‘You need more after-flourish,’ countered Ford.

“你需要多来点后续挥动。”

‘You need a bigger towel.’

“你需要弄条大点儿的毛巾。”

‘You need,’ said another voice, ‘a pikka bird.’

“你们需要，”另一个声音说，“一直噼卡鸟。”

‘You what?’

“啥？”

The voice had come from behind them. They turned, and there, standing behind them in the early morning sun, was Old Thrashbarg.

那声音来自他俩背后。阿瑟和福特转过身，站在清晨阳光下的竟是老刷希巴。

‘To attract the attention of a Perfectly Normal Beast,’ he said, as he walked forward towards them, ‘you need a pikka bird. Like this.’

“要想吸引绝对正常兽的注意，”他一边朝他们走过去一边说，“你们需要一直噼卡鸟。就像这样。”

From under the rough, cassocky robe-like thing he wore he drew a small pikka bird. It sat restlessly on Old Thrashbarg’s hand and peered intently at Bob knows what darting around about three feet six inches in front of it.

他从自己法衣一样的袍子底下掏出一只噼卡鸟。小鸟在老刷希巴手上坐立不安，全心全意地瞅着自己跟前三尺六寸远的地方，只有鲍伯知道那儿有什么可看的。

Ford instantly went into the sort of alert crouch he liked to do when he wasn’t quite sure what was going on or what he ought to do about it. He waved his arms around very slowly in what he hoped was an ominous manner.

福特立即摆出他的警戒性潜伏姿态，那是他的一种标准姿势，每次不大确定情况究竟如何或者自己该怎么办的时候福特都用它。他左右挥动胳膊，希望能给人家留下凶险邪恶的印象。

‘Who is this?’ he hissed.

“这是谁？”他嘶嘶地问。

‘It’s just Old Thrashbarg,’ said Arthur quietly. ‘And I wouldn’t bother with all the fancy movements. He’s just as experienced a bluffer as you are. You could end up dancing around each other all day.’

“不过是老刷希巴。”阿瑟平静地回答，“还有，如果我是你就不搞那些花哨，他在虚张声势上差不多和你一样有经验。你们俩没准能这么绕上一整天圈子。”

‘The bird,’ hissed Ford again. ‘What’s the bird?’

“那只鸟，”福特又嘶嘶叫起来，“那鸟是什么东西？”