Pale rays of light tiptoed across the waters; and by and by there was to be heard a sound at once the most musical and the most melancholy in the world: the mermaids calling to the moon.
Peter was not quite like other boys; but he was afraid at last.

A tremour ran through him, like a shudder passing over the sea; but on the sea one shudder follows another till there are hundreds of them, and Peter felt just the one.

Next moment he was standing erect on the rock again, with that smile on his face and a drum beating within him.

It was saying, "To die will be an awfully big adventure.".