OU_214051 UNIVERSA - Osmania University

THE SAILORS' RENDEZVOUS 311
They went across. Captain Fallut anxiously told her to keep
quiet.
" Is that the wheel you steer by? "
"Shi..."
They went down the iron ladder. They were on the bridge.
They went into the captain's cabin and shut the door.
" Yesl That was it! " Maigret growled. " There they were, the
two of them. It was their first night on board. ..."
He would have liked to tear aside the curtain of the night and
disclose the wan light of dawn, see the silhouettes of the sailors
staggering along, loaded with liquor, to join the ship.
The chief engineer arrived from Yport by the first morning
train. The second officer came from Paris, Le Clinche from
Quimper.
The men moved about the deck, argued about bunks in the
fo'c's'le, laughed, changed their clothes, and reappeared encased in
stiff oilskins.
Then there was the new cabin-boy, Jean-Marie, who had come
holding his father's hand. They jostled him around, teasing him
about his boots, which were too big for him, and the tears that came
so readily to his eyes.
The captain was still in his cabin. At last the door opened. He
closed it carefully behind him. He looked dried up and very pale,
with a drawn face.
"You're the operator? Good! I'll give you your instructions
immediately.... In the meantime, take a look at the radio."
Time passed. The owner was on the quay. Wives and mothers
were still bringing parcels for the departing men.
Fallut trembled at the thought of the cabin whose door must
not be opened at any price, for Adele, half-undressed, her mouth
open, was lying across the bed, asleep.
Everyone felt a slight early morning nausea, not only Fallut, but
the men who had been doing the rounds of all the pubs in the
town, and the ones who had come by train.
One by one they dropped into the Rendezvous des Terre-Neuvas
and gulped down coffee laced with rum.
" Au revoir! If we get back ... ! "
There was a loud siren blast, then two more. The women and
children, after a last embrace, ran towards the jetty. The owner
shook hands with Fallut.
The hawsers were cast loose. The trawler slipped away from the