Dare welcomed this plan and said so, it being likely to offer them diversion as well as benefit their mission.
They spent the morning sauntering from quay to quay in the manner of others of their kind. Now and then they were drawn into conversation, and on such occasions responded genially and with that seeming openness most likely to inspire confidences. At noon they went to the telegraph office and cabled the captain. They then returned to the quay and had a look at the boat. Then they wended their way once more towards Madame Roquierre's.
All was changed now. The bar was fairly crowded, and through the swing door leading to the kitchen came a delectable odour, and a burst of sound comparable to that attendant upon the feeding of a battalion.
Ben pushed through the crowd at the bar, Dare in his wake, and went into the kitchen. There, presiding over the distribution of an enormous tureen of soup, was Madame Roquierre. She was stout, possessed a heavy moustache, and very white teeth which were often revealed in an excess of geniality. She found time, amidst her other duties, to greet everyone who entered, and Dare and Ben were no exceptions. Ben called out a "bonjoor, madame," while Dare silently gave an imitation of a bow.
They took seats at a long table already well filled, and as soon as they were seated immense bowls of soup were placed before them. The soup seemed to Dare to contain nearly every known vegetable, but decidedly it was good. Ben attacked it with gusto, and before long Dare was following his example.
"Never anything else here in the kitchen but soup," said Ben. "If you want other things they're special. But after a bowl or two of this you don't want much. I come here because it would look funny our askin' fer a private room. We're not of that sort now. But later I'll have a talk with madame and we can have what we like here in the kitchen."
After the soup they ordered coffee, and sat so long over it that the room was practically empty when they rose to go. Before they could reach the door, madame confronted them.
"Bon jour, messieurs," she said genially. "Ah, I have seen you before, my fren'," she said to Ben, and wrinkled her forehead in an effort to remember. "So! It was with the capitaine——"
"No names, madame, if you please," interrupted Ben. "I'd take it as a favour if you'd fergit you've seen me before."
"Hein? Ah, so, I see! Eh bien, it is as you say. You stay long?"