All the German passengers were in dress suits, and their wives were wearing low-necked gowns.

The uniforms of the attendants were as resplendent as on a day of a grand review.
During dessert the tapping of a knife upon a glass reduced the table to sudden silence.

The Commandant was going to speak.

And this brave mariner who united to his nautical functions the obligation of making harangues at banquets and opening the dance with the lady of most importance, began unrolling a string of words like the noise of clappers between long intervals of silence.

Desnoyers knew a little German as a souvenir of a visit to some relatives in Berlin, and so was able to catch a few words.