Dalim seemed to have escaped almost unscathed from the embrace of the snake: he only complained of a little stiffness in the joints and stretched out his arms and legs repeatedly, swaying his body backward and forward several times. He then asked them for a hearty drink of toeak and declared himself quite cured.
“I hope we shall have the luck to meet another boa,” said Schlickeisen.
“A fine wish; and pray, what for?”
“Because I regret leaving that dead one behind.”
“Upon my word! What would you do with it? We have scarcely any room as it is.”
“Quite so; but we could skin it and make cigar-cases or purses out of the skin.”
“If I had the skin,” La Cueille said, “I should——” [[84]]
“Certainly, carry it away and present it to Notre Dame,” Wienersdorf interrupted.
“In addition to the rosary,” Johannes went on, “I am sure that skin would be an ornament to the altar; and how it would puzzle the congregation!”
“Silence, worthless heathen! Don’t joke upon sacred subjects,” the Walloon exclaimed. “We shall often be in need of Heavenly aid, and I fervently pray our Holy Mother to take us under her protection.”