This was his first novel, and it was from the proceeds that he married his lifelong wife, Hermione Flagler. It is also the story of his own promise to stop drinking. This promise held for a while, then he was back to hard drinking. Maybe seven or eight years later, with the threat of his wife and small children leaving him, he finally gave up drinking. And never drank again.

The Promise was quite popular. The jacket cover shown here is from the seventh printing, as are the jacket notes. I believe the cost was about $1.00.

From the back of the book jacket:

A tale of the Great Northwest. It recounts the strain of long days, of feverish, lonely travel to overtake another hurrying ahead; the obliterating snowstorm that blots out not only the footmarks that lure the pursuer on, but the trail that leads back to safety; a split in a glacier's side, creating an unscalable icy prison; the rescue and the days of short rations all go to make "The Promise" a most active story, a tale of a strong man's regeneration.

And this is from the inside of the jacket. It doesn't sound like the same book!

A tale of a strong man's regeneration -- of the transformation of "Broadway Bill" Carmody, millionaire's son, rounder and sport, whose drunken sprees have finally overtaxed the patience of his father and the girl, into a Man, clear-eyed and clean-lived, a true descendent of the fighting McKims.

After the opening scenes in New York, we have a vivid narrative of the lumber-camps of the Northwest -- of the work of strong men -- of hardships undergone and of dangers met bravely and passed -- of the struggle against heavy odds, and of the making good of the "Man Who Could Not Die."