The man stopped his sales talk, shrugged, and replied, "Non compr' endo."
"Hey!" said Padway. The man paused. With great concentration Padway translated his request into what he hoped was Vulgar Latin.
The man thought, and said he didn't know. Padway started to turn elsewhere. But the seller of beads called to another hawker: "Marco! The gentleman wants to find a police agent."
"The gentleman is brave. He is also crazy," replied Marco. The bead-seller laughed. So did several people. Padway grinned a little; the people were human if not very helpful. He said: "Please, I-really-want-to-know."
The second hawker, who had a tray full of brass knick-knacks tied around his neck, shrugged. He rattled off a paragraph that Padway could not follow.
Padway slowly asked the bead-seller: "What did he say?"
"He said he didn't know," replied the bead-seller. "I don't know either."
Padway started to walk off. The bead-seller called after him: "Mister."
"Yes?"
"Did you mean an agent of the municipal prefect?"