Towards sunset I came out on a sheer granite cliff where the sea-birds
were whirling and clamoring, and the great breakers dashed, rolling in
double-thundered reverberations on the sun-dyed, crimson sands below
the rock.

Across the half-moon of beach towered another cliff, and, behind this,
I saw a column of smoke rising in the still air. It certainly came
from Halyard's chimney, although the opposite cliff prevented me from
seeing the house itself.

I rested a moment to refill my pipe, then resumed rifle and pack, and
cautiously started to skirt the cliffs. I had descended half-way
towards the beech, and was examining the cliff opposite, when
something on the very top of the rock arrested my attention--a man
darkly outlined against the sky. The next moment, however, I knew it
could not be a man, for the object suddenly glided over the face of
the cliff and slid down the sheer, smooth lace like a lizard. Before I
could get a square look at it, the thing crawled into the surf--or, at
least, it seemed to--but the whole episode occurred so suddenly, so
unexpectedly, that I was not sure I had seen anything at all.

However, I was curious enough to climb the cliff on the land side and
make my way towards the spot where I imagined I saw the man. Of
course, there was nothing there--not a trace of a human being, I mean.
Something had been there--a sea-otter, possibly--for the remains of
a freshly killed fish lay on the rock, eaten to the back-bone and
tail.