The doctor in the story's title refers to Dr. Adams, a central character in "Indian Camp." In that story, the doctor's son, Nick, was a boy, and after his father successfully delivered a baby with makeshift surgical implements. In this story, Nick is still a young boy and still idolizes his father. However, we see a far different Dr. Adams than Nick does. To Nick, his father can do no wrong; readers observe Dr. Adams being a hypocritical coward. Dr. Adams may have performed heroically at the American Indian camp, but not here. Here, he's clearly a man who "can't stand it" when he's confronted with the truth about his unethical behavior.
Three Ojibway Indians have come to cut several beached logs that broke loose from the White and McNally log shipments that were being towed to the mill located down the lake from the Adams property. Doctor Adams plans to use the logs for wood for his fireplace. However, when Dick Boulton, one of the Ojibway Indians, jokes about the logs being stolen, Adams is angrily embarrassed and shamed by Boulton's knowing that Adams is fully aware that the logs rightly belong to White and McNally; he orders them off his property.
