es. The small wages which the
lads received as clerks in a leading dry-goods house were needed by
their parents, and the youths, active, lusty, and ambitious, had
settled down to the career of merchants, with the hoped-for reward a
long, long way in the future.

One evening late in March, 1897, Jeff opened the door of Mr. Palmer's
modest home, near the northern suburb of San Francisco, and with his
pipe between his lips, sat down in the chair to which he was always
welcome. In truth, the chair was considered his, and no one would have
thought of occupying it when he was present. As he slowly puffed his
pipe he swayed gently backward and forward, his slouch hat on the floor
beside him, and his long, straggling hair dangling about his shoulders,
while his heavy beard came almost to his eyes.

It was so late that the wife had long since cleared away the dishes
from the table, and sat at one side of the room sewing by the lamp. The
husband was reading a paper, but laid it aside when Jeff entered,
always glad to talk with their quaint visitor, to whom he and his
family were bound by warm ties of gratitude.

Jeff smoked a minute or two in silence, after greeting his friends, and
the humping of his massive shoulders showed that he was laughing,
though he gave forth no sound.

"What pleases you, Jeff?" asked Mr. Palmer, smiling in sympathy, while
the wife looked at their caller in mild surprise.

"I've heerd it said that a burned child dreads the fire, but I don't
b'lieve it. After he's burnt he goes back agin and gits burnt over. Why
is it, after them explorers that are trying to find the North Pole no
sooner git home and thawed out than they're crazy to go back agin! Look
at Peary. You'd think he had enough, but he's at it once more, and will
keep at it after he finds the pole--that is, if he ever does find it.
Nansen, too, he'll be like a fish out of water till he's climbing the
icebergs agin."

And once more the huge shoulders bobbed up and down. His friends knew
this was meant to serve as an introduction to something else that was
on Jeff's mind, and they smilingly waited for it to come.

"It's over forty years since I roughed it in the diggings, starving,
fighting Injins, and getting tough," continued the old minor musingly.
"After I struck it purty fair I quit; but I never told you how many
times the longing has come over me so strong that it was all I could do
to stick at home and not make a fool of myself."