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part of what the attacking force wanted. Left so fearfully alone, any other
man would have lain with his eyes shut where he fell: but the gigantic
brain of Hook was still working, and under its guidance he crawled on
the knees along the deck as far from the sound as he could go. The
pirates respectfully cleared a passage for him, and it was only when he
brought up against the bulwarks that he spoke.
"Hide me!" he cried hoarsely.
They gathered round him, all eyes averted from the thing that was
coming aboard. They had no thought of fighting it. It was Fate.
Only when Hook was hidden from them did curiosity loosen the limbs of
the boys so that they could rush to the ship's side to see the crocodile
climbing it. Then they got the strangest surprise of the Night of Nights;
for it was no crocodile that was coming to their aid. It was Peter.
He signed to them not to give vent to any cry of admiration that might
rouse suspicion. Then he went on ticking.
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Chapter 15 "HOOK OR ME THIS TIME"
Odd things happen 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 ear 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 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 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 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 tick, so that wild beasts should believe he was the crocodile
and let him pass unmolested. He ticked superbly, but with one
unforeseen result. 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, 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 pass 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 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 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 him swiftly. Then he realised that he was doing it himself, and in
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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
the forecastle 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 the 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. 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
round. They could hear each other's distressed breathing now, which
showed them that the more terrible sound had passed.
"It's gone, captain," Smee said, wiping off his spectacles. "All's 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 firmly to his full height.
"Then here's to Johnny Plank!" he cried brazenly, hating the boys more
than ever because they had seen him unbend. He broke into the
villainous ditty:
"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 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 [o' nine tails]
before you walk the plank?"
At that they fell on their knees. "No, no!" 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.
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