OU_214051 UNIVERSA - Osmania University

THE SAILORS' RENDEZVOUS 269
" How can they live in this smell? ..." she sighed.
She looked attentively round her. He saw that she was rather
timid and embarrassed as she asked:
" Why has the bed been raised up? "
He let his pipe go out. The observation was apt. All the crew
slept in bunks which were somehow a part of the architectural
scheme of the boat. Only the captain had an iron bedstead.
And under each foot a block of wood had been placed.
" Don't you find it strange? You'd think . .."
" Go on."
"You'd think—but you'll laugh at me!—that the bed had
been raised so that someone could hide under it. Without the
pieces of wood the mattress would be far too low . . . whereas like
this . .."
Every trace of ill-humour had vanished. He saw the girl's pale
face strained with mental effort and excitement.
And before he could stop her she lay down on the floor, in spite
of all the dirt, and slid under the bed.
" There is room! " she said.
" All right. . . . Come out. . . ."
" One moment, please. Pass me the lamp a moment,
Inspector! "
She was silent. He couldn't think what she was doing. He began
to get impatient.
" Well? "
" Yes. . . . Wait. . . ."
She got up suddenly, her grey suit all dirty, her eyes fevered.
" Pull out the bed You'll see "
Her voice was broken. Her hands trembled. Maigret pulled the
bed savagely away from the bulkhead and looked on the ground.
" I don't see anything."
As she made no answer, he turned round and found that she was
crying.
" What did you see? ... What are you crying for? ..."
" Here.. • • Read. •. ."
He had to get right down and hold the lamp up against the bulkhead.
Then he made out some words written on the wood with
some pointed object, a pin or a nail.
" Gaston . . . Octave . . . Pierre . . . Hen . . ."
The last word was unfinished. Yet it had not been done in a
hurry. Some of the letters must have taken over an hour! There