There was something awful in
the stillness under the enormous bluff, as Ruggiero gave the order to
stop pulling and furl the sails, and he himself brought the skiff
alongside by the painter, got in and kept her steady, laying his hand
upon the gunwale of the larger boat. Bastianello stood up to help
Beatrice and Teresina.
"Will you come, Donna Beatrice?" asked San Miniato, wishing with all his
heart that he had never proposed the excursion.
It seemed absurd to refuse after coming so far and the young girl got
into the skiff, taking Ruggiero's hand to steady herself. It did not
tremble to-night as it had trembled a few days ago. Beatrice was glad,
for she fancied that he was recovering from his insane passion for her.
Then San Miniato got over, rather awkwardly as he did everything so
soon as he left the land. Then Teresina jumped down, and last of all
Bastianello. So they shoved off and pulled away into the deep shadow
under the bluffs. There the cliff rises perpendicularly seven hundred
feet out of the water, deeply indented at its base with wave-worn caves
and hollows, but not affording a fast hold anywhere save on the broad
ledge of the single islet of rock from which a high natural arch springs
suddenly across the water to the abrupt precipice which forms the
mountain's base.
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