So we stopped at Sidi-Abdallah two days, just time enough to provision, and started for Bilbao, where the _Pamir_ was to get iron ore. The voyage seemed rather dismal to all of us after the passage from Malta, and we spent the time going over what she had told us. Fourgues says it is stupid to forbid officers and men to telegraph where they are going. If it’s because they are afraid of leaks in the telegraph offices, they have only to employ people who are above suspicion, mobilize them, and bind them to secrecy; whereas, especially on the foreign lines, they still keep many who come from no one knows where and among whom there are evidently spies. But the Naval authorities, instead of getting rid of those who are no manner of use and who may let things out, prefer to imprison sailors who get drunk because the sailors can’t move and can be punished if they make any objection. That was the first point. He then said that it was pretty tough that in the Navy no one gets regular leave such as they have in the Army, and that it’s a good way to make the sailors grumble. And then, what advantage is there in repairing boats at Bizerta, where there is practically nothing in the way of a plant and no spare parts, instead of sending them to Toulon? The route to Bizerta and to Toulon is almost the same coming from the East and there’s no saving of coal, while all the material for repairs and refitting must be sent to Bizerta, as well as coal and everything else necessitating the employment of a lot of boats which cost their weight in gold like the _Pamir_. He says all this means delays of loading at Toulon and unloading at Bizerta. Whereas, if the battleships and cruisers went to Toulon, everything would be right there and at the end of railroad and telegraph lines. What with one thing and another, this little establishment must have cost some hundreds of millions without a single battleship having gained a day, while not a little material coming to it will have been sunk by submarines. Speaking of submarines, we wish you would tell us how long they are going to keep up that farce of having the big ships sail in broad daylight on routes which are supposed to be secret but which all the Germans know. That they should send the _Pamir_ and others of her class out to be sunk is comprehensible, because officially, of course, there is nothing to be feared from the submarine warfare; but battleships or cruisers which cost fifty and sixty millions with a thousand men on board--Fourgues thinks that’s a little too much. Here are his own words: