CHAPTER XV
'HOOK OR ME THIS TIME'
Odd things happen to all of us on our way through life without ournoticing for a time that they have happened. Thus, to take an instance,we suddenly discover that we have been deaf in one ear for we don't knowhow long, but, say, half an hour. Now such an experience had come thatnight to Peter. When last we saw him he was stealing across the islandwith one finger to his lips and his dagger at the ready. He had seen thecrocodile pass by without noticing anything peculiar about it, but byand by he remembered that it had not been ticking. At first he thoughtthis eerie, but soon he concluded rightly that the clock had run down.
Without giving a thought to what might be the feelings of afellow-creature thus abruptly deprived of its closest companion, Peterat once considered how he could turn the catastrophe to his own use; andhe decided to tick, so that wild beasts should believe he was thecrocodile and let him pass unmolested. He ticked superbly, but with oneunforeseen result. The crocodile was among those who heard the sound,and it followed him, though whether with the purpose of regaining whatit had lost, or merely as a friend under the belief that it was againticking itself, will never be certainly known, for, like all slaves to afixed idea, it was a stupid beast.
Peter reached the shore without mishap, and went straight on; his legsencountering the water as if quite unaware that they had entered a newelement. Thus many animals pass from land to water, but no other humanof whom I know. As he swam he had but one thought: 'Hook or me thistime.' He had ticked so long that he now went on ticking without knowingthat he was doing it. Had he known he would have stopped, for to boardthe brig by the help of the tick, though an ingenious idea, had notoccurred to him.
HOOK OR ME THIS TIME]
On the contrary, he thought he had scaled her side as noiseless as amouse; and he was amazed to see the pirates cowering from him, with Hookin their midst as abject as if he had heard the crocodile.
The crocodile! No sooner did Peter remember it than he heard theticking. At first he thought the sound did come from the crocodile, andhe looked behind him swiftly. Then he realised that he was doing ithimself, and in a flash he understood the situation. 'How clever of me,'he thought at once, and signed to the boys not to burst into applause.
It was at this moment that Ed Teynte the quartermaster emerged from theforecastle and came along the deck. Now, reader, time what happened byyour watch. Peter struck true and deep. John clapped his hands on theill-fated pirate's mouth to stifle the dying groan. He fell forward.Four boys caught him to prevent the thud. Peter gave the signal, and thecarrion was cast overboard. There was a splash, and then silence. Howlong has it taken?
'One!' (Slightly had begun to count.)
None too soon, Peter, every inch of him on tiptoe, vanished into thecabin; for more than one pirate was screwing up his courage to lookround. They could hear each other's distressed breathing now, whichshowed them that the more terrible sound had passed.
'It's gone, captain,' Smee said, wiping his spectacles. 'All's stillagain.'
Slowly Hook let his head emerge from his ruff, and listened so intentlythat he could have caught the echo of the tick. There was not a sound,and he drew himself up firmly to his full height.
'Then here's to Johnny Plank,' he cried brazenly, hating the boys morethan ever because they had seen him unbend. He broke into the villainousditty:
'Yo ho, yo ho, the frisky plank, You walks along it so, Till it goes down and you goes down To Davy Jones below!'
To terrorise the prisoners the more, though with a certain loss ofdignity, he danced along an imaginary plank, grimacing at them as hesang; and when he finished he cried, 'Do you want a touch of the catbefore you walk the plank?'
At that they fell on their knees. 'No, no,' they cried so piteouslythat every pirate smiled.
'Fetch the cat, Jukes,' said Hook; 'it's in the cabin.'
The cabin! Peter was in the cabin! The children gazed at each other.
'Ay, ay,' said Jukes blithely, and he strode into the cabin. Theyfollowed him with their eyes; they scarce knew that Hook had resumed hissong, his dogs joining in with him:
'Yo ho, yo ho, the scratching cat, Its tails are nine, you know, And when they're writ upon your back--
What was the last line will never be known, for of a sudden the song wasstayed by a dreadful screech from the cabin. It wailed through the ship,and died away. Then was heard a crowing sound which was well understoodby the boys, but to the pirates was almost more eerie than the screech.
'What was that?' cried Hook.
'Two,' said Slightly solemnly.
The Italian Cecco hesitated for a moment and then swung into the cabin.He tottered out, haggard.
'What's the matter with Bill Jukes, you dog?' hissed Hook, towering overhim.
'The matter wi' him is he's dead, stabbed,' replied Cecco in a hollowVoice.
'Bill Jukes dead!' cried the startled pirates.
'The cabin's as black as a pit,' Cecco said, almost gibbering, 'butthere is something terrible in there: the thing you heard crowing.'
The exultation of the boys, the lowering looks of the pirates, both wereseen by Hook.
'Cecco,' he said in his most steely voice, 'go back and fetch me outthat doodle-doo.'
Cecco, bravest of the brave, cowered before his captain, crying 'No,no'; but Hook was purring to his claw.
'Did you say you would go, Cecco?' he said musingly.
Cecco went, first flinging up his arms despairingly. There was no moresinging, all listened now; and again came a death-screech and again acrow.
No one spoke except Slightly. 'Three,' he said.
Hook rallied his dogs with a gesture. ''Sdeath and odds fish,' hethundered, 'who is to bring me that doodle-doo?'
'Wait till Cecco comes out,' growled Starkey, and the others took up thecry.
'I think I heard you volunteer, Starkey,' said Hook, purring again.
'No, by thunder!' Starkey cried.
'My hook thinks you did,' said Hook, crossing to him. 'I wonder if itwould not be advisable, Starkey, to humour the hook?'
'I'll swing before I go in there,' replied Starkey doggedly, and againhe had the support of the crew.
'Is it mutiny?' asked Hook more pleasantly than ever. 'Starkey'sringleader.'
'Captain, mercy,' Starkey whimpered, all of a tremble now.
'Shake hands, Starkey,' said Hook, proffering his claw.
Starkey looked round for help, but all deserted him. As he backed Hookadvanced, and now the red spark was in his eye. With a despairing screamthe pirate leapt upon Long Tom and precipitated himself into the sea.
'Four,' said Slightly.
'And now,' Hook asked courteously, 'did any other gentleman say mutiny?'Seizing a lantern and raising his claw with a menacing gesture, 'I'llbring out that doodle-doo myself,' he said, and sped into the cabin.
'Five.' How Slightly longed to say it. He wetted his lips to be ready,but Hook came staggering out, without his lantern.
'Something blew out the light,' he said a little unsteadily.
'Something!' echoed Mullins.
'What of Cecco?' demanded Noodler.
'He's as dead as Jukes,' said Hook shortly.
His reluctance to return to the cabin impressed them all unfavourably,and the mutinous sounds again broke forth. All pirates aresuperstitious; and Cookson cried, 'They do say the surest sign a ship'saccurst is when there's one on board more than can be accounted for.'
'I've heard,' muttered Mullins, 'he always boards the pirate craft atlast. Had he a tail, captain?'
'They say,' said another, looking viciously at Hook, 'that when hecomes it's in the likeness of the wickedest man aboard.'
'Had he a hook, captain?' asked Cookson insolently; and one afteranother took up the cry, 'The ship's doomed.' At this the children couldnot resist raising a cheer. Hook had well-nigh forgotten his prisoners,but as he swung round on them now his face lit up again.
'Lads,' he cried to his crew, 'here's a notion. Open the cabin door anddrive them in. Let them fight the doodle-doo for their lives. If theykill him, we're so much the better; if he kills them, we're none theworse.'
For the last time his dogs admired Hook, and devotedly they did hisbidding. The boys, pretending to struggle, were pushed into the cabinand the door was closed on them.
'Now, listen,' cried Hook, and all listened. But not one dared to facethe door. Yes, one, Wendy, who all this time had been bound to the mast.It was for neither a scream nor a crow that she was watching; it was forthe reappearance of Peter.
She had not long to wait. In the cabin he had found the thing for whichhe had gone in search: the key that would free the children of theirmanacles; and now they all stole forth, armed with such weapons as theycould find. First signing to them to hide, Peter cut Wendy's bonds, andthen nothing could have been easier than for them all to fly offtogether; but one thing barred the way, an oath, 'Hook or me this time.'So when he had freed Wendy, he whispered to her to conceal herself withthe others, and himself took her place by the mast, her cloak around himso that he should pass for her. Then he took a great breath and crowed.
To the pirates it was a voice crying that all the boys lay slain in thecabin; and they were panic-stricken. Hook tried to hearten them; butlike the dogs he had made them they showed him their fangs, and he knewthat if he took his eyes off them now they would leap at him.
'Lads,' he said, ready to cajole or strike as need be, but neverquailing for an instant, 'I've thought it out. There's a Jonah abroad.'
'Ay,' they snarled, 'a man wi' a hook.'
'No, lads, no, it's the girl. Never was luck on a pirate ship wi' awoman on board. We'll right the ship when she's gone.'
Some of them remembered that this had been a saying of Flint's. 'It'sworth trying,' they said doubtfully.
'Fling the girl overboard,' cried Hook; and they made a rush at thefigure in the cloak.
'There's none can save you now, missy,' Mullins hissed jeeringly.
'There's one,' replied the figure.
'Who's that?'
'Peter Pan the avenger!' came the terrible answer; and as he spoke Peterflung off his cloak. Then they all knew who 'twas that had been undoingthem in the cabin, and twice Hook essayed to speak and twice he failed.In that frightful moment I think his fierce heart broke.
At last he cried, 'Cleave him to the brisket,' but without conviction.
'Down, boys, and at them,' Peter's voice rang out; and in another momentthe clash of arms was resounding through the ship. Had the pirates kepttogether it is certain that they would have won; but the onset camewhen they were all unstrung, and they ran hither and thither, strikingwildly, each thinking himself the last survivor of the crew. Man to manthey were the stronger; but they fought on the defensive only, whichenabled the boys to hunt in pairs and choose their quarry. Some of themiscreants leapt into the sea; others hid in dark recesses, where theywere found by Slightly, who did not fight, but ran about with a lanternwhich he flashed in their faces, so that they were half blinded and fellan easy prey to the reeking swords of the other boys. There was littlesound to be heard but the clang of weapons, an occasional screech orsplash, and Slightly monotonously counting--five--six--seven--eight--nine--ten--eleven.
I think all were gone when a group of savage boys surrounded Hook, whoseemed to have a charmed life, as he kept them at bay in that circle offire. They had done for his dogs, but this man alone seemed to be amatch for them all. Again and again they closed upon him, and again andagain he hewed a clear space. He had lifted up one boy with his hook,and was using him as a buckler, when another, who had just passed hissword through Mullins, sprang into the fray.
'Put up your swords, boys,' cried the newcomer, 'this man is mine.'
THIS MAN IS MINE!]
Thus suddenly Hook found himself face to face with Peter. The othersdrew back and formed a ring round them.
For long the two enemies looked at one another; Hook shudderingslightly, and Peter with the strange smile upon his face.
'So, Pan,' said Hook at last, 'this is all your doing.'
'Ay, James Hook,' came the stern answer, 'it is all my doing.'
'Proud and insolent youth,' said Hook, 'prepare to meet thy doom.'
'Dark and sinister man,' Peter answered, 'have at thee.'
Without more words they fell to, and for a space there was no advantageto either blade. Peter was a superb swordsman, and parried with dazzlingrapidity; ever and anon he followed up a feint with a lunge that gotpast his foe's defence, but his shorter reach stood him in ill stead,and he could not drive the steel home. Hook, scarcely his inferior inbrilliancy, but not quite so nimble in wrist play, forced him back bythe weight of his onset, hoping suddenly to end all with a favouritethrust, taught him long ago by Barbecue at Rio; but to his astonishmenthe found this thrust turned aside again and again. Then he sought toclose and give the quietus with his iron hook, which all this time hadbeen pawing the air; but Peter doubled under it and, lunging fiercely,pierced him in the ribs. At sight of his own blood, whose peculiarcolour, you remember, was offensive to him, the sword fell from Hook'shand, and he was at Peter's mercy.
'Now!' cried all the boys; but with a magnificent gesture Peter invitedhis opponent to pick up his sword. Hook did so instantly, but with atragic feeling that Peter was showing good form.
Hitherto he had thought it was some fiend fighting him, but darkersuspicions assailed him now.
'Pan, who and what art thou?' he cried huskily.
'I'm youth, I'm joy,' Peter answered at a venture, 'I'm a little birdthat has broken out of the egg.'
This, of course, was nonsense; but it was proof to the unhappy Hook thatPeter did not know in the least who or what he was, which is the verypinnacle of good form.
'To 't again,' he cried despairingly.
He fought now like a human flail, and every sweep of that terrible swordwould have severed in twain any man or boy who obstructed it; but Peterfluttered round him as if the very wind it made blew him out of thedanger zone. And again and again he darted in and pricked.
Hook was fighting now without hope. That passionate breast no longerasked for life; but for one boon it craved: to see Peter bad form beforeit was cold for ever.
Abandoning the fight he rushed into the powder magazine and fired it.
'In two minutes,' he cried, 'the ship will be blown to pieces.'
Now, now, he thought, true form will show.
But Peter issued from the powder magazine with the shell in his hands,and calmly flung it overboard.
What sort of form was Hook himself showing? Misguided man though he was,we may be glad, without sympathising with him, that in the end he wastrue to the traditions of his race. The other boys were flying aroundhim now, flouting, scornful; and as he staggered about the deck strikingup at them impotently, his mind was no longer with them; it wasslouching in the playing fields of long ago, or being sent up for good,or watching the wall-game from a famous wall. And his shoes were right,and his waistcoat was right, and his tie was right, and his socks wereright.
James Hook, thou not wholly unheroic figure, farewell.
For we have come to his last moment.
Seeing Peter slowly advancing upon him through the air with daggerpoised, he sprang upon the bulwarks to cast himself into the sea. He didnot know that the crocodile was waiting for him; for we purposelystopped the clock that this knowledge might be spared him: a little markof respect from us at the end.
He had one last triumph, which I think we need not grudge him. As hestood on the bulwark looking over his shoulder at Peter gliding throughthe air, he invited him with a gesture to use his foot. It made Peterkick instead of stab.
At last Hook had got the boon for which he craved.
'Bad form,' he cried jeeringly, and went content to the crocodile.
Thus perished James Hook.
'Seventeen,' Slightly sang out; but he was not quite correct in hisfigures. Fifteen paid the penalty for their crimes that night; but tworeached the shore: Starkey to be captured by the redskins, who made himnurse for all their papooses, a melancholy come-down for a pirate; andSmee, who henceforth wandered about the world in his spectacles, makinga precarious living by saying he was the only man that Jas. Hook hadfeared.
Wendy, of course, had stood by taking no part in the fight, thoughwatching Peter with glistening eyes; but now that all was over shebecame prominent again. She praised them equally, and shuddereddelightfully when Michael showed her the place where he had killed one;and then she took them into Hook's cabin and pointed to his watch whichwas hanging on a nail. It said 'half-past one'!
The lateness of the hour was almost the biggest thing of all. She gotthem to bed in the pirates' bunks pretty quickly, you may be sure; allbut Peter, who strutted up and down on deck, until at last he fellasleep by the side of Long Tom. He had one of his dreams that night, andcried in his sleep for a long time, and Wendy held him tight.