Encouraged by this first victory, he freed himself fromthe claws ofhis assailers and, leaping over the bushesalong the road, ran swiftly acrossthe fields. His pursuerswere after him at once, like two dogs chasing a hare.

　　After running seven miles or so, Pinocchio was well-nigh exhausted.Seeing himself lost, he climbed up agiant pine tree and sat there to see whathe could see.

　　The Assassins tried to climb also, but they slipped and fell.

　　Far from giving up the chase, this only spurred them on.

　　They gathered a bundle of wood, piled it up at thefoot of the pine,and set fire to it. In a twinkling thetree began to sputter and burn like acandle blown bythe wind. Pinocchio saw the flames climb higher andhigher. Notwishing to end his days as a roasted Marionette, he jumped quickly to theground and off he went,the Assassins close to him, as before.

　　Dawn was breaking when, without any warning whatsoever,Pinocchiofound his path barred by a deep pool fullof water the color of muddy coffee.

　　What was there to do? With a "One, two, three!"he jumpedclear across it. The Assassins jumped also,but not having measured theirdistance well--splash!!!--they fell right into the middle of the pool. Pinocchiowhoheard the splash and felt it, too, cried out, laughing,but never stopping inhis race:

　　"A pleasant bath to you, signori!"He thought they mustsurely be drowned and turnedhis head to see. But there were the two somberfiguresstill following him, though their black sacks were drenchedand drippingwith water.

　　皮诺乔旗开得胜，胆子大了。他挣脱杀人强盗的爪子，跳过路旁的树丛，开始在田野上逃走。那两名杀人强盗紧紧追来，像两条猫追一只野兔。其中一名杀人强盗因为失去了一只爪子，就用独脚追，天知道他是怎么跑的。
　　跑了十五公里左右，皮诺乔跑不动了。这时他眼看自己没救了，就顺着最高的一棵松树的树干爬上去，坐在一个枝头上。两个杀人强盗也打算跟着爬上树，可是爬到一半，叭哒就掉在地上，手脚的皮都擦破了。
　　可它们还不死心，捡来一小捆干柴，堆在松树脚下，点着了。说时迟那时快，松树开始熊熊烧起来，像风吹着的蜡烛。皮诺乔看见火焰越烧越高，不想最后变成一只烤鸽子，于是猛地一跳，打枝头上跳下来，重新又跑，穿过田野和葡萄园。两个杀入强盗在后面紧追，一步也不拉下。
　　这时天已经开始亮，他们还是追个不停。皮诺乔一下子给一条沟挡住了去路。这条沟又宽又深，满是脏水，颜色像牛奶咖啡。怎么办？“一，二，三！”木偶叫着，猛跑两步，一跳就跳到了沟那一边。两个杀人强盗跟着也跳，可是没算准距离，卜龙通！……落到沟里去了。皮诺乔听到他们落水和水溅起来的声音，哈哈大笑，一面跑一面叫：
　　“祝你们痛痛快快洗个澡，杀人的先生们！”
　　他料想他们一准淹死了，可回头一看，只见他们两个依然在他后面追，身上还是套着他们的麻袋，哗哗地淌着水，活像两个漏了底的筐子。