At that they fell on their knees. 'No, no,' they cried so piteously that every pirate smiled.
'Fetch the cat, Jukes,' said Hook; 'it's in the cabin.'
The cabin! Peter was in the cabin! The children gazed at each other.
'Ay, ay,' said Jukes blithely, and he strode into the cabin. They followed him with their eyes; they scarce knew that Hook had resumed his song, his dogs joining in with him:
'Yo ho, yo ho, the scratching cat,
Its tails are nine, you know,
And when they're writ upon your back—
What was the last line will never be known, for of a sudden the song was stayed by a dreadful screech from the cabin. It wailed through the ship, and died away. Then was heard a crowing sound which was well understood by the boys, but to the pirates was almost more eerie than the screech.
'What was that?' cried Hook.
'Two,' said Slightly solemnly.
The Italian Cecco hesitated for a moment and then swung into the cabin. He tottered out, haggard.
'What's the matter with Bill Jukes, you dog?' hissed Hook, towering over him.
'The matter wi' him is he's dead, stabbed,' replied Cecco in a hollow Voice.
'Bill Jukes dead!' cried the startled pirates.
'The cabin's as black as a pit,' Cecco said, almost gibbering, 'but there is something terrible in there: the thing you heard crowing.'
The exultation of the boys, the lowering looks of the pirates, both were seen by Hook.
'Cecco,' he said in his most steely voice, 'go back and fetch me out that doodle-doo.'
Cecco, bravest of the brave, cowered before his captain, crying 'No, no'; but Hook was purring to his claw.
'Did you say you would go, Cecco?' he said musingly.
Cecco went, first flinging up his arms despairingly. There was no more singing, all listened now; and again came a death-screech and again a crow.
No one spoke except Slightly. 'Three,' he said.
Hook rallied his dogs with a gesture. ''Sdeath and odds fish,' he thundered, 'who is to bring me that doodle-doo?'
'Wait till Cecco comes out,' growled Starkey, and the others took up the cry.
'I think I heard you volunteer, Starkey,' said Hook, purring again.
'No, by thunder!' Starkey cried.
'My hook thinks you did,' said Hook, crossing to him. 'I wonder if it would not be advisable, Starkey, to humour the hook?'
'I'll swing before I go in there,' replied Starkey doggedly, and again he had the support of the crew.
'Is it mutiny?' asked Hook more pleasantly than ever. 'Starkey's ringleader.'
'Captain, mercy,' Starkey whimpered, all of a tremble now.
'Shake hands, Starkey,' said Hook, proffering his claw.
Starkey looked round for help, but all deserted him. As he backed Hook advanced, and now the red spark was in his eye. With a despairing scream the pirate leapt upon Long Tom and precipitated himself into the sea.
'Four,' said Slightly.
'And now,' Hook asked courteously, 'did any other gentleman say mutiny?' Seizing a lantern and raising his claw with a menacing gesture, 'I'll bring out that doodle-doo myself,' he said, and sped into the cabin.
'Five.' How Slightly longed to say it. He wetted his lips to be ready, but Hook came staggering out, without his lantern.
'Something blew out the light,' he said a little unsteadily.
'Something!' echoed Mullins.
'What of Cecco?' demanded Noodler.
'He's as dead as Jukes,' said Hook shortly.
His reluctance to return to the cabin impressed them all unfavourably, and the mutinous sounds again broke forth. All pirates are superstitious; and Cookson cried, 'They do say the surest sign a ship's accurst is when there's one on board more than can be accounted for.'
'I've heard,' muttered Mullins, 'he always boards the pirate craft at last. Had he a tail, captain?'
'They say,' said another, looking viciously at Hook, 'that when he comes it's in the likeness of the wickedest man aboard.'
'Had he a hook, captain?' asked Cookson insolently; and one after another took up the cry, 'The ship's doomed.' At this the children could not resist raising a cheer. Hook had well-nigh forgotten his prisoners, but as he swung round on them now his face lit up again.
'Lads,' he cried to his crew, 'here's a notion. Open the cabin door and drive them in. Let them fight the doodle-doo for their lives. If they kill him, we're so much the better; if he kills them, we're none the worse.'
For the last time his dogs admired Hook, and devotedly they did his bidding. The boys, pretending to struggle, were pushed into the cabin and the door was closed on them.
'Now, listen,' cried Hook, and all listened. But not one dared to face the door. Yes, one, Wendy, who all this time had been bound to the mast. It was for neither a scream nor a crow that she was watching; it was for the reappearance of Peter.
She had not long to wait. In the cabin he had found the thing for which he had gone in search: the key that would free the children of their manacles; and now they all stole forth, armed with such weapons as they could find. First signing to them to hide, Peter cut Wendy's bonds, and then nothing could have been easier than for them all to fly off together; but one thing barred the way, an oath, 'Hook or me this time.' So when he had freed Wendy, he whispered to her to conceal herself with the others, and himself took her place by the mast, her cloak around him so that he should pass for her. Then he took a great breath and crowed.
To the pirates it was a voice crying that all the boys lay slain in the cabin; and they were panic-stricken. Hook tried to hearten them; but like the dogs he had made them they showed him their fangs, and he knew that if he took his eyes off them now they would leap at him.
'Lads,' he said, ready to cajole or strike as need be, but never quailing for an instant, 'I've thought it out. There's a Jonah abroad.'
'Ay,' they snarled, 'a man wi' a hook.'
'No, lads, no, it's the girl. Never was luck on a pirate ship wi' a woman on board. We'll right the ship when she's gone.'
Some of them remembered that this had been a saying of Flint's. 'It's worth trying,' they said doubtfully.
'Fling the girl overboard,' cried Hook; and they made a rush at the figure in the cloak.
'There's none can save you now, missy,' Mullins hissed jeeringly.
'There's one,' replied the figure.
'Who's that?'
'Peter Pan the avenger!' came the terrible answer; and as he spoke Peter flung off his cloak. Then they all knew who 'twas that had been undoing them in the cabin, and twice Hook essayed to speak and twice he failed. In that frightful moment I think his fierce heart broke.
At last he cried, 'Cleave him to the brisket,' but without conviction.
'Down, boys, and at them,' Peter's voice rang out; and in another moment the clash of arms was resounding through the ship. Had the pirates kept together it is certain that they would have won; but the onset came when they were all unstrung, and they ran hither and thither, striking wildly, each thinking himself the last survivor of the crew. Man to man they were the stronger; but they fought on the defensive only, which enabled the boys to hunt in pairs and choose their quarry. Some of the miscreants leapt into the sea; others hid in dark recesses, where they were found by Slightly, who did not fight, but ran about with a lantern which he flashed in their faces, so that they were half blinded and fell an easy prey