Jasiek awoke completely, and with his shoulders pressed to the now cooling fireplace, looked round curiously at the people as far as he could make them out.
'Where are they going?' he asked the beggar.
'To Brazil.'
'Is it far?'
'Ho! ho! it's the end of the world, beyond the tenth sea.'
'And why?'
'First because they are fools, and second because they are unfortunate.'
'And do they know the way?' Jasiek asked again, hugely astonished.
But the beggar was no longer answering him; pushing on the woman with a stick, he came forward into the middle of the room, fell on his knees, and began in a sort of plaintive chant:
'You are going beyond the seas, the mountains, the forests—to the end of the world. The Lord Jesus bless you, orphans! The Virgin of Czenstochowa keep you, and all the saints help you in return for the farthing that you give to this poor cripple…To the Lord's Transfiguration! Ave Maria….'