Weak human being that he was⁠—though tolerably well equipped with the weapons of civilization⁠—what he at this moment knew was the fascination of venturing just so far into the monstrous unknown, or at least abstaining just so long from flight before it, that the adventure grazed the perilous, that it was just barely possible to put limits to it, before it became no longer a matter of toying with the foam and playfully dodging the ruthless paw⁠—but the ultimate adventure, the billow, the lion’s jaws, and the sea.