gathered to witness the closing of the bargain had melted away with the
moment of its conclusion. Long ere this moment of our embarkation
the wide stone street facing the water had become suddenly deserted.
The curious-eyed heads and the cotton nightcaps had been swallowed up
in the hollows of the dark, little windows. The baker's boy had long
since mounted his broad basket, as if it were an ornamental head-dress,
and whistling, had turned a sharp corner, swallowed up, he also, by the
sudden gloom that lay between the narrow streets. The sloop-owners had
linked arms with the defeated captains, and were walking off toward
their respective boats, whistling a gay little air.

"_Colinette au bois s'en alla
En sautillant par-ci, par-la;
Trala deridera, trala, derid-er-a-a._"

One jersey-clad figure was singing lustily as he dropped with a spring
into his boat. He began to coil the loose ropes at once, as if the
disappointments in life were only a necessary interruption, to be
accepted philosophically, to this, the serious business of his days.

We were soon afloat, far out from the land of either shores. Between
the two, sea and river meet; is the river really trying to lose itself
in the sea, or is it hopelessly attempting to swallow the sea? The
green line that divides them will never give you the answer: it changes
hour by hour, day by day; now it is like a knife-cut, deep and
straight; and now like a ribbon that wavers and flutters, tying
together the blue of the great ocean and the silver of the Seine. Close
to the lips of the mighty mouth lie the two shores. In that fresh May
sunshine Havre glittered and bristled, was aglow with a thousand tints
and tones; but we sailed and sailed away from her, and behold, already