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 made Peter
kick instead of stab.
At last Hook had got the boon 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 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, making
a precarious living by saying he was the only man that Jas. Hook had
feared.
Wendy, 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
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 pirates bunks pretty quickly, you may 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.
Chapter XVI.
THE RETURN HOME
By three bells that morning they were all stirring their stumps; for
there was a big sea running; and Tootles, the bo sun, was among them,
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