OU_214051 UNIVERSA - Osmania University

THE SAILORS' RENDEZVOUS 257
" All the same, we would have been better off in Alsace. ..."
Maigret rose before dessert, and wiped his mouth, in a hurry to
see the ship, the harbour, and the sailors again. On the way he
muttered:
" Fallut knew he was going to die! But did he know that he was
going to be killed? Did he want to save his murderer in advance,
or did he just want to commit suicide?
" Besides, who put the yellow envelope into the letter-box? It
was neither stamped nor addressed."
The news had already gone round, for, when Maigret got near
the ship, the director of La Morue Franfaise called out with
aggressive irony :
" Well, it seems that Fallut strangled himself! Who found that
out? "
" I'd rather you'd tell me which of the officers of the Ocian are
still on board? "
" None of them! The second officer has gone off on a bust to
Paris. The chief engineer is at his home at Yport and won't be back
until the unloading is finished."
Maigret went back again into the captain's cabin. A narrow cabin.
A bed with a dirty counterpane. A cupboard in the bulkhead. A
blue enamel coffee-pot on a table covered with oilcloth. Boots widi
wooden soles in the corner.
It was gloomy and pitchy, saturated with the acrid smell that
reigned over the entire ship. Striped blue jerseys were drying on the
bridge. Maigret nearly slipped as he crossed the gangway, which
was greasy with fishes' entrails.
" Have you found anything? "
The inspector shrugged his shoulders, looked back again lugubriously
at the Ocean, and asked a customs man how one could get to
Yport.
Yport was a village at the foot of the cliffs, six kilometres from
Fecamp. A few fishermen's cottages. A few farms scattered round
about. Some villas, mostly let furnished during the summer season,
and a single hotel.
On the beach more bathers, children, and mammas with their
knitting or embroidery.
" Monsieur Laberge's house, please? "
" The chief engineer of the Ocian or the farmer? "
" The chief engineer."
He was shown a little house surrounded by a small garden. And