II
It all started with a letter from Colonel Terrisse, commander of field artillery, to Vice-Admiral de Fierce, commander-in-chief of the Western Mediterranean, prefect of the Maritime reserve, line-officer, and governor of the fortress of Toulon. The letter in question came in to Staff Headquarters by the evening mail of Monday, December 21, 1908. Notice now! That was the twenty-first of last December. It is now the 20th of January, 1909. Not quite a month ago! It will be a month tomorrow, day for day. A month! One single month! Gods of Heaven and Hell!
The Colonel’s letter reached Headquarters by the evening mail—military headquarters, you understand, not the naval. At Toulon, as is the case with similar stations, the vice-admiral in command functions in a double capacity as maritime prefect and military governor. His residence is the mansion of the prefecture; while his adjutant occupies the governor’s house. There are thus separate offices communicating by telephone. The wire is for obvious reasons a private one, independent of the city “central.”
I was in the officers’ room when the mail came in; and I opened the letter. Among my duties was that of reading and sorting the correspondence of the military commander. I was a captain of cavalry detailed to the General Staff. I was young—just thirty-three—thirty-three, mark you! And that was less than a calendar month ago! Four weeks and two days ago, to be exact.
I opened the letter; and read it. It was a matter of no great interest that I could see. I am going to transcribe it textually, however, for I can see it right before me now.
XVth Army Corps
FORTRESS OF TOULON
Toulon, Dec. 21, 1908.
Corr. No. 287
Re: Broken Telegraph WiresVice-Admiral Charles de Fierce,
Commander-in-Chief of Western Mediterranean,
Headquarters, Navy Yard, Toulon.Sir:—
I have the honor to report that telegraph poles Nos. 171, 172, 173, 174, 175 are down as the result of a wash-out occurring on Dec. 19th last, and that, in consequence, the Tourris-Grand Cap line is out of commission.
I have issued the necessary orders for repairs. In view of the heavy rains and the long distance the repair crew will have to cover over muddy roads, it is probable that the poles cannot be in place again under forty-eight hours. All communication by wire between Toulon and Grand Cap will accordingly be impossible for that length of time.
I have the honor to be, sir,
Your Obedient Servant,
Terrisse,
Colonel-in-Command of Field Artillery.
I need not observe that, in peace times, Toulon and the Grand Cap have nothing of importance to say to each other, with the single exception of days when there is target practice. The Grand Cap is one of the mountains in the chain east of Toulon. It is a bold, forbidding pile of rock, crowned with a modern and fairly strong battery. Ordinarily the place is held by a corporal’s guard, a full garrison being stationed there only during periods of manœuvre. The country around the mountain is a rough uncultivated heath virtually uninhabited. Charcoal burners camp there from time to time; but there are no farms nor permanent settlements. The wire leading to that God-forsaken place could be down for more than two days without the world’s coming to an end on that account! I was intending to file the colonel’s letter and let it go at that, when the telegraph corporal knocked at the office door.
“A call for you, Captain,” he said, “from Naval Headquarters!”
“I’ll be there directly,” I replied.
As I rose from my chair, I chanced to look at the clock over the fireplace.
It was three P.M., to the minute.
I stepped down the corridor to the telephone booth, which was in the adjoining room.
I took up the receiver.
The voice calling me by name over the wire, was, as I recognized to my surprise, that of Vice-Admiral de Fierce, himself.
“Hello! That you, Narcy!”
“At your service, Admiral!”
“Barras tells me you have a horse down at Solliès-Pont. Is that right?”
“Quite so, Admiral. I left my bay down there, last night.”
“What condition is he in? Pretty good?”
“Excellent! Hasn’t worked for some days. I was intending to use him tomorrow, for the inspection at Fenouillet.”
“Splendid! However, the inspection at Fenouillet is off. But I’ve got a dirty job to attend to; and I don’t see anybody handy except you.”
“Quite at your service, Admiral!”
“Good!... You know the wire is down between here and the Grand Cap?”
“I just received a letter to that effect from Colonel Terrisse.”
“Now that’s a nuisance, just at this moment. The guard up at the battery there must be informed at all hazards that the seventy-fives will be working over at Roca-Troca tomorrow.”
“Tomorrow, Admiral?”
“Yes, firing starts at noon. We can’t put it off, because General Felte must get away from Toulon tomorrow night at the latest. They’re going to shell the approaches to the mountain; and we’ve got to warn any wood-choppers there may be in the neighborhood. Otherwise somebody will be getting hurt! What time is it now, Narcy?”
“Three five, Admiral.”
“How far do you make it, from here to Solliès-Pont?”
“Ten or twelve miles.”
“Good! Well, telephone your orderly ... you have a man down there, haven’t you?...”
“Yes, Admiral!”
“ ... tell him to get your horse ready and bring it to you somewhere along the road.... Are you in uniform?”
“No, Admiral, military regulations permit civilian after luncheon as you know. I am wearing a riding suit, however, with boots and spurs. I was thinking of trying out Colonel Lescaut’s new mare this afternoon.”
“Fine! I’ll send my car over to get you in five minutes. My man will drive you down to Solliès-Pont, and you’ll be there by 3:40. There’s no way of going on by auto, is there?”
“To the Grand Cap? Impossible, Admiral. Even Valaury is difficult for wagons.”
“You know the way?”
“I think so. I went over the ground once last year, during evolutions. Beyond Valaury you have to take a trail, a sort of mountain road.”
“But a horse can do it?”
“It was on a horse that I went there.”
“Very well, then. Try to make it. But the Grand Cap is a good hour and a half beyond Solliès-Pont, and it gets dark at five. You understand that?”
“I’ll spend the night up on the Cap, of course.”
“Yes. And it won’t be so bad. There’s an officers’ building there with good beds. The guard will fix you up. And you can come back in the morning. Sorry to give you a job like this, Narcy. But I don’t just see any other way out of it. We’ve got to get word to the people there. I had thought of sending a car around, by way of Revest. But just our luck! The road is torn up all the way from Ragas to Morière. The simplest thing is for someone who knows the road to ride out from Solliès-Pont. And you seem to be the only man in sight.”
“Glad to be of use, Admiral. Your car is here now. I hear the engine out in the yard.”
“Be sure to telephone your man at Solliès-Pont.”
“The corporal will do that for me. I’m off without losing a second’s time!”
“And ever so much obliged, eh, Narcy? Call and see me when you get back!”
I hung up the receiver. The telegraph corporal was standing outside the booth with my water-proof and my soft felt hat. A misty rain was falling outside.
I hurried back into the office, gave a turn at the combination on the safe, and locked the cabinet for the correspondence files. This latter operation wasted a good half minute. The lock was out of order and refused to turn. After some cursing on my part, it yielded to the key.
Through the white lace curtains hanging over the office windows a bright, though grayish light was streaming in from the waning afternoon. The stove was glowing red, giving the room a touch of cosiness that I was to exchange with some regret for the raw damp outside.
On the table I noticed Colonel Terrise’s letter, which, in my haste, I had forgotten to file. I thought of opening the cabinet again. But no, that would take too much time. Not knowing what else to do with the letter, I folded it and slipped it into the inside pocket of my waistcoat.... That is why I can see it now!
In the courtyard of Headquarters a hostler was currying the adjutant-general’s mare. He spat out the stub of his cigar and saluted me. In the west, a dim outline of the sun was visible through a thin place in the clouds. A tree near-by was dripping with great drops of moisture. The swinging of the outer gate rang a bell in the sentinel’s box. I remember that a dog, sleeping inside, raised his head lazily and looked up.
Beside the curbing on the street, the Admiral’s auto was standing, its sixty horse-power motor purring softly but powerfully. I opened the side door and stepped in....
We were off!