Inquiries of people on the quay soon put the searchers on the track. The young English Sea Scout had been a fairly conspicuous feature on the French landscape. After proceeding down three or four streets, Flemming received the startling information that the lost youth had been seen taken into the police-station under the care of a gendarme. "What's he been doing, I wonder?" asked Roche. "Butting up against some rotten red-tape regulation, I expect. Hadn't we better inform Mr. Armitage?" "Let's make certain that Alan's under arrest first," suggested the Patrol Leader, and, led by a gamin, the Sea Scouts proceeded to the police-station. At the door they nearly collided with the lost youth. Hepburn, looking rather red in the face, showed no enthusiasm at seeing his chums. "I made a mistake," he admitted. "I mistook the police-station for the post-office, and it took me some time to explain." Flemming roared with merriment. "You're a bright one!" he exclaimed. "I know what you did: you asked for '_le poste_' instead of '_la poste_'. The first means a police-station, the second a post-office. That's one up against you, my festive." The letters having been stamped and posted, the four Sea Scouts returned to the _Olivette_, where Hepburn made a belated breakfast to the accompaniment of a running fire of chaff from his chums. "You wait," declared Alan, imperturbably; "I'll score off you fellows yet." The breakfast things having been washed up and stowed away, the Sea Scouts set to work to scrub decks and make the _Olivette_ look a credit to them. By the time this task was accomplished the gates of the Bassin-à-Flot were opened. In four hours the _Olivette_ had been lifted vertically through a height of eighteen feet by the rising tide. "You see now why I want to try and bring the boat into the floating-dock," observed Mr. Armitage. "If we remained in the tidal harbour we would have to be continually altering the scope of the warps as the level of the water changed. Here we are relieved of that trouble and responsibility, and there is no necessity to have to ascend and descend the long ladder to get ashore or on board at low water." The _Olivette_ safely moored, the Sea Scouts prepared for a ramble ashore, to see the sights of the town. Flemming was not one of the party, having been told off to act as ship-keeper; while old Tom Boldrigg was making up for his prolonged trick as look-out man by sleeping soundly on one of the locker seats in the well. While his comrades were seeing the sights, Eric Flemming had by no means a dull time. It quickly dawned upon him that the many advantages of the Bassin-à-Flot were outdone by the obvious disadvantages of the place. The hot sun pouring down upon the enclosed space of water was too strong to be pleasant, especially when the heat caused the garbage floating upon the surface to emit most unpleasant odours.