Stewart Edward White, one of the best-known of American authors, was
born in Grand Rapids, Mich., on March 12, 1873, grew up in lumber
camps, and has been an adventurer, explorer, and hunter all his life.
At his home, Little Hill, Burlingame, Calif., a separate building
houses his trophies from Alaska and elsewhere, including three
African expeditions. Readers will scarcely require to be reminded of
such novels as _The Blazed Trail_, _The Silent Places_, _The
Riverman_, _The Leopard Woman_, the California trilogy, _Gold_, _The
Gray Dawn_ and _The Rose Dawn_, _The Glory Hole_, etc., or of such
stories as _Arizona Nights_.
For some years Mr. White has owned a yacht on which during the summer
months he has cruised off the coast of British Columbia; and it will
be apparent to readers of this story that it may be based on an
actual occurrence only slightly varnished. I have refrained from
asking Mr. White as to the facts, if any. The story, which first
appeared in Collier's for June 6, 1925, was read at one-thirty in the
morning by an editor who had spent the whole evening with manuscripts
and was intolerably weary. After he had got over laughing he found
himself quite rested and decided that perhaps others might experience
the same beneficial result.