Page:Collodi - The Story of a Puppet, translation Murray, 1892.djvu/71

 'And where did my good friends say they would wait for me?'

'At the Field of miracles, to-morrow morning at daybreak.'

Pinocchio paid a sovereign for his supper and that of his companions, and then left.

Outside the inn it was so pitch dark that he had almost to grope his way, for it was impossible to see a hand's breadth in front of him. In the adjacent country not a leaf moved. Only some night-birds flying across the road from one hedge to the other brushed Pinocchio's nose with their wings as they passed, which caused him so much terror that, springing back, he shouted: 'Who goes there?' and the echo in the surrounding hills repeated in the distance: 'Who goes there? Who goes there? Who goes there?'

As he was walking along he saw a little insect shining dimly on the trunk of a tree, like a night-light in a lamp of transparent china.

'Who are you?' asked Pinocchio.

'I am the ghost of the Talking-cricket,' answered the insect in a low voice, so weak and faint that it seemed to come from the other world.

'What do you want with me?' said the puppet.

'I want to give you some advice. Go back, and take the four sovereigns that you have left to your poor father, who is weeping