CHAPTER X 



THE PLUME PIRATES 



With the departure of the rest of the expedition, 

 Shan and the Feather Man were thrown together 

 again, as they had been in the old days in North 

 Carolina. Determined to justify to the full his 

 mentor's trust in him, Shan was up at daybreak 

 and worked unceasingly into the night, and, under 

 the Feather Man's teaching, he gained a deeper 

 and deeper insight into the secrets of bird life. 



''Note, even on this desolate island," the 

 Feather Man said to him, one evening, as they 

 sat over their little camp fire, "how the birds 

 divide their work. See how some birds sweep the 

 sea of fish, while others clean the beaches. There 

 are not many seeds to eat on Laysan Island, yet, 

 even here, there is the Finch. There are not many 

 insects on Laysan, yet here also are the little Mil- 

 ler Bird and the Red Honey Eater, which eats in- 

 sects that are trapped in the nectar of flowers. 

 Everywhere, all the world over, you will find that 

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