The Fisherman, angry at seeing his meal snatched from under his nose,
ran after the Dog, but a bad fit of coughing made him stop and turn
back.

Meanwhile, Alidoro, as soon as he had found the road which led to the
village, stopped and dropped Pinocchio softly to the ground.

"How much I do thank you!" said the Marionette.

"It is not necessary," answered the Dog. "You saved me once, and what is
given is always returned. We are in this world to help one another."

"But how did you get in that cave?"

"I was lying here on the sand more dead than alive, when an appetizing
odor of fried fish came to me. That odor tickled my hunger and I
followed it. Oh, if I had come a moment later!"

"Don't speak about it," wailed Pinocchio, still trembling with fright.
"Don't say a word. If you had come a moment later, I would be fried,
eaten, and digested by this time. Brrrrrr! I shiver at the mere thought
of it."

Alidoro laughingly held out his paw to the Marionette, who shook it
heartily, feeling that now he and the Dog were good friends. Then they
bid each other good-by and the Dog went home.

Pinocchio, left alone, walked toward a little hut near by, where an old
man sat at the door sunning himself, and asked:

"Tell me, good man, have you heard anything of a poor boy with a wounded
head, whose name was Eugene?"

"The boy was brought to this hut and now--"

"Now he is dead?" Pinocchio interrupted sorrowfully.

"No, he is now alive and he has already returned home."

"Really? Really?" cried the Marionette, jumping around with joy. "Then
the wound was not serious?"

"But it might have been--and even mortal," answered the old man, "for a
heavy book was thrown at his head."

"And who threw it?"

"A schoolmate of his, a certain Pinocchio."

"And who is this Pinocchio?" asked the Marionette, feigning ignorance.

"They say he is a mischief-maker, a tramp, a street urchin--"

"Calumnies! All calumnies!"

"Do you know this Pinocchio?"

"By sight!" answered the Marionette.

"And what do you think of him?" asked the old man.

"I think he's a very good boy, fond of study, obedient, kind to his
Father, and to his whole family--"

As he was telling all these enormous lies about himself, Pinocchio
touched his nose and found it twice as long as it should be. Scared out
of his wits, he cried out:

"Don't listen to me, good man! All the wonderful things I have said are
not true at all. I know Pinocchio well and he