Jean took one oar, the sailor seized the other and they pulled off.  On the breakwater, on the piers, even on the granite parapets, a crowd stood packed, hustling, and noisy, to see the Lorraine come out.  The Pearl glided down between these two waves of humanity and was soon outside the mole.

Captain Beausire, seated between the two women, held the tiller, and he said: 

“You will see, we shall be close in her way—­close.”

And the two oarsmen pulled with all their might to get out as far as possible.  Suddenly Roland cried out: 

“Here she comes!  I see her masts and her two funnels!  She is coming out of the inner harbour.”

“Cheerily, lads!” cried Beausire.

Mme. Roland took out her handkerchief and held it to her eyes.

Roland stood up, clinging to the mast, and answered: 

“At this moment she is working round in the outer harbour.  She is standing still—­now she moves again!  She is taking the tow-rope on board no doubt.  There she goes.  Bravo!  She is between the piers!  Do you hear the crowd shouting?  Bravo!  The Neptune has her in tow.  Now I see her bows—­here she comes—­here she is!  Gracious Heavens, what a ship!  Look!  Look!”

Mme. Rosemilly and Beausire looked behind them, the oarsmen ceased pulling; only Mme. Roland did not stir.

The immense steamship, towed by a powerful tug, which, in front of her, looked like a caterpillar, came slowly and majestically out of the harbour.  And the good people of Havre, who crowded the piers, the beach, and the windows, carried away by a burst of patriotic enthusiasm, cried:  “Vive la Lorraine!” with acclamations and applause for this magnificent beginning, this birth of the beautiful daughter given to the sea by the great maritime town.

She, as soon as she had passed beyond the narrow channel between the two granite walls, feeling herself free at last, cast off the tow-ropes and went off alone, like a monstrous creature walking on the waters.

“Here she is—­here she comes, straight down on us!” Roland kept shouting; and Beausire, beaming, exclaimed:  “What did I promise you!  Heh!  Do I know the way?”

Jean in a low tone said to his mother:  “Look, mother, she is close upon us!” And Mme. Roland uncovered her eyes, blinded with tears.

The Lorraine came on, still under the impetus of her swift exit from the harbour, in the brilliant, calm weather.  Beausire, with his glass to his eye, called out: 

“Look out!  M. Pierre is at the stern, all alone, plainly to be seen!  Look out!”

The ship was almost touching the Pearl now, as tall as a mountain and as swift as a train.  Mme. Roland, distraught and desperate, held out her arms towards it; and she saw her son, her Pierre, with his officer’s cap on, throwing kisses to her with both hands.

But he was going away, flying, vanishing, a tiny speck already, no more than an imperceptible spot on the enormous vessel.  She tried still to distinguish him, but she could not.