Mere life and motion became to him a delight such as he had never felt before; and when the moon came out again from the other side of the cloud, the sight of her beams upon surf and sand was like a rare wild joy.

He was glad that no one interfered with his pleasure, that he was, as far as he knew, alone with the clouds that were winging their way among moonbeams in the violet sky, and with the waves and the wind with which he held companionship.
He had gone a mile, it might be more; he heard a step behind him.

In vain he tried to convince himself that some noise natural to the lonely beach deceived him.

In the high tide of life that the bracing air had brought him, his senses were acute and true.

He knew that he heard this step: it was light, like a child's; it was nimble, like a fawn's; sometimes it was very near him.