cat, the two companions with whom he had dined at the Red Lobster Inn.
"Here is our dear friend Pinocchio!” cried the fox, hugging and kissing him. "How did you ever get here?"
"How did you ever get here?" repeated the cat.
"It is a long sad story" said the marionette, "and I will tell it to you when I have time. You know the night when you left me alone at the Inn I met some robbers on the road."
"Robbers? Oh, my poor friend. What did they want?"
"They wanted to rob me of my money."
"Villains,” cried the fox.
"Villains," echoed the cat.
"But I started to run" continued the marionette, "and they ran after me until they caught me and tied me up to a branch of that Big Oak there," and Pinocchio pointed to the tree near which they stood.
"It is hard to believe such a thing?" said the fox. "What a world we live in! And now what are you doing here?”
"I am waiting for my father—I expect to meet him any minute now."
