with a rope s end in his hand and chewing tobacco. They all donned
pirate clothes cut off at the knee, shaved smartly, and tumbled up,
with the true nautical roll and hitching their trousers.
It need not be said who was the captain. Nibs and John were first and
second mate. There was a woman aboard. The rest were tars before the
mast, and lived in the fo c sle. Peter had already lashed himself to
the wheel; but he piped all hands and delivered a short address to
them; said he hoped they would do their duty like gallant hearties, but
that he knew they were the scum of Rio and the Gold Coast, and if they
snapped at him he would tear them. The bluff strident words struck the
note sailors understood, and they cheered him lustily. Then a few sharp
orders were given, and they turned the ship round, and nosed her for
the mainland.
Captain Pan calculated, after consulting the ship s chart, that if this
weather lasted they should strike the Azores about the 21st of June,
after which it would save time to fly.
Some of them wanted it to be an honest ship and others were in favour
of keeping it a pirate; but the captain treated them as dogs, and they
dared not express their wishes to him even in a round robin. Instant
obedience was the only safe thing. Slightly got a dozen for looking
perplexed when told to take soundings. The general feeling was that
Peter was honest just now to lull Wendy s suspicions, but that there
might be a change when the new suit was ready, which, against her will,
she was making for him out of some of Hook s wickedest garments. It was
afterwards whispered among them that on the first night he wore this
suit he sat long in the cabin with Hook s cigar-holder in his mouth and
one hand clenched, all but for the forefinger, which he bent and held
threateningly aloft like a hook.
Instead of watching the ship, however, we must now return to that
desolate home from which three of our characters had taken heartless
flight so long ago. It seems a shame to have neglected No. 14 all this
time; and yet we may be sure that Mrs. Darling does not blame us. If we
had returned sooner to look with sorrowful sympathy at her, she would
probably have cried, Don t be silly; what do I matter? Do go back and
keep an eye on the children. So long as mothers are like this their
children will take advantage of them; and they may lay to that.
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