Peter Pan - "Hook or Me This Time"

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Episode Transcript

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This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in
the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please
visit librevox dot org. Peter Pan by J. M. Barry,
Chapter fifteen, Hook or Meet. This time, odd things happened

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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 an hour. Now. Such an experience had
come that night to Peter. When last we saw him,

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he was stealing across the island with one finger to
his lips and his dagger at the ready. He had
seen the crocodile passed by without noticing anything peculiar about it,
But by and by he remembered that it had not
been ticking. At first, he thought this eerie, but soon
concluded rightly that the clock had run down without giving

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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 own use, and he decided to dig, so that
wild beasts should believe he was the crocodile and let
him pass unmolestic. He ticked superbly, but with one unforeseen result.

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The crocodile was among those who heard the sound, and
it 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, will never
be certainly known. For slaves to a fixed idea, it
was a stupid beast. Peter reached the shore without mishap

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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 but one thought hook or me. This time he

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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 brick by
help of the tick, though an ingenious idea had not
occurred to him. On the contrary, he thought he had
scaled her side as noiseless as a mouse, and he

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was amazed to see the pirates covering 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 dicking. At first he thought
the sound did come from the crocodile, and he looked
behind him swiftly. Then he realized that he was doing

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it himself, 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 it taint. The quartermaster emerged from
the forecastle and came along the deck. Now, reader, time,

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what happened? By your watch? Peter stropped true and deep.
John clapped his hands on the ill fated pirate's mouth
to stifle the dying groom. 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,

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and then silence. 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 crewing up his courage to look round.
They could hear each other's distressed breathing now, which showed

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them that the 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

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himself up firmly to his full height. Then here stood
Johnny Plank, he cried, brazenly, hating the boys more than
ever because they had seen him unbent. He broke into
the villainous ditty. Yo, ho ye oh, hold the frisky blank.
You walks along it so till it goes down, and

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you goes down to Davy Jones below. To terrorize the
prisoners the more, though with a certain loss of dignity,
he danced along an imaginary plank, grimacing at them as
he sang. And when he finished, he cried, do you
want a touch of the cat on nine days before
you walk the plank? At that? They fell on their knees. No, no,

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they 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 blithely, and he strode into the cabin. They

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followed him with their eyes. They scarce knew that Hook
had resumed his song, his dogs joining in with him.
Yo ho, yo ho. The scratchin cat its tails are nine,
ye know, And when they are writ upon your back.
What was the last line will never be known, For

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of a sudden, the song was stayed by a dreadful
screech from the cabin. It 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 Checko hesitated for

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a moment, and then swung into the cabin. He tottered out, haggard,
what's the matter with Bill Jukes, you dog, hissed Hook,
towering over him. The matter with him is he's dead,
stab replied Cheko in a hollow voice. Bill Jukes dead,

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cried the startled pirates. The cabin's as black as a pit.
Cheko 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. Checko,

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he said, in his most steely voice, Go back and
fetch me out that doodledoo. Checko, bravest of the brave,
covered before his captain, crying no, no, but Hook WHI,
purring to his claw. Did you say you would go, Checko?

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He said, musingly. Jacko went first, flinging his arms despairingly.
There was no more singing or listen now and again
came a dead screech, and again a crow. No one
spoke except slightly three, he said. Hook rallied his dogs
with a gesture. Is depth the nought's fish? He thundered.

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Who is to bring me that doodledo? Wait till Cheko
comes out, growled Starkey, and the others took up the cry.
I think I heard you, volunteer, Starkey, said Hook, purring again.
No by thunder, Starkey cried, my hook thinks you did,

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said Hook, crossing to him. I wonder if it would
not be advisable, Starkey, to humor the hook I'll swim
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 is ringleader, Captain Mercy.

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Starkey whimpered, all of it trembled. Now, shake hands, Starkey,
said Hook, proffering his claw STAKEE looked round 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 leapt upon long tom and

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precipitated himself into the sea. Four said slightly, And now,
said Hook, courteously, did any other gentleman say mutiny? Seizing
a lantern and raising his claw with a menacing gesture.
I'll bring out that doodledom myself, he said, and sped

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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 Cheko,

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demanded Noodler. He's as dead as jukes, said Hook, shortly,
his reluctance to return to the cabin impressed them all unfavorably,
and the mutinous sounds again broke forth. All pirates are superstitious,
and cook Sin cried. They do say. The surest sign
a ship's accursed is when there's one on board more

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than can be accounted for. I've heard muttered mullins. He
always boats the pirate craft. Last Had he a tale, captain,
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 Cooksen insolently, and one

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after another took up the cry the ship's doomed. At this,
the children could not resist raising a cheer. Hook had
well nigh forgotten his prisoners, But as he swung round
on them, now his face licked up again. Lads, he
cried to his crew, Now here's a notion. Open the

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cabin door and drive them in. Let them fight the
doodle doo for their lives. If they kill him, we're
so much the better. If he kills them, we're 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

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on them. Now listen, cried Hook, and all listened, but
not one dared to face the door. Yes, one Wendy,
who all this time had been bound to the mast.
It was for neither a scream nor a crew that
she was watching. It was for the reappearance of Peter.

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She had not long to wait in the cabin. He
had found the thing for which he had gone in search,
the key that would free the children of their manacles.
And now they all stole forth, armed with such weapons
as they could find. First signing them to hide, Peter
cut Wendy's bonds, and then nothing could have been easier

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than for them all to fly off together. But one
thing barred the way, an oath. Hook o meet this time.
So when he had freed Wendy, he whispered for her
to conceal herself with the others, and himself took her
place by the mast, her cloak around him so that
he should pass for her. Then he took a great

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breath and crowed to the pirates. It was a voice
crying that all the boys lay slain in the cabin,
and they were panics, written. Hook tried to hearten them,
but like the dogs he had made them, they showed
him their fangs, and he knew that if he took
his eyes off them now, they would leap at him. Lads,

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he said, ready to casual or strike as need be,
but never quailing for an instant. I've thought it out.
There's a jonah aboard, aye, they snarled, a man with
a hook. No, lads, no, it's the girl. Never was
luck on a pirate ship with a woman on board.

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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 Hook,
and they made a rush at the figure in the cloak.
This none can save you now, Missy Mullin's hested jeeringly.

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There's one, replied the figure. Who's that? Peter Pan the
Avenger came the terrible answer, and as he spoke, Peter
flung off his cloak. Then they all knew who it
was that had been undoing them in the cabin. And
twice Hook essayed to speak, and twice he failed in

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that frightful moment, I think his fear's heart broke. At
last he cried, cleave them to the briskette, But without conviction,
down boys and at them. Peter's voice rang out, and
in another moment the clash of arms was resounding through
the ship. Had the pirates kept together, it is certain

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that they would have won. But the onset came when
they were 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, but they fought
on the defensive only, which enabled the boys to hunt
in pairs and choose their quarry. Some of the miscreants

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leapt into the sea. Others hid in dark recesses, where
they were found by Slightly, who did not fight, but
ran about with a lantern, which he flashed in their faces,
so that they were half blinded and fell as an
easy prey to the reeking swords of the other boys.
There was little sound to be heard but the clang

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of weapons, an occasional screech or splash, and slightly monotonously
counting five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, I think
all were gone when a group of savage boys surrounded Hook,
who seemed to have a charmed life as he kept
them at bay in that circle of fire. They had

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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 with his
hook and was using him as a buckler shield, when another,
who had just passed his sword through mulleins, sprang into

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the fray. Put up your sword, lord's boys, cried the newcomer.
This man is mine. Thus suddenly Hook found himself face
to face with Peter. 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

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strange smile upon his face. So pan said Hook. At last,
this is all you are doing, aye, James Hook came
the stern answer, It is all my doing. Proud and
insolent youth, said Hook, prepare to meet thy doom, dark

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and sinister man. Peter answered, have with thee. Without more words,
they fell to and for a space. There was no
advantage to either blade. Peter was a superb swordsman, and
parried with dazzling rapidity, ever and anon. He followed up
a faint with a lunge that cat passed his forced defense,

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but his shorter reach stood him in ill stead, and
he could not drive the steel home. Hook, scarcely, his
inferior in brilliancy but not quite so nimble in wrist play,
forced him back by the weight of his onset, hoping
suddenly to end all with a favorite thrust taught him
long ago by barbecue at rio, But to his astonishment,

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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 the ribs. At the sight of his own blood,

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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 invite his opponent to pick up his sword, hooked
it so instantly, but with the tragic feeling that Peter

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was showing good form it, heurto. 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'm joy, Peter answered, at a venture, I'm a little

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bird that has broken out of the egg. This, of
course was nonsense, but it was proof to the unhappy
Hook that Peter did not know in the least who
or what he was, which is the very pinnacle of
good form. Dot again, he cried despairingly. He fought now
like a human flail, and every sweep of that terrible

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sword would have severed in twain any man or boy
who obstructed it. But Peter fluttered round him, as if
the very wind it may blew him out of the
danger's 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. It craved

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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 magazine

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with a 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 the deck, striking up

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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 gout,
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 were right. James Hook,

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thou not wholly unheroic figure. Farewell, for we have come
to his last moment. Seeing Peter slowly advancing upon him
through the air with dagger poised, he sprang upon the
bulwarks to cast himself into the sea. He did not
know that the crocodile was waiting for him, for we

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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 his foot. It

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made Peter kick instead of stab. At last, Hook had
got the bone 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

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quite correct in his figures. Fifteen paid the penalty for
their crimes that night, but two reached 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,

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making a precarious living by saying he was the only
man that James Hook had feared, when they, 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

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delightfully 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, 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

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be sure, all but Peter, who strutted up and down
on the deck until at last he fell asleep by
the side of long Tom. 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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