XVth Army Corps

FORTRESS OF TOULON

Toulon, Dec. 21, 1908.

Corr. No. 287
Re: Broken Telegraph Wires

Vice-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.