made in the North one fall. I had then begun a business in which family
influence could give me a lift. Well, it was Indian summer; mosquitoes
dying off, lakes and rivers all asleep in the pale sunshine. As we
paddled and portaged through the woods I felt I'd got into another
world. Wanted to stop forever and began to hate the cities; the feeling
wasn't new, but I hadn't got it really strong till then. Sometimes at
night, when the loons were calling on the lake and my packers were
asleep, I'd lie by the fire and speculate what civilization was worth
and if a man might not do better to cut loose and live by his gun and
traps. Well, of course, it was a crank notion, and I wasn't all a fool.
I stopped longer than I meant, but I pulled out and got to work again."

Scott paused and smoked meditatively before he resumed: "It was of no
use; the city palled. Don't know that I'm a cynic or much of a
philosopher, but the folks I knew seemed to have a wrong idea of values.
Spent their best efforts grubbing for money and trying to take the lead
in smart society. They made me tired with their hustling about things
that didn't matter; I wanted the woods and the quiet the river hardly
breaks."

"You went back?"

"I did," said Scott. "Felt I had to go. It was winter and the cold was
fierce, but we made four hundred miles with the hand-sledge across the
snow, and when I came out with some fingers frozen I was nine pounds
heavier. Used to sit in my office afterwards and dream about the
glittering lakes and the stiff white pines; saw them crowding round the
lonely camps, when I ought to have been studying the market reports.
Well, I couldn't concentrate on buying and selling things. Betting on
the market and getting after other people's money seemed a pretty mean