fooling! Out with it!” the brigands cried. And the marionette made signs with his hands and head, which meant, “I have none!”
“Bring out the money or you will die!” said the taller assassin.
“You will die,” repeated the smaller one.
“And after you are dead we will kill your papa.”
“We will kill your papa,” repeated the other.
“No, no, no! Not my poor papa!” cried Pinocchio, despairingly; but in saying this the gold pieces made a noise in his mouth.
“Oh, you story-teller! you have hidden the money in your mouth! Out with it!”
Poor Pinocchio remained quiet.
“Ah! do you make believe you are deaf? Wait a little and we will show you how we shall make you give up the gold.”
Then one of them seized the marionette by the nose and the other took him by the chin, and they began to pull him backward and forward in the attempt to open his mouth; but they could not do it. His mouth seemed to be nailed or riveted together.
Then the little assassin took a knife and tried to push it between the lips of the marionette; but Pinocchio, quick as a flash, caught the assassin’s hand with his teeth and bit it off and spat it on the
