The Greatest Adventure Books for Children. Люси Мод Монтгомери

passed into weeks, even the teacher praised him, for he saw him attentive, hard working, and wide awake, always the first to come in the morning, and the last to leave when school was over.

      Pinocchio’s only fault was that he had too many friends. Among these were many well-known rascals, who cared not a jot for study or for success.

      The teacher warned him each day, and even the good Fairy repeated to him many times:

      “Take care, Pinocchio! Those bad companions will sooner or later make you lose your love for study. Some day they will lead you astray.”

      “There’s no such danger,” answered the Marionette, shrugging his shoulders and pointing to his forehead as if to say, “I’m too wise.”

      So it happened that one day, as he was walking to school, he met some boys who ran up to him and said:

      “Have you heard the news?”

      “No!”

      “A Shark as big as a mountain has been seen near the shore.”

      “Really? I wonder if it could be the same one I heard of when my father was drowned?”

      “We are going to see it. Are you coming?”

      “No, not I. I must go to school.”

      “What do you care about school? You can go there tomorrow. With a lesson more or less, we are always the same donkeys.”

      “And what will the teacher say?”

      “Let him talk. He is paid to grumble all day long.”

      “And my mother?”

      “Mothers don’t know anything,” answered those scamps.

      “Do you know what I’ll do?” said Pinocchio. “For certain reasons of mine, I, too, want to see that Shark; but I’ll go after school. I can see him then as well as now.”

      “Poor simpleton!” cried one of the boys. “Do you think that a fish of that size will stand there waiting for you? He turns and off he goes, and no one will ever be the wiser.”

      “How long does it take from here to the shore?” asked the Marionette. “One hour there and back.”

      “Very well, then. Let’s see who gets there first!” cried Pinocchio.

      At the signal, the little troop, with books under their arms, dashed across the fields. Pinocchio led the way, running as if on wings, the others following as fast as they could.

      Now and again, he looked back and, seeing his followers hot and tired, and with tongues hanging out, he laughed out heartily. Unhappy boy! If he had only known then the dreadful things that were to happen to him on account of his disobedience!

CHAPTER 27

       Table of Contents

      The great battle between Pinocchio and his playmates. One is wounded. Pinocchio is arrested.

      Going like the wind, Pinocchio took but a very short time to reach the shore. He glanced all about him, but there was no sign of a Shark. The sea was as smooth as glass.

      “Hey there, boys! Where’s that Shark?” he asked, turning to his playmates.

      “He may have gone for his breakfast,” said one of them, laughing.

      “Or, perhaps, he went to bed for a little nap,” said another, laughing also.

      From the answers and the laughter which followed them, Pinocchio understood that the boys had played a trick on him.

      “What now?” he said angrily to them. “What’s the joke?”

      “Oh, the joke’s on you!” cried his tormentors, laughing more heartily than ever, and dancing gayly around the Marionette.

      “And that is — ?”

      “That we have made you stay out of school to come with us. Aren’t you ashamed of being such a goody-goody, and of studying so hard? You never have a bit of enjoyment.”

      “And what is it to you, if I do study?”

      “What does the teacher think of us, you mean?”

      “Why?”

      “Don’t you see? If you study and we don’t, we pay for it. After all, it’s only fair to look out for ourselves.”

      “What do you want me to do?”

      “Hate school and books and teachers, as we all do. They are your worst enemies, you know, and they like to make you as unhappy as they can.”

      “And if I go on studying, what will you do to me?”

      “You’ll pay for it!”

      “Really, you amuse me,” answered the Marionette, nodding his head.

      “Hey, Pinocchio,” cried the tallest of them all, “that will do. We are tired of hearing you bragging about yourself, you little turkey cock! You may not be afraid of us, but remember we are not afraid of you, either! You are alone, you know, and we are seven.”

      “Like the seven sins,” said Pinocchio, still laughing.

      “Did you hear that? He has insulted us all. He has called us sins.”

      “Pinocchio, apologize for that, or look out!”

      “Cuck — oo!” said the Marionette, mocking them with his thumb to his nose.

      “You’ll be sorry!”

      “Cuck — oo!”

      “We’ll whip you soundly!”

      “Cuck — oo!”

      “You’ll go home with a broken nose!”

      “Cuck — oo!”

      “Very well, then! Take that, and keep it for your supper,” called out the boldest of his tormentors.

      And with the words, he gave Pinocchio a terrible blow on the head.

      Pinocchio answered with another blow, and that was the signal for the beginning of the fray. In a few moments, the fight raged hot and heavy on both sides.

      Pinocchio, although alone, defended himself bravely. With those two wooden feet of his, he worked so fast that his opponents kept at a respectful distance. Wherever they landed, they left their painful mark and the boys could only run away and howl.

      Enraged at not being able to fight the Marionette at close quarters, they started to throw all kinds of books at him. Readers, geographies, histories, grammars flew in all directions. But Pinocchio was keen of eye and swift of movement, and the books only passed over his head, landed in the sea, and disappeared.

      The fish, thinking they might be good to eat, came to the top of the water in great numbers. Some took a nibble, some took a bite, but no sooner had they tasted a page or two, than they spat them out with a wry face, as if to say:

      “What a horrid taste! Our own food is so much better!”

      Meanwhile, the battle waxed more and more furious. At the noise, a large Crab crawled slowly out of the water and, with a voice that sounded like a trombone suffering from a cold, he cried out:

      “Stop fighting, you rascals! These battles between boys rarely end well. Trouble is sure to come to you!”

      Poor