board. It was a treatise on arithmetic, and you can imagine how very heavy it must have been. One of the boys seized this book, and taking aim, threw it at Pinocchio's head. But instead of hitting the marionette it struck one of his companions in the temple. The boy became as white as a sheet, and fell to the ground, where he lay motionless.
Thinking he was dead the frightened boys ran away as fast as they could, and in a few minutes there was no one left on the shore but Pinocchio. Although he was half dead with grief and fright, nevertheless he ran and soaked his handkerchief in the sea, and began to bathe the temples of his poor schoolmate, crying despairingly, "Eugene! My poor Eugene! Open your eyes and look at me! Why don't you answer me? It was not I who hurt you. Believe me it was not I. If you keep your eyes shut I will die too. How can I ever go home now? What can I say to my good mother? What will she say to me? Where can I go? Where can I hide myself? Oh, how much better, a thousand times better, would it have been if I had gone to school! Why did I listen to
