university make of him a better man, or would he degenerate into a
snob and a drone?

With characteristic courage, The Laird decided to give him ample
opportunity to become either, for, as old Hector remarked to Andrew
Daney: "If the lad's the McKaye I think he is, nothing can harm him.
On the other hand, if I'm mistaken, I want to know it in time, for my
money and my Port Agnew Lumber Company is a trust, and if he can't
handle it, I'll leave it to the men who can--who've helped me create
it--and Donald shall earn his bread by the sweat of his brow. Tools,"
he added, "belong to the men that can use them."

When Donald started East for college, old Hector accompanied him as
far as Seattle. On the way up, there was some man-talk between them.
In his youth, old Hector had not been an angel, which is to state that
he had been a lumberjack. He knew men and the passions that beset
them--particularly when they are young and lusty--and he was far from
being a prude. He expected his son to raise a certain amount of wild
oats; nay, he desired it, for full well he knew that when the fires
of youth are quenched, they are liable to flare disgracefully in
middle life or old age.

"Never pig it, my son," was his final admonition. "Raise hell if you
must, but if you love your old father, be a gentleman about it. You've
sprung from a clan o' men, not mollycoddles."

"Hence the expression: 'When Hector was a pup,'" Donald replied
laughingly. "Well, I'll do my best, father--only, if I stub my toe,
you mustn't be too hard on me. Remember, please, that I'm only half
Scotch."