"We must descend from this cliff."
"You can not be in earnest."
"Why?"
"Do you not see that the stone recedes from beneath us, that we stand on the edge of a wedge overhanging bottomless space?"
"That I understand."
"There is no ladder," and then the foolish remark abashed me as I thought of a ladder six thousand miles in length.
"Go on."
He made no reference to my confusion.
"There is practically no bottom," I asserted, "if I can believe your words; you told me so."
"And that I reiterate."