"Millions of devils!" he said, "that I should kiss an old shrivelled hand like that. The skin was like a century-old parchment."
"Verily, my dear Bertel," continued the chagrined captain with philosophical resignation, "there are secrets in nature which will for ever remain concealed from human sagacity. This hand, for example—manus mana, manum—hand, as the old Roman used to say: this hand, my friend, would undoubtedly occupy a shining place in the Greek poet Ovid's 'Metamorphoses,' which we formerly studied in the Cathedral School at Abo, the time my father wanted to make me a priest. Yesterday I could have sworn that it was the beautiful white hand of a young girl, and to-day I will be shaved as bare as a monk it it was not a hand that belongs to a seventy-year-old washerwoman. Sic unde ubi apud unquam post, as the ancients used to say. That is, so can a pretty girl be changed into a witch before anyone knows it."
The prisoners' wounds healed rapidly under the care of the nuns. The fierce autumn storms whistled around the castle turrets, and the heavy rain beat against the small panes. The verdure of the vineyards faded, and a thick, heavy mist rose from the Main, and obscured the view of the town.
"I cannot stand it any longer," growled Larsson. "The wretches! they do not give us either wine or dice. And forgive me, Saint, the devil may kiss their hands or lips, not I. No. I have a great respect for old women. I cannot stand this. I will jump out of the window."
"Do it," said Bertel, provoked.
"No, I will not jump out of the window," said the captain. "No, my dear friend—micus ameus, as we learned people used to express ourselves—I will instead honour our companion with a game."
And the inventive captain for the thirtieth time summoned Pekka to a game of pitch and toss. This uninteresting game, which was his only diversion, was played with a Carl IX. six-öre piece.
"Tell me what they are building over there on the square of Würzburg, just opposite the bank of the Main?" said Bertel.
"An ale-house," said Larsson. "Crown!"
"It looks to me like a pyre."