And he went away, leaving me very much astonished. That he should have another hundred francs in his kit-bag seemed very unlikely.
He was a long time in returning. He had not found them. I had anticipated that.
At length he reappeared.
"Here you are!" he said, handing me his poor sailor's purse, with a happy smile.
Then a doubt came to me and, to resolve it, I said to him:
"Yves, lend me your watch, too, like a good fellow; I left mine in pledge."
He was very confused, and said it was broken. I had guessed right: to get these hundred francs he had just sold it with the chain, for half its value, to a petty officer on board.
And so Yves knew that he could call on me in any circumstances. And when Barrada came for me on his behalf, I went down to him where he lay, in irons, in the hold.
But this time, by striking this old warrant officer, he had got himself in a very serious position; my intercession for him was in vain, and his punishment was heavy. Four months afterwards he had to put to sea again without having seen his mother.
When we were on the point of embarking together on the Sibylle for a voyage round the world in three hundred days, I took him on a Sunday to Saint Pol-de-Léon, in order to console him.