Martin returns to California after an eight-month journey aboard a treasure-hunting ship. During the expedition, he absorbed the grammar textbook that Ruth gave him and voraciously read the captain’s volume of Shakespeare plays. His time at sea was also spent in self-discovery. Martin has become consumed with a monomaniacal urge to write and is convinced that he’ll be a great writer. The prospect of selling his writing for a living means that he won’t have to go to sea again. He doesn’t desire fame; rather, he sees writing as the way to become worthy of Ruth.

Returning to his room in Bernard Higgenbotham’s house, without even telling Ruth he has returned from the sea, Martin writes an article in a fervor, learning the conventions of writing and publication as he copies and recopies his manuscript. He consoles himself about the delay, reasoning that the article will earn him $100.

Martin mails the story to the San Francisco Examiner. In addition, he starts a serial adventure story for The Youth’s Companion, an account of a whaling voyage in which he participated. He writes 3,000 words a day and reads literary magazines in the evening, all the while improving his composition skills. He finishes by the end of the week, calculating that, at $.