OU_214051 UNIVERSA - Osmania University

3I2 MAINLY MAIGRET
quay.... Then Jean-Marie, the cabin-boy, overcome by fear, burst
into sobs, stamped his feet and tried to jump ashore.
Fallut had stood where Maigret stood now.
" Stand by! A hundred and fifty degrees !... Half-speed ahead!"
Was Ad£le still asleep? Would she hate being upset by the first
swell?
Fallut did not move from the post which had been his for so
many years. Before him lay the sea, the Atlantic....
All his nerves were on edge with this mad thing he had done.
It had not seemed so bad on shore.
" Two points to port. ..."
And then there were cries and the group of people on the jetty
surged forward! A man who had climbed up the derrick to wave
good-bye to his people had fallen on to the deck 1
" Stop! Hard-astern. Stop! .. ."
Nothing stirred from the direction of the cabin. ... Was there
still time to put the woman back on shore? . . .
Boats approached. The ship came to a standstill between the
jetties. A fishing-smack wanted to get past.
But the man was injured and must be left behind. He was taken
off in a dory....
The superstitious women on shore were quite overcome by die
accident. And the cabin-boy, in addition, was so afraid of going that
he had to be held back from throwing himself into the water! . . .
" Stand-by! . .. Half-speed! . . . Full speed ahead! . . ."
Le Clinche was taking possession of his domain, trying the gear,
ear-phones on his head. And in the midst of his duties he wrote:
My darling sweetheart,
Eight o'clock in the morning! We are just off.... Already the
town is out of sight. ...
Maigret lit another pipe and rose so as to see his surroundings
better. He had all his characters in hand, he had them all moving
in their appointed places on the ship which he surveyed.
. The first breakfast in the narrow cabin reserved for officers:
Fallut, the second officer, the chiefengineer, and the operator. And
the captain announced that he would take his meals alone in his
cabin.. •.
It was something unheard of! A fantastic idea! Everyone tried
vainly to think what could be the reason.
And Maigret, his head in his hand, went on muttering: