nearly midday
The seaweed floated backward and forward like waving green hair ; fruits round as Indian figs hung in whitish clusters on the rocks ; pearly flowers shone in the depths of the green waters , and among the mysterious growth star-fishes spread their colored points ; sea-urchins formed balls like dark blots covered with spines ; the hippocampi , those little `` devil 's horses , '' swam restlessly ; and flashes of silver and purple , of tails and fins , passed swiftly among whirlpools and bubbles , dashing out of one cave to disappear into the mouth of another unfathomable mystery . Jaime was leaning over a small boat , with its sail dropped . In one hand he held the volanti , a long line with several hooks , which almost reached the bottom of the sea . It was nearly midday . The craft lay in the shade . In the rear extended the wide coast of Iviza with its broad sinuosities of projecting points and steep shores . Before him was the Vedrá , an isolated rock , a superb landmark a thousand feet in height , which , standing solitary , seemed even higher .