OU_214051 UNIVERSA - Osmania University

166 MAINLY MAIGRET
Maigret hardly hesitated a second. He too went in.
There were about ten men inside, sailors and bargees, sitting
round the same table, smoking pipes and cigars, drinking beer and
gin.
Oosting shook hands with some of them, then, seeing an empty
chair, he sat down heavily and listened to the talk.
Maigret sat down too, though keeping his distance from the
others. Though nobody ostensibly took any notice of him, he knew
very well he was the centre of interest. The landlord, who was one
of die group, waited a few moments before coming over to him to
ask him what he wanted.
The schnapps was drawn from a porcelain tap with brass fittings.
It was that which gave the place its pervading odour, as in every
other cafe in Holland, and made it so different from any cafe in
France.
Oosting's small eyes twinkled every time they alighted on the
inspector.
The latter stretched out his legs, tucked them under his chair,
then stretched them out again. He filled his pipe. Anything to cover
his embarrassment. The landlord got up again on purpose to give
him a light.
" Mote veer / "
Maigret frowned, and, with a gesture, showed he could not
understand.
" Mole veer,ya! ... Oost vind...."
The others listened, nudged each other. One of them pointed
through the window to the starry sky outside.
"Mote veer/ ... Bel temps! ..."
He was trying to explain that the wind was from the east, which
brought good weather.
Oosting was choosing a cigar from a box that had been set before
him. For all the world to see, he deliberately took a Manila black
as coal, the end of which he bit off and spat on the ground.
He called the attention of the others to his new cap.
"Vier gulden. ..."
Four florins. Maigret worked out what that would be in French
money. Oosting's eyes never stopped twinkling.
But someone entered, and, unfolding a newspaper, started talking
of the latest prices on the Amsterdam Bourse.
The conversation which followed was animated. Indeed it
sounded almost more like a quarrel on account of the loud voices