‘Don’t know. I’ve only ever heard it said, and that was by someone who had a mouthful of other people’s teeth. You remember I told you about Agrajag?’

“不知道，我只听人说过一次，而且那家伙还长满了满嘴别人的牙，我记得我跟你提过阿格拉加格吧。”

Ford thought for a moment. ‘You mean the guy who was convinced you were getting him killed over and over again?’

福特想了想，“你是说那个硬赖你害死他一次又一次的家伙？”

‘Yes. One of the places he claimed I’d got him killed was Stavromula Beta. Someone tries to shoot me, it seems. I duck and Agrajag, or at least, one of his many reincarnations, gets hit. It seems that this has definitely happened at some point in time so, I suppose, I can’t get killed at least until after I’ve ducked on Stavromula Beta. Only no one’s ever heard of it.’

“对，据他说，其中一个我害死他的地方是斯达弗洛穆拉贝塔。有人想拿枪打我，好像是。我闪开了，结果阿格拉加格——或者至少是他投的某个胎——替我挨了枪子。这事情好像的的确确在某个时间点上发生了，所以，至少我不会在闪过斯达弗洛穆拉贝塔那一枪之前就咽气吧，我猜。可根本没人听说过那个地方。”

‘Hmm.’ Ford tried a few other searches of The Hitch Hiker’s Guide, but drew a blank.

“呃。”福特又在《银河系漫游指南》上试了几回别的，不过什么也没找到。

‘Nothing,’ he said.

“什么也没有。”他说。

‘I was just… no, I’ve never heard of it,’ said Ford finally. He wondered why it was ringing a very, very faint bell, though.

“我好像……不，从没听说过。”福特最后说。其实他心里正暗自奇怪，为什么自己会对这名字有那么一点很淡很淡的印象。

‘OK,’ said Arthur. ‘I’ve seen the way the Lamuellan hunters trap Perfectly Normal Beasts. If you spear one in the herd it just gets trampled, so they have to lure them out one at a time for the kill. It’s very like the way a matador works, you know, with a brightly coloured cape. You get one to charge at you and then step aside and execute a rather elegant swing through with the cape. Have you got anything like a brightly coloured cape about you?’

“好吧。”阿瑟说，“我看过拉姆拉的猎人是怎么套绝对正常兽的。如果你直接用长矛刺死一头，那它的尸体只会被踩得稀烂，所以你得一次引诱出一头再来动手。挺像斗牛士，你知道，带张颜色鲜艳的斗篷。你引一头对你冲过来，然后往边上走，挺优雅地拿斗篷一路舞过去。你身上带着什么类似鲜艳的斗篷的东西吗？”

‘This do?’ said Ford, handing him his towel.

“这个如何？”福特把毛巾递给他。