That was why they lied and were unable to work greatly with their hands.

Finally, there was a new human force called "bluff." A man who made a bluff must be dead sure of it, or else be prepared to back it up.

Bluff was a very good thing--when exercised with discretion.
Later, though living his life mainly in the woods and mountains, he came to know that the cities were not all bad; that a man might live in a city and still be a man.

Accustomed to do battle with natural forces, he was attracted by the commercial battle with social forces.
The masters of marts and exchanges dazzled but did not blind him, and he studied them, and strove to grasp the secrets of their strength.
And further, in token that some good did come out of Nazareth, in the full tide of manhood he took to himself a city-bred woman.

But he still yearned for the edge of things, and the leaven in his blood worked till they went away, and above the Dyea Beach, on the rim of the forest, built the big log trading-post.