Then the crier began again with renewed energy, hurling his figures towards the buyers with a wave of the hand and catching the slightest indication of a fresh bid-the raising of a finger, a twist of the eyebrows, a pouting of the lips, a wink, and all with such rapidity and such a ceaseless jumble of words that Florent, utterly unable to follow him, felt quite disconcerted when, in a sing-song voice like that of a priest intoning the final words of a versicle, he chanted:
hatzak altxatzen ziren, bekainak goratzen, ezpainak aurreratzen, begiak kliskatzen, eta zeinu ñimiño haiei guztiei erreparatzen zien, bakar bat ere utzi gabe, eta hori dena hain azkar, hain zezelka, ezen Florent, bestela ere atzetik jarraitzeko gauza ez zena, harri eta zur eginik geratu baitzen, konkordunak, ahots kantariagoz, biblia txatala bukatzen duen txantre baten doinuan, bat-batean arraina erosle bati esleitu zionean.