It must always be a subject for wonder why Stevenson, whose reputation as a writer was jealously guarded by himself and his friends, should ever have accepted the part of joint-author of this farcical tale. A generous desire for his stepson to share in the benefit of association with himself is the most credible explanation. The tale in the first instance was written and re-written entirely by Lloyd Osbourne, then twenty years of age, at Saranac during the winter of 1887. To Stevenson it appeared ' so funny ' that he took it in hand, and in the course of the following year revised it to such an extent that in Mr. Osbourne's words ' it lived as it had never lived before.'