Jack London

The Red One Annotated Jack London

The story is told from the viewpoint of a scientist called Bassett, who is on an undertaking in the wilderness of Guadalcanal to gather butterflies. The "Red One" of the title alludes to a goliath red circle, of evidently extraterrestrial beginning, that the scouting locals love as their god and to which they perform human penances. Bassett gets fixated on the Red One and in the end is forfeited himself.