LE PIED MARIN. 



536 



position with myself, and my recumbent posture afforded him an op- 

 portunity of giving vent to his volubility. ' ' Monsieur se trouve done 

 deja mal ?" quoth he. " Not ill, Monsieur, but almost shaken to 

 death by your cursed Diligence." " C'est que Messieurs les Anglais 

 sont tons marins." " When a man," said I, " has crossed the line 

 a dozen times, he ought, I think in all conscience, to be a sailor 1" 

 " Une douzaine de Jbis ! En verite c'est beaucoup voyager. Mais mot 

 aussij'aifait mes petites courses en mer: void par exemple la cinquieme 

 Jbis que je passe la Manchc, et je me Jlatte d'avoir aussi le pied 

 mar in." 



Notwithstanding the air of triumph with which he uttered this, I 

 was convinced that on his fifth passage of the Channel he would find 

 that he had not (f le pied marin," of which he appeared so vain- 

 glorious. It was blowing fresh from the northward and eastward 

 a strong south westerly current was setting right up Channel, and, 

 from the conflict of the two elements, I foresaw there would result a 

 sea that would try the stomach of many a better sailor than this little 

 commis voyageur, in his redingote a I'Anglaise. The anchor was 

 weighed, and the vessel dashed swiftly through the opposing wave, 

 but not swifter than the tongue of Monsieur du Pied Marin continued 

 to run. " Monsieur a sans doute vu des gros temps ?" he continued. 

 " More, I assure you, than I ever wish to see again." " Cependajit 

 je donnerois tout au monde de voir un gros temps. Car, comme votre 

 Burke a fort bien remarque ' II y a du sublime dans le peril' " " It 

 will blow fresh when we get outside." " Tant mieux iant mieux ! 

 J'aime la sublimite. J'ai beaucoup voyage beaucoup beaucoup mais 

 vouz savez que les voyages par terre sont insipides il mefaut des sensa- 

 tions fortes. Je voudrois meme avoir peur pour unefois !" 



By this time most of the passengers were " poorly :" one old 

 dowager and her maid had been handed below, completely " hors du 

 combat." " Voila le desagrement d'un steam-boat," observed the little 

 Frenchman ; ' c ces scenes la sont dechirantes." 



We had just cleared the point that stretches to the southward and 

 westward of the harbour of Calais, and the boat now fairly in the 

 trough of the sea began to give some of those heavy pitches, which, 

 as a young Spanish lady once said to me under similar circumstances, 

 " hace salir el alma por la boca." I narrowly watched the counte- 

 nance of my hero ; the rubicond hue of his complexion was succeeded 

 by a yellow tint, faint as that which tinges the cheek of the ripening 

 lime the demon of sea sickness had set his hand upon him. " Does 

 Monsieur find himself unwell ?'' I inquired. " Ah que non ! une 

 petite migraine seulement I'effet du cafe infernale qu'on m'a fait boire 

 a Vhotel" 



The illusion of the pied marin had vanished ; still he appeared 

 reluctantly to yield to the conviction of the fact. " Nom de Dieu /" 

 he exclaimed at last, when on the brink of the catastrophe, " est il 

 possible queje me trouve mal? est-ce possible ?" But the Captain ap- 

 peared to have no doubts whatever on the subject. " Forward 

 there," he roared out ; " hand that gentleman in the white coat over 

 to leeward." For the poor little Frenchman, by a gross violation of 

 all the rules of naval etiquette, had chosen the windward side for 



