15 Hook or Me This Time!

CHAPTER 15 Hook or Me This Time! Odd things often happen without us even noticing. Such was the case with Peter's ticking.

A few minutes earlier, on his way to the boat, Peter had passed by the crocodile and noticed that he was no longer making noise. After a moment's thought, he realized that the clock must have finally wound down. Peter knew that the beasts on the island feared the crocodile and avoided the ticking sound. Without even thinking about it, he began to imitate the ticking so that he could pass through the forest unbothered. The crocodile heard this, and perhaps because he missed the sound, he began to follow Peter. As Peter swam, newly ticking, to the boat, he had one thought about the upcoming battle: Hook or me this time. Only one of them would walk away alive, he vowed. One of the pirates spotted Peter as he was climbing up the side of the boat. Before he could cry out, John clamped his hands over the pirate's mouth. The other boys quickly caught him and tossed him overboard with a gentle splash.

The pirates were now looking over the other side of the boat, searching for the crocodile. Peter, who had temporarily stopped ticking, tiptoed into a cabin belowdecks. "I think it's gone, Captain," Smee said. "Well, then, here's to Johnny Plank!" Hook cried, in an even worse mood now because the boys had seen him scared. He started to sing: "Yo ho, yo ho, the frisky plank, you walks along it so, till it goes down and you goes down to the dark water below!" Hook paused. "Now, tell me," he said, not unkindly. "Would you like a bit of a snack before you go? There are some sandwiches in the cabin." "No!" the boys cried, not only because they weren't hungry, but because Peter was hiding in the cabin. "I can't very well send you off to the depths below on empty stomachs, can I?" Hook asked. "Jukes, go get the sandwiches."

"Ay, ay," Jukes said, and went inside. Within seconds there was a dreadful cry from inside the cabin. The cry was followed by a strange crowing sound, which confused the pirates but which the boys understood perfectly. "What is that noise?" Hook asked. "Is that a bird? Someone go check on Bill Jukes." The Italian Cecco went inside for a peek and then ran out, pale. "Bill Jukes is gone," he reported. "Gone?" the other pirates asked. "I can't see what—it's too dark in there—but there's something in there, crowing," Cecco said. "Go and bring it to me," Hook demanded. "Don't make me," Cecco cried, but seeing Hook flex his claw, Cecco obeyed. Within seconds there was another screech and then more crowing. "Who's going to bring me that rooster?" Hook demanded. "Did you volunteer, Starkey? My hook seems to think you did."

"I'd rather swing," Starkey said in a low voice, and the rest of the pirates mumbled their agreement. "Is this mutiny?" Hook said. "With Starkey as the ringleader?" He extended his claw. "Perhaps you would like to shake my hand, Starkey," he said. Starkey looked around for help but found none. Hook advanced with a gleam in his eye. Before Hook could get him, Starkey jumped on the pirates' cannon, shimmied out to its edge, and threw himself into the sea. "Never mind," Hook muttered. "I'll go get that rooster myself!" A minute later, Hook came staggering out without his lantern. "Something blew out my light," he said, shaking. "And Cecco is missing." Pirates are a superstitious bunch, and this was too much for them. "This ship's cursed," one of them muttered.

"Haunted," the others agreed. Knowing it was Peter, Michael giggled. Hook noticed this. It gave him an idea. "Open the cabin door and push the lost boys in," he suggested. "If they kill the bird, so much the better, and if it kills them, we're none the worse. We're going to kill them anyway." The boys pretended to cry and struggle as they were pushed inside. "Now let's listen," Hook said, and the pirates all crowded around the door. Meanwhile, Peter had found the key to unlock the boys' chains. They looked for weapons while Peter snuck out through an opposite porthole and cut Wendy's bonds. They could have flown away, but Peter had vowed that it was Hook or him this time. He told Wendy to go hide with the boys, wrapped himself in her cloak, and took her place on the mast. Then he took a deep breath and crowed.