326 THE ARCTURUS ADVENTURE 



paper, and to the paper-flat slopes of Mount Har- 

 rison there clung a tiny feather — not soft and 

 downy from the body, but a little tertiary from the 

 wing itself. Again I looked out and marvelled 

 how such a pinch of a white fluff of a bird, scarcely 

 a foot in length, weighing less than five ounces, 

 could have the courage on such a night to leave 

 light and shelter and safety — for it had showed 

 not the slightest fear of me — and launch out into 

 the driving rain, with the nearest tree sixty miles 

 away. 



During this first night of rain and wind, boobies 

 by the dozen also sought haven on the lighted 

 steamer, after a fashion far otherwise than the 

 white tern. They heralded their coming with 

 squawks, sounding mufiled through the distance 

 and rain, and then flopped to the decks or against 

 the cabins with a bang. Thereupon they raised 

 their voices to the highest pitch of raucous outcry, 

 launching awful protests, screaming curses of 

 anger and fright until the steamer rang with the 

 noise. Toward morning a great red-footed booby 

 bludgeoned into my room, missed my face by a 

 narrow margin and thrashed his way out again. 

 I snapped on the light and envisaged a mill of devil 

 birds. At my threshold my visitor encountered 

 another of his kind, a hated rival of long standing, 

 it appeared to me. In addition each immediately 

 credited the other with all the blame for the storm, 

 the confusion and an intense dislike for this new- 

 found sanctuary. A battle ensued, and with beaks 

 gripped on one another's persons, the combatants 



