To Build a Fire and Other Stories

Lost Face - Koolau the Leper

Two of these tales are set in the Northland and one in Hawaii, but all three have this in common : they are all stories of brave men dying as heroes. One of cold, another at the hands of insulted natives and still another fighting for the freedom of a leper colony. All three are stories of men who have nothing left to surrender, except their lives and the way in which they will die.

The three tales presented in this volume took shape aboard Jack London's ship, the Snark , as the author set off to travel around the world. They were published in 1908 - 1909 after the international success of The Call of the Wild .