ing Sea, he departed--departed with
the ancient lie of quick return young and blithe on his lips.

"I'll come back, dear Jees Uck, before the first snow flies," he promised
her, between the last kisses at the gang-plank.

And not only did he promise, but, like the majority of men under the same
circumstances, he really meant it. To John Thompson, the new agent, he
gave orders for the extension of unlimited credit to his wife, Jees Uck.
Also, with his last look from the deck of the _Yukon Belle_, he saw a
dozen men at work rearing the logs that were to make the most comfortable
house along a thousand miles of river front--the house of Jees Uck, and
likewise the house of Neil Bonner--ere the first flurry of snow. For he
fully and fondly meant to come back. Jees Uck was dear to him, and,
further, a golden future awaited the north. With his father's money he
intended to verify that future. An ambitious dream allured him. With
his four years of experience, and aided by the friendly cooperation of
the P. C. Company, he would return to become the Rhodes of Alaska. And
he would return, fast as steam could drive, as soon as he had put into
shape the affairs of his father, whom he had never known, and comforted
his mother, whom he had forgotten.

There was much ado when Neil Bonner came back from the Arctic. The fires
were lighted and the fleshpots slung, and he took of it all and called it
good. Not only was he bronzed and creased, but he was a new man under
his skin, with a grip on things and a seriousness and control. His old
companions were amazed when he declined to hit up the pace in the good
old way, while his father's crony rubbed hands gleefully, and became an
authority upon the reclamation of wayward and idle youth.

For four years Neil Bonner's mind had lain fallow. Little that was new
had been added to it, but it had undergone a process of selection. It
had, so to say, been purged of the trivial and superfluous. He had lived
quick years, down in the world; and, up in the wilds, time had been given
him to organize the confused mass of his experiences. His superficial
standards had been flung to the winds and new standards erected on deeper
and broader generalizations. Concerning civilization, he had gone away
with one set of values, had returned with another set of values. Aided,
also, by the earth smells in his nostrils and the earth sights in his
eyes, he laid hold of the inner significance of civil