"Now, watching the sea," said the Bishop, "you have marked the ships, how they go.  When they come to you, they first show the mast-top, then the sail, and last the body of the ship, and perchance the sweep of the oars, reverse-wise when they depart from you, you first fail to see the body of the ship, and then the sail, but longest you hold in sight the mast-top, or it may be a bright streamer flying therefrom, or a cross glittering in the light--though these be but small things compared with the body of the ship.  Is it not so?"