for you." And they flashed two knives, sharp as razors, and—zaff-zaff—they gave him two slashes in the middle of the back. Fortunately the arionette was made of good hard wood. The knife blades broke into several pieces, and the robbers stood staring at each other, with only the knife handles in their hands.
"Well," said one of them at last, "We shall have to choke him."
"Choke him," said the other. So they tied his hands behind him, put a rope around his neck, and hung him to a branch of a tall tree called the Big Oak. Then they sat down on the grass and waited for the marionette to open his mouth for breath, hoping then to get the gold pieces. But after three hours he still held his mouth tightly closed and looked straight at them and kicked his feet defiantly. Losing patience at this long wait they finally rose to go, and said tauntingly,
"Goodby until tomorrow morning. When we get back we shall expect to find your mouth open, and the gold will be ours.” And they went away.
