Jack London

Smoke Bellew Jack London

Book Excerpt: ...lub that afternoon, and, in an alcove off the library, encountered his uncle."Hello, avuncular relative," Kit greeted, sliding into a leather chair and spreading out his legs. "Won't you join me?"He ordered a cocktail, but the uncle contented himself with the thin native claret he invariably drank. He glanced with irritated disapproval at the cocktail, and on to his nephew's face. Kit saw a lecture gathering."I've only a minute," he announced hastily. "I've got to run and take in that Keith exhibition at Ellery's and do half a column on it.""What's the matter with you?" the other demanded. "You're pale. You're a wreck."Kit's only answer was a groan."I'll have the pleasure of burying you, I can see that."Kit shook his head sadly."No destroying worm, thank you. Cremation for mine."John Bellew came of the old hard and hardy stock that had crossed the plains by ox-team in the fifties, and in him was this same hardness and the hardness of a childhood spent in the conquerin...