Question

What problems did the narrator and his friends face to get water at Hambledon lock ?Why didn't they wish to drink the tea?

Answer 1

At Hambledon Lock they ran out of potable water stock. So George went to the Lock keeper to get some water. Pointing to the Thames River, he asked him to take as much as he wished. George was unwilling to drink the river water. So a little higher up they got some water from a cottage. The narrator here tells the readers about a previous incident in which they used river water. It was near Windsor. As they were about to drink tea made out of boiled little water, George saw something floating in the river, very near their boat. When all of them looked carefully they found it was the carcass of a dog. So they poured their tea into river.