He patted his interpreter on the back.

"C'est bien, mon gars; plus fin que toi n'est pas bete," and administered his formula of encouragement; and Gerard edged away from him; for next to ugly sights and ill odours, the poor wretch disliked profaneness.
Meantime, though shaken in argument, the raw reptiles were duly eaten and relished by the company, and served to provoke thirst, a principal aim of all the solids in that part of Germany.

So now the company drank garausses all round, and their tongues were unloosed, and oh, the Babel! But above the fierce clamour rose at intervals, like some hero's war-cry in battle, the trumpet-like voice of the Burgundian soldier shouting lustily, "Courage, camarades, le diable est mort!" Entered grisly Ganymede holding in his hand a wooden dish with circles and semicircles marked on it in chalk.

He put it down on the table and stood silent, sad, and sombre, as Charon by Styx waiting for his boat-load of souls.

Then pouches and purses were rummaged, and each threw a coin into the dish.