After J., George, and Harris decide to go on a boat trip along the River Thames (in Chapter I), they must determine how they are going to travel and what supplies they will take along. In Chapter II, they debate the issue of whether or not they should “camp out” at night. This would involve taking a tent along and setting it up in a different place each afternoon. The alternative would be to sleep in local inns along the way. Narrator J. waxes poetic about how wonderful and relaxing it would be to make a late dinner over a campfire and sleep under the stars. Then Harris asks, “How about when it rained?” J. quickly imagines a scene where two people struggle to put up a tent in a driving downpour. They may eventually be successful, only to have the tent collapse and fall on the sleepers in the middle of the night. The three friends therefore reach a consensus “to sleep out on fine nights; and to hotel it, and inn it, and pub it, like respectable folks, when it was wet, or when we felt inclined for a change.” They end up using a canvas and hoops tent that covers the boat.
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