against the evidence of his senses, declared to be the impossible. He
had seen a human figure--the figure of his son--clinging to the naked
face of the rock, hanging between sea and sky where scarcely a bird
could have found foothold, while something--a grey, indistinguishable
burden--hung limp across his shoulder, weighing him down.

The thunder was still rolling around him when with a great shake Adam
pulled himself together.

"I'm dreaming!" he told himself angrily. "A man couldn't ever climb the
Spear Point, let alone live on a ledge that wouldn't harbour a sea-gull
if he did. I'll go round to Rufus. I'll go round and knock him up."

With the words he tramped off through the rushing rain, and leaving the
quay, struck upwards along the cliff in the direction of the narrow path
that ran down to Rufus's dwelling above the Spear Point Caves.

Despite the spareness of his frame, he climbed the ascent with a
rapidity that made him gasp. The wind also was against him, blowing in
strong gusts, and the raging of the sea below was as the roaring of a
thousand torrents. The great waves boomed against the cliff far beyond
the summer watermark. They had long since covered the quicksand, and he
thought he felt the ground shake with the shock of them.

He reached at length the gap in the cliff that led down to the cottage,
and here he paused; for the descent was sharp, and the light that still
filtered through the dense storm-clouds was very dim. But in a few
seconds another great flash lit up the whole wild scene. He saw again
the Spear Point Rock standing out, scimitar-like, in the sea. The water
was dashing all around it. It stood up, grim and unapproachable, the