But they would not come out, until two of us had gone and struggled with them for five minutes (но они не вытаскивались до тех пор, пока двое из нас не сражались с ними пять минут), when they would jump up suddenly (после чего они выскакивали внезапно), and try and throw us into the water and drown us (и пытались сбросить нас в воду и утопить). They had hinges in the middle, and, when we were not looking (у них были шарниры посередине, и, когда мы не смотрели; hinge — петля, шарнир, крюк), they nipped us with these hinges in delicate parts of the body (они щипали нас этими шарнирами за нежные/чувствительные части тела); and, while we were wrestling with one side of the hoop (и, пока мы боролись с одной стороной дуги), and endeavouring to persuade it to do its duty (и пытались убедить ее выполнить свой долг), the other side would come behind us in a cowardly manner, and hit us over the head (другая сторона подходила к нам сзади трусливым образом = коварно и ударяла по голове).

We got them fixed at last, and then all that was to be done was to arrange the covering over them (мы закрепили их наконец, и теперь все, что оставалось сделать — расположить оболочку поверх них = натянуть на них брезент). George unrolled it, and fastened one end over the nose of the boat (Джордж развернул его и укрепил один конец на носу лодки). Harris stood in the middle to take it from George and roll it on to me (Гаррис встал посередине, чтобы взять его у Джорджа и бросить мне), and I kept by the stern to receive it (а я держался у кормы, чтобы поймать его; to receive — получать; принимать). It was a long time coming down to me (он долго доходил до меня). George did his part all right (Джордж сделал свое дело хорошо), but it was new work to Harris, and he bungled it (но это было новой работой для Гарриса, и он все испортил; to bungle — неумело работать; портить работу, испортить дело).

wrestling ['resl] endeavouring [n'devr] persuade [p'swed]

But they would not come out, until two of us had gone and struggled with them for five minutes, when they would jump up suddenly, and try and throw us into the water and drown us. They had hinges in the middle, and, when we were not looking, they nipped us with these hinges in delicate parts of the body; and, while we were wrestling with one side of the hoop, and endeavouring to persuade it to do its duty, the other side would come behind us in a cowardly manner, and hit us over the head.

We got them fixed at last, and then all that was to be done was to arrange the covering over them. George unrolled it, and fastened one end over the nose of the boat. Harris stood in the middle to take it from George and roll it on to me, and I kept by the stern to receive it. It was a long time coming down to me. George did his part all right, but it was new work to Harris, and he bungled it.