OU_214051 UNIVERSA - Osmania University
OU_214051 UNIVERSA - Osmania University 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:
THE SAILORS' RENDEZVOUS 313 " It was the cabin-boy's duty to carry up the captain's food. And the captain would either have to open the door a very small way or to hide Ad&le under the bed which he had raised up. . . ." There were two of them to eat a single portion! The first time, the woman laughed! And Fallut probably gave nearly the whole of his share to her. He was too serious. She laughed at him. She coaxed him.. •. He yielded and smiled. . .. Had they already begun to talk of the evil eye in the fo'c's'le? .. . Weren't there comments on the captain's decision to eat alone? And besides, they had never known a captain who went about with the key of his cabin in his pocket! The two propellers revolved. The vibrations had started which would shake the ship for the next three months. Down below, men like P'tit Louis were feeding the furnaces with coal eight or ten hours a day, or sleepily examining the oil-pressure. . .. Three days. . . . That was the general opinion. ... It had needed three days to produce an atmospkere of uneasiness. . . . And from that time the men had wondered whether Fallut had gone mad. Why? Was it jealousy? But Adele had declared that she hadn't seen Le Clinche until the fourth day. . .. Up to then he had been too busy with his apparatus. He intercepted messages for his own personal satisfaction. He made attempts at transmission. And, the ear-phones on his head, he wrote pages and pages as if the post would carry them immediately to his fiancee. Three days. They would hardly have had time to make each other's acquaintance. Perhaps the chief engineer had pressed his face against the port-hole and seen the young woman? But he had said nothing! The atmosphere on board ship is only created gradually, as men get nearer to each other by sharing their adventures in common. But as yet there were no adventures! They hadn't even begun fishing! For that they would have to wait until they were on the Great Bank over there in Newfoundland, on the other side of the Adantic, which they wouldn't reach for at least ten days. • Maigret was standing up there on the bridge, and if a man had wakened up he might have wondered what he was doing there, enormous, solitary, looking slowly round him.
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THE SAILORS' RENDEZV<strong>OU</strong>S 313<br />
" It was the cabin-boy's duty to carry up the captain's food. And<br />
the captain would either have to open the door a very small way or<br />
to hide Ad&le under the bed which he had raised up. . . ."<br />
There were two of them to eat a single portion! The first time,<br />
the woman laughed! And Fallut probably gave nearly the whole<br />
of his share to her.<br />
He was too serious. She laughed at him. She coaxed him.. •.<br />
He yielded and smiled. . ..<br />
Had they already begun to talk of the evil eye in the fo'c's'le?<br />
.. . Weren't there comments on the captain's decision to eat alone?<br />
And besides, they had never known a captain who went about with<br />
the key of his cabin in his pocket!<br />
The two propellers revolved. The vibrations had started which<br />
would shake the ship for the next three months.<br />
Down below, men like P'tit Louis were feeding the furnaces<br />
with coal eight or ten hours a day, or sleepily examining the<br />
oil-pressure. . ..<br />
Three days. . . . That was the general opinion. ... It had needed<br />
three days to produce an atmospkere of uneasiness. . . . And from<br />
that time the men had wondered whether Fallut had gone mad.<br />
Why? Was it jealousy? But Adele had declared that she hadn't<br />
seen Le Clinche until the fourth day. . ..<br />
Up to then he had been too busy with his apparatus. He intercepted<br />
messages for his own personal satisfaction. He made attempts<br />
at transmission. And, the ear-phones on his head, he wrote pages<br />
and pages as if the post would carry them immediately to his fiancee.<br />
Three days. They would hardly have had time to make each<br />
other's acquaintance. Perhaps the chief engineer had pressed his<br />
face against the port-hole and seen the young woman? But he had<br />
said nothing!<br />
The atmosphere on board ship is only created gradually, as men<br />
get nearer to each other by sharing their adventures in common.<br />
But as yet there were no adventures! They hadn't even begun<br />
fishing! For that they would have to wait until they were on the<br />
Great Bank over there in Newfoundland, on the other side of the<br />
Adantic, which they wouldn't reach for at least ten days.<br />
•<br />
Maigret was standing up there on the bridge, and if a man had<br />
wakened up he might have wondered what he was doing there,<br />
enormous, solitary, looking slowly round him.
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