George said that Harris never did anything except eat and sleep. He, George, had done all the work. He said that he had never met such lazy people as Harris and me.
That amused Harris.
‘George! Work!’ he laughed. ‘It George worked for half an hour, it would kill him. Have you ever seen George work?’ he added, and he turned to me.
I agreed with Harris that I had never seen George work.
‘Well, how can you know?’ George answered Harris. ‘You’re always asleep. Have you ever seen Harris awake, except at meal times?’ George asked me.
I had to tell the truth and agree with George. Harris had done very little work in the boat.
‘Oh, come on! I’ve done more that old J., anyway,’ Harris replied.
‘Well, it would be difficult to do less,’ George added.
‘Oh, him, he thinks he’s a passenger and doesn’t need to work!’ Harris said.
And that was how grateful they were to me, after I had brought them and their old boat all the way up from Kingston; after I had organized everything for them; and after I had taken care of them!
Finally, we decided that Harris and George would row until we got past Reading, and then I would tow the boat from there.
We reached Reading at about eleven o’clock. We did not stay long, though, because the river is dirty there. However, after that it becomes very beautiful. Goring, on the left, and Streatley, on the right, are both very pretty places. Earlier, we had decided to go on to Wallingford that day, but the river was lovely at Streatley. We left our boat at the bridge, and we went into the village. We had lunch at a little pub, and Montmorency enjoyed that.
We stayed at Streatley for two days, and we took our clothes to be washed. We had tried to wash them ourselves, in the river, and George had told us what to do. This was not a success! Before we washed them, After we had washed them, they were worse than before. However, the river between Reading and Henley was cleaner because we had taken all the dirt from it, and we had washed it into our clothes. The woman who washed them at Streatley made us pay three times the usual price.
We paid her, and did not say a word about the cost.
The river near Streatley and Goring is excellent for fishing. You can sit and fish there all day.
Some people do sit and fish all day. They never catch any fish, of course. You may catch a dead cat or two, but you will not catch any fish. When you go for a walk by the river, the fish come and stand half out of the water, with their mouths open for bread. And if you go swimming, they all come and stare at you and get in you and get in your way. But you cannot catch them.