OU_214051 UNIVERSA - Osmania University

266 MAINLY MAIGRET
" Bon appetit! " growled Maigret.
There were answering growls.
" Where are your pals? "
" In their homes, what do you think? " said P'tit Louis. " It's
only when you've nowhere to go to, and not a cent in your pocket,
that you stay here when the boat's in dock."
You had to get gradually accustomed to the semi-darkness, and
especially to the smell. And you could imagine the same place when
forty men lived there, unable to make a single movement without
knocking into the others.
Forty men throwing themselves into their bunks with their boots
on, snoring, chewing, smoking!
" Did the captain come here sometimes? "
"Never!"
And then the panting of machinery, the smell of coal and soot,
the burning metal bulkheads, the battering blows of the sea. . . .
" Come with me, P'tit Louis."
And Maigret caught the sailor making signs behind his back to
show off before the others.
But up above, on the shadowy bridge, all his swank had gone.
" What is it? "
" Nothing. . . . Listen. . .. Suppose the captain had died during
the trip. Is there anyone who could have brought the ship into
port?"
" Perhaps there isn't. . . . Because the second officer can't take
the bearings. It's true they say that with the wireless the operator
can always tell the position. ..."
" Did you see him often, the operator? "
" Never! You don't think we wander about then as we're doing
now? Each man has his place. You stay in your corner for days on
end. . . ."
" And the chief engineer? "
" Oh, yes. We used to see him every day, so to speak."
" What was he like? "
P'tit Louis became evasive.
" How should I know, after all? . . . And what is it you're trying
to get at? You ought to be there when everything goes wrong—
a cabin-boy overboard, a boiler feed-pipe burst, the captain insisting
on taking the boat where there's not a single fish, a man with
gangrene, et cetera. . . . You'd swear yourself black in the face.
And for the least thing you'd let fly with your fist at anybody's