It was like wine to him.

Here was adventure, something to do with head and hand, a world to conquer--and straightway from the back of his consciousness rushed the thought, _conquering, to win to her, that lily- pale spirit sitting beside him_.
The glimmering vision was rent asunder and dissipated by Arthur, who, all evening, had been trying to draw his wild man out.

Martin Eden remembered his decision.

For the first time he became himself, consciously and deliberately at first, but soon lost in the joy of creating in making life as he knew it appear before his listeners' eyes.
He had been a member of the crew of the smuggling schooner Halcyon when she was captured by a revenue cutter.

He saw with wide eyes, and he could tell what he saw.