at she was no ordinary weevil; her stately bearing, the
fine upward curl of her moustachios, but, more than anything else, the
intelligent, often humorous gleam in her big black eyes elevated her
at once above the mass of her compatriots. She took to me wonderfully:
I secured her confidence with a piece of boiled cat-fish, and
thenceforth we were scarcely ever apart. Not that she resented the
advances of the rest of the crew--she was no snob, and would eat from
the hand of the trimmer as readily as from my own, and allow anyone to
stroke her; but it was I who taught her to sit up and beg, to "die for
her country," to droop her antennae whenever the name of VON TIRPITZ
was mentioned, and to wave them for Sir DAVID BEATTY. She would often
sit with me in the wireless cabin whilst I was on watch, and never
once did she disturb me during the receiving of a message by
boisterous or noisy behaviour.

We had other weevils at different times, but none so intelligent or so
faithful as Mnemosyne. The lieutenant tamed one, and, being a devotee
of science and despising the arts, he named him Newton Darwin; but
he was a foolish fellow at the best and continually getting into
somebody's way. The lieutenant offered to back him against Mnemosyne
for a race across the cabin table, and we made a match of it. The
betting was three to two in favour of Newton Darwin, because the third
hand, who had once been employed in a racing-stable, had been heard to
remark that he had very fine quarters. The stakes were half a plug of
ship's tobacco.

It was a walk-over. On the word "Go" Mnemosyne positively leapt
forward, took a crease in the tablecloth in her stride and completed
the course, which measured sixteen inches, in the remarkable time of
seven and two-fifths minutes. Newton Darwin was left standing; indeed
he never attempted to race, but, after staring about vacantly for some
minutes, ambled leisurely off in the opposite direction, where he had
seen a breadcrumb.

This victory was very popular, and the third hand was roundly abused
for suggesting that Mnemosyne had been doped. Even if Newton had got
away with the pistol he would never have stood a chance against her.
She was the fleetest weevil I ever saw.

Another weevil was Bertie, who belonged to the second engineer, but
he was caught pilfering the skipper's private supply of fresh butter,
which he kept in a jar in his bunk and was very jealous of, so Bertie
had to be made away with.