The pirate ship was a terribly evil-looking craft with its painted
sails, its heavy tarred cordage, and its flag with the skull and
crossbones upon it, flapping grimly at the stern. The poor children
were at once driven into the dark and dirty hold, while Hook walked
the deck, rubbing his hands and chuckling to himself to think that at
last he had them in his power.
"Are all the prisoners chained so that they can't fly away?" he asked
Smee, who was very busy at his sewing-machine.
"Aye, aye, Captain," answered Smee.
"Then hoist them up," shouted the Captain.
He seated himself on a chair covered with a white bearskin, waiting
while the Boys, whose wrists were chained together, were dragged out
of the hold and brought before him. Six of them, he said, were to walk
the plank at once, but he would save any two who were willing to be
cabin boys. The children were not at first sure what walking the plank
meant, but Hook soon enlightened them by roaring out a song in
explanation.
[Illustration: music]
Yo ho! yo ho! the fris-ky plank, you walk a-long it
so-- Till it goes down and you goes down to too-ral loo-ral lo--
he sang, waving his hook to show how, when the plank tipped, they
would be shot into the water and drowned.
[Illustration: THE PIRATE SHIP]
Turning towards John Napoleon Darling he shouted: "You look as if you
had some pluck in you!" John hesitated. In his schoolboy days he had
always thought a pirate's life very attractive, so stepping forward,
he said: "Will you call me Red-handed Jack?" The Captain laughed with
delight, and promised to give him that name if he joined the crew.
Then Michael went up to him and slapped him on the shoulder. "What
will you call _me_ if I join?" he asked. "Black-Bearded Joe," answered
the Captain, and until another question arose Michael was much
pleased. The cabin boys were told that they must of course swear "Down
with King George!" and to this neither boy would consent. John and
Michael were then pushed on one side and told that their doom was
sealed, while Hook shouted, "Bring up their mother."
In a moment Wendy was dragged from the hold, and when the Boys rushed
to protect her they were pulled back, leaving her standing alone,
looking very frightened but pretty in her brown dress, with a long
brown cloak wrapped round her. Hook asked her if she had any last
message for her sons who were about to die. Wendy spoke beautifully to
the Boys, telling them she was sure their real mothers would wish them
to die like English gentlemen. Her courage so inspired the children
that they all cried they would do what their mothers wished. Upon
this, Wendy was cruelly tied to the mast whilst Hook's orders were
being carried out.
But, just as the Boys' fate seemed determined, something happened to
change Hook's glee into terror. "Tick! tick! ter-ick, tick, tick!" he
heard, and at the dreaded sound he yelled: "The crocodile! hide me,
hide me!" In abject fear he rushed to a corner of the ship while his
men crowded round him, intent only upon shielding their captain from
the jaws of the monster. The Boys, too, waited breathless with horror,
until with sudden relief and rapture they saw not the crocodile but
their beloved captain Peter Pan appearing over the ship's side. In one
hand, at arm's length, he held an alarum clock, the ticking of which
had made Hook believe that the crocodile was upon him.
Making a sign to his friends, Peter dashed into the cabin, unseen by
the Pirates, and shut the door. The ticking ceased directly, and
Hook's terror vanished.
Returning to his dreadful purpose he cried: "Now here's to Johnny
Plank!" Again he began to sing, "Yo ho, yo ho, the frisky plank," but
the Boys, filled with hope and excitement, drowned his voice by
singing "Rule, Britannia," and just as the Pirate was about to vent
his rage upon them he was silenced by a shrill and piercing
cock's-crow from the cabin.
Struck motionless with terror, the crew looked to their Captain for
some explanation, who ordered Gecco, one of his men, to enter the
cabin and see what was the matter. Hook waited, but Gecco did not
return, and once again was heard the awful mysterious crowing.
"Someone must bring me out that doodledoo," roared the Captain, and,
as no one volunteered, "I thought I heard Starkey volunteer," he said,
pointing his hook at Starkey. Mad with terror of the hook as well as
of the uncanny creature in the cabin, Starkey rushed wildly round the
deck, and finally, to escape both, flung himself overboard.
Furious at this mutinous behaviour, Hook shouted, "I'll bring that
doodledoo out myself," but he had no better success, and came rushing
back in a cowardly fashion, saying: "Something blew out the light."
A happy idea now struck him. "Drive the Boys in--let them fight the
doodledoo--if they kill him so much the better, if he kills them we're
none the worse."
This, of course, was just what the children wanted, but, concealing
their delight, they allowed themselves to be driven into the cabin. In
the meantime, all the Pirates huddled together, hiding their faces.
Sailors, you know, are very superstitious, and they all thought the
ship was bewitched. So terrified were they that no one saw Peter steal
out, followed by the Boys, who crept silently up the ladder to the
higher deck. No one saw Peter cut the ropes which bound Wendy, and
take her place at the mast, and cover his face with the brown cloak
she had left, while Wendy joined the Boys.
"It's the girl!" cried Hook, "there's never luck on a pirate ship with
a woman aboard; let's throw her over." All the men knew that their
Captain was right, and one of the Pirates started up and shook his
fist at the brown-robed figure at the mast. "There's nothing can save
you now, Missy," he cried. "There is one," came a ringing voice, and
the brown cloak was flung aside and there stood Peter Pan. "Down,
Boys, and at them," he shouted, and with a rush the Boys, armed with
weapons which Peter had found and given them in the cabin, swarmed
down upon the lower deck. The Pirates believed that all the Boys had
been slain by the mysterious doodledoo, and were panic-stricken as
they saw them with swords and daggers. Some of the crew rushed to the
bulwarks and leapt overboard; others with their knives fell upon the
Boys, while Hook backed into the cabin fighting for his life. "Put
up your knives, Boys, that man is mine!" cried Peter, pointing to
Hook. The Boys turned their attention to the remaining members of the
pirate crew, who were one by one forced into the sea, while the two
mortal enemies appeared at the cabin door closed in deadly combat.
Each was determined to kill the other. Step by step Hook was driven
back to the side of the ship. He felt himself weakening. In despair he
cried out: "'Tis some fiend fighting me! Who are you, Pan?"
[Illustration: "THAT MAN IS MINE!"]
"I'm youth!" cried Peter, "I'm a little bird that has broken out of
the egg. I'm youth! I'm joy!"
With that he wrenched Hook's sword from him and pushed him into the
sea, right into the jaws of the waiting crocodile, who caught him at
last.
[Illustration: RIGHT INTO THE JAWS OF THE CROCODILE]
The Boys burst into ringing cheers as they and Wendy crowded round
their hero, who stood like a conquering Napoleon while the pirate flag
was lowered.
THE FATE OF THE PIRATES
All the pirates save two, Smee and Starkey, jumped into the sea and
were drowned.
Smee, the Irish Pirate, who was not so wicked as the rest of the crew,
managed to swim ashore, and subsequently became a reformed character
and a brave sailor in His Majesty's Fleet.
Starkey, who had never shed blood, but had been guilty of many cruel
deeds, was captured by the Redskins and led a miserable life, for
Great Big Little White Panther, the Indian chief, compelled him to act
as nurse to the papooses of the tribe--a sad come-down for a pirate!
[Illustration: NURSE TO THE PAPOOSES!]