The Carter of ’La Providence’ by Georges Simenon Page A

kilometre there was a cement works or a quarry or a lime kiln. The rain mixed the white powder drifting in the air into the mud of the towpath. The cement dust left a film on everything, on the tiled roofs, the apple trees and the
grass.
    Maigret had started to weave right to left and left to right the way tired cyclists do. He was thinking thoughts, but not joined-up thoughts. He was putting ideas together in such ways that they could not be linked to make a solid picture.
    When he at last saw the lock at Vitry-le-François, the growing dusk was flecked with the white navigation
lights of a string of maybe sixty boats lined up in Indian file.
    Some were overtaking others, some were hove to broadside on. When barges came from the opposite direction, the crew members exchanged shouts, curses and snippets of news as they passed.
    â€˜Ahoy, there,
Simoun
! Your sister-in-law, who was at Chalon-sur-Saône, says she’ll catch up with you on the Burgundy canal … They’ll hold back the christening … Pierre says all the best!’
    By the lock gates a dozen figures were moving about busily.
    And above it all hung a bluish, rain-filled mist, and through it could be seen the shapes of horses which had halted and men going from one boat to another.
    Maigret read the names on the sterns of the boats. One voice called to him:
    â€˜Hello, inspector!’
    It was a moment or two before he recognized the master of the
Éco-III
.
    â€˜Got your problem sorted?’
    â€˜It was something and nothing! My mate’s a dimwit. The mechanic, who came all the way from Rheims, fixed it in five minutes.’
    â€˜You haven’t seen the
Providence
, have you?’
    â€˜She’s up ahead. But we’ll be through before her. On account of the logjam, they’ll be putting boats through the lock all tonight and maybe tomorrow night as well. Fact is there are at least sixty boats here, and more keep
coming. As a rule, boats with engines have right of way and go
before horse-boats. But this time, the powers that be have decided to let horse barges and motorized boats take turns.’
    A friendly kind of man, with an open face, he pointed with one arm.
    â€˜There you go! Just opposite that crane. I recognize its white tiller.’
    As he rode past the line of barges, he could make out people through open hatches eating by the yellow light of oil-lamps.
    Maigret found the master of the
Providence
on the lock-side, arguing with other watermen.
    â€˜No way should there be special rules for boats with engines! Take the
Marie
, for example. We can gain a kilometre on her in a five-kilometre stretch. But what happens? With this priority system of theirs, she’ll go through
before us … Well, look who’s here … it’s the inspector!’
    And the small man held out his hand, as if greeting a friend.
    â€˜Back with us again? The wife’s on board. She’ll be glad to see you. She said that, for a policeman, you’re all right.’
    In the dark, the ends of cigarettes glowed red, and the lights on the boats seemed so densely packed together that it was a mystery how they could move at all.
    Maigret found the skipper’s fat wife straining her soup. She wiped her hand on her apron before she held it out to him.
    â€˜Have you found the murderer?’
    â€˜Unfortunately no. But I came to ask a few more questions.’
    â€˜Sit down. Fancy a drop of something?’
    â€˜No thanks.’
    â€˜Go on, say yes! Look, in weather like this it can’t do any harm. Don’t tell me you’ve come from Dizy on a bike?’
    â€˜All the way from Dizy.’
    â€˜But it’s sixty-eight kilometres!’
    â€˜Is your carter here?’
    â€˜He’s most likely out on the lock, arguing. They want to take our turn. We can’t let them push us around, not now. We’ve lost enough time already.’
    â€˜Does he own a