alone, and that from being actors they were suddenly become spectators.
Very frightful was it to see the change that came over him. It was as
if he had been clipped at every joint. He fell in a little heap.
The sound came steadily nearer; and in advance of it came this ghastly
thought, The crocodile is about to board the ship!
Even the iron claw hung inactive; as if knowing that it was no
intrinsic 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.
Chapter XV.
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
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