"And to Jericho?"
"Yes."
"And to the Jordan?"
"Yes."
"Did you see the white stone on the bottom near where the river flows into the Dead Sea?"
"Well—let me see! I don't exactly seem to remember that I did precisely see that."
"Ah!" replies Marco Polo.
It is a very brief sound, but being interpreted it means, "Then, my dear George Sandys, you might just as well not have seen the Jordan at all." Not that the white stone was famous or worth seeing, but that Marco Polo wished to "rub in" upon George Sandys's mind the conviction that he, Polo, had seen more than he, Sandys, in the same direction.
This capping process sometimes leads to very droll results. Young Green heard Gray and Brown comparing their notes of travel. Each was naturally anxious to have seen and done rather more than the other; but it appeared that each had been in about the same places, and had had very much the same experience.
"Lago Maggiore is a lovely sheet of water," remarked Gray.