OU_214051 UNIVERSA - Osmania University

THF SAILORS'* RENDEZVOUS 307
was making slowly for the jetty, and one could hear two men's
voices talking.
Maigret filled a last pipe, looked at the town, the Benedictine
towers, with the gloomy walls of the hospital below.
The windows of the Rendei-Vous des Terre-Neuvas cast two
rectangular pools of light on the quay.
The sea was calm. One only heard the faint murmur of the
spring tide lapping at the shore and the piles of the jetty.
The inspector was right at the edge of the quay. Thick hawsers,
the ones which held the Ocdan, were coiled round metal bollards.
He bent down. Men were closing down the hatchways of the
holds where, during the day, they had stored the salt. A young
man, even younger than Le Clinche, was standing watching the
sailors at work, leaning against the operator's cabin.
It must be the successor to the man who had just put a bullet
through his stomach. He was puffing away nervously at a cigarette.
He had come from Paris, from college. He was obviously
excited. Perhaps he was dreaming of adventure.
Maigret couldn't tear himself away. He was kept there by the
feeling that the mystery was quite near, within his reach, that there
was only one more effort to be made. . ..
He turned suddenly, because he felt the presence of someone
behind him. In the darkness he saw a red blouse, a black arm-band.
The man had not seen him, or else was paying no attention. He
walked right up to the edge of the quay, and it was a miracle that,
in his condition, he did not fall into space.
The inspector could see nothing but his back. He had the impression
that, overcome by giddiness, the drunkard was going to
throw himself on to the deck of the trawler.
But no! He was talking to himself, sneering and shaking his fist.
Then he spat once, twice, three times at the ship. He spat to
express his complete disgust.
After which, no doubt having relieved his feelings, he went
away, not towards his cottage in the fisher quarters, but towards
the lower town where there might still be a light in some wretched
little bistro.