there he stood knee- deep in the grass and heard no more the hum of insects , nor the murmur of the river borders , and the odour of flowers entered not into his nostrils ; but he heard the sound of waves and the wail of sea-birds , and his soul leapt for rocky places and the ledges that reek of fish , for the splash of the diving cormorant and those places where the sea bores into the black cliffs and yells aloud .