noon
In this improvised city , which might , before the night was over , be broken up and scattered to the four winds beyond the girdling horizon , the order and symmetry of a modern town laid out by a surveyor could have been discerned . In the front line , nearest the waves which rippled in like thin blades of crystal over the spangled sand , were the little boats , the trollers , _ al volantí _ , tiny spry craft that looked like chicks of the heavy boats lying , in the row behind , in pairs of the same size and color -- _ barcas del bòu _ . In the third file , the retired veterans of the shore , old hulks , their sides wide open , their worm-eaten ribs showing through the black gaps , reminded one of the decrepit nags used in the bull ring , and lay meditating , it seemed , on the ingratitude of men who do so little for deserving old age . Rust-colored nets , with flannel shirts and trousers of yellow baize , were strung along most of the masts ; and above this array of color , some gulls , apparently drunk with sunshine , were leisurely planing in wide circles , occasionally dropping for a moment into the sea , where the water was shivering and seething in blebs of light under the high noon . The Rector was talking about the weather , letting his yellowish eyes wander sleepily and placidly over the sea and down the coast . Along the green horizon line some pointed sails dotted the sky like wings of doves that might have been drinking off there . The shore at this point receded , forming a bight in the land , with masses of green and clusters of white cottages alternating along the coast .