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 great waves flinging their mighty clouds of spray over its stark summit.
But--possibly because he viewed it from above instead of from below--he saw naught beside that grand and futile struggle of the elements.
Reassured, he started in the rain and darkness down the twisting path that led to his old home.

He knew every foot of the way, but even so, he stumbled once or twice in the gloom.
The roaring of the sea sounded terribly near when finally he reached the little garden-gate and caught the ray of the lamp in the window.
Evidently it had awakened Rufus also.