I watched him gently let down into the water, and saw him scramble out, sad and wet. I could not help laughing, he looked such a ridiculous figure. I continued to chuckle to myself about it for some time, and then it was suddenly forced in upon me that really I had got very little to laugh at when I came to think of it. Here was I, alone in a punt, without a pole, drifting helplessly down mid-stream — possibly towards a weir.

I began to feel very indignant with my friend for having stepped overboard and gone off in that way. He might, at all events, have left me the pole.

I drifted on for about a quarter of a mile, and then I came in sight of a fishing-punt moored in mid-stream, in which sat two old fishermen. They saw me bearing down upon them, and they called out to me to keep out of their way.

"I can't (не могу)," I shouted back (крикнул я в ответ).

"But you don't try (но вы и не пытаетесь)," they answered.

I explained the matter to them when I got nearer, and they caught me and lent me a pole (я объяснил им, в чем дело, когда подплыл ближе, и они поймали меня и одолжили мне шест; to catch; to lend). The weir was just fifty yards below (плотина была всего лишь в пятидесяти ярдах ниже /меня/). I am glad they happened to be there (я рад, что они оказались там).

The first time I went punting was in company with three other fellows (в первый раз, когда я плавал с шестом, я был в компании с тремя /другими/ приятелями); they were going to show me how to do it (они собирались показать мне, как это делается). We could not all start together, so I said I would go down first and get out the punt (мы не могли отправиться все вместе, поэтому я сказал, что спущусь первым /к реке/ и возьму плоскодонку), and then I could potter about and practice a bit until they came (потом поболтаюсь /по реке/ и поупражняюсь немного, пока они придут; to potter — бездельничать; тратить время попусту, бесцельно слоняться; шататься).

"I can't," I shouted back.

"But you don't try," they answered.

I explained the matter to them when I got nearer, and they caught me and lent me a pole. The weir was just fifty yards below. I am glad they happened to be there.

The first time I went punting was in company with three other fellows; they were going to show me how to do it. We could not all start together, so I said I would go down first and get out the punt, and then I could potter about and practice a bit until they came.

I could not get a punt out that afternoon, they were all engaged (я не смог взять плоскодонку в тот день, они все были заняты; to engage — нанимать/ся/; быть занятым); so I had nothing else to do but to sit down on the bank (поэтому мне не оставалось ничего другого, как сесть на берегу), watching the river, and waiting for my friends (смотреть на реку и ждать моих товарищей).