since I have been in the world, I have never
had a happy quarter of an hour. Oh dear!
what will become of me, what will become of
me, what will become of me?.. .”
And Pinocchio began to cry and sob, 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.
“TI 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 breath¬
lessly.
" 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? ”’