Smoke Bellew

Published in 1912, Smoke Bellew is usually described as a collection of short stories linked by the eponymous character. It is, however, for all intents a novel with disparate phases, describing the characters evolution from tame student Christopher Bellew, via San Franciscan bohemian Kit Bellew and thence to the gnarled prospector Smoke Bellew. London writes a similar sentence or two in the first paragraph of the novel and thus describes his intended story.