id to the host:

"Give us two good rooms, one for Mr. Pinocchio, and the other for
me and my companion. We will snatch a little sleep before we leave.
Remember, however, that at midnight we wish to be called to continue
our journey."

"Yes, gentlemen," answered the host, and he winked at the Fox and the
Cat as much as to say: "I know what you are up to. We understand one
another!"

No sooner had Pinocchio got into bed than he fell asleep at once and
began to dream. And he dreamt that he was in the middle of a field,
and the field was filled with shrubs covered with clusters of gold
pieces, and as they swung in the wind they went zin, zin, zin, almost
as if they would say: "Let who will come and take us." But when
Pinocchio was at the most interesting moment, that is, just as he
was stretching out his hand to pick handfuls of those beautiful gold
pieces and put them in his pockets, he was suddenly wakened by three
violent blows on the door of his room.

It was the host who had come to tell him that midnight had struck.

"Are my companions ready?" asked the puppet.

"Ready! Why, they left two hours ago."

"Why were they in such a hurry?"

"Because the Cat had received a message to say that her eldest kitten
was ill with chilblains on his feet, and was in danger of death."

"Did they pay for supper?"

"What are you thinking of? They are too highly educated to dream of
offering such an insult to a gentleman like you."

"What a pity! It is an insult that would have given me so much
pleasure!" said Pinocchio, scratching his head. He then asked:

"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 gold piece for his supper and that of his companions
and then he 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?"...

VIII

THE PUPPET FALLS AMONG ASSASSINS

He turned to look, and saw in the gloom two evil-looking black figures
completely enveloped in charcoal sack