m," answered the other; "but I'm
blest if there isn't a man in my bed, too!"

"What are you going to do?" asked George's father.

"Well, I'm going to chuck him out," replied Joe.

"So am I," said George's father, valiantly.

There was a brief struggle, followed by two heavy bumps on the floor, and
then a rather doleful voice said:

"I say, Tom!"

"Yes!"

"How have you got on?"

"Well, to tell you the truth, my man's chucked _me_ out."

"So's mine! I say, I don't think much of this inn, do you?"

"What was the name of that inn?" said Harris.

"The Pig and Whistle," said George. "Why?"

"Ah, no, then it isn't the same," replied Harris.

"What do you mean?" queried George.

"Why it's so curious," murmured Harris, "but precisely that very same
thing happened to _my_ father once at a country inn. I've often heard
him tell the tale. I thought it might have been the same inn."

We turned in at ten that night, and I thought I should sleep well, being
tired; but I didn't. As a rule, I undress and put my head on the pillow,
and then somebody bangs at the door, and says it is half-past eight: but,
to-night, everything seemed against me; the novelty of it all, the
hardness of the boat, the cramped position (I was lying with my feet
under one seat, and my head on another), the sound of the lapping water
round the boat, and the wind among the branches, kept me restless and
disturbed.

I did get to sleep for a few hours, and then some part of the boat which
seemed to have grown up in the night--for it certainly was not there when
we started, and it had disappeared by the morning--kept digging into my
spine. I slept through it for a while, dreaming that I had swallowed a
sovereign, and that they were cutting a hole in my back with a gimlet, so
as to try and get it out. I thought it very unkind of them, and I told
them I would owe them the money, and they should have it at the end of
the month. But they would not hear of that, and said it would be much
better if they had it then, because otherwise the interest would
accumulate so. I got quite cross with them after a bit, and told them
what I thought of them, and then they gave the gimlet such an
excruciating wrench that I woke up.

The boat seemed stuffy, and my head ached; so I thought I would step out
into the cool night-air. I slipped on what clothes I could find
about--some of my own, and some of George's and Harris's--and crept under
the canvas on to