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1"Don't irritate him unnecessarily," had been Wendy's instructions in the hold; so Tootles stepped forward politely.
2Tootles hated the idea of signing under such a man, but an instinct told him that it would be prudent to lay the
3responsibility on an absent person; and though a somewhat silly boy, he knew that mothers alone are always willing to be
4the buffer. All children know this about mothers, and despise them for it, but make constant use of it. So Tootles
5explained prudently, "You see, sir, I don't think my mother would like me to be a pirate. Would your mother like you to
6be a pirate, Slightly?" He winked at Slightly, who said mournfully, "I don't think so," as if he wished things had been
7otherwise. "Would your mother like you to be a pirate, Twin?" "I don't think so," said the first twin, as clever as the
8others. "Nibs, would--" "Stow this gab," roared Hook, and the spokesmen were dragged back. "You, boy," he said,
9addressing John, "you look as if you had a little pluck in you. Didst never want to be a pirate, my hearty?" Now John
10had sometimes experienced this hankering at maths. prep.; and he was struck by Hook's picking him out. "I once thought
11of calling myself Red-handed Jack," he said diffidently. "And a good name too. We'll call you that here, bully, if you
12join." "What do you think, Michael?" asked John. "What would you call me if I join?" Michael demanded. "Blackbeard Joe."
13Michael was naturally impressed. "What do you think, John?" He wanted John to decide, and John wanted him to decide.
14"Shall we still be respectful subjects of the King?" John inquired. Through Hook's teeth came the answer: "You would
15have to swear, 'Down with the King.'" Perhaps John had not behaved very well so far, but he shone out now. "Then I
16refuse," he cried, banging the barrel in front of Hook. "And I refuse," cried Michael. "Rule Britannia!" squeaked Curly.
17The infuriated pirates buffeted them in the mouth; and Hook roared out, "That seals your doom. Bring up their mother.
18Get the plank ready." They were only boys, and they went white as they saw Jukes and Cecco preparing the fatal plank.
19But they tried to look brave when Wendy was brought up. No words of mine can tell you how Wendy despised those pirates.
20To the boys there was at least some glamour in the pirate calling; but all that she saw was that the ship had not been
21tidied for years. There was not a porthole on the grimy glass of which you might not have written with your finger
22"Dirty pig"; and she had already written it on several. But as the boys gathered round her she had no thought, of
23course, save for them. "So, my beauty," said Hook, as if he spoke in syrup, "you are to see your children walk the
24plank." Fine gentlemen though he was, the intensity of his communings had soiled his ruff, and suddenly he knew that she
25was gazing at it. With a hasty gesture he tried to hide it, but he was too late. "Are they to die?" asked Wendy, with a
26look of such frightful contempt that he nearly fainted. "They are," he snarled. "Silence all," he called gloatingly,
27"for a mother's last words to her children." At this moment Wendy was grand. "These are my last words, dear boys," she
28said firmly. "I feel that I have a message to you from your real mothers, and it is this: 'We hope our sons will die
29like English gentlemen.'" Even the pirates were awed, and Tootles cried out hysterically, "I am going to do what my
30mother hopes. What are you to do, Nibs?" "What my mother hopes. What are you to do, Twin?" "What my mother hopes. John,
31what are--" But Hook had found his voice again. "Tie her up!" he shouted. It was Smee who tied her to the mast. "See
32here, honey," he whispered, "I'll save you if you promise to be my mother." But not even for Smee would she make such a
33promise. "I would almost rather have no children at all," she said disdainfully. It is sad to know that not a boy was
34looking at her as Smee tied her to the mast; the eyes of all were on the plank: that last little walk they were about to
35take. They were no longer able to hope that they would walk it manfully, for the capacity to think had gone from them;
36they could stare and shiver only. Hook smiled on them with his teeth closed, and took a step toward Wendy. His intention
37was to turn her face so that she should see the boys walking the plank one by one. But he never reached her, he never
38heard the cry of anguish he hoped to wring from her. He heard something else instead. It was the terrible tick-tick of
39the crocodile. They all heard it--pirates, boys, Wendy; and immediately every head was blown in one direction; not to
40the water whence the sound proceeded, but toward Hook. All knew that what was about to happen concerned him alone, and
41that from being actors they were suddenly become spectators. Very frightful was it to see the change that came over him.
42It was as if he had been clipped at every joint. He fell in a little heap. The sound came steadily nearer; and in
43advance of it came this ghastly thought, "The crocodile is about to board the ship!" Even the iron claw hung inactive;
44as if knowing that it was no intrinsic part of what the attacking force wanted. Left so fearfully alone, any other man
45would have lain with his eyes shut where he fell: but the gigantic brain of Hook was still working, and under its
46guidance he crawled on the knees along the deck as far from the sound as he could go. The pirates respectfully cleared a
47passage for him, and it was only when he brought up against the bulwarks that he spoke. "Hide me!" he cried hoarsely.
48They gathered round him, all eyes averted from the thing that was coming aboard. They had no thought of fighting it. It
49was Fate. Only when Hook was hidden from them did curiosity loosen the limbs of the boys so that they could rush to the
50ship's side to see the crocodile climbing it. Then they got the strangest surprise of the Night of Nights; for it was no
51crocodile that was coming to their aid. It was Peter. He signed to them not to give vent to any cry of admiration that
52might rouse suspicion. Then he went on ticking. Chapter XV. "HOOK OR ME THIS TIME" Odd things happen to all of us on our
53way through life without our noticing for a time that they have happened. Thus, to take an instance, we suddenly
54discover that we have been deaf in one ear for we don't know how long, but, say, half an hour. Now such an experience
55had come that night to Peter. When last we saw him he was stealing across the island with one finger to his lips and his
56dagger at the ready. He had seen the crocodile pass by without noticing anything peculiar about it, but by and by he
57remembered that it had not been ticking. At first he thought this eerie, but soon concluded rightly that the clock had
58run down. Without giving a thought to what might be the feelings of a fellow-creature thus abruptly deprived of its
59closest companion, Peter began to consider how he could turn the catastrophe to his own use; and he decided to tick, so
60that wild beasts should believe he was the crocodile and let him pass unmolested. He ticked superbly, but with one
61unforeseen result. The crocodile was among those who heard the sound, and it followed him, though whether with the
62purpose of regaining what it had lost, or merely as a friend under the belief that it was again ticking itself, will
63never be certainly known, for, like slaves to a fixed idea, it was a stupid beast. Peter reached the shore without
64mishap, and went straight on, his legs encountering the water as if quite unaware that they had entered a new element.
65Thus many animals pass from land to water, but no other human of whom I know. As he swam he had but one thought: "Hook
66or me this time." He had ticked so long that he now went on ticking without knowing that he was doing it. Had he known
67he would have stopped, for to board the brig by help of the tick, though an ingenious idea, had not occurred to him.
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