“Look here,” said Père Rondic, “your parents made a great mistake in not listening to me. You have no business here; now how would you like to make a voyage? The chief engineer of the ‘Cydnus’ wants an assistant. You can have six francs per day, be fed, lodged, and warmed. Shall I write and say you will like the situation?”
The idea of the double pay, the love of travel that Mâdou’s wild tales had awakened in his childish nature, combined to render Jack highly pleased at the proposed change. He left Indret one July morning, just four years after his arrival. What a superb day it was! The air became more fresh as the little steamer he was on approached the ocean. Jack had never seen the sea. The fresh salt breeze inspired him with restless longing. Saint Nazarre lay before him,—the harbor crowded with shipping. They landed at the dock, and there learned that the Cydnus, of the Compagnie Transatlantique, would sail at three o’clock that day, and was already lying outside,—this being, in fact, the only way to have the crew all on board at the moment of departure.
Jack and his companion—for Father Rondic had insisted on seeing him on board his ship—had no time to see anything of the town, which had all the vivacity of a market-day.
The wharf was piled with vegetables, with baskets of fruit, and with fowls which, tied together, were wildly struggling for liberty. Near their merchandise stood the Breton peasants waiting quietly for purchasers. They were in no hurry, and made no appeal to the passers-by. In contrast to these, there was a number of small peddlers, selling pins, cravats, and portemonnaies, who were loudly crying their wares. Sailors were hurrying to and fro, and Rondic learned from one of them that the chief engineer of the Cydnus was in a very bad humor because he had not his full number of stokers on board.
“We must hasten,” said Rondic; and they hailed a boat, and rapidly threaded their way through the harbor. The enormous transatlantic steamers lay at their wharves as if asleep; the decks of two large English ships just arrived from Calcutta were covered with sailors, all hard at work. They passed between these motionless masses, where the water was as dark as a canal running through the midst of a city under high walls; then they saw the Cydnus lying, with her steam on. A wiry little man, in his shirt-sleeves, with three stripes on his cap, hailed Jack and Rondic as their boat came alongside the steamer.
His words were inaudible through the din and tumult, but his gestures were eloquent enough. This was Blanchet, the chief engineer.
“You have come, then, have you?” he shouted. “I was afraid you meant to leave me in the lurch.”
“It was my fault,” said Rondic; “I wished to accompany the lad, and I could not get away yesterday.”
“On board with you, quick!” returned the engineer; “he must get into his place at once.”
They descended first one ladder, then another, and another. Jack, who had never been on board a large steamer, was stupefied at the size and the depth of this one. They descended to an abyss where the eyes accustomed to the light of day could distinguish absolutely nothing. The heat was stifling, and a final ladder led to the engine-room, where the heavy atmosphere, charged with a smell of oil, was almost insupportable. Great activity reigned in this room; a general examination was being made of the machinery, which glittered with cleanliness. Jack looked on curiously at the enormous structure, knowing that it would soon be his duty to watch it day and night.