I could only sit and look at him.

His expression as the pole slowly sank with him I shall never forget; there was so much thought in it.
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.