Page:Collodi - The Story of a Puppet, translation Murray, 1892.djvu/168

 alive when the wind brought to me the smell of fried fish. The smell excited my appetite, and I followed it up. If I had arrived a second later. . . .'

'Do not mention it!' groaned Pinocchio, who was still trembling with fright. 'Do not mention it! If you had arrived a second later I should by this time have been fried, eaten, and digested. Brrr! . . . it makes me shudder only to think of it! . . .'

Alidoro, laughing, extended his right paw to the puppet, who shook it heartily in token of great friendship, and they then separated.

The dog took the road home; and Pinocchio, left alone, went to a cottage not far off, and said to a little old man who was warming himself in the sun:

'Tell me, good man, do you know anything of a poor boy called Eugene who was wounded in the head? . . .'

'The boy was brought by some fishermen to this cottage, and now. . .'

'And now he is dead! . . .' interrupted Pinocchio with great sorrow.

'No, he is alive, and has returned to his home.'

'Not really? not really?' cried the puppet, dancing with delight. 'Then the wound was not serious? . . .'

'It might have been very serious and even fatal,' answered the little old man, 'for