h 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 16 THE RETURN HOME

By three bells that morning they were all stirring their stumps [legs];
for there was a big sea running; and Tootles, the bo'sun, was among
them, 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 [sailors]
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,
a