We were all glad to leave them at Havre. I wonder what use they’ll be at the front. If it came to being killed, I don’t believe they would hesitate, but when you have seen them shivering and crowding together under the melting snow of late February, it seems probable that they will die like flies in the trenches. And we were a little afraid they might have left some cholera in the _Pamir_, and Fourgues is not keen on it a bit, having seen a real epidemic in China. So he was glad when they sent us to Sunderland for coal, because he makes out that coal, although dirty, is the best antiseptic known for most diseases. At Sunderland we loaded a good three thousand tons, and pretty smart, too. What is it going to cost France, all these hundreds of thousands of tons of coal which must be bought abroad? It won’t be a small price! I know that the Boches have bagged our northern mines, but there are other mines in France. Evidently they would not be sufficient for all needs; but if we exploited them and decreased our purchases by a quarter, at least, that much would not be going out and the value of our franc would not fall as it is doing. It is vexatious for a country as rich as ours to spend all that good French money and to see how they give you the change with five or ten per cent. discount. It will be nice if that goes on! I asked Fourgues why the coal was left in the earth when it would be so much better in the bunkers or the fireplace. He replied that this was because of a law of public welfare under the Revolution, made to prohibit illicit gain, and that the same law of public welfare did not permit us even now to take our underground riches. “It’s just as it was at H----,” he added; “the sub-soil of France constitutes a national reserve! It would seem that it’s better to be ruined than to touch it!” But the coal we got at Sunderland was not for the French after all, for they sent us to the English Grand Fleet. The Bulls were getting expeditions ready for Africa, Mesopotamia, and the Dardanelles; they had no boats free, and as Jellicoe’s fleet was yelling for coal, we were sent in a hurry. I don’t tell you where the _Pamir_ went to find the Grand Fleet because it is most strictly forbidden. Even the English journals haven’t the right to mention it, and, anyway, you may be sure my letter would be censored. They don’t want the Germans to know where the English ships are. The _Pamir_ made the trip up there from Sunderland twice, and, I can tell you, there are just a few of them--battleships and cruisers and all the rest! What are all I saw at Fano besides this? Nothing, my poor old chap! If the Bulls haven’t yet got going for war on land, I beg you to believe that they have one or two ships, and some beauties!