... Yet, I have
lived! Yes, I have lived!"
He rose and stood erect, facing the dawn, with his back to Lefevre. He
stood thus for some time, with one foot on the low bulwark of the
vessel, till the sun leaped above the horizon and flamed with blinding
brilliance across the sea.
"Ah!" he murmured. "The superb, the glorious sun! Unwearied lord of
Creation! Generous giver of all light and life! And yet, who knows what
worlds he may not have drawn into his flaming self, and consumed during
the aeons of his existence? It is ever and everywhere the same: death in
company with life! And swift, strong death is better than slow, weak
life!... Almost the splendour and inspiration of his rising tempt me to
stay! Great nourisher and renewer of life's heat!"
He put off his fur coat, and let it fall on the deck, and stood for a
while as if wrapt in ecstasy. Then, before Lefevre could conceive his
intention, his feet were together on the bulwark, and with a flash and a
plunge he was gone!
Amazement held the doctor's energies congealed, though but for an
instant or two.
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