himself, and then to run about the room and then, when he saw that the street door was open, he dashed into the street and ran away. Poor Geppetto ran after him as fast as he could, but he was not able to overtake him. Pinocchio leaped like a rabbit, his wooden feet clattering on the pavement like twenty pairs of little wooden shoes.
"Stop him! Stop him!” cried Geppetto as he ran, but the people in the street, seeing a wooden marionette running as fast as a rabbit, stopped to watch and began to laugh, and laughed and laughed and laughed—with an enjoyment quite beyond description. At last, as luck would have it, a carabineer appeared and hearing all the uproar, thought that a colt had escaped from its master. He planted himself in the middle of the road, and waited, determined to catch the runaway. Pinocchio when still at some distance, saw the soldier blocking the whole street, and tried to pass between his legs, but could not do it. The soldier, with scarcely an effort seized the puppet by the nose, that ridiculous big nose, just the right size for a
