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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Fete At Coqueville, by Emile Zola
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Fete At Coqueville
+       1907
+
+Author: Emile Zola
+
+Translator: L. G. Meyer
+
+Release Date: October 27, 2007 [EBook #23222]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE FETE AT COQUEVILLE ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by David Widger
+
+
+
+
+
+
+THE FETE AT COQUEVILLE
+
+By Emile Zola
+
+Translated by L. G. Meyer.
+
+Copyright, 1907, by P. F. Collier & Son
+
+
+
+
+I
+
+Coqueville is a little village planted in a cleft in the rocks, two
+leagues from Grandport. A fine sandy beach stretches in front of the
+huts lodged half-way up in the side of the cliff like shells left there
+by the tide. As one climbs to the heights of Grandport, on the left the
+yellow sheet of sand can be very clearly seen to the west like a river
+of gold dust streaming from the gaping cleft in the rock; and with good
+eyes one can even distinguish the houses, whose tones of rust spot the
+rock and whose chimneys send up their bluish trails to the very crest
+of the great slope, streaking the sky. It is a deserted hole. Coqueville
+has never been able to attain to the figure of two hundred inhabitants.
+The gorge which opens into the sea, and on the threshold of which the
+village is planted, burrows into the earth by turns so abrupt and
+by descents so steep that it is almost impossible to pass there with
+wagons. It cuts off all communication and isolates the country so that
+one seems to be a hundred leagues from the neighboring hamlets.
+
+Moreover, the inhabitants have communication with Grandport only by
+water. Nearly all of them fishermen, living by the ocean, they carry
+their fish there every day in their barks. A great commission house, the
+firm of Dufeu, buys their fish on contract. The father Dufeu has been
+dead some years, but the widow Dufeu has continued the business; she
+has simply engaged a clerk, M. Mouchel, a big blond devil, charged with
+beating up the coast and dealing with the fishermen. This M. Mouchel is
+the sole link between Coque-ville and the civilized world.
+
+Coqueville merits a historian. It seems certain that the village, in
+the night of time, was founded by the Mahes; a family which happened to
+establish itself there and which grew vigorous at the foot of the cliff.
+These Mahes continued to prosper at first, marrying continually among
+themselves, for during centuries one finds none but Mahes there. Then
+under Louis XIII appeared one Floche. No one knew too much of where
+he came from.. He married a Mahe, and from that time a phenomenon
+was brought forth; the Floches in their turn prospered and multiplied
+exceedingly, so that they ended little by little in absorbing the Mahes,
+whose numbers diminished until their fortune passed entirely into the
+hands of the newcomers. Without doubt, the Floches brought new blood,
+more vigorous physical organs, a temperament which adapted itself better
+to that hard condition of high wind and of high sea. At any rate, they
+are to-day masters of Coqueville.
+
+It can easily be understood that this displacement of numbers and of
+riches was not accomplished without terrible disturbances. The Mahes and
+the Hoches detest each other. Between them is a hatred of centuries. The
+Mahes in spite of their decline retain the pride of ancient conquerors.
+After all they are the founders, the ancestors. They speak with contempt
+of the first Floche, a beggar, a vagabond picked up by them from
+feelings of pity, and to have given away one of their daughters to
+whom was their eternal regret. This Floche, to hear them speak, had
+engendered nothing but a descent of libertines and thieves, who pass
+their nights in raising children and their days in coveting legacies.
+And there is not an insult they do not heap upon the powerful tribe of
+Floche, seized with that bitter rage of nobles, decimated, ruined, who
+see the spawn of the bourgeoisie master of their rents and of their
+chateau. The Floches, on their side, naturally have the insolence of
+those who triumph. They are in full possession, a thing to make them
+insolent. Full of contempt for the ancient race of the Mahes, they
+threaten to drive them from the village if they do not bow their heads.
+To them they are starvelings, who instead of draping themselves in their
+rags would do much better to mend them.
+
+So Coqueville finds itself a prey to two fierce factions--something like
+one hundred and thirty inhabitants bent upon devouring the other fifty
+for the simple reason that they are the stronger.
+
+The struggle between two great empires has no other history.
+
+Among the quarrels which have lately upset Coqueville, they cite the
+famous enmity of the brothers, Fouasse and Tupain, and the ringing
+battles of the Rouget menage. You must know that every inhabitant in
+former days received a surname, which has become to-day the regular name
+of the family; for it was difficult to distinguish one's self among the
+cross-breedings of the Mahes and the Floches. Rouget assuredly had an
+ancestor of fiery blood. As for Fouasse and Tupain, they were called
+thus without knowing why, many surnames having lost all rational meaning
+in course of time. Well, old Francoise, a wanton of eighty years who
+lived forever, had had Fouasse by a Mahe, then becoming a widow, she
+remarried with a Floche and brought forth Tupain. Hence the hatred of
+the two brothers, made specially lively by the question of inheritance.
+At the Rouget's they beat each other to a jelly because Rouget accused
+his wife, Marie, of being unfaithful to him for a Floche, the tall
+Brisemotte, a strong, dark man, on whom he had already twice thrown
+himself with a knife, yelling that he would rip open his belly. Rouget,
+a small, nervous man, was a great spitfire.
+
+But that which interested Coqueville most deeply was neither the
+tantrums of Rouget nor the differences between Tupain and Fouasse. A
+great rumor circulated: Delphin, a Mahe, a rascal of twenty years, dared
+to love the beautiful Margot, the daughter of La Queue, the richest of
+the Floches and chief man of the country. This La Queue was, in truth, a
+considerable personage. They called him La Queue because his father, in
+the days of Louis Philippe, had been the last to tie up his hair, with
+the obstinacy of old age that clings to the fashions of its youth. Well,
+then, La Queue owned one of the two large fishing smacks of Coqueville,
+the "Zephir," by far the best, still quite new and seaworthy. The other
+big boat, the "Baleine," a rotten old patache, {1} belonged to Rouget,
+whose sailors were Delphin and Fouasse, while La Queue took with
+him Tupain and Brisemotte. These last had grown weary of laughing
+contemptuously at the "Baleine"; a sabot, they said, which would
+disappear some fine day under the billows like a handful of mud. So when
+La Queue learned that that ragamuffin of a Delphin, the froth of the
+"Baleine," allowed himself to go prowling around his daughter, he
+delivered two sound whacks at Margot, a trifle merely to warn her that
+she should never be the wife of a Mahe. As a result, Margot, furious,
+declared that she would pass that pair of slaps on to Delphin if he ever
+ventured to rub against her skirts. It was vexing to be boxed on the
+ears for a boy whom she had never looked in the face!
+
+     1 Naval term signifying a rickety old concern.
+
+Margot, at sixteen years strong as a man and handsome as a lady, had
+the reputation of being a scornful person, very hard on lovers. And from
+that, added to the trifle of the two slaps, of the presumptuousness of
+Delphin, and of the wrath of Margot, one ought easily to comprehend the
+endless gossip of Coqueville.
+
+Notwithstanding, certain persons said that Margot, at bottom, was not so
+very furious at sight of Delphin circling around her. This Delphin was
+a little blonde, with skin bronzed by the sea-glare, and with a mane of
+curly hair that fell over his eyes and in his neck. And very powerful
+despite his slight figure; quite capable of thrashing any one three
+times his size. They said that at times he ran away and passed the night
+in Grandport. That gave him the reputation of a werwolf with the girls,
+who accused him, among themselves, of "making a life of it"--a vague
+expression in which they included all sorts of unknown pleasures.
+Margot, when she spoke of Delphin, betrayed too much feeling. He,
+smiling with an artful air, looked at her with eyes half shut and
+glittering, without troubling himself the least in the world over her
+scorn or her transports of passion. He passed before her door, he
+glided along by the bushes watching for her hours at a time, full of the
+patience and the I cunning of a cat lying in wait for a tomtit; and when
+suddenly she discovered him behind her skirts, so close to her at times
+that she guessed it by the warmth of his breath, he did not fly, he took
+on an air gentle and melancholy which left her abashed, stifled, not
+regaining her wrath until he was some distance away. Surely, if her
+father saw her he would smite her again. But she boasted in vain that
+Delphin would some day get that pair of slaps she had promised him;
+she never seized the moment to apply them when he was there; which made
+people say that she ought not to talk so much, since in the end she kept
+the slaps herself.
+
+No one, however, supposed she could ever be Delphin's wife. In her case
+they saw the weakness of a coquette. As for a marriage between the
+most beggardly of the Mahes, a fellow who had not six shirts to set up
+housekeeping with, and the daughter of the mayor, the richest heiress of
+the Floches, it would seem simply monstrous.
+
+Evil tongues insinuated that she could perfectly go with him all the
+same, but that she would certainly not marry him. A rich girl takes her
+pleasure as it suits her; only, if she has a head, she does not commit a
+folly. Finally all Coque-ville interested itself in the matter, curious
+to know how things would turn out. Would Delphin get his two slaps? or
+else Margot, would she let herself be kissed on both cheeks in some hole
+in the cliff? They must see! There were some for the slaps and there
+were some for the kisses. Coqueville was in revolution.
+
+In the village two people only, the cure and the _garde champetre?_
+belonged neither to the Mahes nor to the Floches. The _garde champetre_,
+{2} a tall, dried-up fellow, whose name no one knew, but who was called
+the Emperor, no doubt because he had served under Charles X, as a matter
+of fact exercised no burdensome supervision over the commune which was
+all bare rocks and waste lands. A sub-prefect who patronized him had
+created for him the sinecure where he devoured in peace his very small
+living.
+
+     2 Watchman.
+
+As for the Abbe Radiguet, he was one of those simple-minded priests whom
+the bishop, in his desire to be rid of him, buries in some out of the
+way hole. He lived the life of an honest man, once more turned peasant,
+hoeing his little garden redeemed from the rock, smoking his pipe and
+watching his salads grow. His sole fault was a gluttony which he knew
+not how to refine, reduced to adoring mackerel and to drinking, at
+times, more cider than he could contain. In other respects, the father
+of his parishioners, who came at long intervals to hear a mass to please
+him.
+
+But the cure and the _garde champetre_ were obliged to take sides after
+having succeeded for a long time in remaining neutral. Now, the Emperor
+held for the Mahes, while the Abbe Radiguet supported the Floches.
+Hence complications. As the Emperor, from morning to night, lived like
+a bourgeois [citizen], and as he wearied of counting the boats which put
+out from Grand-port, he took it upon himself to act as village police.
+Having become the partizan of the Mahes, through native instinct for the
+preservation of society, he sided with Fouasse against Tupain; he tried
+to catch the wife of Rouget in _flagrante delicto_ with Brisemotte, and
+above all he closed his eyes when he saw Delphin slipping into Margot's
+courtyard. The worst of it was that these tactics brought about heated
+quarrels between the Emperor and his natural superior, the mayor La
+Queue. Respectful of discipline, the former heard the reproaches of the
+latter, then recommenced to act as his head dictated; which disorganized
+the public authority of Coqueville. One could not pass before the shed
+ornamented with the name of the town hall without being deafened by the
+noise of some dispute. On the other hand, the Abbe Radiguet rallied to
+the triumphant Floches, who loaded him with superb mackerel, secretly
+encouraged the resistance of Rouget's wife and threatened Margot with
+the flames of hell if she should ever allow Delphin to touch her with
+his finger. It was, to sum up, complete anarchy; the army in revolt
+against the civil power, religion making itself complaisant toward
+the pleasures of the bourgeoisie; a whole people, a hundred and eighty
+inhabitants, devouring each other in a hole, in face of the vast sea,
+and of the infinite sky.
+
+Alone, in the midst of topsy-turvy Coqueville, Delphin preserved the
+laughter of a love-sick boy, who scorned the rest, provided Margot
+was for him. He followed her zigzags as one follows hares. Very wise,
+despite his simple look, he wanted the cure to marry them, so that his
+bliss might last forever.
+
+One evening, in a byway where he was watching for her, Margot at last
+raised her hand. But she stopped, all red; for without waiting for
+the slap, he had seized the hand that threatened him and kissed it
+furiously. As she trembled, he said to her in a low voice: "I love you.
+Won't you have me?"
+
+"Never!" she cried, in rebellion.
+
+He shrugged his shoulders, then with an air, calm and tender, "Pray do
+not say that--we shall be very comfortable together, we two. You will
+see how nice it is."
+
+
+
+
+II
+
+That Sunday the weather was appalling, one of those sudden calamities
+of September that unchain such fearful tempests on the rocky coast of
+Grandport. At nightfall Coqueville sighted a ship in distress driven by
+the wind. But the shadows deepened, they could not dream of rendering
+help. Since the evening before, the "Zephir" and the "Baleine" had been
+moored in the little natural harbor situated at the left of the beach,
+between two walls of granite. Neither La Queue nor Rouget had dared
+to go out, the worst of it was that M. Mouchel, representing the Widow
+Dufeu, had taken the trouble to come in person that Saturday to promise
+them a reward if they would make a serious effort; fish was scarce, they
+were complaining at the markets. So, Sunday evening, going to bed
+under squalls of rain, Coqueville growled in a bad humor. It was the
+everlasting story: orders kept coming in while the sea guarded its fish.
+And all the village talked of the ship which they had seen passing in
+the hurricane, and which must assuredly by that time be sleeping at the
+bottom of the water. The next day, Monday, the sky was dark as ever. The
+sea, still high, raged without being able to calm itself, although the
+wind was blowing less strong. It fell completely, but the waves kept up
+their furious motion. In spite of everything, the two boats went out in
+the afternoon. Toward four o'clock, the "Zephir" came in again, having
+caught nothing. While the sailors, Tupain and Brisemotte, anchored in
+the little harbor, La Queue, exasperated, on the shore, shook his fist
+at the ocean. And M. Mouchel was waiting! Margot was there, with the
+half of Coqueville, watching the last surg-ings of the tempest, sharing
+her father's rancor against the sea and the sky.
+
+"But where is the 'Baleine'?" demanded some one.
+
+"Out there beyond the point," said La Queue. "If that carcass comes back
+whole to-day, it will be by a chance."
+
+He was full of contempt. Then he informed them that it was good for the
+Mahes to risk their skins in that way; when one is not worth a sou, one
+may perish. As for him, he preferred to break his word to M. Mouchel.
+
+In the meantime, Margot was examining the point of rocks behind which
+the "Baleine" was hidden.
+
+"Father," she asked at last, "have they caught something?"
+
+"They?" he cried. "Nothing at all."
+
+He calmed himself and added more gently, seeing the Emperor, who was
+sneering at him:
+
+"I do not know whether they have caught anything, but as they never do
+catch anything--"
+
+"Perhaps, to-day, all the same, they have taken something," said the
+Emperor ill-naturedly. "Such things have been seen." La Queue was about
+to reply angrily. But the Abbe Radiguet, who came up, calmed him. From
+the porch of the church the abbe had happened to observe the "Baleine";
+and the bark seemed to be giving chase to some big fish. This news
+greatly interested Coqueville. In the groups reunited on the shore there
+were Mahes and Floches, the former praying that the boat might come in
+with a miraculous catch, the others making vows that it might come in
+empty.
+
+Margot, holding herself very straight, did not take her eyes from the
+sea. "There they are!" said she simply.
+
+And in fact a black dot showed itself beyond the point. All looked at
+it. One would have said a cork dancing on the water. The Emperor did not
+see even the black dot. One must be of Coqueville to recognize at that
+distance the "Baleine" and those who manned her.
+
+"See!" said Margot, who had the best eyes of the coast, "it is Fouasse
+and Rouget who are rowing--The little one is standing up in the bow."
+
+She called Delphin "the little one" so as not to mention his name. And
+from then on they followed the course of the bark, trying to account for
+her strange movements. As the cure said, she appeared to be giving
+chase to some great fish that might be fleeing before her. That seemed
+extraordinary. The Emperor pretended that their net was without doubt
+being carried away. But La Queue cried that they were do-nothings, and
+that they were just amusing themselves. Quite certain they were not
+fishing for seals! All the Floches made merry over that joke; while the
+Mahes, vexed, declared that Rouget was a fine fellow all the same, and
+that he was risking his skin while others at the least puff of wind
+preferred _terra firma_. The Abbe Radiguet was forced to interpose again
+for there were slaps in the air.
+
+"What ails them?" said Margot abruptly. "They are off again!" They
+ceased menacing one another, and every eye searched the horizon, The
+"Baleine" was once more hidden behind the point. This time La Queue
+himself became uneasy. He could not account for such maneuvres. The fear
+that Rouget was really in a fair way to catch some fish threw him off
+his mental balance. No one left the beach, although there was nothing
+strange to be seen. They stayed there nearly two hours, they watched
+incessantly for the bark, which appeared from time to time, then
+disappeared. It finished by not showing itself at all any more. La
+Queue, enraged, breathing in his heart the abominable wish, declared
+that she must have sunk; and, as just at that moment Rouget's wife
+appeared with Brisemotte, he looked at them both, sneering, while he
+patted Tupain on the shoulder to console him already for the death of
+his brother, Fouasse. But he stopped laughing when he caught sight of
+his daughter Margot, silent and looming, her eyes on the distance; it
+was quite possibly for Delphin.
+
+"What are you up to over there?" he scolded. "Be off home with you!
+Mind, Margot!"
+
+She did not stir. Then all at once: "Ah! there they are!"
+
+He gave a cry of surprise. Margot, with her good eyes, swore that she no
+longer saw a soul in the bark; neither Rouget, nor Fouasse, nor any one!
+The "Baleine," as if abandoned, ran before the wind, tacking about every
+minute, rocking herself with a lazy air.
+
+A west wind had fortunately risen and was driving her toward the land,
+but with strange caprices which tossed her to right and to left. Then
+all Coqueville ran down to the shore. One half shouted to the other
+half, there remained not a girl in the houses to look after the soup.
+It was a catastrophe; something inexplicable, the strangeness of which
+completely turned their heads. Marie, the wife of Rouget, after a
+moment's reflection, thought it her duty to burst into tears. Tupain
+succeeded in merely carrying an air of affliction. All the Mahes were in
+great distress, while the Floches tried to appear conventional. Margot
+collapsed as if she had her legs broken.
+
+"What are you up to again!" cried La Queue, who stumbled upon her.
+
+"I am tired," she answered simply.
+
+And she turned her face toward the sea, her cheeks between her hands,
+shading her eyes with the ends of her fingers, gazing fixedly at the
+bark rocking itself idly on the waves with the air of a good fellow who
+has drunk too much.
+
+In the meanwhile suppositions were rife. Perhaps the three men had
+fallen into the water? Only, all three at a time, that seemed absurd.
+
+La Queue would have liked well to persuade them that the "Baleine" had
+gone to pieces like a rotten egg; but the boat still held the sea;
+they shrugged their shoulders. Then, as if the three men had actually
+perished, he remembered that he was Mayor and spoke of formalities.
+
+"Leave off!" cried the Emperor, "Does one die in such a silly way?" "If
+they had fallen overboard, little Delphin would have been here by this!"
+
+All Coqueville had to agree, Delphin swam like a herring. But where then
+could the three men be? They shouted: "I tell you, yes!"--"I tell you,
+no!"--"Too stupid!"--"Stupid yourself!" And matters came to the point
+of exchanging blows. The Abbe Radiguet was obliged to make an appeal for
+reconciliation, while the Emperor hustled the crowd about to establish
+order. Meanwhile, the bark, without haste, continued to dance before the
+world. It waltzed, seeming to mock at the people; the sea carried her
+in, making her salute the land in long rhythmic reverences. Surely it
+was a bark in a crazy fit. Margot, her cheeks between her hands, kept
+always gazing. A yawl had just put out of the harbor to go to meet the
+"Baleine." It was Brisemotte, who had exhibited that impatience, as
+if he had been delayed in giving certainty to Rouget's wife. From that
+moment all Coqueville interested itself in the yawl. The voices rose
+higher: "Well, does he see anything?"
+
+The "Baleine" advanced with her mysterious and mocking air. At last they
+saw him draw himself up and look into the bark that he had succeeded
+in taking in tow. All held their breath. But, abruptly, he burst out
+laughing. That was a surprise; what had he to be amused at? "What is it?
+What have you got there?" they shouted to him furiously.
+
+He, without replying, laughed still louder. He made gestures as if to
+say that they would see. Then having fastened the "Baleine" to the yawl,
+he towed her back. And an unlooked-for spectacle stunned Coqueville. In
+the bottom of the bark, the three men--Rouget, Delphin, Fouasse--were
+beatifically stretched out on their backs, snoring, with fists clenched,
+dead drunk. In their midst was found a little cask stove in, some full
+cask they had come across at sea and which they had appreciated. Without
+doubt, it was very good, for they had drunk it all save a liter's worth
+which had leaked into the bark and which was mixed with the sea water.
+
+"Ah! the pig!" cried the wife of Rouget, brutally, ceasing to whimper.
+
+"Well, it's characteristic--their catch!" said La Queue, who affected
+great disgust.
+
+"Forsooth!" replied the Emperor, "they catch what they can! They have at
+least caught a cask, while others have not caught anything at all."
+
+The Mayor shut up, greatly vexed. Coqueville brayed. They understood
+now. When barks are intoxicated, they dance as men do; and that one,
+in truth, had her belly full of liquor. Ah, the slut! What a minx!
+She festooned over the ocean with the air of a sot who could no longer
+recognize his home. And Coqueville laughed, and fumed, the Mahes found
+it funny, while the Floches found it disgusting. They surrounded the
+"Baleine," they craned their necks, they strained their eyes to see
+sleeping there the three jolly dogs who were exposing the secret springs
+of their jubilation, oblivious of the crowd hanging over them. The abuse
+and the laughter troubled them but little. Rouget did not hear his
+wife accuse him of drinking up all they had; Fouasse did not feel the
+stealthy kicks with which his brother Tupain rammed his sides. As for
+Del-phin, he was pretty, after he had drunk, with his blond hair, his
+rosy face drowned in bliss. Mar-got had gotten up, and silently, for the
+present, she contemplated the little fellow with a hard expression.
+
+"Must put them to bed!" cried a voice.
+
+But just then Delphin opened his eyes. He rolled looks of rapture over
+the people. They questioned him on all sides with an eagerness that
+dazed him somewhat, the more easily since he was still as drunk as a
+thrush.
+
+"Well! What?" he stuttered; "it was a little cask--There is no fish.
+Therefore, we have caught a little cask."
+
+He did not get beyond that. To every sentence he added simply: "It was
+very good!"
+
+"But what was it in the cask?" they asked him hotly.
+
+"Ah! I don't know--it was very good."
+
+By this time Coqueville was burning to know. Every one lowered their
+noses to the boat, sniffing vigorously. With one opinion, it smelt of
+liquor; only no one could guess what liquor. The Emperor, who flattered
+himself that he had drunk of everything that a man can drink, said that
+he would see. He solemnly took in the palm of his hand a little of the
+liquor that was swimming in the bottom of the bark. The crowd became
+all at once silent. They waited. But the Emperor, after sucking up a
+mouthful, shook his head as if still badly informed. He sucked twice,
+more and more embarrassed, with an air of uneasiness and surprise. And
+he was bound to confess:
+
+"I do not know--It's strange--If there was no salt water in it, I would
+know, no doubt--My word of honor, it is very strange!"
+
+They looked at him. They stood struck with awe before that which the
+Emperor himself did not venture to pronounce. Coqueville contemplated
+with respect the little empty cask.
+
+"It was very good!" once more said Delphin, who seemed to be making game
+of the people. Then, indicating the sea with a comprehensive sweep,
+he added: "If you want some, there is more there--I saw them--little
+casks--little casks--little casks--"
+
+And he rocked himself with the refrain which he kept singing, gazing
+tenderly at Margot. He had just caught sight of her. Furious, she made a
+motion as if to slap him; but he did not even close his eyes; he awaited
+the slap with an air of tenderness.
+
+The Abbe Radiguet, puzzled by that unknown tipple, he, too, dipped his
+finger in the bark and sucked it. Like the Emperor, he shook his head:
+no, he was not familiar with that, it was very extraordinary. They
+agreed on but one point: the cask must have been wreckage from the ship
+in distress, signaled Sunday evening. The English ships often carried to
+Grandport such cargoes of liquor and fine wines.
+
+Little by little the day faded and the people were withdrawn into
+shadow. But La Queue remained absorbed, tormented by an idea which he no
+longer expressed. He stopped, he listened a last time to Delphin, whom
+they were carrying along, and who was repeating in his sing-song voice:
+"Little casks--little casks--little casks--if you want some, there are
+more!"
+
+
+
+
+III
+
+That night the weather changed completely. When Coqueville awoke the
+following day an unclouded sun was shining; the sea spread out without
+a wrinkle, like a great piece of green satin. And it was warm, one of
+those pale glows of autumn.
+
+First of the village, La Queue had risen, still clouded from the dreams
+of the night. He kept looking for a long time toward the sea, to the
+right, to the left. At last, with a sour look, he said that he must in
+any event satisfy M. Mouchel. And he went away at once with Tupain and
+Brisemotte, threatening Margot to touch up her sides if she did not walk
+straight. As the "Zephir" left the harbor, and as he saw the "Baleine"
+swinging heavily at her anchor, he cheered up a little saying: "To-day,
+I guess, not a bit of it! Blow out the candle, Jeanetton! those
+gentlemen have gone to bed!"
+
+And as soon as the "Zephir" had reached the open sea, La Queue cast his
+nets. After that he went to visit his "jambins." The jambins are a kind
+of elongated eel-pot in which they catch more, especially lobsters and
+red garnet. But in spite of the calm sea, he did well to visit his
+jambins one by one. All were empty; at the bottom of the last one, as
+if in mockery, he found a little mackerel, which he threw back angrily
+into the sea. It was fate; there were weeks like that when the fish
+flouted Coqueville, and always at a time when M. Mouchel had expressed
+a particular desire for them. When La Queue drew in his nets, an hour
+later, he found nothing but a bunch of seaweed. Straightway he swore,
+his fists clenched, raging so much the more for the vast serenity of the
+ocean, lazy and sleeping like a sheet of burnished silver under the
+blue sky. The "Zephir," without a waver, glided along in gentle ease. La
+Queue decided to go in again, after having cast his nets once more. In
+the afternoon he came to see them, and he menaced God and the saints,
+cursing in abominable words. In the meanwhile, Rouget, Fouasse, and
+Del-phin kept on sleeping. They did not succeed in standing up until
+the dinner hour. They recollected nothing, they were conscious only of
+having been treated to something extraordinary, something which they
+did not understand. In the afternoon, as they were all three down at the
+harbor, the Emperor tried to question them concerning the liquor, now
+that they had recovered their senses. It was like, perhaps, eau-de-vie
+with liquorice-juice in it; or rather one might say rum, sugared and
+burned. They said "Yes"; they said "No." From their replies, the
+Emperor suspected that it was ratafia; but he would not have sworn to
+it. That day Rouget and his men had too many pains in their sides to
+go a-fishing. Moreover, they knew that La Queue had gone out without
+success that morning, and they talked of waiting until the next day
+before visiting their jambins. All three of them, seated on blocks
+of stone, watched the tide come in, their backs rounded, their mouths
+clammy, half-asleep.
+
+But suddenly Delphin woke up; he jumped on to the stone, his eyes on the
+distance, crying: "Look, Boss, off there!"
+
+"What?" asked Rouget, who stretched his limbs.
+
+"A cask."
+
+Rouget and Fouasse were at once on their feet, their eyes gleaming,
+sweeping the horizon.
+
+"Where is it, lad? Where is the cask?" repeated the boss, greatly moved.
+
+"Off there--to the left--that black spot."
+
+The others saw nothing. Then Rouget swore an oath. "Nom de Dieu!"
+
+He had just spotted the cask, big as a lentil on the white water in a
+slanting ray of the setting sun. And he ran to the "Baleine," followed
+by Delphin and Fouasse, who darted forward tapping their backs with
+their heels and making the pebbles roll.
+
+The "Baleine" was just putting out from the harbor when the news that
+they saw a cask out at sea was circulated in Coqueville. The children,
+the women, began to run. They shouted: "A cask! a cask!"
+
+"Do you see it? The current is driving it toward Grandport."
+
+"Ah, yes! on the left--a cask! Come, quick!"
+
+And Coqueville came; tumbled down from its rock; the children arrived
+head over heels, while the women picked up their skirts with both hands
+to descend quickly. Soon the entire village was on the beach as on the
+night before.
+
+Margot showed herself for an instant, then she ran back at full speed to
+the house, where she wished to forestall her father, who was discussing
+an official process with the Emperor. At last La Queue appeared. He was
+livid; he said to the _garde champetre_: "Hold your peace! It's Rouget
+who has sent you here to beguile me. Well, then, he shall not get it.
+You'll see!"
+
+When he saw the "Baleine," three hundred metres out, making with all her
+oars toward the black dot, rocking in the distance, his fury redoubled.
+And he shoved Tupain and Brisemotte into the "Zephir," and he pulled out
+in turn, repeating: "No, they shall not have it; I'll die sooner!"
+
+Then Coqueville had a fine spectacle; a mad race between the "Zephir"
+and the "Baleine." When the latter saw the first leave the harbor, she
+understood the danger, and shot off with all her speed. She may have
+been four hundred metres ahead; but the chances remained even, for the
+"Zephir" was otherwise light and swift; so excitement was at its height
+on the beach. The Mahes and the Floches had instinctively formed into
+two groups, following eagerly the vicissitudes of the struggle, each
+upholding its own boat. At first the "Baleine" kept her advantage, but
+as soon as the "Zephir" spread herself, they saw that she was gaining
+little by little. The "Baleine" made a supreme effort and succeeded
+for a few minutes in holding her distance. Then the "Zephir" once more
+gained upon the "Baleine," came up with her at extraordinary speed.
+From that moment on, it was evident that the two barks would meet in
+the neighborhood of the cask. Victory hung on a circumstance, on the
+slightest mishap.
+
+"The 'Baleine'! The 'baleine'!" cried the Mahes.
+
+But they soon ceased shouting. When the "Baleine" was almost touching
+the cask, the "Zephir," by a bold maneuvre, managed to pass in front of
+her and throw the cask to the left, where La Queue harpooned it with a
+thrust of the boat-hook.
+
+"The 'Zephir'! the 'Zephir!" screamed the Floches.
+
+And the Emperor, having spoken of foul play, big words were exchanged.
+Margot clapped her hands. The Abbe Radiguet came down with his breviary,
+made a profound remark which abruptly calmed the people, and then threw
+them into consternation.
+
+"They will, perhaps, drink it all, these, too," he murmured with a
+melancholy air.
+
+At sea, between the "Baleine" and the "Zephir," a violent quarrel broke
+out. Rouget called La Queue a thief, while the latter called Rouget a
+good-for-nothing. The men even took up their oars to beat each other
+down, and the adventure lacked little of turning into a naval combat.
+More than this, they engaged to meet on land, showing their fists and
+threatening to disembowel each other as soon as they found each other
+again.
+
+"The rascal!" grumbled Rouget. "You know, that cask is bigger than the
+one of yesterday. It's yellow, this one--it ought to be great." Then
+in accents of despair: "Let's go and see the jambins; there may very
+possibly be lobsters in them."
+
+And the "Baleine" went on heavily to the left, steering toward the
+point.
+
+In the "Zephir," La Queue had to get in a passion in order to hold
+Tupain and Brisemotte from the cask. The boat-hook, in smashing a hoop,
+had made a leaking for the red liquid, which the two men tasted from the
+ends of their fingers and which they found exquisite. One might easily
+drink a glass without its producing much effect. But La Queue would not
+have it. He caulked the cask and declared that the first who sucked it
+should have a talk with him. On land, they would see.
+
+"Then," asked Tupain, sullenly, "are we going to draw out the jambins?"
+
+"Yes, right away; there is no hurry!" replied La Queue.
+
+He also gazed lovingly at the barrel. He felt his limbs melt with
+longing to go in at once and taste it. The fish bored him.
+
+"Bah!" said he at the end of a silence. "Let's go back, for it's late.
+We will return to-morrow." And he was relaxing his fishing when he
+noticed another cask at his right, this one very small, and which stood
+on end, turning on itself like a top. That was the last straw for the
+nets and the jambins. No one even spoke of them any longer. The "Zephir"
+gave chase to the little barrel, which was caught very easily.
+
+During this time a similar adventure overtook the "Baleine." After
+Rouget had already visited five jambins completely empty, Delphin,
+always on the watch, cried out that he saw something. But it did not
+have the appearance of a cask, it was too long.
+
+"It's a beam," said Fouasse.
+
+Rouget let fall his sixth jambin without drawing it out of the water.
+"Let's go and see, all the same," said he.
+
+As they advanced, they thought they recognized at first a beam, a chest,
+the trunk of a tree. Then they gave a cry of joy.
+
+It was a real cask, but a very queer cask, such as they had never seen
+before. One would have said a tube, bulging in the middle and closed at
+the two ends by a layer of plaster.
+
+"Ah, that's comical!" cried Rouget, in rapture. "This one I want the
+Emperor to taste. Come, children, let's go in."
+
+They all agreed not to touch it, and the "Baleine" returned to
+Coqueville at the same moment as the "Zephir," in its turn, anchored in
+the little harbor. Not one inquisitive had left the beach. Cries of joy
+greeted that unexpected catch of three casks. The _gamins_ hurled their
+caps into the air, while the women had at once gone on the run to
+look for glasses. It was decided to taste the liquid on the spot. The
+wreckage belonged to the village. Not one protest arose. Only they
+formed into two groups, the Mahes surrounded Rouget, the Floches would
+not let go of La Queue.
+
+"Emperor, the first glass for you!" cried Rouget. "Tell us what it is."
+
+The liquor was of a beautiful golden yellow. The _garde champetre_
+raised his glass, looked at it, smelt it, then decided to drink.
+
+"That comes from Holland," said he, after a long silence.
+
+He did not give any other information. All the Mahes drank with
+deference. It was rather thick, and they stood surprised, for it tasted
+of flowers. The women found it very good. As for the men, they would
+have preferred less sugar. Nevertheless, at the bottom it ended by being
+strong at the third or fourth glass. The more they drank, the better
+they liked it. The men became jolly, the women grew funny.
+
+But the Emperor, in spite of his recent quarrels with the Mayor, had
+gone to hang about the group of Floches.
+
+The biggest cask gave out a dark-red liquor, while they drew from the
+smallest a liquid white as water from the rock; and it was this latter
+that was the stiff est, a regular pepper, something that skinned the
+tongue.
+
+Not one of the Floches recognized it, neither the red nor the white.
+
+There were, however, some wags there. It annoyed them to be regaling
+themselves without knowing over what.
+
+"I say, Emperor, taste that for me!" said La Queue, thus taking the
+first step.
+
+The Emperor, who had been waiting for the invitation, posed once more as
+connoisseur.
+
+"As for the red," he said, "there is orange in that! And for the white,"
+he declared, "that--that is excellent!"
+
+They had to content themselves with these replies, for he shook his
+head with a knowing air, with the happy look of a man who has given
+satisfaction to the world.
+
+The Abbe Radiguet, alone, did not seem convinced. As for him, he had the
+names on the tip of his tongue; and to thoroughly reassure himself, he
+drank small glasses, one after the other, repeating: "Wait, wait, I know
+what it is. In a moment I will tell you."
+
+In the mean while, little by little, merriment grew in the group of the
+Mahes and the group of the Floches. The latter, particularly, laughed
+very loud because they had mixed the liquors, a thing that excited them
+the more. For the rest, the one and the other of the groups kept
+apart. They did not offer each other of their casks, they simply cast
+sympathetic glances, seized with the unavowed desire to taste their
+neighbor's liquor, which might possibly be better. The inimical
+brothers, Tupain and Fouasse, were in close proximity all the evening
+without showing their fists. It was remarked, also, that Rouget and
+his wife drank from the same glass. As for Margot, she distributed the
+liquor among the Floches, and as she filled the glasses too full, and
+the liquor ran over her fingers, she kept sucking them continually,
+so well that, though obeying her father who forbade her to drink, she
+became as fuddled as a girl in vintage time. It was not unbecoming to
+her; on the contrary, she got rosy all over, her eyes were like candles.
+
+The sun set, the evening was like the softness of springtime. Coqueville
+had finished the casks and did not dream of going home to dine. They
+found themselves too comfortable on the beach. When it was pitch
+night, Margot, sitting apart, felt some one blowing on her neck. It was
+Del-phin, very gay, walking on all fours, prowling behind her like a
+wolf. She repressed a cry so as not to awaken her father, who would have
+sent Delphin a kick in the back.
+
+"Go away, imbecile!" she murmured, half angry, half laughing; "you will
+get yourself caught!"
+
+
+
+
+IV
+
+The following day Coqueville, in rising, found the sun already high
+above the horizon. The air was softer still, a drowsy sea under a clear
+sky, one of those times of laziness when it is so good to do nothing. It
+was a Wednesday. Until breakfast time, Coqueville rested from the fete
+of the previous evening. Then they went down to the beach to see.
+
+That Wednesday the fish, the Widow Dufeu, M. Mouchel, all were
+forgotten. La Queue and Rouget did not even speak of visiting their
+jam-bins. Toward three o'clock they sighted some casks. Four of them
+were dancing before the village. The "Zephir" and the "Baleine" went in
+chase; but as there was enough for all, they disputed no longer. Each
+boat had its share. At six o'clock, after having swept all over the
+little gulf, Rouget and La Queue came in, each with three casks. And
+the fete began again. The women had brought down tables for convenience.
+They had brought benches as well; they set up two cafes in the open air,
+such as they had at Grandport. The Mahes were on the left; the Floches
+on the right, still separated by a bar of sand. Nevertheless, that
+evening the Emperor, who went from one group to the other, carried his
+glasses full, so at to give every one a taste of the six casks. At about
+nine o'clock they were much gayer than the night before.
+
+The next day Coqueville could never remember how it had gone to bed.
+
+Thursday the "Zephir" and the "Baleine" caught but four casks, two each,
+but they were enormous. Friday the fishing was superb, undreamed
+of; there were seven casks, three for Rouget and four for La Queue.
+Coqueville was entering upon a golden age. They never did anything
+any more. The fishermen, working off the alcohol of the night before,
+slept till noon. Then they strolled down to the beach and interrogated
+the sea. Their sole anxiety was to know what liquor the sea was going
+to bring them. They waited there for hours, their eyes strained; they
+raised shouts of joy when wreckage appeared.
+
+The women and the children, from the tops of the rocks, pointed with
+sweeping gestures even to the least bunch of seaweed rolled in by the
+waves. And, at all hours, the "Zephir" and the "Baleine" stood ready to
+leave. They put out, they beat the gulf, they fished for casks, as they
+had fished for tun; disdaining now the tame mackerel who capered
+about in the sun, and the lazy sole rocked on the foam of the water.
+Coqueville watched the fishing, dying of laughter on the sands. Then in
+the evening they drank the catch.
+
+That which enraptured Coqueville was that the casks did not cease. When
+there were no more, there were still more! The ship that had been lost
+must truly have had a pretty cargo aboard; and Coqueville became egoist
+and merry, joked over the wrecked ship, a regular wine-cellar, enough
+to intoxicate all the fish of the ocean. Added to that, never did they
+catch two casks alike; they were of all shapes, of all sizes, of all
+colors. Then, in every cask there was a different liquor. So the Emperor
+was plunged into profound reveries; he who had drunk everything, he
+could identify nothing any more. La Queue declared that never had he
+seen such a cargo. The Abbe Radiguet guessed it was an order from some
+savage king, wishing to set up his wine-cellar. Coqueville, rocked in
+mysterious intoxication, no longer tried to understand.
+
+The ladies preferred the "creams"; they had cream of moka, of cacao, of
+mint, of vanilla. Marie Rouget drank one night so much anisette that she
+was sick.
+
+Margot and the other young ladies tapped the curacao, the benedictine,
+the trappistine, the chartreuse. As to the cassis, it was reserved for
+the little children. Naturally the men rejoiced more when they caught
+cognacs, rums, gins, everything that burned the mouth. Then surprises
+produced themselves. A cask of _raki_ of Chio, flavored with mastic,
+stupefied Coqueville, which thought that it had fallen on a cask of
+essence of turpentine. All the same they drank it, for they must lose
+nothing; but they talked about it for a long time. Arrack from Batavia,
+Swedish eau-de-vie with cumin, tuica calugaresca from Rumania, slivowitz
+from Servia, all equally overturned every idea that Coqueville had of
+what one should endure. At heart they had a weakness for kuemmel and
+kirschwasser, for liqueurs as pale as water and stiff enough to kill a
+man.
+
+Heavens! was it possible so many good things had been invented! At
+Coqueville they had known nothing but eau-de-vie; and, moreover, not
+every one at that. So their imaginations finished in exultation; they
+arrived at a state of veritable worship, in face of that inexhaustible
+variety, for that which intoxicates. Oh! to get drunk every night on
+something new, on something one does not even know the name of!
+It seemed like a fairy-tale, a rain, a fountain, that would spout
+extraordinary liquids, all the distilled alcohols, perfumed with all the
+flowers and all the fruits of creation.
+
+So then, Friday evening, there were seven casks on the beach! Coqueville
+did not leave the beach. They lived there, thanks to the mildness of the
+season. Never in September had they enjoyed so fine a week. The fete
+had lasted since Monday, and there was no reason why it should not last
+forever if Providence should continue to send them casks; for the Abbe
+Radiguet saw therein the hand of Providence. All business was suspended;
+what use drudging when pleasure came to them in their sleep? They were
+all bourgeois, bourgeois who were drinking expensive liquors without
+having to pay anything at the cafe. With hands in pocket, Coqueville
+basked in the sunshine waiting for the evening's spree. Moreover, it
+did not sober up; it enjoyed side by side the gaieties of kuemmel, of
+kirsch-wasser, of ratafia; in seven days they knew the wraths of gin,
+the tendernesses of curacao, the laughter of cognac. And Coqueville
+remained as innocent as a new-born child, knowing nothing about
+anything, drinking with conviction that which the good Lord sent them.
+
+It was on Friday that the Mahes and the Floches fraternized. They were
+very jolly that evening. Already, the evening before, distances had
+drawn nearer, the most intoxicated had trodden down the bar of sand
+which separated the two groups. There remained but one step to take. On
+the side of the Floches the four casks were emptying, while the Mahes
+were equally finishing their three little barrels; just three liqueurs
+which made the French flag; one blue, one white, and one red. The blue
+filled the Floches with jealousy, because a blue liqueur seemed to them
+something really supernatural. La Queue, grown good-natured since he had
+been drunk, advanced, a glass in his hand, feeling that he ought to take
+the first step as magistrate.
+
+"See here, Rouget," he stuttered, "will you drink with me?"
+
+"Willingly," replied Rouget, who was staggering under a feeling of
+tenderness.
+
+And they fell upon each other's necks. Then they all wept, so great was
+their emotion. The Mahes and the Floches embraced, they who had been
+devouring one another for three centuries. The Abbe Radiguet, greatly
+touched, again spoke of the finger of God. They drank to each other in
+the three liqueurs, the blue, the white, and the red.
+
+"_Vive la France!_" cried the Emperor.
+
+The blue was worthless, the white of not much account, but the red was
+really a success. Then they tapped the casks of the Floches. Then they
+danced. As there was no band, some good-natured boys clapped their
+hands, whistling, which excited the girls. The fete became superb. The
+seven casks were placed in a row; each could choose that which he liked
+best. Those who had had enough stretched themselves out on the sands,
+where they slept for a while; and when they awoke they began again.
+Little by little the others spread the fun until they took up the whole
+beach. Right up to midnight they skipped in the open air. The sea had a
+soft sound, the stars shone in a deep sky, a sky of vast peace. It
+was the serenity of the infant ages enveloping the joy of a tribe of
+savages, intoxicated by their first cask of eau-de-vie.
+
+Nevertheless, Coqueville went home to bed again. When there was nothing
+more left to drink, the Floches and the Mahes helped one another,
+carried one another, and ended by finding their beds again one way or
+another. On Saturday the fete lasted until nearly two o'clock in the
+morning. They had caught six casks, two of them enormous. Fouasse and
+Tupain almost fought. Tupain, who was wicked when drunk, talked of
+finishing his brother. But that quarrel disgusted every one, the Floches
+as well as the Mahes. Was it reasonable to keep on quarreling when the
+whole village was embracing? They forced the two brothers to drink
+together. They were sulky. The Emperor promised to watch them. Neither
+did the Rouget household get on well. When Marie had taken anisette she
+was prodigal in her attentions to Brisemotte, which Rouget could not
+behold with a calm eye, especially since having become sensitive, he
+also wished to be loved. The Abbe Radiguet, full of forbearance, did
+well in preaching forgiveness; they feared an accident. "Bah!" said La
+Queue; "all will arrange itself. If the fishing is good to-morrow, you
+will see--Your health!"
+
+However, La Queue himself was not yet perfect. He still kept his eye on
+Delphin and leveled kicks at him whenever he saw him approach Margot.
+The Emperor was indignant, for there was no common sense in preventing
+two young people from laughing. But La Queue always swore to kill his
+daughter sooner than give her to "the little one." Moreover, Margot
+would not be willing.
+
+"Isn't it so? You are too proud," he cried. "Never would you marry a
+ragamuffin!"
+
+"Never, papa!" answered Margot.
+
+Saturday, Margot drank a great deal of sugary liqueur. No one had any
+idea of such sugar. As she was no longer on her guard, she soon found
+herself sitting close to the cask. She laughed, happy, in paradise; she
+saw stars, and it seemed to her that there was music within her, playing
+dance tunes. Then it was that Delphin slipped into the shadow of the
+casks. He took her hand; he asked: "Say, Margot, will you?"
+
+She kept on smiling. Then she replied: "It is papa who will not."
+
+"Oh! that's nothing," said the little one; "you know the old ones never
+will--provided you are willing, you." And he grew bold, he planted a
+kiss on her neck. She bridled; shivers ran along her shoulders. "Stop!
+You tickle me."
+
+But she talked no more of giving him a slap. In the first place, she was
+not able to, for her hands were too weak. Then it seemed nice to her,
+those little kisses on the neck. It was like the liqueur that enervated
+her so deliciously. She ended by turning her head and extending her
+chin, just like a cat.
+
+"There!" she stammered, "there under the ear--that tickles me. Oh! that
+is nice!"
+
+They had both forgotten La Queue. Fortunately the Emperor was on guard.
+He pointed them out to the Abbe.
+
+"Look there, Cure--it would be better to marry them."
+
+"Morals would gain thereby," declared the priest sententiously.
+
+And he charged himself with the matter for the morrow. 'Twas he himself
+that would speak to La Queue. Meanwhile La Queue had drunk so much that
+the Emperor and the Cure were forced to carry him home. On the way they
+tried to reason with him on the subject of his daughter; but they could
+draw from him nothing but growls. Behind them, in the untroubled night,
+Delphin led Margot home.
+
+The next day by four o'clock the "Zephir" and the "Baleine" had already
+caught seven casks. At six o'clock the "Zephir" caught two more. That
+made nine.
+
+Then Coqueville feted Sunday. It was the seventh day that it had been
+drunk. And the fete was complete--a fete such as no one had ever seen,
+and which no one will ever see again. Speak of it in Lower Normandy, and
+they will tell you with laughter, "Ah! yes, the fete at Coqueville!"
+
+
+
+
+V
+
+In the mean while, since the Tuesday, M. Mouchel had been surprised at
+not seeing either Rouget or La Queue arrive at Grandport. What the devil
+could those fellows be doing? The sea was fine, the fishing ought to be
+splendid. Very possibly they wished to bring a whole load of soles and
+lobsters in all at once. And he was patient until the Wednesday.
+
+Wednesday, M. Mouchel was angry. You must know that the Widow Dufeu was
+not a commodious person. She was a woman who in a flash came to high
+words. Although he was a handsome fellow, blond and powerful, he
+trembled before her, especially since he had dreams of marrying her,
+always with little attentions, free to subdue her with a slap if he ever
+became her master. Well, that Wednesday morning the Widow Dufeu stormed,
+complaining that the bundles were no longer forwarded, that the sea
+failed; and she accused him of running after the girls of the coast
+instead of busying himself with the whiting and the mackerel which
+ought to be yielding in abundance. M. Mouchel, vexed, fell back on
+Coqueville's singular breach of honor. For a moment surprise calmed
+the Widow Dufeu. What was Coqueville dreaming about? Never had it so
+conducted itself before. But she declared immediately that she had
+nothing to do with Coqueville; that it was M. Mouchel's business to look
+into matters, that she should take a partner if he allowed himself to be
+played with again by the fishermen. In a word, much disquieted, he sent
+Rouget and La Queue to the devil. Perhaps, after all, they would come
+tomorrow.
+
+The next day, Thursday, neither the one nor the other appeared.
+Toward evening, M. Mouchel, desperate, climbed the rock to the left of
+Grandport, from which one could see in the distance Coqueville, with
+its yellow spot of beach. He gazed at it a long time. The village had a
+tranquil look in the sun, light smoke was rising from the chimneys; no
+doubt the women were preparing the soup. M. Mouchel was satisfied that
+Coqueville was still in its place, that a rock from the cliff had not
+crushed it, and he understood less and less. As he was about to descend
+again, he thought he could make out two black points on the gulf; the
+"Baleine" and the "Zephir." After that he went back to calm the Widow
+Dufeu. Coqueville was fishing. The night passed. Friday was here. Still
+nothing of Coqueville. M. Mouchel climbed to his rock more than ten
+times. He was beginning to lose his head; the Widow Dufeu behaved
+abominably to him, without his finding anything to reply. Coqueville was
+always there, in the sun, warming itself like a lazy lizard. Only, M.
+Mouchel saw no more smoke. The village seemed dead. Had they all died in
+their holes? On the beach, there was quite a movement, but that might
+be seaweed rocked by the tide. Saturday, still no one. The Widow Dufeu
+scolded no more; her eyes were fixed, her lips white. M. Mouchel passed
+two hours on the rock. A curiosity grew in him, a purely personal need
+of accounting to himself for the strange immobility of the village. The
+old walls sleeping beatifically in the sun ended by worrying him. His
+resolution was taken; he would set out that Monday very early in the
+morning and try to get down there near nine o'clock.
+
+It was not a promenade to go to Coqueville. M. Mouchel preferred to
+follow the route by land, in that way he would come upon the village
+without their expecting him. A wagon carried him as far as Robineux,
+where he left it under a shed, for it would not have been prudent to
+risk it in the middle of the gorge. And he set off bravely, having to
+make nearly seven kilometers over the most abominable of roads. The
+route was otherwise of a wild beauty; it descended by continual turns
+between two enormous ledges of rock, so narrow in places that three men
+could not walk abreast. Farther on it skirted the precipices; the gorge
+opened abruptly; and one caught glimpses of the sea, of immense blue
+horizons. But M. Mouchel was not in a state of mind to admire the
+landscape. He swore as the pebbles rolled under his feet. It was the
+fault of Coqueville, he promised to shake up those do-nothings well.
+But, in the meantime, he was approaching. All at once, in the turning
+at the last rock, he saw the twenty houses of the village hanging to the
+flank of the cliff.
+
+Nine o'clock struck. One would have believed it June, so blue and warm
+was the sky; a superb season, limpid air, gilded by the dust of the
+sun, refreshed by the good smell of the sea. M. Mouchel entered the only
+street of the village, where he came very often; and as he passed before
+Rouget's house, he went in. The house was empty. Then he cast his eye
+toward Fouasse's--Tupain's--Brisemotte's. Not a soul; all the doors
+open, and no one in the rooms. What did it mean? A light chill began to
+creep over his flesh. Then he thought of the authorities. Certainly, the
+Emperor would reassure him. But the Emperor's house was empty like the
+others. Even to the _garde champetre_, there was failure! That village,
+silent and deserted, terrified him now. He ran to the Mayor's. There
+another surprise awaited him: the house was found in an abominable mess;
+they had not made the beds in three days; dirty dishes littered the
+place; chairs seemed to indicate a fight. His mind upset, dreaming of
+cataclysms, M. Mouchel determined to go on to the end, and he entered
+the church. No more cure than mayor. All the authorities, even religion
+itself had vanished. Coqueville abandoned, slept without a breath,
+without a dog, without a cat. Not even a fowl; the hens had taken
+themselves off. Nothing, a void, silence, a leaden sleep under the great
+blue sky.
+
+Parbleu! It was no wonder that Coqueville brought no more fish!
+Coqueville had moved away. Coqueville was dead. He must notify the
+police. The mysterious catastrophe exalted M. Mouchel, when, with the
+idea of descending to the beach, he uttered a cry. In the midst of
+the sands, the whole population lay stretched. He thought of a general
+massacre. But the sonorous snores came to undeceive him. During the
+night of Sunday, Coqueville had feasted so late that it had found itself
+in absolute inability to go home to bed. So it had slept on the sand,
+just where it had fallen, around the nine casks, completely empty.
+
+Yes, all Coqueville was snoring there; I hear the children, the women,
+the old people, and the men. Not one was on his feet. There were some on
+their stomachs, there were some on their backs; others held themselves
+_en chien de fusils_ {3} As one makes his bed so must one lie on it.
+And the fellows found themselves, happen what may, scattered in their
+drunkenness like a handful of leaves driven by the wind. The men
+had rolled over, heads lower than heels. It was a scene full of
+good-fellowship; a dormitory in the open air; honest family folk taking
+their ease; for where there is care, there is no pleasure.
+
+     3 Primed for the event
+
+It was just at the new moon. Coqueville, thinking it had blown out its
+candle, had abandoned itself to the darkness. Then the day dawned;
+and now the sun was flaming, a sun which fell perpendicularly on the
+sleepers, powerless to make them open their eyelids. They slept rudely,
+all their faces beaming with the fine innocence of drunkards. The hens
+at early morning must have strayed down to peck at the casks, for they
+were drunk; they, too, sleeping on the sands. There were also five cats
+and five dogs, their paws in the air, drunk from licking the glasses
+glistening with sugar.
+
+For a moment M. Mouchel walked about among the sleepers, taking care not
+to step on any of them. He understood, for at Grandport they, too, had
+received casks from the wreck of the English ship. All his wrath left
+him. What a touching and moral spectacle! Coqueville reconciled,
+the Mahes and the Floches sleeping together! With the last glass the
+deadliest enemies had embraced. Tupain and Fouasse lay there snoring,
+hand in hand, like brothers, incapable of coming to dispute a legacy. As
+to the Rouget household, it offered a still more amiable picture, Marie
+slept between Rouget and Brisemotte, as much as to say that henceforth
+they were to live thus, happy, all the three.
+
+But one group especially exhibited a scene of family tenderness. It was
+Delphin and Margot; one on the neck of the other, they slept cheek to
+cheek, their lips still opened for a kiss. At their feet the Emperor,
+sleeping crosswise, guarded them. Above them La Queue snored like
+a father satisfied at having settled his daughter, while the Abbe
+Radiguet, fallen there like the others, with arms outspread, seemed to
+bless them. In her sleep Margot still extended her rosy muzzle like an
+amorous cat who loves to have one scratch her under the chin.
+
+The fete ended with a marriage. And M. Mouchel himself later married the
+Widow Dufeu, whom he beat to a jelly. Speak of that in Lower Normandy,
+they will tell you with a laugh, "Ah! yes, the fete at Coqueville!"
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Fete At Coqueville, by Emile Zola
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