I daresay we shall find a place where we can clamber down somewhere." "My dear Francisco," Matteo said earnestly, "is anything the matter with you?
I begin to have doubts of your sanity.

What on earth do these rocks matter to you, one way or the other?
or what can you care whether they are thirty inches or thirty feet above the water?
"They do not differ from other rocks, as far as I can see.

They are very rugged and very rough, and would be very awkward if they lay out at sea instead of in this little bay, where they are in nobody's way.
Is it not enough that you have tramped two miles to have a look at them, which means four miles, as we have got to return somehow?
And now you talk about climbing down that break-neck cliff to have a look at them close!" But Francis paid no attention to Matteo's words.

He was gazing down into the clear smooth water, which was so transparent that every stone and pebble at the bottom could be seen.
"The water looks extremely shallow, Giuseppi.

What do you think ?" "It seems to me, signor, that there is not a foot of water between the rocks and the shore." "It does look so, Giuseppi; but it is possible that the transparency of the water deceives us, and that there may be ten or twelve feet of water there.