by her side at the tiller the whole day long, once replied to the usual
question: 'Why are you called Fly?' 'Because she is a little Spanish
fly.'

"Yes, a little buzzing, exciting fly, not the classical, poisonous,
brilliant and mantled Spanish fly, but a little Spanish fly with red
wings, which began to disturb the whole crew of _The Leaf Turned Upside
Down_. And what stupid jokes were also made about this leaf where this
fly had alighted!

"Since the arrival of Fly on our boat, Only-One-Eye had taken a leading,
superior part among us, the part of a gentleman who has a wife, towards
four others who have not got one, and he abused that privilege so far as
to kiss Fly in our presence, when he put her on his knee after meals,
and by other prerogatives, which were as humiliating as they were
irritating.

"They had been isolated in the sleeping-room by means of a curtain, but I
soon perceived that my companions and I had the same arguments in our
minds, in our solitude: 'Why, and in virtue of what law of exception, or
of what unacceptable principle, should Fly, who does not appear
troubled by any prejudices, remain faithful to her lover, while wives in
the best are not faithful to their husbands.'

"Our reflections were quite right, and we were soon convinced of it, and
we ought only to have made them sooner, so as not to have needed to
regret any lost time, for Fly deceived Only-One-Eye, with all the others
of the crew of the _Leaf Turned Upside Down_, and she deceived him
without making any difficulties, without any resistance, the first time
any of us asked her.