Page:Collodi - The Story of a Puppet, translation Murray, 1892.djvu/156

 and to strike his head with his fists, and to call poor Eugene by his name. Suddenly he heard the sound of approaching footsteps.

He turned and saw two carabineers.

'What are you doing there lying on the ground?' they asked Pinocchio.

'I am helping my schoolfellow.

'Has he been hurt?'

'So it seems.'

'Hurt indeed!' said one of the carabineers, stooping down and examining Eugene closely. 'This boy has been wounded in the temple. Who wounded him?'

'Not I,' stammered the puppet breathlessly.

'If it was not you, who then did it?

'Not I,' repeated Pinocchio.

'And with what was he wounded?'

'With this book.' And the puppet picked up from the ground the Treatise on Arithmetic, bound in cardboard and parchment, and showed it to the carabineer.

'And to whom does this book belong?'

'To me.'

'That is enough: nothing more is wanted. Get up and come with us at once.'

'But I. . .'

'Come along with us! . . .'

'But I am innocent. . . .'

'Come along with us!'