Long Answers - Chapter - 5, Three Men in a Boat | English Class 9 PDF Download

Answer the following questions in detail:

Q1. Who landed on George with a slipper and why?

Ans. Harris landed George one with a slipper. George had promised to wake Jim and Harris at 6:30 in the morning, but he did not wake them as he himself kept on sleeping up to 9:30. Mrs Poppets woke them up at 9 in the morning. At first both Harris and Jim involved in hot exchange blaming one another for not waking them. Later they remembered that it was George who had the responsibility to wake them up. But seeing him still sleeping they angrily slung the clothes off him and Harris landed him with a slipper and Jim shouted in his ear to wake him.

Q2. Why does Jim think barometer to be useless?

Ans. Jim considers that the barometer is as misleading as the newspaper forecast. He shares his observations about the barometer hanging up in a hotel at Oxford where he stayed last spring. It pointed at ‘set fair’ but on the contrary it rained the whole day. The writer tapped it and it jumped up and pointed to ‘very dry’. He tapped it the next day and it went up higher but it rained the whole day. On Wednesday he hit it again and the pointer went round towards ‘set fair’, ‘very dry’ and ‘much heat’, until it was stopped by the peg and could not go any further. It was in a mood to forecast drought, water famine, sun stroke and dust-laden storm but the peg prevented it. The writer wants to prove that barometer is useless and forecasts are not be trusted upon as they generally prove false.

Q3. Why the crowd had collected and why people were making fun of three men?

Ans. When the three men put their luggage on to the doorstep and waited for a cab, a crowd of people gathered to see what the matter was. It was so because their luggage consisted of some odd things such as a big bag, small hand bag, two hampers and a large roll of rugs, four or five over coats, a few umbrellas, a bulky melon in a bag, a couple of pounds of grapes and also a Japanese paper umbrella. A frying pan wrapped round with a brown paper looked conspicuous as it was too long to pack. The young boys in the crowd conjectured it was a wedding and Harris was the bridegroom. The older people whispered it was a funeral and Jim looked to be the brother of the dead. Thus the crowd made fun of them as they looked odd and strange.

Q4. How did three men get their boat?

Ans. The three men reached Kingston by the London and South-Western Railway but they came to know later that it was really the Exeter mail. Their boat was waiting there just below the bridge. They stored their luggage in it. They sat on it and moved slowly on their way.

Q5. Describe the confusion at waterloo station.

Ans. When the three men reached waterloo railway station, they were unable to find which train starts from which platform. They had no idea of the platform where their train was to leave from. They inquired the Porter, the Station Master and the Traffic Superintendent but nobody had the least idea about their train. Ultimately they met an Engine driver who too gave a confused reply to their quarry. Finally unable to find no clue about their train, they bribed the Engine driver and requested him to take them to Kingston.

Analysing the Characters:

Q1. Who is Biggs? What is his reputation regarding the boys he hires for work?

Ans. Biggs is the writer’s greengrocer. He is perfectly good at employing the most notorious, uncouth and untamed boys to run errands for him. When the three men waited for a cab, their luggage and weird packets attracted the Biggs’ boy who stood there, stared at them and tried to guess what the matter was. The three men were unable to deter him from his mission. The boy monitored them from close quarters and hailed other boys to join him. Soon a small crowd gathered there which made all kinds of conjectures and also made fun of them. The Biggs boy has a talent in securing the services of the most unprincipled errand boys that civilization has yet produced.

Q2. Why was Montmorency unhappy and deeply suspicious as he sat in the prow of the boat?

Ans. The three friends finally reached Kingston where they found their boat waiting for them under a bridge. They stored their luggage and took their position in different convenient places of the boat. Montmorency had no choice but to sit in the prow. He did not enjoy solitude but liked noise and action. He felt there lonely and that he was on a journey devoid of adventures. So he looked unhappy and suspicious.