to the emergency exacted a jerk of our heads. To them we were
doubtless difficult and trying. Our free ways did not fit into their
schemes of proper routine. Accustomed to the lines of their own formal
service, to issuing orders only to their juniors, they had no guide to a
commercial practice whereby there can be a concerted service without the
usages of the guard-room. They made things difficult for us without
easing their own arduous task. They objected to our manners, our
appearance, to the clothes we wore. Our diffidence was deemed
truculence: our reluctance to accept a high doctrine of subservience was
measured as insubordination.

The flames of war made short work of our moods and jealousies,
prejudices, and dislikes. A new Service grew up, the _Temporary_ R.N.R.,
in which we were admitted to a share in our own governance and no small
part in combatant operations at sea. The sea-going section found outlet
for their energy and free scope for a traditional privateering in their
individual ventures against the enemy. Patrolling and hunting gave high
promise for their capacity to work on lines of individual control.
Minesweeping offered a fair field for the peculiar gifts of seamanship
that mercantile practice engenders. Commissioned to lone and perilous
service, they kept the seas in fair weather or foul. Although stationed
largely in the narrow seas, there were set no limits to the latitude and
longitude of their employment. The ice of the Arctic knew them--riding
out the bitter northern gales in their small seaworthy drifters,
thrashing and pitching in the seaway, to hold a post in the chain of our
sea-communications. In the Adriatic warmer tides lapped on their scarred
hulls, but brought no relaxing variance to their keen look-out. For want
of a match of their own size, they had the undying temerity to call
three cheers and engage cruiser ordnance with their pipe-stems! A
service indeed! If but _temporary_ in title, there is permanence in
their record!

Coincident with our actions on the sea--not alone those of our fighting
cubs, but also those of our trading seamen--a better feeling came to
cement our alliance. First in generous enthusiasm for our struggle
against heavy odds, as they came to understand our difficulties, naval
officers themselves set about to create a happier atmosphere. We were
admitted to a voice in the league of our defence. Administration was
adjusted to meet many of our grievances. Our cap