Katrina immediately ran for water and made him drink some; and then he got back just enough strength to tell them that the Last judgment was at hand.
"How you talk!" said Katrina. "The Last Judgment indeed! Why, you've got fever, man, and you're out of your head."
Then Jan turned to the seine-maker. "Can't you see either that the firmament is sinking and sinking?"
The latter did not give him any reply, but turned instead to
Katrina, saying:
"This is pretty serious. I think we'll have to try the remedy we talked of on the way. I may as well go down to Falla at once."
"But Lars will never consent to it."
"Why you know that Lars has gone down to the tavern. I'm sure the old mistress of Falla will have the courage—"
Jan cut him short. He could not bear to hear them speak of commonplace matters when such momentous things were in the air.
"Stop talking," he said. "Don't you hear the last trump? Don't you hear the rumbling up in the mountains?"
They paused a moment and listened, just to please Jan. And then they, too, heard a strange noise.