April 17, 2025 • 21 mins
Peter Pan returns to steal Wendy and her brothers away to a magical land. Together they encounter Tinker Bell, Captain Hook, and countless fantastical challenges in this beloved fantasy classic.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
The public domain recording by Patrick Seville, Chapter fifteen, Hook
or me. This time, odd things happened to all of
us on our way through life, without our noticing for
a time that they have happened. Thus, to take an instance,
we suddenly discover that we have been deaf in one
year for we don't know how long, but say half
(00:22):
an hour. Now. Such an experience had come that night
to Peter. When last we saw him, he was stealing
across the island with one finger to his lips and
his dagger at the ready. He had seen the crocodile
pass by without noticing anything peculiar about it, But by
and bye he remembered that it had not been ticking.
(00:43):
At first, he thought this eerie, but soon concluded rightly
that the clock had run down without giving a thought
to what might be the feelings of a fellow creature.
Thus abruptly deprived of its closest companion, Peter began to
consider how he could turn the catastrophe to his use,
and he decided to tick, so that the wild beasts
(01:03):
should believe that he was a crocodile and let him
pass unmolested. He ticked superbly, but with one unforeseen result.
The crocodile was among those who had heard that sound
and followed him, though whether with the purpose of regaining
what it had lost or merely as a friend under
the belief that it was again ticking itself, would never
(01:25):
be certainly known, for, like slaves to a fixed idea,
it was a stupid beast. Peter reached the shore without mishap,
and went straight on his legs, encountering the water as
if quite unaware that they had entered a new element. Thus,
many animals passed from land to water, but no other
human of whom I know. As he swam, he had
(01:48):
but one thought hook or me. This time he had
ticked so long that he now went on ticking without
knowing that he was doing it. Had he known, he
would have stopped for to board the brig by help
of the tick, though an ingenious idea had not occurred
to him. On the contrary, he thought he had scaled
(02:09):
her side as noiseless as a mouse, and he was
amazed to see the pirates cowering from him with hook
in their midst, as abject as if he had heard
the crocodile. The crocodile no sooner did Peter remember it
than he heard the ticking. At first he thought the
sound did come from the crocodile, and he looked behind
(02:31):
him swiftly. Then he realized that he was doing it himself,
and in a flash he understood a 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 taineit. The quartermaster emerged from the forecastle
(02:52):
and came along the deck. Now, reader, time, what happened?
By your watch? Peter struck true and deep. John clapped
his hands on the ill fated pirate's mouth to stifle
a dying groan. He fell forward. Four boys caught him
to prevent the thud. Peter gave the signal, and the
carrion was cast overboard. There was a splash, and then silence.
(03:18):
How long has it taken? One slightly had begun to
count none too soon, Peter, every inch of him on tiptoe,
vanished into the cabin. For more than one pirate was
screwing up his courage to look around. They could hear
each other's distressed breathing now, which showed them that the
(03:39):
more terrible sound had passed. It's gone, Captain Smee said,
wiping off his spectacles, all still again. Slowly, Hook let
his head emerge from his ruff and listened so intently
that he could have caught the echo of the tick.
There was not a sound, and he drew himself up
(04:00):
firmly to his full height. Then here's to Johnny Palank,
he cried, brazingly, hating the boys more than ever because
they had seen him on bend. He broke into the
villainous ditty Yoho, Yoho, the fresky plank. You walk so long,
so tilt, it goes down, and you goes down to
(04:22):
Davy Jones below. To terrorize the prisoners the more, though
with a certain loss of dignity, he danced along the
imaginary plank, grimacing at them as he sang, And when
he finished, he cried, do you want a touch of
the cat of nine tails before you walk the plank?
At that? They fell on their knees. No, no, they
(04:43):
cried so piteously that 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. Aye, Aye,
said Jukes blidly, and he strode into the cabin. They
followed him with their eyes. They scarce knew that Hook
(05:04):
had resumed his song. His dogs joined in with him. Yoho, yohoe.
The scratching cat it bites our nine, you know. And
when there's writ upon your back? What was the last line?
Will never be known, For of a sudden, the song
was stayed by a dreadful streech from the cabin. It
(05:26):
wailed through the ship and died away. Then was heard
a crowing sound, which was well understood by the boys,
but to the pirates was almost more eerie than the screech.
What was that, cried Hook two said, slightly solemnly. The
Italian sea cho hesitated for a moment, and then swung
(05:48):
into the cabin. He tottered out, haggard, what's the matter
with Bill Juke's you dog his hook towering over him.
The matter wi him is he's stabbed, replied Cicco in
a hollow voice. Bill Juke's dead, cried the startled pirates.
(06:09):
The cabin's as black as a pit, Sicho said, almost gibbering.
But there is something terrible in there. The thing you
heard crowing The exultation of the boys the lowering looks
of the pirates. Both were seen by Hook. Sicho. He said,
in his most steely voice, go back and fetch me
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out that doodle do. Sicho, bravest of the brave, cowered
before his captain, crying no, no, But Hook was purring
to his claw. Did you say you would go, Sicho,
he said, musingly. Sicho went first, finging his arm despairingly.
There was no more singing. All listened now and again
(06:54):
came a death screech, and again a crow. No one
spoke except slightly three, he said. Hook rallied his dogs
with a gesture. It's death in odds. Fish, he thundered,
who is to bring me that doodle doo? Wait till
Sicho comes out, growled Starkey, and the others took up
(07:15):
the cry. 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
it would not be advisable, Starkey, to humor the hook.
(07:36):
I'll swing before I go in there, replied Starkey doggedly,
and again he had the support of the crew. Is
this mutiny, asked Hook, more pleasantly than ever. Starkey's ringleader,
Captain Mercy Starkey, whimpered, all of I tremble. Now shake hands, Starkey,
(07:58):
said Hook, proffering his claw. Starkey looked around for help,
but all deserted him. As he backed up, Hook advanced,
and now the red spark was in his eye. With
a despairing scream, the pirate liaped upon long tom and
precipated himself into the sea. Four said slightly, And now
(08:21):
Hook said courteously, did any other gentleman say mutiny? Seizing
a lantern and raising his claw with a menacing gesture.
I'll bring out that. Due'll do 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
(08:42):
staggering out without his lantern. Something blew out the light,
he said, a little unsteadily. Something echoed mullins. What of Sicho,
demanded Noodler. He's as dead as jukes, said Hook. Shortly.
His reluctance to return to the cabin impressed them all unfavorably,
(09:05):
and the mutinous sounds again broke forth. All pirates are superstitious,
and Cookson cried, They do say. The surest sign a
ship's accursed is when there's one on board more than
can be accounted for. I've heard muttered Mullins. He always
boards a pirate craft. Last had he a tail, captain?
(09:28):
They say, said another, looking viciously at Hook, that when
he comes, it's in the likeness of the wickedest man aboard.
Had he a hook? Captain, asked Cookson insolently, and one
after another took up the cry the ship's doomed. At this,
the children could not resist raising a cheer. Hook had
(09:52):
will and igh forgotten his prisoners, But as he swung
round on them, now his face lit up again. Lads,
he cried to his crew. Now here's a notion. Open
the cabin door and drive them in. Let them fight,
the little do for their lives. If they kill him,
were so much the better. If he kills them, were
(10:14):
none the worse. For the last time, his dogs admired Hook,
and devotedly they did his bidding. The boys, pretending to struggle,
were pushed into the cabin, and the door was closed
on them. Now listen, cried Hook, and all listened, But
no one dared to face the door. Yes, one Wendy,
(10:37):
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 for the reappearance of Peter.
She had not long to wait in the cabin. He
had found the thing for which she had gone in search,
the key that would free the children of their manacles.
(10:57):
And now they all stole forth, armed with such way
weapons as they could find. First signing them to hide,
Peter cut Wendy's bonds, and then nothing could have been
easier than for them all to fly off together. But
one thing barred the way, an oath Hook or me
this time. So when he had freed Wendy, he whispered
(11:17):
for her to conceal herself with the others, and himself
took her place by the mast, her cloak around him
so that he could pass for her. Then he took
a great breath and crowed to the pirates. It was
a voice crying that all the boys laid slain in
the cabin, and they were panic stricken. Hook tried to
hearten them, but like the dogs had made them, they
(11:39):
showed him their fangs, and he knew that 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 never queeling for an instant. I've thought it out.
There's a jonah a board, aye, they snarled, a man
(12:02):
with a hook. No, lad's no, it's the girl. Never
was luck on a pirate's ship with a woman on board.
We'll right the ship when she's gone. Some of them
remembered that this had been a saying of flints. It's
worth trying, they said, doubtfully. Fling the girl overboard, cried
(12:24):
hook as they made a rush at the figure in
the cloak. There's none can save you now, Missy Mullins
hissed jeeringly. There's one, replied the figure. Who's that? Peter
panned The avenger came the terrible answer, and as he spoke,
Peter flung off his cloak. Then they all knew who
(12:45):
twas that had been undoing them in the cabin. And
twice hook A sayed to speak, and twice he failed,
and 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,
(13:06):
and in another moment the clash of arms was resounding
through the ship. Had the pirates kept together, it is
certain that they would have won. But the onset came
when they were all still unstrung, and they ran hither
and thither, striking wildly, each thinking himself the last survivor
of the crew. Man to man, they were the stronger,
(13:27):
but they fought on the defensive only, which enabled the
boys to hunt in pairs and choose their quarry. Some
of the mystriants leaped into the sea. Others hid in
dark recesses, where they were found by Slightly, who did
not fight, but ran about with the lantern, which he
flashed in their faces. So they were half blinded and
(13:47):
fell as in easy prey to the reeking swords of
the other boys. There was little sound to be heard
but the clang of weapons, an occasional screech or splash,
and slightly monotony. Counting five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven.
I think all were gone when a group of savage
(14:09):
boys surrounded Hook, who seemed to have a charmed life
as he kept them at bay. In that circle of fire,
they had done for his dogs, but this man alone
seemed to be a match for them all. Again and
again they closed upon him, and again and again he
hewed a clear space. He had lifted up one boy
(14:31):
with his hook and was using him as a buckler,
when another, who had just passed his sword through Mullins,
sprang into the fray. Footnote, buckler, shield and footnote. Put
up your swords, boys, cried the newcomer. This man is mine.
Then suddenly Hook found himself face to face with Peter.
(14:53):
The others drew back and formed a ring around them.
For long the two enemies looked at one another, Hook
shuddering slightly, and Peter with a strange smile upon his face.
So Paan said Hook, at last, this is all your doing,
I James. Hook. Came the stern answer, It is all
(15:16):
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 too, and for
a space there was no advantage to either blade. Peter
was a superb swordsman and parried with dazzling rapidity. Ever
(15:40):
and anon, he followed up a faint with a lunge
that got past his foe's defense, but his shorter reach
stood him in ill stead, and he could not die
of the still home Hook scarcely, his inferior and brilliancy,
but not quite so nimble in wrist play, forced him
back by the height of his onset, hoping suddenly to
(16:02):
end all with a favorite thrust taught him long ago
by barbecue at rio, But to his astonishment, he found
his thrust turned aside again and again. Then he sought
to close and give the quietness with his iron hook,
which all this time had been pawing the air, But
Peter doubled under it, and, lunging fiercely, pierced him in
(16:24):
the ribs. At the sight of his own blood, whose
peculiar color you remember, was offensive to him, the sword
fell from Hook's hand, and he was at Peter's mercy.
Now cried all the boys. But with a magnificent gesture,
Peter invited his opponent to pick up his sword. Hook
(16:44):
did so instantly, but with a tragic feeling that Peter
was showing good form. Hitherto he had thought it was
some fiend fighting him, but darker suspicions assailed him now pan,
Who and what art thou? He cried, huskily, I'm youth,
I am joy, Peter answered, at a venture, I am
(17:06):
a little bird that has broken out of the egg. This,
of course was nonsense, but it was proved to the
unhappy Hook that Peter did not know in the least
who or what he was, which is a very pinnacle
of good form. To it again, he cried despairingly. He
fought now like a human flail, and every step of
(17:26):
that terrible sword would have severed in twain any man
or boy who obstructed it. But Peter fluttered around him,
as if the very wind it made blue him out
of the danger zone. And again and again he darted
in and pricked. Hook was fighting now without hope. That
passionate breast no longer asked for life, but for one boon.
(17:48):
It craved to see Peter show bad form before it
was cold. Forever 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
(18:09):
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
sympathizing with him, that in the end he was true
to the traditions of his race. The other boys were
flying round him now, flouting scornful and he staggered about
(18:33):
the deck, striking up at them impotently. His mind was
no longer with them. It was slouching in the playing
fields of long ago, or being sent up to the
head master 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
(18:53):
socks were right. James Hook, thou not wholly on heroic figure. Farewell,
for we have come to his last moment. Seeing Peter
slowly advancing upon him through the air with a dagger poised,
he sprang upon the bulwarks to cast himself into the sea.
He did not know that the crocodile was waiting for him,
(19:17):
for we purposely stopped the clock that this knowledge might
be spared him a little mark of respect from us.
At the end, he had one last triumph, which I
think we need not grudge him. As he stood on
the bulwark looking over his shoulder at Peter gliding through
the air, he invited him with a gesture to use
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his foot. It made Peter kick instead of stab. At last,
Hook had got the boon for which he craved bad form.
He cried jeuringly and went content to the crocodile. Thus
perished James Hook seventeen slightly sang out he was not
(20:01):
quite correct in his figures. Fifteen paid the penalty for
their crimes that night, but to reach the shore, Starkey
to be captured by the Redskins, who made him nurse
for all their papooses, a melancholy come down for a pirate,
and Smee, who henceforth wandered about the world in his spectacles,
making a precarious living by saying he was the only
(20:24):
man that ess Hook had feared. Wendy, of course, had
stood by, taking no part in the fight, though watching
Peter with glistening eyes. But now that all was over,
she became prominent again. She praised them equally and shuddered
delightfully when Michael showed her the place where he had
killed one. And then she took them into Hook's cabin
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and pointed to his watch, which was hanging on a nail.
It said half past one. The lateness of the hour
was almost the biggest thing of all. She got them
to bed in the pirate's bunks pretty quickly, you may
be sure, But all Peter, who strutted up and down
on the deck until at last he fell asleep by
(21:08):
the side of long Time. He had one of his
dreams that night, and cried in his sleep for a
long time, and Wendy held him tightly. End of chapter fifteen.
The public domain recording by Patrick Seville, Chapter fifteen, Hook
or me. This time, odd things happened to all of
us on our way through life, without our noticing for
a time that they have happened. Thus, to take an instance,
we suddenly discover that we have been deaf in one
year for we don't know how long, but say half
(00:22):
an hour. Now. Such an experience had come that night
to Peter. When last we saw him, he was stealing
across the island with one finger to his lips and
his dagger at the ready. He had seen the crocodile
pass by without noticing anything peculiar about it, But by
and bye he remembered that it had not been ticking.
(00:43):
At first, he thought this eerie, but soon concluded rightly
that the clock had run down without giving a thought
to what might be the feelings of a fellow creature.
Thus abruptly deprived of its closest companion, Peter began to
consider how he could turn the catastrophe to his use,
and he decided to tick, so that the wild beasts
(01:03):
should believe that he was a crocodile and let him
pass unmolested. He ticked superbly, but with one unforeseen result.
The crocodile was among those who had heard that sound
and followed him, though whether with the purpose of regaining
what it had lost or merely as a friend under
the belief that it was again ticking itself, would never
(01:25):
be certainly known, for, like slaves to a fixed idea,
it was a stupid beast. Peter reached the shore without mishap,
and went straight on his legs, encountering the water as
if quite unaware that they had entered a new element. Thus,
many animals passed from land to water, but no other
human of whom I know. As he swam, he had
(01:48):
but one thought hook or me. This time he had
ticked so long that he now went on ticking without
knowing that he was doing it. Had he known, he
would have stopped for to board the brig by help
of the tick, though an ingenious idea had not occurred
to him. On the contrary, he thought he had scaled
(02:09):
her side as noiseless as a mouse, and he was
amazed to see the pirates cowering from him with hook
in their midst, as abject as if he had heard
the crocodile. The crocodile no sooner did Peter remember it
than he heard the ticking. At first he thought the
sound did come from the crocodile, and he looked behind
(02:31):
him swiftly. Then he realized that he was doing it himself,
and in a flash he understood a 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 taineit. The quartermaster emerged from the forecastle
(02:52):
and came along the deck. Now, reader, time, what happened?
By your watch? Peter struck true and deep. John clapped
his hands on the ill fated pirate's mouth to stifle
a dying groan. He fell forward. Four boys caught him
to prevent the thud. Peter gave the signal, and the
carrion was cast overboard. There was a splash, and then silence.
(03:18):
How long has it taken? One slightly had begun to
count none too soon, Peter, every inch of him on tiptoe,
vanished into the cabin. For more than one pirate was
screwing up his courage to look around. They could hear
each other's distressed breathing now, which showed them that the
(03:39):
more terrible sound had passed. It's gone, Captain Smee said,
wiping off his spectacles, all still again. Slowly, Hook let
his head emerge from his ruff and listened so intently
that he could have caught the echo of the tick.
There was not a sound, and he drew himself up
(04:00):
firmly to his full height. Then here's to Johnny Palank,
he cried, brazingly, hating the boys more than ever because
they had seen him on bend. He broke into the
villainous ditty Yoho, Yoho, the fresky plank. You walk so long,
so tilt, it goes down, and you goes down to
(04:22):
Davy Jones below. To terrorize the prisoners the more, though
with a certain loss of dignity, he danced along the
imaginary plank, grimacing at them as he sang, And when
he finished, he cried, do you want a touch of
the cat of nine tails before you walk the plank?
At that? They fell on their knees. No, no, they
(04:43):
cried so piteously that 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. Aye, Aye,
said Jukes blidly, and he strode into the cabin. They
followed him with their eyes. They scarce knew that Hook
(05:04):
had resumed his song. His dogs joined in with him. Yoho, yohoe.
The scratching cat it bites our nine, you know. And
when there's writ upon your back? What was the last line?
Will never be known, For of a sudden, the song
was stayed by a dreadful streech from the cabin. It
(05:26):
wailed through the ship and died away. Then was heard
a crowing sound, which was well understood by the boys,
but to the pirates was almost more eerie than the screech.
What was that, cried Hook two said, slightly solemnly. The
Italian sea cho hesitated for a moment, and then swung
(05:48):
into the cabin. He tottered out, haggard, what's the matter
with Bill Juke's you dog his hook towering over him.
The matter wi him is he's stabbed, replied Cicco in
a hollow voice. Bill Juke's dead, cried the startled pirates.
(06:09):
The cabin's as black as a pit, Sicho said, almost gibbering.
But there is something terrible in there. The thing you
heard crowing The exultation of the boys the lowering looks
of the pirates. Both were seen by Hook. Sicho. He said,
in his most steely voice, go back and fetch me
(06:31):
out that doodle do. Sicho, bravest of the brave, cowered
before his captain, crying no, no, But Hook was purring
to his claw. Did you say you would go, Sicho,
he said, musingly. Sicho went first, finging his arm despairingly.
There was no more singing. All listened now and again
(06:54):
came a death screech, and again a crow. No one
spoke except slightly three, he said. Hook rallied his dogs
with a gesture. It's death in odds. Fish, he thundered,
who is to bring me that doodle doo? Wait till
Sicho comes out, growled Starkey, and the others took up
(07:15):
the cry. 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
it would not be advisable, Starkey, to humor the hook.
(07:36):
I'll swing before I go in there, replied Starkey doggedly,
and again he had the support of the crew. Is
this mutiny, asked Hook, more pleasantly than ever. Starkey's ringleader,
Captain Mercy Starkey, whimpered, all of I tremble. Now shake hands, Starkey,
(07:58):
said Hook, proffering his claw. Starkey looked around for help,
but all deserted him. As he backed up, Hook advanced,
and now the red spark was in his eye. With
a despairing scream, the pirate liaped upon long tom and
precipated himself into the sea. Four said slightly, And now
(08:21):
Hook said courteously, did any other gentleman say mutiny? Seizing
a lantern and raising his claw with a menacing gesture.
I'll bring out that. Due'll do 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
(08:42):
staggering out without his lantern. Something blew out the light,
he said, a little unsteadily. Something echoed mullins. What of Sicho,
demanded Noodler. He's as dead as jukes, said Hook. Shortly.
His reluctance to return to the cabin impressed them all unfavorably,
(09:05):
and the mutinous sounds again broke forth. All pirates are superstitious,
and Cookson cried, They do say. The surest sign a
ship's accursed is when there's one on board more than
can be accounted for. I've heard muttered Mullins. He always
boards a pirate craft. Last had he a tail, captain?
(09:28):
They say, said another, looking viciously at Hook, that when
he comes, it's in the likeness of the wickedest man aboard.
Had he a hook? Captain, asked Cookson insolently, and one
after another took up the cry the ship's doomed. At this,
the children could not resist raising a cheer. Hook had
(09:52):
will and igh forgotten his prisoners, But as he swung
round on them, now his face lit up again. Lads,
he cried to his crew. Now here's a notion. Open
the cabin door and drive them in. Let them fight,
the little do for their lives. If they kill him,
were so much the better. If he kills them, were
(10:14):
none the worse. For the last time, his dogs admired Hook,
and devotedly they did his bidding. The boys, pretending to struggle,
were pushed into the cabin, and the door was closed
on them. Now listen, cried Hook, and all listened, But
no one dared to face the door. Yes, one Wendy,
(10:37):
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 for the reappearance of Peter.
She had not long to wait in the cabin. He
had found the thing for which she had gone in search,
the key that would free the children of their manacles.
(10:57):
And now they all stole forth, armed with such way
weapons as they could find. First signing them to hide,
Peter cut Wendy's bonds, and then nothing could have been
easier than for them all to fly off together. But
one thing barred the way, an oath Hook or me
this time. So when he had freed Wendy, he whispered
(11:17):
for her to conceal herself with the others, and himself
took her place by the mast, her cloak around him
so that he could pass for her. Then he took
a great breath and crowed to the pirates. It was
a voice crying that all the boys laid slain in
the cabin, and they were panic stricken. Hook tried to
hearten them, but like the dogs had made them, they
(11:39):
showed him their fangs, and he knew that 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 never queeling for an instant. I've thought it out.
There's a jonah a board, aye, they snarled, a man
(12:02):
with a hook. No, lad's no, it's the girl. Never
was luck on a pirate's ship with a woman on board.
We'll right the ship when she's gone. Some of them
remembered that this had been a saying of flints. It's
worth trying, they said, doubtfully. Fling the girl overboard, cried
(12:24):
hook as they made a rush at the figure in
the cloak. There's none can save you now, Missy Mullins
hissed jeeringly. There's one, replied the figure. Who's that? Peter
panned The avenger came the terrible answer, and as he spoke,
Peter flung off his cloak. Then they all knew who
(12:45):
twas that had been undoing them in the cabin. And
twice hook A sayed to speak, and twice he failed,
and 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,
(13:06):
and in another moment the clash of arms was resounding
through the ship. Had the pirates kept together, it is
certain that they would have won. But the onset came
when they were all still unstrung, and they ran hither
and thither, striking wildly, each thinking himself the last survivor
of the crew. Man to man, they were the stronger,
(13:27):
but they fought on the defensive only, which enabled the
boys to hunt in pairs and choose their quarry. Some
of the mystriants leaped into the sea. Others hid in
dark recesses, where they were found by Slightly, who did
not fight, but ran about with the lantern, which he
flashed in their faces. So they were half blinded and
(13:47):
fell as in easy prey to the reeking swords of
the other boys. There was little sound to be heard
but the clang of weapons, an occasional screech or splash,
and slightly monotony. Counting five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven.
I think all were gone when a group of savage
(14:09):
boys surrounded Hook, who seemed to have a charmed life
as he kept them at bay. In that circle of fire,
they had done for his dogs, but this man alone
seemed to be a match for them all. Again and
again they closed upon him, and again and again he
hewed a clear space. He had lifted up one boy
(14:31):
with his hook and was using him as a buckler,
when another, who had just passed his sword through Mullins,
sprang into the fray. Footnote, buckler, shield and footnote. Put
up your swords, boys, cried the newcomer. This man is mine.
Then suddenly Hook found himself face to face with Peter.
(14:53):
The others drew back and formed a ring around them.
For long the two enemies looked at one another, Hook
shuddering slightly, and Peter with a strange smile upon his face.
So Paan said Hook, at last, this is all your doing,
I James. Hook. Came the stern answer, It is all
(15:16):
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 too, and for
a space there was no advantage to either blade. Peter
was a superb swordsman and parried with dazzling rapidity. Ever
(15:40):
and anon, he followed up a faint with a lunge
that got past his foe's defense, but his shorter reach
stood him in ill stead, and he could not die
of the still home Hook scarcely, his inferior and brilliancy,
but not quite so nimble in wrist play, forced him
back by the height of his onset, hoping suddenly to
(16:02):
end all with a favorite thrust taught him long ago
by barbecue at rio, But to his astonishment, he found
his thrust turned aside again and again. Then he sought
to close and give the quietness with his iron hook,
which all this time had been pawing the air, But
Peter doubled under it, and, lunging fiercely, pierced him in
(16:24):
the ribs. At the sight of his own blood, whose
peculiar color you remember, was offensive to him, the sword
fell from Hook's hand, and he was at Peter's mercy.
Now cried all the boys. But with a magnificent gesture,
Peter invited his opponent to pick up his sword. Hook
(16:44):
did so instantly, but with a tragic feeling that Peter
was showing good form. Hitherto he had thought it was
some fiend fighting him, but darker suspicions assailed him now pan,
Who and what art thou? He cried, huskily, I'm youth,
I am joy, Peter answered, at a venture, I am
(17:06):
a little bird that has broken out of the egg. This,
of course was nonsense, but it was proved to the
unhappy Hook that Peter did not know in the least
who or what he was, which is a very pinnacle
of good form. To it again, he cried despairingly. He
fought now like a human flail, and every step of
(17:26):
that terrible sword would have severed in twain any man
or boy who obstructed it. But Peter fluttered around him,
as if the very wind it made blue him out
of the danger zone. And again and again he darted
in and pricked. Hook was fighting now without hope. That
passionate breast no longer asked for life, but for one boon.
(17:48):
It craved to see Peter show bad form before it
was cold. Forever 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
(18:09):
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
sympathizing with him, that in the end he was true
to the traditions of his race. The other boys were
flying round him now, flouting scornful and he staggered about
(18:33):
the deck, striking up at them impotently. His mind was
no longer with them. It was slouching in the playing
fields of long ago, or being sent up to the
head master 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
(18:53):
socks were right. James Hook, thou not wholly on heroic figure. Farewell,
for we have come to his last moment. Seeing Peter
slowly advancing upon him through the air with a dagger poised,
he sprang upon the bulwarks to cast himself into the sea.
He did not know that the crocodile was waiting for him,
(19:17):
for we purposely stopped the clock that this knowledge might
be spared him a little mark of respect from us.
At the end, he had one last triumph, which I
think we need not grudge him. As he stood on
the bulwark looking over his shoulder at Peter gliding through
the air, he invited him with a gesture to use
(19:38):
his foot. It made Peter kick instead of stab. At last,
Hook had got the boon for which he craved bad form.
He cried jeuringly and went content to the crocodile. Thus
perished James Hook seventeen slightly sang out he was not
(20:01):
quite correct in his figures. Fifteen paid the penalty for
their crimes that night, but to reach the shore, Starkey
to be captured by the Redskins, who made him nurse
for all their papooses, a melancholy come down for a pirate,
and Smee, who henceforth wandered about the world in his spectacles,
making a precarious living by saying he was the only
(20:24):
man that ess Hook had feared. Wendy, of course, had
stood by, taking no part in the fight, though watching
Peter with glistening eyes. But now that all was over,
she became prominent again. She praised them equally and shuddered
delightfully when Michael showed her the place where he had
killed one. And then she took them into Hook's cabin
(20:46):
and pointed to his watch, which was hanging on a nail.
It said half past one. The lateness of the hour
was almost the biggest thing of all. She got them
to bed in the pirate's bunks pretty quickly, you may
be sure, But all Peter, who strutted up and down
on the deck until at last he fell asleep by
(21:08):
the side of long Time. He had one of his
dreams that night, and cried in his sleep for a
long time, and Wendy held him tightly. End of chapter fifteen.
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