And out of the sea he heard more distinctly an increasing sound.

It was as if he walked between two great armies that were setting earth and sea atremble as they advanced to deadly combat.
The lightning came again, and after it followed a discharge of thunder that gave to the ground under his feet a shuddering tremor.

It rolled away, echo upon echo, through the mountains, like the booming of signal-guns, each more distant than the other.

A cold breath of air struck Alan in the face, and something inside him rose up to meet the thrill of storm.
He had always loved the rolling echoes of thunder in the mountains and the fire of lightning among their peaks.

On such a night, with the crash of the elements about his father's cabin and the roaring voices of the ranges filling the darkness with tumult, his mother had brought him into the world.