ten o’clock in the morning
My hands parted liquid curtains that closed again behind me , and my footprints faded swiftly under the water 's pressure . Soon , scarcely blurred by their distance from us , the forms of some objects took shape before my eyes . I recognized the lower slopes of some magnificent rocks carpeted by the finest zoophyte specimens , and right off , I was struck by an effect unique to this medium . By then it was ten o'clock in the morning . The sun 's rays hit the surface of the waves at a fairly oblique angle , decomposing by refraction as though passing through a prism ; and when this light came in contact with flowers , rocks , buds , seashells , and polyps , the edges of these objects were shaded with all seven hues of the solar spectrum . This riot of rainbow tints was a wonder , a feast for the eyes : a genuine kaleidoscope of red , green , yellow , orange , violet , indigo , and blue ; in short , the whole palette of a color-happy painter ! If only I had been able to share with Conseil the intense sensations rising in my brain , competing with him in exclamations of wonderment !