'Look out! don't be crazy!'
'Stop the sledge, I shall get out!'
'No, go on!'
'Jesus Mary!'
'Have the musicians been spilt yet?'
'Not yet, but they will be.'
'Oh…la la!'
Maciek now understood that this was a sleigh race. The teams of two-and four-horsed sleighs approached at a gallop, accompanied by riders on horseback carrying torches. In the thick mist it looked as if the procession appeared out of an abyss through a circular gate of fire. They bore straight down upon the spot where Maciek and his sledge had come to a standstill. Suddenly the first one stopped.
'Hey…what's that?'
'Something is in the way.'