Latest / Classic Fiction Vault - Iconic Stories / Peter Pan - JM Barrie
Transcript
- 0:00Speaker 1: Peter Pan by J. M. Barry, Chapter one, Peter breaks through.
- 0:09Speaker 1: All children except one grow up. They soon know that
- 0:13Speaker 1: they will grow up. And the way Wendy knew was
- 0:16Speaker 1: this One day, when she was two years old. She
- 0:19Speaker 1: was playing in a garden, and she plucked another flower
- 0:22Speaker 1: and ran with it to her mother. I suppose she
- 0:25Speaker 1: must have looked rather delightful, for missus Darling put her
- 0:28Speaker 1: hand to her heart and cried, Oh, why can't you
- 0:31Speaker 1: remain like this forever? This was all that passed between
- 0:35Speaker 1: them on the subject. But henceforth Wendy knew that she
- 0:39Speaker 1: must grow up. You always know after your two two
- 0:44Speaker 1: is the beginning of the end. Of course, they lived
- 0:48Speaker 1: at fourteen, and until Wendy came, her mother was the
- 0:52Speaker 1: chief one. She was a lovely lady with a romantic
- 0:55Speaker 1: mind and such a sweet mocking mouth. Her romantic tick
- 1:00Speaker 1: mind was like the tiny boxes, one within the other,
- 1:03Speaker 1: that come from the puzzling East. However many you discover,
- 1:07Speaker 1: there's always one more. And her sweet mocking mouth had
- 1:10Speaker 1: one kiss on it that Wendy could never get though
- 1:13Speaker 1: there it was perfectly conspicuous in the right hand corner.
- 1:19Speaker 1: The way mister Darling won her was this The many
- 1:22Speaker 1: gentlemen who had been boys when she was a girl
- 1:25Speaker 1: discovered simultaneously that they loved her, and they all ran
- 1:28Speaker 1: to her house to propose to her, except mister Darling,
- 1:31Speaker 1: who took a cab and nipped in first, and so
- 1:33Speaker 1: he got her. He got all of her, except the
- 1:37Speaker 1: innermost box and the kiss. He never knew about the box,
- 1:42Speaker 1: and in time he gave up trying for the kiss.
- 1:45Speaker 1: Wendy thought Napoleon could have got it, but I can
- 1:48Speaker 1: picture him trying and then going off in a passion,
- 1:50Speaker 1: slamming the door. Mister Darling used to boast to Wendy
- 1:55Speaker 1: that her mother not only loved him, but respected him.
- 1:59Speaker 1: He was one of those deep ones who know about
- 2:01Speaker 1: stocks and shares. Of course, no one really knows, but
- 2:06Speaker 1: he quite seemed to know, and he often said stocks
- 2:09Speaker 1: were up and shares were down, in a way that
- 2:11Speaker 1: would have made any woman respect him. Missus Darling was
- 2:15Speaker 1: married and white, and at first she kept the books perfectly,
- 2:19Speaker 1: almost gleefully, as if it were a game, not so
- 2:22Speaker 1: much as a Brussels sprout was missing, but by and
- 2:25Speaker 1: by whole cauliflowers dropped out, and instead of them there
- 2:28Speaker 1: were pictures of babies without faces. She drew them when
- 2:32Speaker 1: she should have been totting up. They were Missus Darling's guesses.
- 2:38Speaker 1: Wendy came first, then John, then Michael. For a week
- 2:44Speaker 1: or two after Wendy came it was doubtful whether they
- 2:46Speaker 1: would be able to keep her, as she was another
- 2:49Speaker 1: mouth to feed. Mister Darling was frightfully proud of her,
- 2:53Speaker 1: but he was very honorable, and he sat on the
- 2:55Speaker 1: edge of Missus Darling's bed, holding her hand and calculating expenses,
- 2:59Speaker 1: while she looked at him imploringly. She wanted to risk it,
- 3:03Speaker 1: come what might, but that was not his way. His
- 3:06Speaker 1: way was with a pencil and a piece of paper,
- 3:09Speaker 1: And if she confused him with suggestions, he had to
- 3:11Speaker 1: begin at the beginning again. Now, ahem, don't interrupt. He
- 3:16Speaker 1: would beg of her. I have one pound seventeen here
- 3:19Speaker 1: and two and six at the office. I can cut
- 3:22Speaker 1: off my coffee at the office, say ten shillings making
- 3:24Speaker 1: two nine and six with your eighteen and three makes
- 3:27Speaker 1: three nine seven with five knot not in my check book,
- 3:30Speaker 1: makes eight nine seven.
- 3:32Speaker 2: Who is that moving?
- 3:33Speaker 1: Eight nine seven dot and carry seven. Don't speak my
- 3:36Speaker 1: own and and the pound you lent to that man
- 3:39Speaker 1: who came to the door. Quiet child, dot and carry child.
- 3:43Speaker 1: There you've done it, did I say nine nine seven?
- 3:46Speaker 2: Yes?
- 3:46Speaker 1: I said nine nine seven. The question is can we
- 3:49Speaker 1: try it for a year on nine nine seven? Of
- 3:52Speaker 1: course we can, George, she cried, but she was prejudiced
- 3:56Speaker 1: in Wendy's favor, and he was really the grander character
- 3:59Speaker 1: of the two. Remember mumps, he warned her, almost threateningly,
- 4:03Speaker 1: and off he went again. Mumps one pound, That is
- 4:06Speaker 1: what I have put down, but I dare say it
- 4:08Speaker 1: will be more like thirty shillings. Don't speak measles one
- 4:11Speaker 1: five German measles. Half a guinea makes two fifteen six,
- 4:15Speaker 1: don't waggle your finger whooping cough, say fifteen shillings. And
- 4:19Speaker 1: so on it went, and it added up differently each time.
- 4:22Speaker 1: But at last Wendy just got through with mumps reduced
- 4:25Speaker 1: to twelve six, and the two kinds of measles treated
- 4:28Speaker 1: as one. There was the same excitement over John and
- 4:32Speaker 1: Michael had even a narrower squeak, but both were kept,
- 4:35Speaker 1: and soon you might have seen the three of them
- 4:38Speaker 1: going in a row to miss Fulson's kindergarten school, accompanied
- 4:41Speaker 1: by their nurse. Missus Darling loved to have everything just so,
- 4:46Speaker 1: and mister Darling had a passion for being exactly like
- 4:49Speaker 1: his neighbors. So of course they had a nurse as
- 4:53Speaker 1: they were poor owing to the amount of milk the
- 4:55Speaker 1: children drank. This nurse was a prim Newfoundland dog called
- 4:59Speaker 1: ne who had belonged to no one in particular until
- 5:02Speaker 1: the Darlings engaged her. She had always thought children important, however,
- 5:07Speaker 1: and the Darlings had become acquainted with her in Kensington gardens,
- 5:10Speaker 1: where she spent most of her spare time peeping into perambulators,
- 5:14Speaker 1: and was much hated by careless nursemaids, whom she followed
- 5:17Speaker 1: to their homes and complained of to their mistresses. She
- 5:20Speaker 1: proved to be quite a treasure of a nurse, how
- 5:23Speaker 1: thorough she was at bathtime and up at any moment
- 5:26Speaker 1: of the night if one of her charges made the
- 5:28Speaker 1: slightest cry. Of course, her kennel was in the nursery.
- 5:32Speaker 1: She had a genius for knowing when a cough is
- 5:34Speaker 1: a thing to have no patience with and when it
- 5:37Speaker 1: needs a stalking around your throat. She believed to her
- 5:40Speaker 1: last day in old fashioned remedies like rhubarb leaf, and
- 5:44Speaker 1: made sounds of contempt over all this newfangled talk about
- 5:47Speaker 1: germs and so on. It was a lesson in propriety
- 5:50Speaker 1: to see her escorting the children to school, walking sedately
- 5:53Speaker 1: by their side when they were well behaved, and betting
- 5:56Speaker 1: them back into line if they strayed. On John's soccer day,
- 6:00Speaker 1: she never once forgot his sweater, and she usually carried
- 6:03Speaker 1: an umbrella in her mouth in case of rain. There's
- 6:07Speaker 1: a room in the basement of miss Fulsome's school where
- 6:09Speaker 1: the nurses wait. They sat on forms while Nana lay
- 6:13Speaker 1: on the floor, but that was the only difference. They
- 6:16Speaker 1: affected to ignore her as of an inferior social status
- 6:19Speaker 1: to themselves, and she despised their light talk. She resented
- 6:24Speaker 1: visits to the nursery from Missus Darling's friends, but if
- 6:27Speaker 1: they did come, she first whipped off Michael's pinafore and
- 6:30Speaker 1: put him into the one with blue braiding, and smoothed
- 6:32Speaker 1: out Wendy and made a dash at John's hair. No
- 6:36Speaker 1: nursery could possibly have been conducted more correctly, and mister
- 6:40Speaker 1: Darling knew it. Yet he sometimes wondered uneasily whether the
- 6:44Speaker 1: neighbors talked. He had his position in the city to consider.
- 6:49Speaker 1: Nana also troubled him in another way. He had sometimes
- 6:53Speaker 1: a feeling that she did not admire him. I know
- 6:57Speaker 1: she admires you tremendously, George. Missus da Arling would assure him,
- 7:01Speaker 1: and then she would sign to the children to be
- 7:03Speaker 1: specially nice to father. Lovely dances followed, in which the
- 7:08Speaker 1: only other servant, Liza, was sometimes allowed to join such
- 7:12Speaker 1: a midget she looked in her long skirt and maid's cap,
- 7:15Speaker 1: though she had sworn when engaged that she would never
- 7:18Speaker 1: see ten again. The gayety of these romps, the gayest
- 7:22Speaker 1: of all was Missus Darling, who would pirouette so wildly
- 7:25Speaker 1: that all you could see of her was the kiss,
- 7:28Speaker 1: and then if you had dashed at her, you might
- 7:29Speaker 1: have got it. There never was a simpler, happier family
- 7:34Speaker 1: until the coming of Peter Pan. Missus Darling first heard
- 7:39Speaker 1: of Peter when she was tidying up her children's minds.
- 7:43Speaker 1: Is the nightly custom of every good mother, after her
- 7:46Speaker 1: children are asleep, to rummage in their minds and put
- 7:48Speaker 1: things straight for the next morning, repacking into their proper places.
- 7:52Speaker 1: The many articles that have wandered during the day if
- 7:56Speaker 1: you could keep awake, but of course you can't. You
- 7:59Speaker 1: would say, see your own mother doing this, and you
- 8:01Speaker 1: would find it very interesting to watch her. It is
- 8:05Speaker 1: quite like tidying up drawers. You would see her on
- 8:08Speaker 1: her knees. I expect, lingering humorously over some of your contents,
- 8:12Speaker 1: wondering where on earth you had picked this thing up,
- 8:15Speaker 1: making discoveries sweet and not so sweet, pressing this to
- 8:19Speaker 1: her cheek as if it were as nice as a kitten,
- 8:22Speaker 1: and hurriedly stewing that out of sight. When you wake
- 8:25Speaker 1: in the morning, the naughtiness and evil passions with which
- 8:28Speaker 1: you went to bed have been folded up small and
- 8:30Speaker 1: placed at the bottom of your mind, and on the top,
- 8:33Speaker 1: beautifully aired, are spread out your prettier thoughts, ready for
- 8:36Speaker 1: you to put on. I don't know whether you have
- 8:40Speaker 1: ever seen a map of a person's mind. Doctors sometimes
- 8:44Speaker 1: draw maps of other parts of you, and your own
- 8:47Speaker 1: map can become intensely interesting. But catch them trying to
- 8:51Speaker 1: draw a map of a child's mind, which is not
- 8:53Speaker 1: only confused, but keeps going round all the time. There's
- 8:57Speaker 1: zigzag lines on it, just like your temperature on a card.
- 9:01Speaker 1: And these are probably roads in the island, for the
- 9:04Speaker 1: Neverland is always more or less an island with astonishing
- 9:07Speaker 1: splashes of color here and there, and coral reefs and
- 9:10Speaker 1: rakish looking craft in the offing, and savages and lonely
- 9:14Speaker 1: lairs and gnomes who are mostly tailors, and caves through
- 9:18Speaker 1: which a river runs, and princes with six elder brothers
- 9:21Speaker 1: and a hut fast going to decay, and one very
- 9:25Speaker 1: small old lady with a hooked nose. It would be
- 9:28Speaker 1: an easy map if that were all, but there is
- 9:30Speaker 1: also first day at school, religion, fathers, the round pond, needlework, murders, hangings,
- 9:38Speaker 1: verbs that take the dative chocolate pudding day, getting into
- 9:40Speaker 1: braces say ninety nine threepence for pulling out your tooth yourself,
- 9:45Speaker 1: and so on. And either these are part of the
- 9:47Speaker 1: island or they are another map showing through, and it
- 9:50Speaker 1: is all rather confusing, especially as nothing will stand still.
- 9:55Speaker 1: Of course, the Neverlands vary a good deal. Johns, for instance,
- 10:00Speaker 1: had a lagoon with flamingoes flying over it at which
- 10:02Speaker 1: John was shooting, while Michael, who was very small, had
- 10:06Speaker 1: a flamingo with lagoons flying over it. John lived in
- 10:09Speaker 1: a boat turned upside down on the sands, Michael in
- 10:12Speaker 1: a wigwam, Wendy in a house of leaves deftly sewn together.
- 10:16Speaker 1: John had no friends. Michael had friends at night, Wendy
- 10:20Speaker 1: had a pet wolf forsaken by its parents. But on
- 10:23Speaker 1: the whole the Neverlands have a family resemblance. And if
- 10:26Speaker 1: they stood in a row, you could say of them
- 10:28Speaker 1: that they have each other's nose, and so forth. On
- 10:31Speaker 1: these magic shores, children at play a forever beaching their coracles.
- 10:35Speaker 1: We too have been there. We can still hear the
- 10:38Speaker 1: sound of the surf, though we shall land no more.
- 10:42Speaker 1: Of all delectable islands, the Neverland is the snuggest and
- 10:45Speaker 1: most compact, not large and sprawly, you know, with tedious
- 10:49Speaker 1: distances between one adventure and another, but nicely crammed. When
- 10:54Speaker 1: you play at it by day, with the chairs in
- 10:56Speaker 1: the tablecloth, it is not in the least alarming, But
- 11:00Speaker 1: in the two minutes before you go to sleep, it
- 11:02Speaker 1: becomes very nearly real. That is why there are night lights. Occasionally,
- 11:08Speaker 1: in her travels through her children's minds, missus Darling found
- 11:12Speaker 1: things she could not understand, and of these, quite the
- 11:15Speaker 1: most perplexing was the word Peter. She knew of no Peter,
- 11:20Speaker 1: and yet he was here and there in John and
- 11:22Speaker 1: Michael's minds, while Wendy's began to be scrawled all over
- 11:25Speaker 1: with him. The name stood out in bolder letters than
- 11:28Speaker 1: any of the other words, and as missus Darling gazed,
- 11:31Speaker 1: she felt that it had an oddly cocky appearance. Yes,
- 11:36Speaker 1: he is rather cocky, Wendy admitted, with regret. Her mother
- 11:39Speaker 1: had been questioning her.
- 11:41Speaker 3: But who is he?
- 11:42Speaker 4: My pet?
- 11:44Speaker 1: He is Peter Pan, you know, mother. At first Missus
- 11:48Speaker 1: Darling did not know, But after thinking back into her childhood,
- 11:51Speaker 1: she just remembered a Peter Pan who was said to
- 11:54Speaker 1: live with the fairies. There were odd stories about him,
- 11:58Speaker 1: as that when children died, he was part of the
- 12:00Speaker 1: way with them, so that they should not be frightened.
- 12:03Speaker 1: She had believed in him at the time, but now
- 12:05Speaker 1: that she was married and full of sense, she quite
- 12:08Speaker 1: doubted whether there was any such person. Besides, she said
- 12:12Speaker 1: to Wendy, he would be grown up by this time.
- 12:15Speaker 1: Oh no, he hasn't grown up, Wendy assured her confidently.
- 12:19Speaker 1: And he is just my size. She meant that he
- 12:23Speaker 1: was her size in both mind and body. She didn't
- 12:26Speaker 1: know how she knew it. She just knew it. Missus
- 12:29Speaker 1: Darling consulted mister Darling, but he smiled, pooh, pooh, mark
- 12:35Speaker 1: my words. He said, it is just some nonsense Nana
- 12:38Speaker 1: has been putting into their heads, just the sort of
- 12:40Speaker 1: idea a dog would have. Leave it alone and it
- 12:43Speaker 1: will blow over. But it would not blow over, and
- 12:47Speaker 1: soon the troublesome boy gave Missus Darling quite a shock.
- 12:53Speaker 1: Children have the strangest adventures without being troubled by them.
- 12:56Speaker 1: For instance, they may remember to mention a week after
- 12:59Speaker 1: the event that when they were in the wood they
- 13:02Speaker 1: met their dead father and had a game with him.
- 13:05Speaker 1: It was in this casual way that Wendy one morning
- 13:07Speaker 1: made a disquieting revelation. Some leaves of a tree had
- 13:11Speaker 1: been found on the nursery floor, which certainly were not
- 13:14Speaker 1: there when the children went to bed, and Missus Darling
- 13:17Speaker 1: was puzzling over them, when Wendy said, with a tolerant smile,
- 13:20Speaker 1: I do believe it is that Peter again. Whatever do
- 13:24Speaker 1: you mean, Wendy. It is so naughty of him not
- 13:28Speaker 1: to wipe Wendy said, sighing, she was a tidy child.
- 13:33Speaker 1: She explained, in quite a matter of fact way, that
- 13:36Speaker 1: she thought Peter sometimes came to the nursery in the
- 13:38Speaker 1: night and sat on the foot of her bed and
- 13:40Speaker 1: played on his pipes to her. Unfortunately, she never woke,
- 13:44Speaker 1: so she didn't know how she knew.
- 13:46Speaker 5: She just knew.
- 13:49Speaker 1: What nonsense you talk, precious. No one can get into
- 13:52Speaker 1: the house without knocking. I think he comes by the window,
- 13:56Speaker 1: she said, my love, it is three floors up. Were
- 14:00Speaker 1: not the leaves at the foot of the window?
- 14:02Speaker 6: Mother?
- 14:04Speaker 1: It was quite true.
- 14:05Speaker 7: The leaves had.
- 14:06Speaker 1: Been found very near the window. Missus Darling did not
- 14:10Speaker 1: know what to think, for it all seemed so natural
- 14:12Speaker 1: to Wendy that you could not dismiss it by saying
- 14:14Speaker 1: that she had been dreaming. My child, the mother cried,
- 14:18Speaker 1: why did you not tell me of this before I forgot,
- 14:22Speaker 1: said Wendy lightly. She was in a hurry to get
- 14:24Speaker 1: her breakfast. Oh, surely she must have been dreaming. But
- 14:30Speaker 1: on the other hand, there were the leaves. Missus Darling
- 14:33Speaker 1: examined them carefully. They were skeleton leaves, but she was
- 14:37Speaker 1: sure they did not come from any tree that grew
- 14:39Speaker 1: in England. She crawled about the floor peering at it.
- 14:42Speaker 1: With a candle for marks of a strange foot. She
- 14:45Speaker 1: rattled the poker up the chimney and tapped the walls.
- 14:48Speaker 1: She let a tape down from the window to the pavement,
- 14:51Speaker 1: and it was a sheer drop of thirty feet, without
- 14:53Speaker 1: so much as a spout to climb up by. Certainly
- 14:57Speaker 1: Wendy had been dreaming. But Wendy had not been dreaming,
- 15:02Speaker 1: as the very next night showed the night on which
- 15:04Speaker 1: the extraordinary adventures of these children may be said to
- 15:08Speaker 1: have begun. On the night we speak of, all the
- 15:12Speaker 1: children were once more in bed. It happened to be
- 15:15Speaker 1: Nana's evening off, and Missus Darling had bathed them and
- 15:18Speaker 1: sung to them till one by one they had let
- 15:20Speaker 1: go her hand and slid away into the land of sleep.
- 15:26Speaker 1: All were looking so safe and cozy that she smiled
- 15:28Speaker 1: at her fears now and sat down tranquility by the
- 15:31Speaker 1: fire to sew. It was something for Michael, who on
- 15:34Speaker 1: his birthday was getting into shirts. The fire was warm, however,
- 15:39Speaker 1: and the nursery dimly lit by three night lights, and
- 15:42Speaker 1: presently the sewing lay on Missus Darling's lap. Then her
- 15:46Speaker 1: head nodded, oh so gracefully she was asleep. Look at
- 15:53Speaker 1: the four of them, Wendy and Michael over there, John here,
- 15:57Speaker 1: and Missus Darling by the fire. There should have been
- 16:00Speaker 1: a fourth night light. While she slept, she had a dream.
- 16:06Speaker 1: She dreamt that the Neverland had come too near, and
- 16:08Speaker 1: that a strange boy had broken through from it. He
- 16:12Speaker 1: did not alarm her, for she thought she had seen
- 16:14Speaker 1: him before in the faces of many women who have
- 16:16Speaker 1: no children. Perhaps he is to be found in the
- 16:19Speaker 1: faces of some mothers also. But in her dream he
- 16:23Speaker 1: had rent the film that obscures the Neverland, and she
- 16:26Speaker 1: saw Wendy and John and Michael peeping through the gap.
- 16:32Speaker 1: The dream by itself would have been a trifle, But
- 16:34Speaker 1: while she was dreaming, the window of the nursery blew open,
- 16:37Speaker 1: and a boy did drop on the floor. He was
- 16:40Speaker 1: accompanied by a strange light, no bigger than your fist,
- 16:44Speaker 1: which darted about the room like a living thing. And
- 16:47Speaker 1: I think it must have been this light that wakened
- 16:49Speaker 1: Missus Darling. She started up with a cry and saw
- 16:53Speaker 1: the boy, and somehow she knew at once that he
- 16:56Speaker 1: was Peter Pan. If you or I or Wendy had
- 16:59Speaker 1: been there, we should have seen that he was very
- 17:02Speaker 1: like missus Darling's kiss. He was a lovely boy clad
- 17:06Speaker 1: in skeleton leaves and the juices that ooze out of trees.
- 17:09Speaker 1: But the most entrancing thing about him was that he
- 17:12Speaker 1: had all his first teeth. When he saw she was
- 17:15Speaker 1: a grown up, he gnashed the little pearls at her.
- 17:22Speaker 8: End of chapter one, Chapter two, the shadow Missus Darling screamed,
- 17:31Speaker 8: and as if in answer to a bell, the door
- 17:33Speaker 8: opened and Nana entered. Returned from her evening out, she
- 17:38Speaker 8: growled and sprang at the boy, who leaped lightly through
- 17:42Speaker 8: the window.
- 17:44Speaker 6: Again.
- 17:44Speaker 8: Missus Darling screamed, this time in distress for him, for
- 17:48Speaker 8: she thought he was killed, and she ran down into
- 17:51Speaker 8: the street to look for his little body, but it
- 17:54Speaker 8: was not there, and she looked up, and in the
- 17:58Speaker 8: black night she could see nothing but what she thought
- 18:01Speaker 8: was a shooting star. She returned to the nursery and
- 18:06Speaker 8: found Nana with something in her mouth, which proved to
- 18:10Speaker 8: be the boy's shadow. As he leapt at the window,
- 18:14Speaker 8: Nana had closed it quickly, too late to catch him,
- 18:18Speaker 8: but his shadow had not had time to get out.
- 18:21Speaker 8: Slam went the window and snapped it off. You may
- 18:26Speaker 8: be sure Missus Darling examined the shadow carefully, but it
- 18:30Speaker 8: was quite the ordinary kind. Nana had no doubt of
- 18:35Speaker 8: what was the best thing to do with this shadow.
- 18:38Speaker 8: She hung it out at the window, meaning he is
- 18:41Speaker 8: sure to come back for it. Let us put it
- 18:43Speaker 8: where he can get it easily without disturbing the children.
- 18:48Speaker 8: But unfortunately Missus Darling could not leave it hanging out
- 18:52Speaker 8: at the window. It looked so like the washing and
- 18:56Speaker 8: lowered the whole tone of the house. She thought of
- 18:59Speaker 8: showing it to mister Darling, but he was totting up
- 19:03Speaker 8: winter greatcoats for John and Michael, with a wet towel
- 19:06Speaker 8: around his head to keep his brain clear, and it
- 19:09Speaker 8: seemed a shame to trouble him. Besides, she knew exactly
- 19:14Speaker 8: what he would say. It all comes of having a
- 19:18Speaker 8: dog for a nurse. She decided to roll the shadow
- 19:22Speaker 8: up and put it away carefully in a drawer until
- 19:25Speaker 8: a fitting opportunity came for telling her husband, ah Me.
- 19:33Speaker 8: The opportunity came a week later on that never to
- 19:36Speaker 8: be forgotten Friday. Of course, it was a Friday. I
- 19:42Speaker 8: ought to have been specially careful on a Friday, she
- 19:46Speaker 8: used to say. Afterwards, to her husband, while perhaps Nana
- 19:50Speaker 8: was on the other side of her holding her hand. No, no,
- 19:55Speaker 8: mister Darling always said, I am responsible for it all I,
- 19:59Speaker 8: George Darling, did it. Mayaculpa, Mayaculpa. He had had a
- 20:04Speaker 8: classical education. They sat thus night after night, recalling that
- 20:11Speaker 8: fatal Friday till every detail of it was stamped on
- 20:14Speaker 8: their brains and came through on the other side, like
- 20:17Speaker 8: the faces on a bad coinage. If only I had
- 20:22Speaker 8: not accepted that invitation to dine at twenty seven, Missus
- 20:26Speaker 8: Darling said, if only I had not poured my medicine
- 20:30Speaker 8: into Nana's bowl, said mister Darling.
- 20:34Speaker 4: If only I had pretended to like the medicine, was
- 20:37Speaker 4: what Nana's wet eyes said.
- 20:40Speaker 8: My liking for parties, George, my fatal gift for humor, Dearest,
- 20:46Speaker 8: my touchiness about trifles, dear Master and Mistress. Then one
- 20:53Speaker 8: or more of them would break down altogether. Nana at
- 20:57Speaker 8: the thought It's true, it's true, ought not to have
- 21:01Speaker 8: had a dog.
- 21:01Speaker 4: For a nurse.
- 21:03Speaker 8: Many a time it was mister Darling who put the
- 21:06Speaker 8: handkerchief to Nana's eyes.
- 21:09Speaker 4: That fiend.
- 21:10Speaker 8: Mister Darling would cry and Nana's bark was the echo
- 21:14Speaker 8: of it. But Missus Darling never upbraided Peter. There was
- 21:19Speaker 8: something in the right hand corner of her mouth that
- 21:22Speaker 8: wanted her not to call Peter names. They would sit
- 21:26Speaker 8: there in the empty nursery, recalling fondly every smallest detail
- 21:31Speaker 8: of that dreadful evening. It had begun so uneventfully, so precisely,
- 21:38Speaker 8: like a hundred other evenings, with Nana putting on the
- 21:41Speaker 8: water for Michael's bath and carrying him to it on
- 21:44Speaker 8: her back. I won't go to bed, he had shouted,
- 21:49Speaker 8: like one who still believed that he had the last
- 21:51Speaker 8: word on the subject.
- 21:53Speaker 4: I won't. I won't, Nana.
- 21:54Speaker 8: It isn't six o'clock yet. Oh dear, oh dear, I
- 21:57Speaker 8: shan't love you anymore, Nana, I tell you I won't
- 21:59Speaker 8: be won't. I won't. Then missus Darling had come in
- 22:04Speaker 8: wearing her white evening gown. She had dressed early because
- 22:09Speaker 8: Wendy so loved to see her in her evening gown
- 22:12Speaker 8: with the necklace George had given her. She was wearing
- 22:16Speaker 8: Wendy's bracelet on her arm. She had asked for the
- 22:19Speaker 8: loan of it. Wendy loved to lend her bracelet to
- 22:22Speaker 8: her mother. She had found her two older children playing
- 22:27Speaker 8: at being herself and father on the occasion of Wendy's birth,
- 22:31Speaker 8: and John was saying, I am happy to inform you,
- 22:34Speaker 8: missus Darling, that you are now a mother, in just
- 22:38Speaker 8: such a tone as mister Darling himself may have used
- 22:41Speaker 8: on the real occasion. Wendy had danced with joy, just
- 22:45Speaker 8: as the real Missus Darling must have done. Then John
- 22:51Speaker 8: was born with the extra pomp that he conceived due
- 22:54Speaker 8: to the birth of a male, and Michael came from
- 22:56Speaker 8: his bath to ask to be born also, but John's
- 23:00Speaker 8: and brutally that they did not want any more. Michael
- 23:04Speaker 8: had nearly cried, nobody wants me, he said, And of
- 23:08Speaker 8: course the lady in the evening dress could not stand
- 23:11Speaker 8: that I do. She said, I so want a third child,
- 23:17Speaker 8: boy or girl, asked Michael, not too hopefully.
- 23:22Speaker 4: Boy.
- 23:23Speaker 8: Then he had leapt into her arms. Such a little
- 23:27Speaker 8: thing for mister and Missus Darling and Nana to recall now,
- 23:31Speaker 8: but not so little if that was to be Michael's
- 23:34Speaker 8: last night in the nursery.
- 23:37Speaker 4: They go on with their recollections.
- 23:40Speaker 8: It was then that I rushed in like a tornado,
- 23:43Speaker 8: wasn't it, mister Darling would say, scorning himself. And indeed
- 23:48Speaker 8: he had been like a tornado. Perhaps there was some
- 23:53Speaker 8: excuse for him. He too had been dressing for the party,
- 23:58Speaker 8: and all had gone well with him until he came
- 24:01Speaker 8: to his tie. It is an astounding thing to have
- 24:04Speaker 8: to tell, but this man, though he knew about stocks
- 24:08Speaker 8: and chairs, had no real mastery of his tie. Sometimes
- 24:13Speaker 8: the thing yielded to him without a contest. But there
- 24:16Speaker 8: were occasions when it would have been better for the
- 24:19Speaker 8: house if he had swallowed his pride and used a
- 24:22Speaker 8: made up tie. This was such an occasion. He came
- 24:28Speaker 8: rushing into the nursery with the crumpled little brute of
- 24:31Speaker 8: a tie in his hand. Why what is the matter, father,
- 24:35Speaker 8: dear matter? He yelled, He really yelled, this tie. It
- 24:42Speaker 8: will not tie. He became dangerously sarcastic. Not round my
- 24:49Speaker 8: neck round the bed post, oh, yes, twenty times have
- 24:53Speaker 8: I made it up round the bedpost? But round my neck, no, oh, dear,
- 24:58Speaker 8: no begs to be excused, he thought. Missus Darling was
- 25:03Speaker 8: not sufficiently impressed, and he went on sternly, I warn
- 25:08Speaker 8: you of this mother, that unless this tie is round
- 25:12Speaker 8: my neck, we don't go out to dinner to night.
- 25:15Speaker 8: And if I don't go out to dinner tonight, I
- 25:17Speaker 8: never go to the office again. And if I don't
- 25:20Speaker 8: go to the office again, you and I starve, and
- 25:23Speaker 8: our children will be flung into the streets. Even then,
- 25:28Speaker 8: Missus Darling was placid. Let me try, dear, she said,
- 25:33Speaker 8: And indeed that was what he had come to ask
- 25:36Speaker 8: her to do. And with her nice, cool hands, she
- 25:39Speaker 8: tied his tie for him, while the children stood around
- 25:43Speaker 8: to see their fate decided. Some men would have resented
- 25:48Speaker 8: her being able to do it so easily, but mister
- 25:51Speaker 8: Darling had far too fine a nature for that. He
- 25:55Speaker 8: thanked her carelessly, at once forgot his rage, and in
- 25:59Speaker 8: another moment was dancing round the room with Michael on
- 26:02Speaker 8: his back. How wildly we romped, says missus Darling, now
- 26:08Speaker 8: recalling it, our last romp. Mister Darling groaned, Oh, George,
- 26:15Speaker 8: do you remember? Michael suddenly said to me, how did
- 26:18Speaker 8: you get.
- 26:18Speaker 1: To know me?
- 26:19Speaker 8: Mother?
- 26:20Speaker 6: I remember?
- 26:22Speaker 8: They were rather sweet, don't you think, George? And they
- 26:27Speaker 8: were ours ours, and now they are gone. The romp
- 26:34Speaker 8: had ended with the appearance of Nana, and most unluckily,
- 26:38Speaker 8: mister Darling collided against her, covering his trousers with hairs.
- 26:44Speaker 8: They were not only new trousers, but they were the
- 26:47Speaker 8: first he had ever had with braid on them, and
- 26:50Speaker 8: he had had to bite his lip to prevent the
- 26:53Speaker 8: tears coming. Of course, Missus Darling brushed him, but he
- 26:58Speaker 8: began to talk again about its being a mistake to
- 27:01Speaker 8: have a dog for a nurse.
- 27:03Speaker 4: George.
- 27:04Speaker 8: Nana is a treasure, no doubt, but I have an
- 27:08Speaker 8: uneasy feeling at times that she looks upon the children
- 27:12Speaker 8: as puppies. Oh no, dear one, I feel sure she
- 27:16Speaker 8: knows they have souls. I wonder, mister Darling said thoughtfully,
- 27:21Speaker 8: I wonder it was an opportunity his wife felt for
- 27:27Speaker 8: telling him about the boy. At first he poop pooed
- 27:31Speaker 8: the story, but he became thoughtful when she showed him
- 27:34Speaker 8: the shadow. It is nobody, I know, he said, examining
- 27:39Speaker 8: it carefully, but it does look a scoundrel. We were
- 27:44Speaker 8: still discussing it. You remember, says mister Darling, when Nana
- 27:49Speaker 8: came in with Michael's medicine. You will never carry the
- 27:52Speaker 8: bottle in your mouth again, Nana, And it is all
- 27:55Speaker 8: my fault. Strong man though he was, there is no
- 28:00Speaker 8: doubt that he had behaved rather foolishly over the medicine.
- 28:05Speaker 8: If he had a weakness, it was for thinking that
- 28:08Speaker 8: all his life he had taken medicine boldly. And so
- 28:12Speaker 8: now when Michael dodged the spoon in Nana's mouth, he
- 28:15Speaker 8: had said, reprovingly, be a man, Michael, won't, won't? Michael
- 28:22Speaker 8: cried naughtily. Missus Darling left the room to get a
- 28:27Speaker 8: chocolate for him, and mister Darling thought this showed want
- 28:30Speaker 8: of firmness. Mother, don't pamper him, he called after her. Michael,
- 28:36Speaker 8: when I was your age, I took medicine without a murmur.
- 28:40Speaker 8: I said, thank you kind parents for giving me bottles
- 28:43Speaker 8: to make me well. He really thought this was true,
- 28:48Speaker 8: and Wendy, who was now in her nightgown, believed it also,
- 28:52Speaker 8: and she said to encourage Michael, that medicine you sometimes take,
- 28:56Speaker 8: father is much nastier. Isn't it so much nastier? Mister
- 29:02Speaker 8: Darling said bravely, And I would take it now as
- 29:05Speaker 8: an example to you, Michael. If I hadn't lost the bottle,
- 29:10Speaker 8: he had not exactly lost it. He had climbed in
- 29:14Speaker 8: the dead of night to the top of the wardrobe
- 29:17Speaker 8: and hidden it there. What he did not know was
- 29:20Speaker 8: that the faithful Liza had found it and put it
- 29:23Speaker 8: back on his washstand. I know where it is, father,
- 29:27Speaker 8: Wendy cried, always glad to be of service. I'll bring it,
- 29:31Speaker 8: and she was off before he could stop her. Immediately
- 29:36Speaker 8: his spirit sank in the strangest way. John, he said, shuddering,
- 29:43Speaker 8: it's most beastly stuff. It's that nasty, sticky, sweet kind.
- 29:49Speaker 8: It will soon be over, father, John said cheerily, and
- 29:53Speaker 8: then in rushed Wendy with the medicine in a glass.
- 29:57Speaker 8: I have been as quick as I could, she panted.
- 30:01Speaker 8: You have been wonderfully quick. Her father retorted with a
- 30:05Speaker 8: vindictive politeness that was quite thrown away upon her. Michael first,
- 30:11Speaker 8: he said doggedly. Father first, said Michael, who was of
- 30:16Speaker 8: a suspicious nature. I shall be sick, you know, mister
- 30:21Speaker 8: Darling said threateningly. Come on, Father said John, hold your tongue. John,
- 30:28Speaker 8: his father rapped out. Wendy was quite puzzled. I thought
- 30:33Speaker 8: you took it quite easily, father. That is not the point,
- 30:38Speaker 8: he retorted. The point is that there is more in
- 30:41Speaker 8: my glass than in Michael's spoon. His proud heart was
- 30:46Speaker 8: nearly bursting. And it isn't fair. I would say it
- 30:49Speaker 8: though it were with my last breath. It isn't fair, father.
- 30:54Speaker 8: I'm waiting, said Michael coldly. It's all very well to
- 30:59Speaker 8: say you are waiting. So am I waiting? Father's a
- 31:03Speaker 8: cowardly custard. So are you a cowardly custard? I'm not frightened.
- 31:10Speaker 8: Neither am I frightened. Well, then take it? Well, then
- 31:14Speaker 8: you take it. Wendy had a splendid idea. Why not
- 31:20Speaker 8: both take it at the same time? Certainly, said mister Darling.
- 31:25Speaker 8: Are you ready Michael. Wendy gave the words one, two, three,
- 31:31Speaker 8: and Michael took his medicine, but mister Darling slipped his
- 31:35Speaker 8: behind his back. There was a yell of rage from Michael,
- 31:40Speaker 8: and oh father, Wendy exclaimed, what you mean by oh, father?
- 31:46Speaker 8: Mister Darling demanded, stop that row, Michael. I meant to
- 31:50Speaker 8: take mine, but I I missed it. It was dreadful
- 31:56Speaker 8: the way all the three were looking at him, just
- 31:58Speaker 8: as if they did not admire him. Look here, all
- 32:02Speaker 8: of you, he said entreatingly. As soon as Nana had
- 32:06Speaker 8: gone into the bathroom. I have just thought of a
- 32:08Speaker 8: splendid joke. I shall pour my medicine into Nana's bowl
- 32:12Speaker 8: and she will drink it, thinking it is milk. It
- 32:16Speaker 8: was the color of milk. But the children did not
- 32:19Speaker 8: have their father's sense of humor, and they looked at
- 32:22Speaker 8: him reproachfully as he poured the medicine into Nana's bowl.
- 32:26Speaker 8: What fun, he said doubtfully, and they did not dare
- 32:31Speaker 8: expose him. When Missus Darling and Nana returned, Nana, good dog,
- 32:38Speaker 8: he said, patting her, I have put a little milk
- 32:41Speaker 8: into your bowl, Nana. Nana wagged her tail, ran to
- 32:46Speaker 8: the medicine and began lapping it. Then she gave mister
- 32:50Speaker 8: Darling such a look, not an angry look. She showed
- 32:55Speaker 8: him the great red tear that makes us so sorry
- 32:59Speaker 8: for noble day, and crept into her kennel. Mister Darling
- 33:05Speaker 8: was frightfully ashamed of himself, but he would not give in.
- 33:10Speaker 8: In a horrid silence, Missus Darling smelt the bowl. Oh George,
- 33:16Speaker 8: she said, it's your medicine. It was only a joke,
- 33:21Speaker 8: he roared. While she comforted her boys and Wendy hugged Nana.
- 33:26Speaker 8: Much good, he said, bitterly, my wearing myself to the bone,
- 33:31Speaker 8: trying to be funny in this house. And still Wendy
- 33:36Speaker 8: hugged Nana. That's right, he shouted, Coddle her. Nobody coddles me, Oh, dear, No,
- 33:43Speaker 8: I am only the breadwinner. Why should I be coddled?
- 33:47Speaker 4: Why? Why?
- 33:47Speaker 9: Why?
- 33:49Speaker 8: George, missus Darling, entreated him.
- 33:52Speaker 4: Not so loud.
- 33:53Speaker 8: The servants will hear you. Somehow they had got into
- 33:57Speaker 8: the way of calling Liza.
- 33:59Speaker 10: The sir.
- 34:02Speaker 8: Let them, he answered, recklessly, Bring in the whole world.
- 34:07Speaker 8: But I refuse to allow that dog to lord it
- 34:10Speaker 8: in my nursery. For an hour longer. The children wept,
- 34:15Speaker 8: and Nana ran to him beseechingly, but he waved her back.
- 34:20Speaker 8: He felt he was a strong man again. In vain,
- 34:25Speaker 8: In vain, he cried. The proper place for you is
- 34:28Speaker 8: the yard, and there you go to be tied up.
- 34:31Speaker 8: This instant George, George, missus Darling whispered, remember what I
- 34:37Speaker 8: told you about that boy Alas he would not listen.
- 34:43Speaker 8: He was determined to show who.
- 34:45Speaker 4: Was master in that house.
- 34:47Speaker 8: And when commands would not draw Nana from the kennel,
- 34:51Speaker 8: he lured her out of it with honeyed words, and
- 34:53Speaker 8: seizing her roughly dragged her from the nursery. He was
- 34:58Speaker 8: ashamed of himself, and yet he did it. It was
- 35:02Speaker 8: all owing to his too affectionate nature, which craved for admiration.
- 35:08Speaker 8: When he had tied her up in the backyard, the
- 35:11Speaker 8: wretched father went and sat in the passage with.
- 35:14Speaker 4: His knuckles to his eyes.
- 35:18Speaker 8: In the meantime, Missus Darling had put the children to
- 35:21Speaker 8: bed in unwonted silence and lit their night lights. They
- 35:26Speaker 8: could hear Nana barking, and John whimpered, it is because
- 35:31Speaker 8: he is chaining her up in the yard. But Wendy
- 35:34Speaker 8: was wiser. That is not Nana's unhappy bark, she said, little,
- 35:39Speaker 8: guessing what was about to happen. That is her bark
- 35:42Speaker 8: when she smells danger.
- 35:45Speaker 4: Danger.
- 35:47Speaker 8: Are you sure, Wendy? Oh yes, missus Darling quivered and
- 35:53Speaker 8: went to the window. It was securely fastened. She looked out,
- 35:59Speaker 8: and the night was peppered with stars. They were crowding
- 36:02Speaker 8: round the house, as if curious to see what was
- 36:06Speaker 8: to take place there. But she did not notice this,
- 36:09Speaker 8: nor that one or two of the smaller ones winked
- 36:13Speaker 8: at her, Yet a nameless fear clutched at her heart
- 36:17Speaker 8: and made her cry, Oh, how I wish that I
- 36:20Speaker 8: wasn't going to a.
- 36:21Speaker 4: Party to night.
- 36:24Speaker 8: Even Michael, already half asleep, knew that she was perturbed,
- 36:29Speaker 8: and he asked, can anything harmless?
- 36:32Speaker 4: Mother?
- 36:32Speaker 8: After the night lights are lit? Nothing precious? She said,
- 36:37Speaker 8: They are the eyes a mother leaves behind her to
- 36:40Speaker 8: guard her children. She went from bed to bed, singing
- 36:46Speaker 8: enchantments over them, and little Michael flung his arms round
- 36:50Speaker 8: her mother. He cried, I'm glad of you. They were
- 36:56Speaker 8: the last words she was to hear from him for
- 36:59Speaker 8: a long time. Number twenty seven was only a few
- 37:05Speaker 8: yards distant, but there had been a slight fall of snow,
- 37:09Speaker 8: and father and Mother Darling picked their way over it deftly,
- 37:13Speaker 8: not to soil their shoes. They were already the only
- 37:18Speaker 8: persons in the street, and all the stars were watching them.
- 37:23Speaker 8: Stars are beautiful, but they may not take an active
- 37:27Speaker 8: part in anything. They must just look on forever. It
- 37:32Speaker 8: is a punishment put on them for something they did
- 37:35Speaker 8: so long ago that no star now knows what it was.
- 37:40Speaker 8: So the older ones have become glassy eyed and seldom speak,
- 37:45Speaker 8: winking is the star language. But the little ones still wonder.
- 37:51Speaker 8: They are not really friendly to Peter, who had a
- 37:54Speaker 8: mischievous way of stealing up behind them and trying to
- 37:58Speaker 8: blow them out. But they are so fond of fun
- 38:01Speaker 8: that they were on his side tonight and anxious to
- 38:05Speaker 8: get the grown ups out of the way. So as
- 38:08Speaker 8: soon as the door of twenty seven closed on mister
- 38:11Speaker 8: and missus Darling, there was a commotion in the firmament,
- 38:15Speaker 8: and the smallest of all the stars in the milky
- 38:18Speaker 8: way screamed out, now, Peter. End of chapter two.
- 38:28Speaker 11: Chapter three, come away, come away. For a moment. After
- 38:35Speaker 11: mister and Missus Darling left the house, the night lights
- 38:38Speaker 11: by the beds of the three children continued to burn. Clearly.
- 38:42Speaker 11: They were awfully nice little night lights, and one cannot
- 38:45Speaker 11: help wishing that they could have kept awake to see Peter.
- 38:48Speaker 11: But Wendy's light blinked and gave such a yawn that
- 38:52Speaker 11: the other two yawned also, and before they could close
- 38:55Speaker 11: their mouths, all the three went out. There was another
- 38:59Speaker 11: light in the room, now a thousand times brighter than
- 39:02Speaker 11: the night lights, And in the time we have taken
- 39:04Speaker 11: to say this, it had been in all the drawers
- 39:06Speaker 11: in the nursery. Looking for Peter's shadow, rummaged the wardrobe
- 39:10Speaker 11: and turned every pocket inside out. It was not really
- 39:14Speaker 11: a light. It made this light by flashing about so quickly.
- 39:18Speaker 11: But when it came to rest for a second, you
- 39:20Speaker 11: saw it was a fairy, no longer than your hand,
- 39:23Speaker 11: but still growing. It was a girl called tinker Bell,
- 39:27Speaker 11: exquisitely gowned in a skeleton, leaf cut low and square,
- 39:32Speaker 11: through which her figure could be seen to the best advantage.
- 39:36Speaker 11: She was slightly inclined to umboonpoin. A moment after the
- 39:40Speaker 11: fairy's entrance, the window was blown open by the breathing
- 39:44Speaker 11: of the little stars, and Peter dropped in. He had
- 39:47Speaker 11: carried tinker Bell part of the way, and his hand
- 39:50Speaker 11: was still messy with the fairy dust. Tinker Bell, he
- 39:54Speaker 11: called softly, after making sure that the children were asleep,
- 39:58Speaker 11: tink where are you? She was in a jug for
- 40:01Speaker 11: the moment, and liking it extremely. She had never been
- 40:04Speaker 11: in a jug before. Oh, do come out of that
- 40:08Speaker 11: jug and tell me. Do you know where they put
- 40:10Speaker 11: my shadow? The loveliest tinkle as of golden bells answered him.
- 40:15Speaker 11: It is the fairy language. You ordinary children can never
- 40:19Speaker 11: hear it, but if you were to hear it, you
- 40:21Speaker 11: would know that you had heard it once before. Ting
- 40:25Speaker 11: said that the shadow was in the big box. She
- 40:28Speaker 11: meant the chest of drawers, and Peter jumped at the drawers,
- 40:31Speaker 11: scattering their contents to the floor with both hands, as
- 40:34Speaker 11: King's toss happens to the crowd. In a moment, he
- 40:38Speaker 11: had recovered his shadow, and in his delight he forgot
- 40:41Speaker 11: that he had shut tinker Bell up in the drawer.
- 40:44Speaker 11: If he thought it all but I don't believe he
- 40:46Speaker 11: ever thought it was that he and his shadow, when
- 40:49Speaker 11: brought near each other, would join like drops of water,
- 40:52Speaker 11: and when they did not, he was appalled. He tried
- 40:55Speaker 11: to stick it on with soap from the bathroom, but
- 40:58Speaker 11: that also failed. Shudder passed through Peter, and he sat
- 41:02Speaker 11: on the floor and cried. His sobs woke Wendy, and
- 41:06Speaker 11: she sat up in bed. She was not alarmed to
- 41:09Speaker 11: see a stranger crying on the nursery floor. She was
- 41:12Speaker 11: only pleasantly interested. Boy, she said, courteously, why are you crying?
- 41:18Speaker 11: Peter could be exceeding polite, also, having learned the grand
- 41:22Speaker 11: manner at fairy ceremonies and he rose and bowed to
- 41:25Speaker 11: her beautifully. She was much pleased and bowed beautifully to
- 41:29Speaker 11: him from the bed. What's your name, he asked, Wendy
- 41:35Speaker 11: Moira Angela darling. She replied, with some satisfaction, What is
- 41:40Speaker 11: your name? Peter Pan She was already sure that he
- 41:45Speaker 11: must be Peter, but it did seem a comparatively short name.
- 41:49Speaker 11: Is that all? Yes, he said, rather sharply. He felt
- 41:54Speaker 11: for the first time that it was a shortish name.
- 41:58Speaker 11: I'm so sorry, said Wendy Mora Angela. It doesn't matter,
- 42:03Speaker 11: Peter gulped. She asked where he lived. Second to the right,
- 42:07Speaker 11: said Peter, and then straight on till morning. What a
- 42:11Speaker 11: funny address? Peter had a sinking. For the first time,
- 42:15Speaker 11: he felt that perhaps it was a funny address. No
- 42:19Speaker 11: it isn't, he said, I mean, Wendy said, nicely, remembering
- 42:24Speaker 11: that she was hostess. Is that what they put on
- 42:27Speaker 11: the letters? He wished she had not mentioned the letters.
- 42:32Speaker 11: Don't get any letters, he said, contemptuously. But your mother
- 42:37Speaker 11: gets letters. Don't have a mother, he said. Not only
- 42:42Speaker 11: had he no mother, but he had not the slightest
- 42:44Speaker 11: desire to have one. He thought them very overrated persons. Wendy, however,
- 42:50Speaker 11: felt at once that she was in the presence of
- 42:52Speaker 11: a tragedy. Oh, Peter, no wonder you were crying, she said,
- 42:57Speaker 11: and got out of bed and ran to him. I
- 43:00Speaker 11: wasn't crying about mothers, he said, rather indignantly. I was
- 43:04Speaker 11: crying because I can't get my shadow to stick on. Besides,
- 43:07Speaker 11: I wasn't crying. It has come off. Yes. Then Wendy
- 43:12Speaker 11: saw the shadow on the floor, looking so draggled, and
- 43:16Speaker 11: she was frightfully sorry for Peter. How awful, she said,
- 43:20Speaker 11: But she could not help smiling when she saw that
- 43:22Speaker 11: he'd been trying to stick it on with soap. How
- 43:24Speaker 11: exactly like a boy. Fortunately she knew at once what
- 43:28Speaker 11: to do. It must be sewn on, she said, just
- 43:32Speaker 11: a little patronizingly. What's sewn? He asked, You're dreadfully ignorant.
- 43:38Speaker 11: No I'm not, but she was exulting in his ignorance.
- 43:42Speaker 11: I shall sew it on for you, my little man,
- 43:45Speaker 11: she said, though he was tall as herself, and she
- 43:47Speaker 11: got out her housewife and sewed the shadow on to
- 43:50Speaker 11: Peter's foot. I dare say it will hurt a little,
- 43:53Speaker 11: she warned him. Oh, I shan't cry said Peter, who
- 43:57Speaker 11: was already of the opinion that he had never cried
- 43:59Speaker 11: in his life. And he clenched his teeth and did
- 44:02Speaker 11: not cry. And soon his shadow was behaving properly, though
- 44:05Speaker 11: still a little creased. Perhaps I should have ironed it,
- 44:10Speaker 11: Wendy said thoughtfully. But Peter, boylike, was indifferent to appearances,
- 44:15Speaker 11: and he was now jumping about in the wildest glee.
- 44:18Speaker 11: Alas he had already forgotten that he owed his bliss
- 44:20Speaker 11: to Wendy. He thought he detached the shadow himself. How
- 44:24Speaker 11: clever I am, he crowed rapturously. Oh, the cleverness of me.
- 44:29Speaker 11: It is humiliating to have to confess that this conceit
- 44:32Speaker 11: of Peter was one of his most fascinating qualities. To
- 44:35Speaker 11: put it with brutal frankness, there never was a cockier boy.
- 44:40Speaker 11: But for the moment Wendy was shocked. You conceit, she exclaimed,
- 44:44Speaker 11: with frightful sarcasm. Of course I did nothing, you did
- 44:49Speaker 11: a little, Peter said, carelessly, and continued to dance a little.
- 44:54Speaker 11: She replied with hauteur. If I am no use, I
- 44:58Speaker 11: can at least withdraw, And she sprang in the most
- 45:01Speaker 11: dignified way into bed and covered her face with the
- 45:03Speaker 11: blankets to induce her to look up. He pretended to
- 45:07Speaker 11: be going away, and when this failed, he sat on
- 45:10Speaker 11: the end of the bed and tapped her gently with
- 45:12Speaker 11: his foot. Wendy, he said, don't withdraw. I can't help crowing,
- 45:17Speaker 11: Wendy when I'm pleased with myself. Still, she would not
- 45:21Speaker 11: look up, though she was listening eagerly. Wendy, he continued
- 45:26Speaker 11: in a voice, that no woman has ever yet been
- 45:28Speaker 11: able to resist Wendy. One girl is more use than
- 45:32Speaker 11: twenty boys. Now, Wendy was every inch a woman, though
- 45:37Speaker 11: there were not very many inches, and she peeped out
- 45:39Speaker 11: of the bedclothes. Do you really think so, Peter, Yes,
- 45:44Speaker 11: I do. I think it's perfectly sweet of you, she declared,
- 45:48Speaker 11: and I'll get up again, and she sat with him
- 45:51Speaker 11: on the side of the bed. She also said she
- 45:53Speaker 11: would give him a kiss if he liked, but Peter
- 45:56Speaker 11: did not know what she meant, and he held out
- 45:58Speaker 11: his hand expectantly. Surely you know what a kiss is,
- 46:03Speaker 11: she asked, aghast I shall know when you give it
- 46:06Speaker 11: to me. He replied, stiffly, and not to hurt his feeling,
- 46:10Speaker 11: she gave him a thimble now said he shall I
- 46:14Speaker 11: give you a kiss? And she replied with a slight primness,
- 46:17Speaker 11: if you please. She made herself rather cheap by inclining
- 46:21Speaker 11: her face toward him, but he merely dropped an acorn
- 46:24Speaker 11: button into her hand. So she slowly returned her face
- 46:28Speaker 11: to where it had been before, and said nicely that
- 46:30Speaker 11: she would wear his kiss on the chain around her neck.
- 46:33Speaker 11: He was lucky that she did put it on that chain,
- 46:36Speaker 11: for it was afterwards to save her life. When people
- 46:40Speaker 11: in our set are introduced, it is customary for them
- 46:43Speaker 11: to ask each other's age, and so Wendy, who always
- 46:46Speaker 11: liked to do the correct thing, asked Peter how old
- 46:49Speaker 11: he was. It was not really a happy question to
- 46:52Speaker 11: ask him. It was like an examination paper that asks grammar,
- 46:56Speaker 11: when what you want to be asked is kings of England.
- 47:00Speaker 11: I don't know, he replied uneasily. But I am quite young.
- 47:05Speaker 11: He really knew nothing about it. He had merely suspicions,
- 47:08Speaker 11: but he said, at a venture, Wendy, I ran away
- 47:11Speaker 11: the day I was born. Wendy was quite surprised, but interested,
- 47:16Speaker 11: and she indicated in the charming drawing room manner by
- 47:20Speaker 11: a touch on her night gown that he could sit
- 47:22Speaker 11: nearer her. It was because I heard father and mother,
- 47:25Speaker 11: he explained in a low voice, Talking about what I
- 47:28Speaker 11: was to be when I became a man, He was
- 47:30Speaker 11: extraordinarily agitated. Now I don't want ever to be a man,
- 47:34Speaker 11: he said, with passion. I want always to be a
- 47:37Speaker 11: little boy and to have fun. So I ran away
- 47:40Speaker 11: to Kensington Gardens and lived a long long time among
- 47:44Speaker 11: the fairies. She gave him a look of the most
- 47:47Speaker 11: intense admiration, and he thought it was because he had
- 47:50Speaker 11: run away, but it was really because he knew fairies.
- 47:53Speaker 11: Wendy had lived such a home life that to know
- 47:55Speaker 11: fairies struck her as quite delightful. She poured out questions
- 47:59Speaker 11: about them, to his surprise, for they were rather a
- 48:02Speaker 11: nuisance to him, getting in his way and so on,
- 48:05Speaker 11: and indeed he sometimes had to give them a hiding. Still,
- 48:08Speaker 11: he liked them on the whole, and he told her
- 48:10Speaker 11: about the beginning of fairies. You see, Wendy, when the
- 48:13Speaker 11: first baby laughed for the first time, its laugh broke
- 48:17Speaker 11: into a thousand pieces, and they all went skipping about,
- 48:20Speaker 11: and that was the beginning of fairies. Tedious talk this,
- 48:25Speaker 11: but being a stay at home. She liked it, and
- 48:28Speaker 11: so he went on good naturedly. There ought to be
- 48:30Speaker 11: one fairy for every boy and girl ought to be,
- 48:34Speaker 11: isn't there no? You see, children know such a lot
- 48:38Speaker 11: now they soon don't believe in fairies. And every time
- 48:42Speaker 11: a child says I don't believe in fairies, there is
- 48:45Speaker 11: a fairy somewhere, that falls down dead. Really, he thought
- 48:50Speaker 11: they had now talked enough about fairies, and it struck
- 48:53Speaker 11: him that tinker Bell was keeping very quiet. I can't
- 48:56Speaker 11: think where she's gone to, he said, rising, and he
- 48:59Speaker 11: called Tink by. Wendy's heart went flutter with a sudden thrill. Peter,
- 49:04Speaker 11: she cried, clutching him. You don't mean to tell me
- 49:07Speaker 11: that there's a fairy in this room. She was here
- 49:10Speaker 11: just now, he said, a little impatiently. You don't hear her,
- 49:13Speaker 11: do you? And they both listened. The only sound I hear,
- 49:17Speaker 11: said Wendy, is like a tinkle of bells. Well, that's
- 49:22Speaker 11: tink that's the fairy language. I think I hear her too.
- 49:26Speaker 11: The sound came from the chest of drawers, and Peter
- 49:29Speaker 11: made a merry face. No one could ever look quite
- 49:31Speaker 11: so merry as Peter and the loveliest of gurgles was
- 49:34Speaker 11: his laugh. He had his first laugh. Still, Wendy, he whispered, gleefully,
- 49:40Speaker 11: I do believe I shut her up in the drawer.
- 49:43Speaker 11: He let poor Tink out of the drawer, and she
- 49:45Speaker 11: flew about the nursery, screaming with fury. You shouldn't say
- 49:49Speaker 11: such things, Peter retorted, of course, I'm very sorry, But
- 49:52Speaker 11: how could I know you were in the drawer. Wendy
- 49:55Speaker 11: was not listening to him. Oh, Peter, she cried, if
- 49:58Speaker 11: she would only stand still and let me see her.
- 50:01Speaker 11: They hardly ever stand still, he said, But for one moment,
- 50:04Speaker 11: Wendy saw the romantic figure come to rest on the
- 50:06Speaker 11: cuckoo clock. Oh the lovely, she cried, though Tink's face
- 50:11Speaker 11: was still distorted with passion. Tink said, Peter amiably, this
- 50:16Speaker 11: lady says she wishes you were her fairy. Tinker Bell
- 50:20Speaker 11: answered insolently, what does she say, Peter? He had to translate.
- 50:25Speaker 11: She is not very polite. She says you are a
- 50:28Speaker 11: great ugly girl, and that she is my fairy. He
- 50:31Speaker 11: tried to argue with Tink, you know you can't be
- 50:34Speaker 11: my fairy, Tink, because I am a gentleman, and you
- 50:37Speaker 11: are a lady. To this, Tink replied in these words,
- 50:41Speaker 11: you silly ass, and disappeared into the bathroom. She is
- 50:46Speaker 11: quite a common fairy, Peter explained apologetically. She is called
- 50:50Speaker 11: tinker Bell because she mends the pots and kettles. They
- 50:54Speaker 11: were together in the arm chair by this time, and
- 50:57Speaker 11: Wendy plied him with more questions. If you don't live
- 51:00Speaker 11: in Kensington Gardens now? Sometimes I do still, But where
- 51:05Speaker 11: do you live? Mostly now with the lost boys? Who
- 51:09Speaker 11: are they? They are the children who fall out of
- 51:12Speaker 11: their perambulators when the nurse is looking the other way.
- 51:15Speaker 11: If they are not claimed in seven days, they are
- 51:18Speaker 11: sent far away to the Neverland to defray expenses. I'm captain,
- 51:23Speaker 11: what fun it must be, yes, said cunning Peter. But
- 51:27Speaker 11: we are rather lonely, you see, we have no female companionship.
- 51:32Speaker 11: Are none of the others girls?
- 51:34Speaker 12: Oh?
- 51:35Speaker 11: No, girls, you know are much too clever to fall
- 51:38Speaker 11: out of their prams. This flattered Wendy immensely. I think,
- 51:42Speaker 11: she said, it is perfectly lovely the way you talk
- 51:45Speaker 11: about girls. John there just despises us for reply. Peter
- 51:50Speaker 11: rose and kicked John out of bed blankets and all
- 51:53Speaker 11: one kick. This seemed to Wendy rather forward for a
- 51:56Speaker 11: first meeting, and she told him with spirit that he
- 51:59Speaker 11: was not captain in her house. However, John continued to
- 52:03Speaker 11: sleep so placidly on the floor that she allowed him
- 52:05Speaker 11: to remain there. And I know you meant to be kind,
- 52:09Speaker 11: she said, relenting, so you may give me a kiss
- 52:12Speaker 11: for the moment. She had forgotten his ignorance about kisses.
- 52:16Speaker 11: I thought you would want it back, he said, a
- 52:18Speaker 11: little bitterly, and offered to return her the thimble. Oh dear,
- 52:22Speaker 11: said the nice Wendy. I don't mean a kiss, I
- 52:25Speaker 11: mean a thimble. What's that? It's like this, she kissed
- 52:30Speaker 11: him funny, said Peter gravely. Now shall I give you
- 52:35Speaker 11: a thimble if you wish to, said Wendy, keeping her
- 52:39Speaker 11: head erect. This time, Peter thimbled her, and almost immediately
- 52:44Speaker 11: she screeched, what is it, Wendy? It was exactly as
- 52:48Speaker 11: if some one were pulling my hair. That must have
- 52:51Speaker 11: been Tink. I never knew her so naughty before, And
- 52:55Speaker 11: indeed Tink was darting about again using offensive language. She says,
- 53:00Speaker 11: she will do that to you, Wendy, every time I
- 53:03Speaker 11: give you a thimble. But why why tink again? Tink replied,
- 53:09Speaker 11: you silly ass. Peter could not understand why, but Wendy understood,
- 53:14Speaker 11: and she was just slightly disappointed when he admitted that
- 53:18Speaker 11: he came to the nursery window not to see her,
- 53:20Speaker 11: but to listen to stories. You see, I don't know
- 53:24Speaker 11: any stories. None of the lost boys knows any stories.
- 53:28Speaker 11: How perfectly awful, Wendy said, do you know, Peter asked,
- 53:32Speaker 11: why swallows build in the eaves of houses. It is
- 53:35Speaker 11: to listen to the stories. Oh, Wendy, your mother was
- 53:39Speaker 11: telling you such a lovely story. Which story was it
- 53:43Speaker 11: about the prince who couldn't find the lady who wore
- 53:46Speaker 11: the glass slipper, Peter said, Wendy excitedly, That was Cinderella,
- 53:52Speaker 11: and he found her and they lived happily ever after.
- 53:56Speaker 11: Peter was so glad that he rose from the floor
- 53:59Speaker 11: where they had been seen and hurried to the window.
- 54:02Speaker 11: Where are you going? She cried with misgiving to tell
- 54:05Speaker 11: the other boys, don't go, Peter, She entreated, I know
- 54:09Speaker 11: such lots of stories. Those were her precise words. So
- 54:14Speaker 11: there can be no denying that it was she who
- 54:16Speaker 11: first tempted him. He came back, and there was a
- 54:20Speaker 11: greedy look in his eyes now, which ought to have
- 54:23Speaker 11: alarmed her, but did not. Oh, the stories I could
- 54:27Speaker 11: tell to the boys, she cried. And then Peter gripped
- 54:30Speaker 11: her and began to draw her toward the window. Let
- 54:33Speaker 11: me go, she ordered him. Wendy, do come with me
- 54:37Speaker 11: and tell the other boys. Of course, she was very
- 54:40Speaker 11: pleased to be asked, but she said, oh, dear, I
- 54:43Speaker 11: can't think of mummy. Besides, I can't fly. I'll teach you, Oh,
- 54:50Speaker 11: how lovely to fly. I'll teach you how to jump
- 54:53Speaker 11: on the wind's back, and then away we go. Oh,
- 54:57Speaker 11: she exclaimed rapturously, Wendy, Wendy, when you are sleeping in
- 55:03Speaker 11: your silly bed, you might be flying about with me
- 55:05Speaker 11: saying funny things to the stars. Oh and Wendy, there
- 55:12Speaker 11: are mermaids, mermaids with tails, such long tails, oh, cried Wendy,
- 55:22Speaker 11: to see a mermaid. He had become frightfully cunning, Wendy,
- 55:28Speaker 11: He said, how we should all respect you. She was
- 55:32Speaker 11: wriggling her body in distress. It was quite as if
- 55:35Speaker 11: she were trying to remain on the nursery floor. But
- 55:38Speaker 11: he had no pity for her Wendy, he said, the
- 55:42Speaker 11: sly one. You could tuck us in at night. Ooh,
- 55:48Speaker 11: none of us has ever been tucked in at night.
- 55:52Speaker 13: Oh.
- 55:52Speaker 11: And her arms went out to him. And you could
- 55:56Speaker 11: darn our clothes and make pockets for us. None of
- 56:00Speaker 11: us has any pockets. How could she resist? Of course,
- 56:05Speaker 11: it's awfully fascinating, she cried, Peter, would you teach John
- 56:11Speaker 11: and Michael to fly too, if you like? He said indifferently,
- 56:16Speaker 11: and she ran to John and Michael and shook them.
- 56:19Speaker 11: Wake up, she cried, Peter, Pan has come and he
- 56:21Speaker 11: is to teach us to fly. John rubbed his eyes.
- 56:26Speaker 11: Then I shall get up, he said, Of course, he
- 56:29Speaker 11: was on the floor already. Hello, he said, I am up.
- 56:33Speaker 11: Michael was up by this time, also looking as sharp
- 56:36Speaker 11: as a knife with six blades and a saw. But
- 56:39Speaker 11: Peter suddenly signed silence. Their faces assumed the awful craftiness
- 56:44Speaker 11: of children listening for sounds from the grown up world.
- 56:49Speaker 11: Paul was as still as salt. Then everything was right. No, stop,
- 56:55Speaker 11: everything was wrong. Nana, who'd been barking distressfully all the evening,
- 56:59Speaker 11: was quiet. Now it was her silence. They had heard
- 57:04Speaker 11: out with the light hide quick cried John, taking command
- 57:08Speaker 11: for the only time throughout the whole adventure. And thus,
- 57:11Speaker 11: when Liza entered holding Nana, the nursery seemed quite its
- 57:15Speaker 11: old self, very dark, and you would have sworn you
- 57:18Speaker 11: heard its three wicked inmates breathing angelically as they slept.
- 57:23Speaker 11: They were really doing it artfully from behind the window curtains.
- 57:28Speaker 11: Liza was in a bad temper, for she was mixing
- 57:30Speaker 11: the Christmas puddings in the kitchen and had been drawn
- 57:33Speaker 11: from them with a raisin still on her cheek by
- 57:36Speaker 11: Nana's absurd suspicions. She thought the best way of getting
- 57:39Speaker 11: a little quiet was to take Nana to the nursery
- 57:41Speaker 11: for a moment. But in custody, of course, there, you
- 57:46Speaker 11: suspicious brute, she said, not sorry that Nana was in disgrace.
- 57:50Speaker 11: They are perfectly safe, aren't they. Every one of the
- 57:52Speaker 11: little angels sound asleep in bed, listened to their gentle breathing. Here, Michael,
- 57:58Speaker 11: encouraged by his success, breathe so loudly that they were
- 58:01Speaker 11: nearly detected. Nana knew that kind of breathing, and she
- 58:05Speaker 11: tried to drag herself out of Liza's clutches, but Liza
- 58:09Speaker 11: was dense. No more of it, Nana, she said, sternly,
- 58:12Speaker 11: pulling her out of the room. I warn you, if
- 58:14Speaker 11: bark again, I shall go straight from Master and Missus
- 58:17Speaker 11: and bring them home from the party. And then, oh,
- 58:19Speaker 11: won't Master whip you? Just she tied the unhappy dog
- 58:24Speaker 11: up again. But do you think Nana ceased to bark
- 58:27Speaker 11: bring Master and Missus home from the party? Why? That
- 58:29Speaker 11: was just what she wanted. Do you think she cared
- 58:32Speaker 11: whether she was whipped, so long as her charges were safe. Unfortunately,
- 58:37Speaker 11: Liza returned to her puddings, and Nana, seeing that no
- 58:40Speaker 11: help would come from her, strained and strained the chain
- 58:43Speaker 11: until at last she broke it. In another moment, she
- 58:46Speaker 11: burst into the dining room of twenty seven and flung
- 58:49Speaker 11: up her paws to heaven, her most expressive way of
- 58:51Speaker 11: making a communication. Mister and Missus Darling knew at once
- 58:55Speaker 11: that something terrible was happening in their nursery, and without
- 58:57Speaker 11: a good bye to their hostess, they rushed into the street.
- 59:01Speaker 11: But it was now ten minutes since three scoundrels had
- 59:04Speaker 11: been breathing behind the curtains, and Peter Pan can do
- 59:07Speaker 11: a great deal in ten minutes we now returned to
- 59:11Speaker 11: the nursery. It's all right, John announced, emerging from his
- 59:15Speaker 11: hiding place. I say, Peter, can you really fly? Instead
- 59:20Speaker 11: of troubling to answer him, Peter flew around the room,
- 59:22Speaker 11: taking the mantelpiece on the way. How topping, said John
- 59:27Speaker 11: and Michael. How sweet, cried Wendy. Yes I'm sweet, Oh
- 59:32Speaker 11: I am sweet, said Peter, forgetting his manners again. It
- 59:36Speaker 11: looked delightfully easy, and they tried it first from the
- 59:39Speaker 11: floor and then from the beds, but they always went
- 59:42Speaker 11: down instead of up. I say, how do you do it?
- 59:47Speaker 11: Asked John, rubbing his knee. He was quite a practical boy.
- 59:51Speaker 11: You just think lovely, wonderful thoughts, Peter explained, And they
- 59:55Speaker 11: lift you up in the air. He showed them again.
- 1:00:00Speaker 11: You're so nippy at it, John said, couldn't you do
- 1:00:02Speaker 11: it very slowly? Once Peter did it both slowly and quickly.
- 1:00:08Speaker 11: I've got it now, Wendy, cried John. But soon he
- 1:00:11Speaker 11: found he had not Not one of them could fly
- 1:00:14Speaker 11: an inch, though even Michael was in words of two syllables,
- 1:00:18Speaker 11: and Peter did not know a from Z. Of course,
- 1:00:22Speaker 11: Peter had been trifling with them for no one can
- 1:00:25Speaker 11: fly unless the fairy dust has been blown on him. Fortunately,
- 1:00:28Speaker 11: as we have mentioned, one of his hands was messy
- 1:00:31Speaker 11: with it, and he blew some one each of them
- 1:00:33Speaker 11: with the most superb results. Now just wiggle your shoulders
- 1:00:37Speaker 11: this way, he said, and let go. They were all
- 1:00:41Speaker 11: on their beds, and gallant Michael let go first. He
- 1:00:45Speaker 11: did not quite mean to let go, but he did it,
- 1:00:48Speaker 11: and immediately he was born. Across the room. I flewed,
- 1:00:53Speaker 11: he screamed, while still in mid air. John let go
- 1:00:57Speaker 11: and met Wendy near the bathroom. Oh lovely, oh ripping,
- 1:01:02Speaker 11: Look at me, Look at me, look at me. They
- 1:01:05Speaker 11: were not nearly so elegant as Peter. They could not
- 1:01:08Speaker 11: help kicking a little, but their heads were bobbing against
- 1:01:11Speaker 11: the ceiling. And there is almost nothing so delicious as that.
- 1:01:15Speaker 11: Peter gave Wendy a hand at first, but had to desist.
- 1:01:18Speaker 11: Tink was so indignant. Up and down they went, the
- 1:01:22Speaker 11: round and round. Heavenly was Wendy's word, I say, cried John,
- 1:01:28Speaker 11: Why shouldn't we all go out? Of course it was
- 1:01:31Speaker 11: to this that Peter had been luring them. Michael was ready.
- 1:01:35Speaker 11: He wanted to see how long it took him to
- 1:01:36Speaker 11: do a billion miles, but Wendy hesitated. Mermaids, said Peter again. Ooh,
- 1:01:45Speaker 11: and there are pirates. Pirates, cried John, seizing his Sunday hat,
- 1:01:51Speaker 11: let us go at once. It was just at this
- 1:01:54Speaker 11: moment that mister and Missus Darling hurried with Nana out
- 1:01:58Speaker 11: of twenty seven. They ran into the middle of the
- 1:02:00Speaker 11: street to look up at the nursery window. And yes,
- 1:02:04Speaker 11: it was still shut, but the room was ablaze with
- 1:02:06Speaker 11: light and most heart gripping sight of all they could
- 1:02:09Speaker 11: see in shadow on the curtain three little figures in
- 1:02:13Speaker 11: night attire, circling round and round, not on the floor,
- 1:02:17Speaker 11: but in the air, not three figures.
- 1:02:21Speaker 14: Four.
- 1:02:22Speaker 11: In a tremble, they opened the street door. Mister Darling
- 1:02:25Speaker 11: would have rushed upstairs, but Missus Darling signaled him to
- 1:02:28Speaker 11: go softly. She even tried to make her heart go softly.
- 1:02:33Speaker 11: Will they reach the nursery in time? If so, how
- 1:02:37Speaker 11: delightful for them, and we shall all breathe a sigh
- 1:02:40Speaker 11: of relief. But there will be no story. On the
- 1:02:43Speaker 11: other hand, if they are not in time, I solemnly
- 1:02:47Speaker 11: promise that it will all come right. In the end.
- 1:02:51Speaker 11: They would have reached the nursery in time, had it
- 1:02:54Speaker 11: not been that the little stars were watching them? Once again,
- 1:02:58Speaker 11: the stars blew the window open, and that smallest star
- 1:03:01Speaker 11: of all called out Cave Peter. Then Peter knew that
- 1:03:07Speaker 11: there was not a moment to lose. Come. He cried
- 1:03:10Speaker 11: imperiously and stared out at once into the night, followed
- 1:03:13Speaker 11: by John and Michael and Wendy. Mister and Missus, Darling
- 1:03:18Speaker 11: and Nana rushed into the nursery too late. The birds
- 1:03:23Speaker 11: were flown end of chapter three, Chapter four, the flight.
- 1:03:34Speaker 14: Second to the right and straight on till morning. That
- 1:03:39Speaker 14: Peter had told Wendy was the way to the Neverland.
- 1:03:43Speaker 14: But even birds carrying maps and consulting them at Wendy
- 1:03:46Speaker 14: Corners couldnt have sighted it with these instructions. Peter, you see,
- 1:03:53Speaker 14: just said anything that came into his head. At first.
- 1:03:57Speaker 14: His companions trusted him implicitly, and so great were the
- 1:04:01Speaker 14: delights of flying that they wasted time circling round church
- 1:04:04Speaker 14: spires or any of their tall objects on the way
- 1:04:08Speaker 14: that took their fancy. John and Michael raced Michael getting
- 1:04:13Speaker 14: a start. They recalled with contempt that not so long
- 1:04:17Speaker 14: ago they had thought themselves fine fellows for being able
- 1:04:20Speaker 14: to fly round a room not long ago, but how
- 1:04:24Speaker 14: long ago? They were flying over the sea before this
- 1:04:27Speaker 14: thought began to disturb Wendy seriously, John thought it was
- 1:04:31Speaker 14: their second sea, and their third night. Sometimes it was
- 1:04:36Speaker 14: dark and sometimes light, And now they were very cold
- 1:04:40Speaker 14: and again too warm. Did they really feel hungry at times?
- 1:04:46Speaker 14: Or were they merely pretending because Peter had such a
- 1:04:49Speaker 14: jolly new way of feeding them. His way was to
- 1:04:53Speaker 14: pursue birds who had food in their mouths suitable for
- 1:04:56Speaker 14: humans and snatch it from them. Then the birds would
- 1:05:00Speaker 14: follow and snatch it back, and they would all go
- 1:05:03Speaker 14: chasing each other gaily for miles, parting at last with
- 1:05:06Speaker 14: mutual expressions of good will. But Wendy noticed with gentle
- 1:05:10Speaker 14: concern that Peter did not seem to know that this
- 1:05:13Speaker 14: was rather an odd way of getting your bread and butter,
- 1:05:16Speaker 14: nor even that there were other ways. Certainly they did
- 1:05:20Speaker 14: not pretend to be sleepy. They were sleepy, and that
- 1:05:23Speaker 14: was a danger. For the moment they popped off down
- 1:05:27Speaker 14: they fell. The awful thing was that Peter thought this funny.
- 1:05:33Speaker 14: There he goes again. He would cry gleefully as Michael
- 1:05:36Speaker 14: suddenly dropped like a stone, Save him, save him, cried Wendy,
- 1:05:41Speaker 14: looking with horror at the cruel sea far below. Eventually
- 1:05:44Speaker 14: Peter would dive through the air and catch Michael just
- 1:05:47Speaker 14: before he could strike the sea. And it was lovely
- 1:05:50Speaker 14: the way he did it. But he always waited till
- 1:05:52Speaker 14: the last moment, and you felt it was his cleverness
- 1:05:54Speaker 14: that interested him and not the saving of human life. Also,
- 1:05:59Speaker 14: he was fond of her, and the sport then grossed
- 1:06:02Speaker 14: in one moment would suddenly cease to engage him. So
- 1:06:05Speaker 14: there was always the possibility that the next time you fell,
- 1:06:07Speaker 14: he would let you go. He could sleep in the
- 1:06:12Speaker 14: air without falling, by merely lying on his back and floating.
- 1:06:16Speaker 14: But this was partly at least because he was so
- 1:06:19Speaker 14: light that if he got behind him in blue, he
- 1:06:22Speaker 14: went faster. Do be more polite to him, Wendy whispered
- 1:06:28Speaker 14: to John when they were playing Follow My Leader. Then
- 1:06:31Speaker 14: tell him to stop showing off, said John. When playing
- 1:06:35Speaker 14: Follow My Leader, Peter would fly close to the water
- 1:06:39Speaker 14: and touch each shark's tail in passing, just as in
- 1:06:42Speaker 14: the street you may run your finger along an iron railing.
- 1:06:45Speaker 14: They cannot follow him in this with much success, so
- 1:06:48Speaker 14: perhaps it was rather like showing off, especially as he
- 1:06:51Speaker 14: kept looking behind to see how many tails they missed.
- 1:06:54Speaker 14: You must be nice to him, Wendy impressed upon her brothers.
- 1:06:58Speaker 14: What could we do if he were to leave us?
- 1:07:01Speaker 14: We could go back, Michael said, how could we ever
- 1:07:05Speaker 14: find our way back without him? Well, then we could
- 1:07:09Speaker 14: go on, said John. That is the awful thing. John,
- 1:07:13Speaker 14: We should have to go on, for we don't know
- 1:07:15Speaker 14: how to stop. This was true. Peter had forgotten to
- 1:07:21Speaker 14: show them how to stop. John said that if the
- 1:07:25Speaker 14: worst came to the worst, all they had to do
- 1:07:28Speaker 14: was to go straight on, for the world was round,
- 1:07:31Speaker 14: and so in time they must come back to their
- 1:07:33Speaker 14: own window. And who is to get food for us? John?
- 1:07:38Speaker 14: I nipped a bit out of that eagle's mouth pretty neatly, Wendy.
- 1:07:42Speaker 14: After the twentieth try, Wendy reminded him, and even though
- 1:07:46Speaker 14: we became good at picking up food, see how we
- 1:07:49Speaker 14: bump against clouds and things. If he is not near
- 1:07:51Speaker 14: to give us a hand. Indeed, they were constantly bumping.
- 1:07:56Speaker 14: They could now fly strongly, though they still kicked far
- 1:07:59Speaker 14: too much. But if they saw a cloud in front
- 1:08:01Speaker 14: of them, the more they tried to avoid it, the
- 1:08:04Speaker 14: more certainly did they bump into it. If Nana had
- 1:08:07Speaker 14: been with them, she would have had a bandage round
- 1:08:09Speaker 14: Michael's forehead. By this time. Peter was not with them
- 1:08:13Speaker 14: for the moment, and they felt rather lonely up there
- 1:08:16Speaker 14: by themselves. He could go so much faster than they
- 1:08:20Speaker 14: that he would suddenly shoot out of sight to have
- 1:08:22Speaker 14: some adventure in which they had no share. He would
- 1:08:25Speaker 14: come down laughing over something fearfully funny he had been
- 1:08:28Speaker 14: saying to a star, but he had already forgotten what
- 1:08:31Speaker 14: it was, or he would come up with mermaid scales
- 1:08:34Speaker 14: still sticking to him, and yet not be able to
- 1:08:37Speaker 14: say for certain what had been happening. It was really
- 1:08:40Speaker 14: rather irritating to children who had never seen a mermaid.
- 1:08:45Speaker 14: And if he forgets them so quickly, Wendy argued, how
- 1:08:49Speaker 14: can we expect he will go on remembering us. Indeed,
- 1:08:54Speaker 14: sometimes when he returned he did not remember them, at
- 1:08:58Speaker 14: least not well. Wendy was sure of it. She saw
- 1:09:02Speaker 14: recognition come into his eyes as he was about to
- 1:09:04Speaker 14: pass them the time of day and go on. Once
- 1:09:08Speaker 14: even she had to call him by name. I'm Wendy,
- 1:09:12Speaker 14: she said, agitatedly. He was very sorry. I say Wendy,
- 1:09:18Speaker 14: he whispered to her. Always, if you see me forgetting
- 1:09:21Speaker 14: you just keep on saying I'm Wendy, and then I'll remember.
- 1:09:26Speaker 14: Of course, this was rather unsatisfactory. However, to make amends,
- 1:09:32Speaker 14: he showed them how to lie out flat on a
- 1:09:34Speaker 14: strong wind that was going their way. And this was
- 1:09:37Speaker 14: such a pleasant change that they tried it several times
- 1:09:39Speaker 14: and found that they could sleep thus with security. Indeed,
- 1:09:43Speaker 14: they would have slept longer, but Peter tired quickly of sleeping,
- 1:09:47Speaker 14: and soon he would cry in his captain's voice, we
- 1:09:50Speaker 14: get off here. So with occasional tips, but on the
- 1:09:54Speaker 14: whole rollicking they drew near the Neverland. For after many
- 1:09:58Speaker 14: moons did they reach it. And what is more, they
- 1:10:02Speaker 14: had been going pretty straight all the time, not perhaps
- 1:10:05Speaker 14: so much owing to the guidance of Peter or Tink
- 1:10:07Speaker 14: as because the island was looking for them. It was
- 1:10:11Speaker 14: only thus that any one may sight those magic shores. There,
- 1:10:16Speaker 14: it is, said Peter, calmly, where where where all the
- 1:10:22Speaker 14: arrows are pointing? Indeed a million golden arrows were pointing
- 1:10:27Speaker 14: it out to the children, all directed by their friend
- 1:10:29Speaker 14: the Sun, who wanted them to be sure of their way.
- 1:10:32Speaker 14: Before leaving them for the night, Wendy and John and
- 1:10:37Speaker 14: Michael stood on tiptoe in the air to get their
- 1:10:40Speaker 14: first sight of the island. Strange to say, they all
- 1:10:43Speaker 14: recognized it at once, and until fear fell upon them,
- 1:10:46Speaker 14: they hailed it not as something long dreamt of and
- 1:10:49Speaker 14: seen at last, but as a familiar friend to whom
- 1:10:52Speaker 14: they were returning home for the holidays. John, there is
- 1:10:55Speaker 14: the lagoon, Wendy. Look the turtles burying their eggs in
- 1:10:59Speaker 14: the sand, I say, John, I see your flamingo with
- 1:11:03Speaker 14: the broken leg. Look, Michael, there's your cave. John. What's
- 1:11:08Speaker 14: that in the brushwood? It's a wolf with her whelps, Wendy,
- 1:11:12Speaker 14: I do believe that's your little whelp. There's my boat, John,
- 1:11:17Speaker 14: WHI her sides stove in? No, it isn't why we
- 1:11:20Speaker 14: burned your boat. That's her at any rate, I say, John,
- 1:11:25Speaker 14: I see the smoke of the redskin camp. Where show
- 1:11:30Speaker 14: me and I'll tell you by the way smoke curls
- 1:11:32Speaker 14: whether there are on the war path there just to
- 1:11:36Speaker 14: cross the mysterious river. I see now, Yes, they are
- 1:11:41Speaker 14: on the war path right enough. Peter was a little
- 1:11:45Speaker 14: annoyed with them for knowing so much. But if he
- 1:11:48Speaker 14: wanted to lord it over them, his triumph was at hand.
- 1:11:50Speaker 14: For Heaven not told you that anon fear fell upon them.
- 1:11:55Speaker 14: It came as the arrows went leaving the island in gloom.
- 1:12:00Speaker 14: In the old days at home, the Neverland had always
- 1:12:03Speaker 14: begun to look a little dark and threatening by bedtime.
- 1:12:06Speaker 14: Then unexplored patches arose in it, and spread black shadows
- 1:12:10Speaker 14: moved about in them. The roar of the beasts of
- 1:12:13Speaker 14: prey was quite different now, and above all, you lost
- 1:12:17Speaker 14: the certainty that you would win. You were quite glad
- 1:12:21Speaker 14: that the night lights were on. You even liked Nana
- 1:12:24Speaker 14: to say that this was just the mantelpiece over here,
- 1:12:26Speaker 14: and that the Neverland was all make believe. Of course,
- 1:12:31Speaker 14: the Neverland had been make believe in those days. But
- 1:12:34Speaker 14: it was real now, and there were no night lights,
- 1:12:37Speaker 14: and it was getting darker every moment, And where was Nana?
- 1:12:42Speaker 14: They had been flying apart, but they huddled close to Peter.
- 1:12:45Speaker 14: Now his careless manner had gone at last. His eyes
- 1:12:50Speaker 14: were sparkling, and a tingle went through them every time
- 1:12:53Speaker 14: they touched his body. They were now over the fearsome island,
- 1:12:58Speaker 14: flying so low that sometimes a tree he grazed their feet.
- 1:13:02Speaker 14: Nothing horrid was visible in the air, Yet their progress
- 1:13:05Speaker 14: had become slow and labored exactly as if they were
- 1:13:08Speaker 14: pushing their way through hostile forces. Sometimes they hung in
- 1:13:12Speaker 14: the air until Peter had beaten on it with his fists.
- 1:13:16Speaker 14: They don't want us to land, he explained, Who are they?
- 1:13:21Speaker 14: Wendy whispered, shuddering, But he could not or would not say.
- 1:13:28Speaker 14: Tinker Bell had been asleep on his shoulder, but now
- 1:13:30Speaker 14: he wakened her and sent her on in front. Sometimes
- 1:13:34Speaker 14: he poised himself in the air, listening intently with his
- 1:13:37Speaker 14: hand to his ear, and again he would stare down
- 1:13:40Speaker 14: with eyes so bright that they seemed to bore two
- 1:13:42Speaker 14: holes to earth. Having done these things, he went on again.
- 1:13:47Speaker 14: His courage was almost appalling. Would she like an adventure now,
- 1:13:52Speaker 14: he said casually to John, or would you like to
- 1:13:55Speaker 14: have your tea first? Wendy said tea first quickly, and
- 1:14:01Speaker 14: Michael pressed her hand in gratitude. But the braver John hesitated.
- 1:14:05Speaker 14: What kind of adventure? He asked, cautiously, there's a pirate
- 1:14:10Speaker 14: to sleep in the pumpas just beneath us. Peter told
- 1:14:13Speaker 14: him if you like we'll go down and kill him.
- 1:14:18Speaker 14: I don't see him, John said, after a long pause.
- 1:14:22Speaker 4: I do.
- 1:14:24Speaker 14: Suppose, John said a little huskily, he were to wake up.
- 1:14:31Speaker 14: Peter spoke indignantly. You don't think I would kill him
- 1:14:34Speaker 14: while he was sleeping. I would wake him first and
- 1:14:36Speaker 14: then kill him. That's the way I always do. I say,
- 1:14:41Speaker 14: do you kill many tons? John said, how ripping, but
- 1:14:49Speaker 14: decided to have tea first. He asked if there were
- 1:14:52Speaker 14: many pirates on the island just now, and Peter said
- 1:14:56Speaker 14: he had never known so many. Who is captain now?
- 1:15:00Speaker 14: Hook answered Peter, and his face became very stern as
- 1:15:04Speaker 14: he said that hated word. Just Hook. I then, indeed,
- 1:15:13Speaker 14: Michael began to cry, and even John could speak in gulps,
- 1:15:16Speaker 14: only for they knew Hook's reputation. He was Blackbeard's bosin.
- 1:15:22Speaker 14: John whispered huskily. He's the worst of them all. He's
- 1:15:26Speaker 14: the only man of whom Barbecue was afraid. That's him,
- 1:15:31Speaker 14: said Peter. What is he like? Is he big? He's
- 1:15:36Speaker 14: not so big as he was. How do you mean
- 1:15:40Speaker 14: I cut off a bit of him?
- 1:15:42Speaker 2: You?
- 1:15:44Speaker 14: Yes, me, said Peter sharply. I wasn't meaning to be disrespectful.
- 1:15:50Speaker 14: Oh all right, but uh, as I say, which bit
- 1:15:55Speaker 14: his right hand? Then he can't fight now? Oh? Can he?
- 1:16:00Speaker 14: Just left hander? He has an iron hook instead of
- 1:16:04Speaker 14: a right hand, and he claws with it. Claws, I say,
- 1:16:08Speaker 14: John said Peter. Yes, say ay ay sir, ay ay sir.
- 1:16:16Speaker 14: There is one thing, Peter continued, that every boy who
- 1:16:19Speaker 14: serves under me has to promise, and so must you,
- 1:16:23Speaker 14: John Paled.
- 1:16:26Speaker 11: It is this.
- 1:16:27Speaker 14: If we meet hook and open fight, you must leave
- 1:16:30Speaker 14: him to me. I promise, John said loyally. For the moment,
- 1:16:36Speaker 14: they were feeling less eerie because Tink was flying with them,
- 1:16:40Speaker 14: and in her light they could distinguish each other. Unfortunately,
- 1:16:44Speaker 14: she cannot fly so slowly as they, and so she
- 1:16:47Speaker 14: had to go round and round them in a circle
- 1:16:49Speaker 14: in which they moved as in a halo. Wendy quite
- 1:16:53Speaker 14: liked it, until Peter pointed out the drawbacks. She tells me,
- 1:16:58Speaker 14: He said that the pirates sighted us before the darkness came,
- 1:17:03Speaker 14: and got long tom out the big gun. Yes, and
- 1:17:08Speaker 14: of course they must see her light, and if they
- 1:17:11Speaker 14: guess we are near it, they are sure to let
- 1:17:13Speaker 14: fly Wendy. John Michael tell her to go away at
- 1:17:19Speaker 14: once Peter. The three cried simultaneously, but he refused. She
- 1:17:25Speaker 14: thinks we have lost the way, he replied stiffly, And
- 1:17:29Speaker 14: she is rather frightened. You don't think I would send
- 1:17:32Speaker 14: her away all by herself. When she's frightened for a moment,
- 1:17:37Speaker 14: the circle of light was broken, and something gave Peter
- 1:17:40Speaker 14: a loving little pinch. Then tell her Wendy begged to
- 1:17:45Speaker 14: put out her light. She can't put it out. That
- 1:17:50Speaker 14: is about the only thing fairies can't do. It just
- 1:17:53Speaker 14: goes out of itself when she falls asleep, same as
- 1:17:56Speaker 14: the stars. Then tell her to sleep at once. John
- 1:18:00Speaker 14: almost ordered, she can't sleep except when she's sleepy. It
- 1:18:05Speaker 14: is the only other thing fairies can't do, seems to me,
- 1:18:09Speaker 14: growled John, These are the only two things worth doing.
- 1:18:15Speaker 11: Here.
- 1:18:15Speaker 14: He got a pinch, but not a loving one. If
- 1:18:20Speaker 14: only one of us had a pocket, Peter said, we
- 1:18:23Speaker 14: could carry her in it. However, they had set off
- 1:18:26Speaker 14: in such a hurry that there was not a pocket
- 1:18:27Speaker 14: between the four of em. He had a happy idea,
- 1:18:32Speaker 14: John's hat. Tink agreed to travel by hat if it
- 1:18:37Speaker 14: was carried in the hand. John carried it. Though she
- 1:18:41Speaker 14: had hoped to be carried by Peter. Presently, Wendy took
- 1:18:45Speaker 14: the hat because John said it struck against his knee
- 1:18:47Speaker 14: as he flew, and this, as we shall see, led
- 1:18:50Speaker 14: to mischief, for tinker Bell hated to be under an
- 1:18:53Speaker 14: obligation to Wendy. In the black topper. The light was
- 1:18:57Speaker 14: completely hidden, and they flew on in silence. It was
- 1:19:01Speaker 14: the stillest silence they had ever known, broken once by
- 1:19:05Speaker 14: a distant lapping, which Peter explained was the wild beasts
- 1:19:08Speaker 14: drinking at the ford, and again by a rasping sound
- 1:19:11Speaker 14: that might have been the branches of trees rubbing together,
- 1:19:15Speaker 14: but he said it was the redskins sharpening their knives.
- 1:19:19Speaker 14: Even these noises ceased. To Michael, the loneliness was dreadful.
- 1:19:25Speaker 14: If only something would make a sound, he cried, as
- 1:19:30Speaker 14: of In answer to his request, the air was rent
- 1:19:33Speaker 14: by the most tremendous crash he had ever heard. The
- 1:19:36Speaker 14: pirates had fired long tom at them. The roar of
- 1:19:41Speaker 14: it echoed through the mountains, and the echo seemed to
- 1:19:45Speaker 14: cry savagely, where are they? Where are they?
- 1:19:49Speaker 11: Where are they?
- 1:19:52Speaker 14: Thus sharply that the terrified three learned the difference between
- 1:19:55Speaker 14: an island of make believe and the same island come true.
- 1:20:01Speaker 14: When at last the heavens were steady again, John and
- 1:20:04Speaker 14: Michael found themselves alone in the darkness. John was treading
- 1:20:08Speaker 14: the air mechanically, and Michael, without knowing how to float,
- 1:20:12Speaker 14: was floating. Are you shot, John whispered tremulously. I haven't
- 1:20:21Speaker 14: tried myself out yet, Michael whispered back. We know now
- 1:20:27Speaker 14: that no one had been hit. Peter, however, had been
- 1:20:31Speaker 14: carried by the wind of the shot far out to sea,
- 1:20:34Speaker 14: while Wendy was blown upwards with no companion but tinker Bell.
- 1:20:39Speaker 14: It would have been well for Wendy if at that
- 1:20:41Speaker 14: moment she had dropped the hat. I don't know whether
- 1:20:44Speaker 14: the idea came suddenly to Tink or whether she had
- 1:20:47Speaker 14: planned it on the way, but she at once popped
- 1:20:51Speaker 14: out of the hat and began to lure Wendy to
- 1:20:53Speaker 14: her destruction. Tink was not all bad, or rather, she
- 1:21:00Speaker 14: was all bad just now. But on the other hand,
- 1:21:04Speaker 14: sometimes she was all good. Fairies have to be one
- 1:21:08Speaker 14: thing or the other, because being so small, they unfortunately
- 1:21:12Speaker 14: have room for one feeling only at a time. They are, however,
- 1:21:16Speaker 14: allowed to change, only it must be a complete change.
- 1:21:21Speaker 14: At present, she was full of jealousy of Wendy. What
- 1:21:25Speaker 14: she said in her lovely tinkle. Wendy could not, of
- 1:21:28Speaker 14: course understand, but I believe some of it was bad words,
- 1:21:32Speaker 14: but it sounded kind. And she flew back and forward, plainly,
- 1:21:35Speaker 14: meaning follow me and all will be well. What else
- 1:21:41Speaker 14: could poor Wendy do? She called to Peter and John
- 1:21:45Speaker 14: and Michael, and got only mocking echoes in reply. She
- 1:21:50Speaker 14: did not yet know that Tink hated her with the
- 1:21:53Speaker 14: fierce hatred of a very woman, And so bewildered and
- 1:21:58Speaker 14: now staggering in her flight, she followed Tink to her doom.
- 1:22:05Speaker 14: End of chapter four.
- 1:22:07Speaker 13: Chapter five, The Island come true, Feeling that Peter was
- 1:22:14Speaker 13: on his way back. The Neverland had again woken to life.
- 1:22:18Speaker 13: We ought to use the plue perfect and say wakened,
- 1:22:21Speaker 13: but woke is better, and was always used by Peter
- 1:22:24Speaker 13: in his absence. Things are usually quiet on the island.
- 1:22:28Speaker 13: The fairies take an hour longer in the morning. The
- 1:22:30Speaker 13: beasts attend to their young, The redskins feed heavily for
- 1:22:34Speaker 13: six days and nights, and when pirates and lost boys
- 1:22:37Speaker 13: meet they merely bite their thumbs at each other. But
- 1:22:41Speaker 13: with the coming of Peter, who hates lethargy. They are
- 1:22:44Speaker 13: under weigh again. If you put your ear to the
- 1:22:47Speaker 13: ground now, you would hear the whole island seething with life.
- 1:22:52Speaker 13: On this evening the chief forces of the island were
- 1:22:54Speaker 13: disposed as follows. The lost Boys were out looking for Peter.
- 1:22:59Speaker 13: The pirates were out looking for the lost boys. The
- 1:23:02Speaker 13: Redskins were out looking for the pirates. And the beasts
- 1:23:05Speaker 13: were out looking for the Redskins. They were going round
- 1:23:09Speaker 13: and round the island, but they did not meet, because
- 1:23:12Speaker 13: all were going at the same rate. All wanted blood,
- 1:23:16Speaker 13: except the boys, who liked it as a rule. But
- 1:23:19Speaker 13: tonight were out to greet their captain. The boys on
- 1:23:23Speaker 13: the island vary, of course, in numbers, according as they
- 1:23:26Speaker 13: get killed and so on, And when they seemed to
- 1:23:29Speaker 13: be growing up, which is against the rules, Peter thins
- 1:23:32Speaker 13: them out. But at this time there were six of them,
- 1:23:36Speaker 13: counting the twins as two. Let us pretend to lie
- 1:23:40Speaker 13: here among the sugar cane and watch them as they
- 1:23:42Speaker 13: steal by in single file, each with his hand on
- 1:23:46Speaker 13: his dagger. They are forbidden by Peter to look in
- 1:23:50Speaker 13: the least like him, and they wear the skins of
- 1:23:53Speaker 13: the bears slain by themselves, in which they are so
- 1:23:57Speaker 13: round and furry that when they fall they roll. They
- 1:24:01Speaker 13: have therefore become very sure footed. The first to pass
- 1:24:05Speaker 13: is Tootles, not the least brave, but the most unfortunate
- 1:24:10Speaker 13: of all that gallant band. He had been in fewer
- 1:24:14Speaker 13: adventures than any of them, because the big things constantly
- 1:24:17Speaker 13: happened just when he had stepped round the corner, all
- 1:24:21Speaker 13: would be quiet. He would take the opportunity of going
- 1:24:24Speaker 13: off to gather a few sticks for firewood, and then
- 1:24:27Speaker 13: when he returned, the others would be sweeping up the blood.
- 1:24:31Speaker 13: This ill luck had given a gentle melancholy to his countenance,
- 1:24:35Speaker 13: but instead of souring his nature, had sweetened it, so
- 1:24:39Speaker 13: that he was quite the humblest of the boys. Poor kind, Tootles,
- 1:24:44Speaker 13: there is danger in the air for you tonight. Take
- 1:24:47Speaker 13: care less. An adventure is now offered you, which, if accepted,
- 1:24:51Speaker 13: will plunge you in deepest woe, Toodles. The fairy tink
- 1:24:56Speaker 13: who is bent on mischief this night, is looking for
- 1:24:59Speaker 13: a tool, and she thinks you are the most easily
- 1:25:02Speaker 13: tricked of the boys. But ware tinker Bell would that
- 1:25:07Speaker 13: he could hear us, but we are not really on
- 1:25:10Speaker 13: the island, and he passes by biting his knuckles. Next
- 1:25:14Speaker 13: comes Nibs, the Gay and Debonair, followed by Slightly, who
- 1:25:19Speaker 13: cuts whistles out of the trees and dances ecstatically to
- 1:25:22Speaker 13: his own tunes. Slightly is the most conceited of the boys.
- 1:25:27Speaker 13: He thinks he remembers the days before he was lost
- 1:25:31Speaker 13: with their manners and customs, and this has given his
- 1:25:34Speaker 13: nose an offensive tilt. Curly is fourth. He is a pickle,
- 1:25:40Speaker 13: and so often has he had to deliver up his person.
- 1:25:43Speaker 13: When Peter said, sternly, stand forth, the one who did
- 1:25:46Speaker 13: this thing that now at the command, he stands forth automatically,
- 1:25:51Speaker 13: whether he has done it or not. Last come the twins,
- 1:25:55Speaker 13: who cannot be described, because we should be sure to
- 1:25:58Speaker 13: be describing the wrong one. Peter never quite knew what
- 1:26:02Speaker 13: twins were, and his band were not allowed to know
- 1:26:05Speaker 13: anything he did not know. So these two were always
- 1:26:08Speaker 13: vague about themselves and did their best to give satisfaction
- 1:26:12Speaker 13: by keeping close together in an apologetic sort of way.
- 1:26:17Speaker 13: The boys vanish in the gloom, and after a pause,
- 1:26:21Speaker 13: but not a long pause, for things go briskly on
- 1:26:24Speaker 13: the island. Come the pirates on their track. We hear
- 1:26:28Speaker 13: them before they are seen, and it is always the
- 1:26:31Speaker 13: same dreadful song, A vast belay yoho heftu a pirting
- 1:26:37Speaker 13: we go, and if we're parted by a shot, we're
- 1:26:40Speaker 13: sure to meet below. A more villainous looking lot never
- 1:26:46Speaker 13: hung in a row on execution. Doc here a little
- 1:26:50Speaker 13: in advance, ever and again, with his head to the ground,
- 1:26:53Speaker 13: listening his great arms bare pieces of eight in his
- 1:26:57Speaker 13: ears as ornaments. Is the handsome Italian Seco who cut
- 1:27:02Speaker 13: his name in letters of blood on the back of
- 1:27:04Speaker 13: the governor of the prison at Gao. That gigantic black
- 1:27:09Speaker 13: behind him has had many names since he dropped, the
- 1:27:12Speaker 13: one with which dusky mothers still terrify their children on
- 1:27:15Speaker 13: the banks of the Guadjomeo. Here is Bill Jukes, every
- 1:27:21Speaker 13: inch of him tattooed, the same Bill Jukes who got
- 1:27:24Speaker 13: six dozen on the walrus from Flint before he would
- 1:27:27Speaker 13: drop the bag of Mordores and Cookson said to be
- 1:27:31Speaker 13: Black Murphy's brother, but this was never proved. And gentlemen,
- 1:27:36Speaker 13: Starkey wants an usher in a public school, and still
- 1:27:39Speaker 13: dainty in his ways of killing, and skylights Morgan's skylights,
- 1:27:45Speaker 13: and the Irish Bosun Smee, an oddly genial man who stabbed,
- 1:27:50Speaker 13: so to speak, without offense, and was the only nonconformist
- 1:27:54Speaker 13: in Hook's crew, and Noodler whose hands were fixed on backwards,
- 1:28:00Speaker 13: and Robert Mullins and Alf Mason, and many another ruffian
- 1:28:04Speaker 13: long known and feared on the Spanish main. In the
- 1:28:09Speaker 13: midst of them, the blackest and largest in that dark
- 1:28:12Speaker 13: setting reclined James Hook, or as he wrote himself j A. S. Hook,
- 1:28:19Speaker 13: of whom it is said he was the only man
- 1:28:22Speaker 13: that the sea cook feared. He lay at his ease
- 1:28:25Speaker 13: in a rough chariot, drawn and propelled by his men,
- 1:28:29Speaker 13: and instead of a right hand he had the iron hook,
- 1:28:32Speaker 13: with which ever and anon he encouraged them to increase
- 1:28:35Speaker 13: their pace. As dogs, this terrible man treated and addressed them,
- 1:28:41Speaker 13: and as dogs they obeyed him. In person, he was
- 1:28:45Speaker 13: cadaverous and blackavised, and his hair was dressed in long curls,
- 1:28:51Speaker 13: which at a little distance looked like black candles, and
- 1:28:54Speaker 13: gave a singularly threatening expression to his handsome countenance. His
- 1:29:00Speaker 13: eyes were of the blue of the forget me not,
- 1:29:03Speaker 13: and of a profound melancholy, save when he was plunging
- 1:29:07Speaker 13: his hook into you, at which time two red spots
- 1:29:10Speaker 13: appeared in them and lit them up horribly. In manner,
- 1:29:15Speaker 13: something of the grand seigneur still clung to him, so
- 1:29:19Speaker 13: that he even ripped you up with an air. And
- 1:29:22Speaker 13: I have been told that he was a raconteur of repute.
- 1:29:27Speaker 13: He was never more sinister than when he was most polite,
- 1:29:30Speaker 13: which is probably the truest test of breeding, and the
- 1:29:34Speaker 13: elegance of his diction even when he was swearing, no
- 1:29:38Speaker 13: less than the distinction of his demeanor showed him one
- 1:29:42Speaker 13: of a different cast from his crew, a man of
- 1:29:46Speaker 13: indomitable courage. It was said that the only thing he
- 1:29:49Speaker 13: shied at was the sight of his own blood, which
- 1:29:52Speaker 13: was thick and of an unusual color. In Drassees somewhat
- 1:29:57Speaker 13: aped the attire associated with the name of Charles the Second,
- 1:30:01Speaker 13: having heard it said in some earlier period of his career,
- 1:30:04Speaker 13: that he bore a strange resemblance to the ill fated Stuarts.
- 1:30:08Speaker 13: And in his mouth he had a holder of his
- 1:30:11Speaker 13: own contrivance, which enabled him to smoke two cigars at once.
- 1:30:16Speaker 13: But undoubtedly the grimest part of him was his iron claw.
- 1:30:21Speaker 13: Let us now kill a pirate to show Hook's method.
- 1:30:25Speaker 13: Skylights will do. As they pass. Skylights lurches clumsily against him,
- 1:30:30Speaker 13: ruffling his lace collar. The hook shoots forth. There is
- 1:30:34Speaker 13: a tearing sound in one screech. Then the body is
- 1:30:38Speaker 13: kicked aside, and the pirates pass on. He has not
- 1:30:42Speaker 13: even taken the cigars from his mouth. Such is the
- 1:30:46Speaker 13: terrible man against whom Peter Pan is pitted, which will win.
- 1:30:52Speaker 13: On the trail of the pirates, stealing noiselessly down the
- 1:30:56Speaker 13: war path which is not visible to inexperienced eyes, come
- 1:31:00Speaker 13: the Redskins, every one of them with his eyes peeled.
- 1:31:04Speaker 13: They carry tomahawks and knives, and their naked bodies gleam
- 1:31:08Speaker 13: with paint and oil. Strung around them are scalps of
- 1:31:13Speaker 13: boys as well as pirates. For these are the Piccaninny tribe,
- 1:31:17Speaker 13: and not to be confused with the softer hearted Delawares
- 1:31:20Speaker 13: or the Hurons in the van. On all fours is great,
- 1:31:25Speaker 13: big little Panther, a brave of so many scalps that,
- 1:31:29Speaker 13: in his present position they somewhat impede his progress. Bringing
- 1:31:34Speaker 13: up the rear, the place of greatest danger, comes Tiger
- 1:31:38Speaker 13: lily proudly erect a princess in her own right. She
- 1:31:43Speaker 13: is the most beautiful of dusky dianas, and the bell
- 1:31:46Speaker 13: of the pickaninnies, coquettish, cold and amorous. By turns, there
- 1:31:52Speaker 13: is not a brave who would not have the wayward
- 1:31:54Speaker 13: thing to wife. But she stays off the altar with
- 1:31:58Speaker 13: a hatchet. Serve how they pass over fallen twigs without
- 1:32:02Speaker 13: making the slightest noise. The only sound to be heard
- 1:32:06Speaker 13: is their somewhat heavy breathing. The fact is that they
- 1:32:10Speaker 13: are all a little fat just now after the heavy gorging.
- 1:32:14Speaker 13: But in time they will work this off. For the moment, however,
- 1:32:18Speaker 13: it constitutes their chief danger. The redskins disappear as they
- 1:32:23Speaker 13: have come, like shadows, and soon their place is taken
- 1:32:27Speaker 13: by the beasts, a great and motley procession lions, tigers, bears,
- 1:32:32Speaker 13: and the innumerable smaller savage things that flee from them.
- 1:32:37Speaker 13: For every kind of beast, and more particularly, all the
- 1:32:40Speaker 13: man eaters live cheek by jowl on the favored island.
- 1:32:44Speaker 13: Their tongues are hanging out. They are hungry. Tonight, when
- 1:32:50Speaker 13: they have passed, comes the last figure of all, a
- 1:32:53Speaker 13: gigantic crocodile, we shall see for whom she is looking. Presently,
- 1:33:00Speaker 13: the crocodile passes, but soon the boys appear again. For
- 1:33:04Speaker 13: the procession must continue indefinitely until one of the parties
- 1:33:08Speaker 13: stops or changes its pace. Then quickly they will be
- 1:33:12Speaker 13: on top of each other. All are keeping a sharp
- 1:33:16Speaker 13: lookout in front, but none suspects that the danger may
- 1:33:19Speaker 13: be creeping up from behind. This shows how real the
- 1:33:23Speaker 13: island was. The First to fall out of the moving
- 1:33:26Speaker 13: circle was the boys. They flung themselves down on the sward,
- 1:33:31Speaker 13: close to their underground home. I do wish Peter would
- 1:33:35Speaker 13: come back, every one of them said nervously, though in
- 1:33:39Speaker 13: height and still more in breadth, they were all larger
- 1:33:42Speaker 13: than their captain. I am the only one who is
- 1:33:46Speaker 13: not afraid of the pirates, slightly, said, in the tone
- 1:33:50Speaker 13: that prevented his being a general favorite. But perhaps some
- 1:33:54Speaker 13: distant sound disturbed him, for he added hastily, but I
- 1:33:58Speaker 13: wish he would come back and tell us whether he
- 1:34:00Speaker 13: has heard anything more about Cinderella. They talked of Cinderella,
- 1:34:06Speaker 13: and Tootles was confident that his mother must have been
- 1:34:09Speaker 13: very like her. It was only in Peter's absence that
- 1:34:13Speaker 13: they could speak of mothers, the subject being forbidden by
- 1:34:16Speaker 13: him as silly. All I remember about my mother, NIBBs
- 1:34:21Speaker 13: told them, is that she often said to my father, Oh,
- 1:34:26Speaker 13: how I wish I had a check book of my own.
- 1:34:29Speaker 13: I don't know what a check book is, but I
- 1:34:32Speaker 13: should just love to give my mother one. While they talked,
- 1:34:36Speaker 13: they heard a distant sound. You or I, not being
- 1:34:40Speaker 13: wild things of the woods, would have heard nothing, But
- 1:34:44Speaker 13: they heard it. And it was the grim song, yo, yo,
- 1:34:49Speaker 13: the pirate life, the flag of skull and bones, a
- 1:34:52Speaker 13: very hour hemp and rope and hay for Davy Jones
- 1:34:58Speaker 13: at once the lost boys. But where are they? They
- 1:35:02Speaker 13: are no longer there Rabbits could not have disappeared more quickly.
- 1:35:08Speaker 13: I will tell you where they are, with the exception
- 1:35:11Speaker 13: of Nibs, who has darted away to reconnoiter. They are
- 1:35:14Speaker 13: already in their home under the ground, a very delightful
- 1:35:18Speaker 13: residence of which we shall see a good deal presently.
- 1:35:21Speaker 13: But how have they reached it? For there is no
- 1:35:24Speaker 13: entrance to be seen, not so much as a large stone, which,
- 1:35:28Speaker 13: if rolled away, would disclose the mouth of a cave.
- 1:35:32Speaker 13: Look closely, however, and you may note that there are
- 1:35:35Speaker 13: here seven large trees, each with a hole in its
- 1:35:39Speaker 13: hollow trunk as large as a boy. These are the
- 1:35:43Speaker 13: seven entrances to the home under the ground for which
- 1:35:46Speaker 13: Hook has been searching in vain. These many moons will
- 1:35:49Speaker 13: he find it to night? As the pirates advanced, the
- 1:35:53Speaker 13: quick eye of Starkey sighted Nibs disappearing through the wood.
- 1:35:57Speaker 13: Had at once his pistol flashed out, but an iron
- 1:36:00Speaker 13: claw gripped his shoulder. Captain let go, he cried, writhing.
- 1:36:06Speaker 13: Now for the first time we hear the voice of Hook.
- 1:36:10Speaker 13: It was a black voice. Put back that pistol first,
- 1:36:15Speaker 13: it said, threateningly. It was one of those boys you hate.
- 1:36:19Speaker 13: I could have shot him dead, aye, and the sound
- 1:36:23Speaker 13: would have brought Tiger Lily's redskins upon us. Do you
- 1:36:27Speaker 13: want to lose your scalp? Shall I after him? Captain asked,
- 1:36:32Speaker 13: pathetic Smee, and tickle him with Johnny corkscrew. Smee had
- 1:36:38Speaker 13: pleasant names for everything, and his cutlass was Johnny corkscrew
- 1:36:42Speaker 13: because he wiggled it in the wound. One could mention
- 1:36:46Speaker 13: many lovable traits in Smee. For instance, after killing it
- 1:36:50Speaker 13: was his spectacles he wiped instead of his weapon. Johnny's
- 1:36:54Speaker 13: a silent fellow, he reminded Hook. Not now, Smee, Hook
- 1:36:59Speaker 13: said darkly, he is only one, and I want to
- 1:37:03Speaker 13: mischief all the seven scatter and look for them. The
- 1:37:08Speaker 13: pirates disappeared among the trees, and in a moment their
- 1:37:12Speaker 13: captain and Smee were alone. Hook heaved a heavy sigh.
- 1:37:17Speaker 13: And I know not why it was. Perhaps it was
- 1:37:19Speaker 13: because of the soft beauty of the evening. But there
- 1:37:23Speaker 13: came over him a desire to confide to his faithful
- 1:37:26Speaker 13: Bosun the story of his life. He spoke long and earnestly.
- 1:37:31Speaker 13: But what it was all about. Smee, who was rather stupid,
- 1:37:35Speaker 13: did not know. In the least anon he caught the
- 1:37:39Speaker 13: word Peter. Most of all, Hook was saying, passionately, I
- 1:37:44Speaker 13: want their captain Peter pan. Twas he cut off my arm,
- 1:37:49Speaker 13: he brandished the hook threateningly. I've waited long to shake
- 1:37:53Speaker 13: his hand with this. Oh I'll tear him. And yet,
- 1:37:58Speaker 13: said Smee, I have I've often heard you say that
- 1:38:01Speaker 13: hook was worth a score of hands for combing the
- 1:38:04Speaker 13: hair and other homely uses. Aye, the captain answered, if
- 1:38:10Speaker 13: I was a mother, I would pray to have my
- 1:38:12Speaker 13: children born with this instead of that. And he cast
- 1:38:16Speaker 13: a look of pride upon his iron hand, and one
- 1:38:19Speaker 13: of scorn upon the other. Then again he frowned. Peter
- 1:38:24Speaker 13: flung my arm, he said, wincing to a crocodile that
- 1:38:29Speaker 13: happened to be passing by. I have often, said, smee,
- 1:38:34Speaker 13: noticed your strange dread of crocodile's Not of crocodile's, Hook
- 1:38:40Speaker 13: corrected him. But of that one crocodile. He lowered his voice.
- 1:38:47Speaker 13: It liked my arm so much me that it has
- 1:38:50Speaker 13: followed me ever since, from sea to sea and from
- 1:38:54Speaker 13: land to land, licking its lips for the rest of me.
- 1:39:00Speaker 13: In a way, said smee. It's sort of a compliment.
- 1:39:05Speaker 13: I want no such compliments, Hook barked petulantly. I want
- 1:39:10Speaker 13: Peter Pan, who first gave the brute its taste for me.
- 1:39:15Speaker 13: He sat down on a large mushroom, and now there
- 1:39:18Speaker 13: was a quiver in his voice. Smee. He said, huskily,
- 1:39:23Speaker 13: that crocodile would have had me before this, but by
- 1:39:27Speaker 13: a lucky chance, it swallowed a clock which goes tick
- 1:39:30Speaker 13: tick inside it, and so before it can reach me,
- 1:39:34Speaker 13: I hear the tick and bolt, he laughed, but in
- 1:39:38Speaker 13: a hollow way. Some day, said smee. The clock will
- 1:39:43Speaker 13: run down and then he'll get you. Hook wetted his
- 1:39:48Speaker 13: dry lips. Aye, he said, that's the fear that haunts me,
- 1:39:56Speaker 13: since sitting down he had felt curiously warm. Smee, he said,
- 1:40:02Speaker 13: this seed is hot. He jumped up, odds Bob's hammer
- 1:40:06Speaker 13: and tongs, I'm burning. They examined the mushroom, which was
- 1:40:10Speaker 13: of a size and solidity unknown on the mainland. They
- 1:40:14Speaker 13: tried to pull it up, and it came away at
- 1:40:16Speaker 13: once in their hands, for it had no root. Strangers still,
- 1:40:20Speaker 13: smoke began at once to ascend. The pirates looked at
- 1:40:24Speaker 13: each other a chimney. They both exclaimed they had indeed
- 1:40:30Speaker 13: discovered the chimney of the home under the ground. It
- 1:40:33Speaker 13: was the custom of the boys to stop it with
- 1:40:35Speaker 13: a mushroom when enemies were in the neighborhood. Not only
- 1:40:39Speaker 13: smoke came out of it, there came also children's voices.
- 1:40:43Speaker 13: For so safe did the boys feel in their hiding place,
- 1:40:46Speaker 13: that they were gaily chattering. The pirates listened grimly, and
- 1:40:51Speaker 13: then replaced the mushroom. They looked around them and noted
- 1:40:55Speaker 13: the holes in the seven trees. Did you hear them say,
- 1:40:59Speaker 13: Peter pan from home? Smee whispered, fidgeting with Johnny corkscrew.
- 1:41:05Speaker 13: Hook nodded. He stood for a long time, lost in thought,
- 1:41:09Speaker 13: and at last a curdling smile lit up his swarthy face.
- 1:41:14Speaker 13: Smee have been waiting for it. Han, rip your plan, captain,
- 1:41:18Speaker 13: he cried, eagerly to return to the ship. Hook replied
- 1:41:23Speaker 13: slowly through his teeth, and cook a large, rich cake
- 1:41:28Speaker 13: of a jolly thickness with green sugar on it. There
- 1:41:32Speaker 13: can be but one room below, for there is but
- 1:41:35Speaker 13: one chimney. The silly moles had not the sense to
- 1:41:38Speaker 13: see that they did not need a door apiece. That
- 1:41:42Speaker 13: shows they have no mother. We will leave the cake
- 1:41:45Speaker 13: on the shore of the mermaid's lagoon. These boys are
- 1:41:49Speaker 13: always swimming about there, playing with the mermaids. They will
- 1:41:53Speaker 13: find the cake and they will gobble it up, because
- 1:41:56Speaker 13: having no mother, they don't know how dangerous it is
- 1:42:00Speaker 13: to eat rich damp cake. He burst into laughter, not
- 1:42:06Speaker 13: hollow laughter now, but honest laughter.
- 1:42:08Speaker 11: Ha ha ha.
- 1:42:10Speaker 13: They will die. Smee had listened with growing admiration. It's
- 1:42:15Speaker 13: the wickedest, prettiest policy ever I heard of he cried,
- 1:42:20Speaker 13: and in their exultation they danced and sang a vast belay.
- 1:42:24Speaker 13: When I appeared by fear there overtook roots left upon
- 1:42:29Speaker 13: your bones. When you have shaken claws will hook. They
- 1:42:33Speaker 13: began the verse, but they never finished it, for another
- 1:42:36Speaker 13: sound broke in and stilled them. There was at fort
- 1:42:40Speaker 13: such a tiny sound that a leaf might have fallen
- 1:42:42Speaker 13: on it and smothered it. But as it came nearer
- 1:42:46Speaker 13: it was more distinct.
- 1:42:47Speaker 14: Dick Dick, Dick, dick.
- 1:42:52Speaker 13: Hook stood shuddering, one foot in the air. The crocodile.
- 1:42:56Speaker 13: He gasped, and bounded away, followed by his bo'sun It
- 1:43:01Speaker 13: was indeed the crocodile. It had passed the Redskins, who
- 1:43:04Speaker 13: were now on the trail of the other pirates. It
- 1:43:07Speaker 13: oozed on after hook. Once more, the boys emerged into
- 1:43:12Speaker 13: the open, But the dangers of the night were not
- 1:43:15Speaker 13: yet over. For presently nibs rushed breathless into their midst
- 1:43:19Speaker 13: pursued by a pack of wolves. The tongues of the
- 1:43:22Speaker 13: pursuers were hanging out. The baying of them was horrible.
- 1:43:26Speaker 7: Save me, Save me.
- 1:43:28Speaker 13: Cried nibs, falling on the ground. But what can we do,
- 1:43:31Speaker 13: what can we do? It was a high compliment to
- 1:43:35Speaker 13: Peter that at that dire moment their thoughts turned to him.
- 1:43:40Speaker 13: What would Peter do, they cried simultaneously, almost in the
- 1:43:44Speaker 13: same breath. They cried, Peter would look at them through
- 1:43:47Speaker 13: his legs, and then let us do what Peter would do.
- 1:43:52Speaker 13: It is quite the most successful way of defying wolves.
- 1:43:56Speaker 13: And as one boy they'd bent and looked through their legs.
- 1:43:59Speaker 13: The next moment is the long one. But victory came quickly,
- 1:44:03Speaker 13: for as the boys advanced upon them in the terrible attitude,
- 1:44:07Speaker 13: the wolves dropped their tails and fled. Now Nibs rose
- 1:44:12Speaker 13: from the ground, and the others thought that his staring
- 1:44:15Speaker 13: eyes still saw the wolves. But it was not wolves
- 1:44:18Speaker 13: he saw. I have seen a wonderfuller thing, he cried,
- 1:44:23Speaker 13: as they gathered round him eagerly. A great white bird
- 1:44:27Speaker 13: it is flying this way. What kind of a bird
- 1:44:30Speaker 13: do you think? I don't know, Nibs said, awestruck. But
- 1:44:35Speaker 13: it looks so weary, and as it flies it moans,
- 1:44:39Speaker 13: poor Wendy, Poor Wendy, I remember, said slightly instantly. There
- 1:44:46Speaker 13: are birds called Wendy's. See it comes, cried curly. Pointing
- 1:44:52Speaker 13: to Wendy in the heavens. Wendy was now almost overhead,
- 1:44:56Speaker 13: and they could hear her plaintive cry. But more distinct
- 1:45:00Speaker 13: came the shrill voice of tinker Bell. The jealous fairy
- 1:45:03Speaker 13: had now cast off all diskies of friendship and was
- 1:45:07Speaker 13: darting at her victim from every direction, pinching savagely each
- 1:45:11Speaker 13: time she touched. Hello, Tink, cried the wondering boys. Tink's
- 1:45:16Speaker 13: reply rang out, Peter, want you to shoot the Wendy.
- 1:45:20Speaker 13: It was not in their nature to question when Peter ordered.
- 1:45:24Speaker 13: Let us do what Peter wishes, cried the simple boys.
- 1:45:27Speaker 13: Quick bows and arrows. All but Tootles popped down their trees.
- 1:45:33Speaker 13: He had a bow and arrow with him, and Tink
- 1:45:35Speaker 13: noted it and rubbed her little hands. Quick, Toodles, Quick,
- 1:45:39Speaker 13: she screamed, Peter will be so pleased. Toodles excitedly fitted
- 1:45:44Speaker 13: the arrow to his bow. Out of the way, Tink,
- 1:45:48Speaker 13: He shouted, and then he fired, and Wendy fluttered to
- 1:45:51Speaker 13: the ground with an arrow in her breast. End of chapter.
- 1:45:58Speaker 9: Chapter six, the little house foolish Tootles was standing like
- 1:46:05Speaker 9: a conqueror over Wendy's body when the other boys sprang
- 1:46:08Speaker 9: armed from their trees. You are too late, he cried proudly.
- 1:46:12Speaker 9: I have shot the Wendy. Peter will be so pleased
- 1:46:15Speaker 9: with me. Overhead, tinker Bell shouted, silly ass and darted
- 1:46:19Speaker 9: into hiding. The others did not hear her. They crowded
- 1:46:23Speaker 9: round Wendy, and as they looked, a terrible silence fell
- 1:46:25Speaker 9: upon the wood. If Wendy's heart had been beating, they
- 1:46:29Speaker 9: would have all heard it. Slightly was the first to speak.
- 1:46:33Speaker 9: This is no bird, he said, in a scared voice.
- 1:46:37Speaker 9: I think this must be a lady. A lady, said Tootles,
- 1:46:42Speaker 9: and fell a trembling. And we have killed her, Nibs
- 1:46:46Speaker 9: said hoarsely. They all whipped off their caps. Now I see, curly,
- 1:46:51Speaker 9: said Peter was bringing her to us. He threw himself
- 1:46:55Speaker 9: sorrowfully on the ground. A lady to take care of
- 1:46:57Speaker 9: us at last, said one of the twins, And you
- 1:46:59Speaker 9: have killed her. They were sorry for him, but sorry
- 1:47:03Speaker 9: for themselves, and when he took a step nearer they
- 1:47:06Speaker 9: turned from him. Tootle's face was very white, but there
- 1:47:10Speaker 9: was a dignity about him now that there never had
- 1:47:13Speaker 9: been before. I did it, he said, reflecting when ladies
- 1:47:17Speaker 9: used to come to me in dreams, I always said,
- 1:47:19Speaker 9: pretty mother, Pretty mother. But when at last she really came,
- 1:47:24Speaker 9: I shot her. He moved slowly away. It don't go,
- 1:47:29Speaker 9: they called, in pity. I must, he answered, shaking, I
- 1:47:32Speaker 9: am so afraid of Peter. It was at this tragic
- 1:47:36Speaker 9: moment that they heard a sound which made the heart
- 1:47:38Speaker 9: of every one of them rise to his mouth. They
- 1:47:40Speaker 9: heard Peter, Crow, Peter, they cried, for it was always
- 1:47:44Speaker 9: thus that he signaled his return.
- 1:47:46Speaker 6: Hide her.
- 1:47:46Speaker 9: They whispered and gathered hastily around Wendy, but Tootles stood
- 1:47:50Speaker 9: aloof Again there came that ringing crow, and Peter dropped
- 1:47:54Speaker 9: in front of them. Greetings, boys, he cried, and mechanically
- 1:47:58Speaker 9: they saluted, and then again was silence. He frowned. I
- 1:48:01Speaker 9: am back, he said, hotly. Why do you not cheer?
- 1:48:06Speaker 9: They opened their mouths, but the cheers would not come.
- 1:48:08Speaker 9: He overlooked it in his haste to tell the glorious tidings.
- 1:48:11Speaker 9: Great news, boys, he cried, I have brought at last
- 1:48:13Speaker 9: a mother for you all. Still no sound except a
- 1:48:17Speaker 9: little thud from Toodles as he dropped.
- 1:48:18Speaker 6: On his knees.
- 1:48:20Speaker 9: Have you not seen her? Asked Peter, becoming troubled. She
- 1:48:23Speaker 9: flew this way, ah me, one voice said, Another said,
- 1:48:27Speaker 9: oh mournful day. Toodles rose Peter, he said quietly, I
- 1:48:34Speaker 9: will show her to you. And when the others would
- 1:48:37Speaker 9: still have hidden her, he said, back, twins, let Peter see.
- 1:48:41Speaker 9: So they all stood back and let him see. And
- 1:48:43Speaker 9: after he had looked for a little time, he did
- 1:48:45Speaker 9: not know what to do next. She is dead, he said, uncomfortably,
- 1:48:50Speaker 9: and perhaps she is frightened at being dead. He thought
- 1:48:55Speaker 9: of hopping off in a comic sort of way till
- 1:48:57Speaker 9: he was out of sight of her, and then never
- 1:48:58Speaker 9: going near the spot any more. They all would have
- 1:49:00Speaker 9: been glad to follow him if he had done this.
- 1:49:02Speaker 9: But there was the arrow. He took it from her
- 1:49:05Speaker 9: heart and faced his band. Whose arrow he demanded, sternly, lying,
- 1:49:12Speaker 9: Peter said, Tootles on his knees. Oh dastard hand, Peter said,
- 1:49:18Speaker 9: and he raised the arrow to use it as a dagger.
- 1:49:21Speaker 9: Toodles did not flinch. He bared his breast. Strike, Peter,
- 1:49:25Speaker 9: he said, firmly. Strike true. Twice did Peter raise the arrow,
- 1:49:31Speaker 9: and twice did his hand fall. I cannot strike, he said,
- 1:49:36Speaker 9: with Awe, there is something which stays my hand. All
- 1:49:41Speaker 9: looked at him in wonder, save Nibs, who fortunately looked
- 1:49:44Speaker 9: at Wendy. It is she, he cried, the Wendy lady.
- 1:49:47Speaker 9: See her arm, wonderful to relate. Wendy had raised her arm.
- 1:49:53Speaker 9: Nibs bent over her and listened reverently. I think she said,
- 1:49:57Speaker 9: poor tootles. He whispered, she lives, Peter said, briefly, slightly
- 1:50:04Speaker 9: cried instantly.
- 1:50:05Speaker 6: The Wendy lady lives.
- 1:50:07Speaker 9: Then Peter knelt beside her and found his button. You
- 1:50:10Speaker 9: remember she had placed it on the chain that she
- 1:50:11Speaker 9: wore around her neck. See, he said, the arrow struck
- 1:50:16Speaker 9: against this. It is the kiss I gave her. It
- 1:50:19Speaker 9: has saved her life. I remember kisses slightly interposed. Quickly,
- 1:50:23Speaker 9: let me see it, Aye, there's a kiss. Peter did
- 1:50:27Speaker 9: not hear him. He was begging Wendy to get better
- 1:50:29Speaker 9: quickly so that he could show her the mermaids. Of course,
- 1:50:32Speaker 9: she could not answer yet, being still in a frightful faint.
- 1:50:34Speaker 9: But from overhead came a wailing note. Listen to Tink
- 1:50:38Speaker 9: said curly, she is crying because the Wendy lives. Then
- 1:50:43Speaker 9: they had to tell Peter of Tink's crime, and almost
- 1:50:46Speaker 9: never had they seen him look so stern. Listen, tinker Bell,
- 1:50:50Speaker 9: he cried, I am your friend, no more be gone
- 1:50:53Speaker 9: from me forever. She flew on to his shoulder and pleaded,
- 1:50:57Speaker 9: but he brushed her off. Not until Wendy raised her
- 1:51:00Speaker 9: arm did he relent sufficiently to say, well, not forever,
- 1:51:03Speaker 9: but for a whole week. Do you think the tinker
- 1:51:06Speaker 9: Bell was grateful to Wendy for raising her arm? Oh, dear, No,
- 1:51:09Speaker 9: never wanted to pinch her so much. Fairies are indeed strange,
- 1:51:13Speaker 9: and Peter, who understood them best, often cuffed them. But
- 1:51:18Speaker 9: what to do with Wendy in her present delicate state
- 1:51:21Speaker 9: of health? Let us carry her into the house, curly, suggested,
- 1:51:25Speaker 9: I said, slightly. That is what one does with ladies. No, no,
- 1:51:28Speaker 9: Peter said, you must not touch her. It would not
- 1:51:30Speaker 9: be sufficiently respectful. That said, slightly is what I was thinking.
- 1:51:34Speaker 9: But if she lies there, Tootles said, she will die. Ay,
- 1:51:37Speaker 9: she will die, slightly admitted. But there is no way out. Yes,
- 1:51:40Speaker 9: there is, cried Peter. Let us build a little house
- 1:51:42Speaker 9: round her. They were all delighted. Quick he ordered them,
- 1:51:46Speaker 9: bring me, each of you the best of what we
- 1:51:47Speaker 9: have got out the house be sharp. In a moment,
- 1:51:51Speaker 9: they were as busy as Taylor's the night before a wedding.
- 1:51:53Speaker 9: They scurried this way and that down for betting, up
- 1:51:55Speaker 9: for firewood. And while they were at it, who should
- 1:51:57Speaker 9: appear but John and Michael. As they dragged up along
- 1:52:00Speaker 9: the ground, they fell asleep, standing, stopped, woke up, moved
- 1:52:03Speaker 9: another feet and slept again. John John Michael would cry,
- 1:52:08Speaker 9: wake up, where is Nana? John and mother? And then
- 1:52:11Speaker 9: John would rub his eyes and mutter, it is true
- 1:52:14Speaker 9: we did fly, you may be sure. They were very
- 1:52:17Speaker 9: relieved to find Peter. Hello, Peter, they said, Hello, replied
- 1:52:21Speaker 9: Peter amicably, though he had quite forgotten them. He was
- 1:52:24Speaker 9: very busy at the moment, measuring Wendy with his feet
- 1:52:26Speaker 9: to see how large a house she would need. Of course,
- 1:52:28Speaker 9: he meant to leave room for chairs and a table.
- 1:52:31Speaker 9: John and Michael watched him. Is Wendy asleep? They asked?
- 1:52:35Speaker 6: Yes.
- 1:52:36Speaker 9: John Michael proposed let us wake her and get her
- 1:52:39Speaker 9: to make supper for us. But as he said, at
- 1:52:41Speaker 9: some of the other boys rushed on carrying branches for
- 1:52:43Speaker 9: building the house. Look at them, he cried curly, said
- 1:52:47Speaker 9: Peter in his most captainly voice. See that these boys
- 1:52:50Speaker 9: help in the building of the house. Aye aye, sir,
- 1:52:53Speaker 9: build a house, exclaimed John. For the Wendy said Curly.
- 1:52:57Speaker 9: For Wendy, John said, aghast why she is only a girl?
- 1:53:01Speaker 9: That explained Curly, is why we are her servants. You
- 1:53:07Speaker 9: Wendy's servants, yes, said Peter, And you also away with them.
- 1:53:14Speaker 9: The astounded brothers were dragged away to hack and hue
- 1:53:16Speaker 9: and carry chairs and defender. First, Peter wrotered, then we
- 1:53:20Speaker 9: should build a house around them, I said, slightly. That
- 1:53:23Speaker 9: is how a house is built. It all comes back
- 1:53:25Speaker 9: to me. Peter thought of everything slightly. He cried, fetch
- 1:53:29Speaker 9: a doctor, aye, aye, said slightly at once, then disappeared,
- 1:53:32Speaker 9: scratching his head. But as he knew Peter must be obeyed,
- 1:53:37Speaker 9: he returned in a moment, wearing John's hat and looking solemn. Please, sir,
- 1:53:41Speaker 9: said Peter, going to him, Are you a doctor? The
- 1:53:46Speaker 9: difference between him and the other boys at such a
- 1:53:47Speaker 9: time was that they knew it was make believe, while
- 1:53:49Speaker 9: to him, make believe and true were exactly the same thing.
- 1:53:52Speaker 9: This sometimes troubled them, as when they had to make
- 1:53:54Speaker 9: believe that they had their dinners. If they broke down,
- 1:53:57Speaker 9: and they make believe he wrapped them on the knuckles. Yes,
- 1:54:01Speaker 9: my little man, Slightly anxiously replied, who had chapped knuckles? Please, Sir,
- 1:54:07Speaker 9: Peter explained, A lady lies very ill. She was lying
- 1:54:11Speaker 9: at their feet. But Slightly had the sense not to
- 1:54:12Speaker 9: see her look. He said, where does she lie? In
- 1:54:17Speaker 9: yonder glade? I will put a glass thing in her mouth,
- 1:54:20Speaker 9: said Slightly, and he made believe to do it while
- 1:54:23Speaker 9: Peter waited. It was an anxious moment. When the glass
- 1:54:25Speaker 9: thing was withdrawn, How is she inquired? Peter un said slightly.
- 1:54:32Speaker 9: This has cured her. I am glad, said Peter. I
- 1:54:36Speaker 9: will call again in the evening. Slightly said give her
- 1:54:39Speaker 9: beef tea out of a cup with a spout to it.
- 1:54:41Speaker 9: But after he had returned the hat to John, he
- 1:54:43Speaker 9: blew big breaths, which was his habit on escaping from
- 1:54:46Speaker 9: a difficulty. In the meantime, the wood had been alive
- 1:54:50Speaker 9: with the sound of axes. Almost everything needed for a
- 1:54:53Speaker 9: cozy dwelling already lay at Wendy's feet. If we only knew,
- 1:54:57Speaker 9: said one, the kind of house she likes, bas Peter shouted, another,
- 1:55:02Speaker 9: she is moving in her sleep. Her mouth opens, cried
- 1:55:05Speaker 9: a third, looking respectfully into it. Oh, lovely, Perhaps she's
- 1:55:09Speaker 9: going to sing in her sleep, said Peter. Wendy sing
- 1:55:13Speaker 9: the kind of house you would like to have. Immediately,
- 1:55:16Speaker 9: without opening her eyes, Wendy began to sing, I wish
- 1:55:20Speaker 9: I had a pretty house, the littlest ever seen, with
- 1:55:23Speaker 9: funny little red head walls and roof of mossy green.
- 1:55:28Speaker 9: They gurgled with joy at this, for by the greatest
- 1:55:31Speaker 9: good luck, the branches they had brought were sticky with
- 1:55:33Speaker 9: red sap, and all the ground was carpeted with moss.
- 1:55:36Speaker 9: As they rattled up the little house, they broke into
- 1:55:38Speaker 9: song themselves. We've built the little walls in ruth and
- 1:55:41Speaker 9: made a lovely door. So tell us, mother, Wendy, what
- 1:55:45Speaker 9: are you wanting more to this? She answered greedily, Oh really, Next,
- 1:55:50Speaker 9: I think I'll have gay windows all about, with roses
- 1:55:53Speaker 9: peeping in, you know, and babies peeping out. With a
- 1:55:56Speaker 9: blow of their fist, they made windows and large yellow
- 1:55:58Speaker 9: leaves with the blinds. But roses, roses, cried Peter sternly.
- 1:56:03Speaker 9: Quickly they made believe to grow the loveliest roses up
- 1:56:05Speaker 9: the walls babies. To prevent Peter ordering babies, they hurried
- 1:56:10Speaker 9: into song again. We've made the roses peeping out. The
- 1:56:12Speaker 9: babes are at the door. We cannot make ourselves, you know,
- 1:56:15Speaker 9: cause we've been made before. Peter, seeing this to be
- 1:56:19Speaker 9: a good idea, at once, pretended that it was his own.
- 1:56:21Speaker 9: The house was quite beautiful, and no doubt Wendy was
- 1:56:24Speaker 9: very cozy within, though of course they could no longer
- 1:56:26Speaker 9: see her. Peter strode up and down, ordering finishing touches.
- 1:56:29Speaker 9: Nothing escaped his eagle eyes. Just when it seemed absolutely finished,
- 1:56:33Speaker 9: there's no knocker on the door, he said. They were
- 1:56:36Speaker 9: very ashamed, but Tootles gave the sole of his shoe
- 1:56:38Speaker 9: and it made an excellent knocker. Absolutely finished now, they thought,
- 1:56:43Speaker 9: not a bit of it. There's no chimney, said Peter.
- 1:56:46Speaker 9: We must have a chimney. It certainly does need a chimney,
- 1:56:49Speaker 9: said John. Importantly, that gave Peter an idea. He snatched
- 1:56:53Speaker 9: the hat off John's head, knocked out the bottom, and
- 1:56:56Speaker 9: put the hat on the roof the little house. Was
- 1:56:58Speaker 9: so pleased to have such a cap, Jimmy, that, as
- 1:57:00Speaker 9: if to say thank you, smoke immediately began to come
- 1:57:03Speaker 9: out of the hat. Now, really and truly it was finished.
- 1:57:06Speaker 9: Nothing remained to do but to knock. All look your best,
- 1:57:08Speaker 9: Peter warned them. First impressions are awfully important. He was
- 1:57:12Speaker 9: glad no one asked him what first impressions are? They
- 1:57:14Speaker 9: were all too busy looking their best. He knocked politely,
- 1:57:17Speaker 9: and now the wood was as still as the children.
- 1:57:20Speaker 9: Not a sound to be heard, except from tinker Bell,
- 1:57:22Speaker 9: who was watching from a branch and openly sneering. What
- 1:57:25Speaker 9: the boys was wondering was would anyone answer the knock
- 1:57:29Speaker 9: If a lady, what would she be like? The door
- 1:57:32Speaker 9: opened and the lady came out. It was Wendy. They
- 1:57:35Speaker 9: all whipped off their hats. She looked properly surprised, and
- 1:57:38Speaker 9: this was just how they had hoped she would.
- 1:57:40Speaker 6: Look Where am I?
- 1:57:41Speaker 12: She said?
- 1:57:42Speaker 9: Of course slightly. Was the first to get his word in. Wendy, lady,
- 1:57:45Speaker 9: He said rapidly, for you weave with this house. Oh
- 1:57:47Speaker 9: say you're pleased, cried Nibs. Lovely darling house, Wendy said,
- 1:57:51Speaker 9: And they were the very words they had hoped she
- 1:57:53Speaker 9: would say. And we are your children, cried the twins.
- 1:57:56Speaker 9: They all went on their knees and holding out their arms, cried, Oh, Wendy, lady,
- 1:57:59Speaker 9: be our muff ought I, Wendy said, all shining. Of course,
- 1:58:04Speaker 9: it's frightfully fascinating. But you see, I'm only a little girl.
- 1:58:06Speaker 9: I have no real experience. That doesn't matter, said Peter,
- 1:58:10Speaker 9: as if he were the only person present who knew
- 1:58:12Speaker 9: at all about it, though he was really the one
- 1:58:14Speaker 9: who knew least. What we need is just a nice
- 1:58:16Speaker 9: motherly person. Oh, dear Wendy said, you see, I feel
- 1:58:20Speaker 9: that is exactly what I am. It is, it is,
- 1:58:22Speaker 9: they all cried, we saw it at once, very well,
- 1:58:25Speaker 9: she said, I will do my best. Come inside at once.
- 1:58:28Speaker 9: You not eat, children. I am sure your feet are damp.
- 1:58:29Speaker 9: And before I put you to bed, I have just
- 1:58:31Speaker 9: time to finish the story of Cinderella. In they went.
- 1:58:35Speaker 9: I don't know how there was room for them, but
- 1:58:37Speaker 9: you can squeeze very tight in Neverland. And that was
- 1:58:40Speaker 9: the first of the many joyous evenings they had with Wendy.
- 1:58:44Speaker 9: By and by she tucked them up in the great
- 1:58:45Speaker 9: bed in the home under the trees, but she herself
- 1:58:47Speaker 9: slept that night in the little house, and Peter kept
- 1:58:50Speaker 9: watch outside with drawn sword, for the pirates could be
- 1:58:52Speaker 9: heard carousing far away, and the wolves were on the prowl.
- 1:58:55Speaker 9: The little house looked so cozy and safe in the darkness,
- 1:58:58Speaker 9: with a bright light showing through its blow, and the
- 1:59:00Speaker 9: chimneys smoking beautifully, and Peter standing on guard. After a
- 1:59:04Speaker 9: time he fell asleep, and some unsteady fairies had to
- 1:59:07Speaker 9: climb over him on their way home from an orgy.
- 1:59:09Speaker 9: Any of the other boys obstructing the ferry path at night,
- 1:59:12Speaker 9: they would have mischief, but they just tweaked Peter's nose
- 1:59:15Speaker 9: and passed.
- 1:59:15Speaker 2: On Chapter seven, The Home under the Ground. One of
- 1:59:23Speaker 2: the first things Peter did next day was to measure
- 1:59:27Speaker 2: Wendy and John and Michael for hollow trees. Hook You
- 1:59:31Speaker 2: remember had sneered at the boys for thinking they needed
- 1:59:36Speaker 2: a tree apiece, but this was ignorance, for unless your
- 1:59:40Speaker 2: tree fitted you, it was difficult to go up and down,
- 1:59:44Speaker 2: and no two of the boys were quite the same size.
- 1:59:48Speaker 2: Once you fitted, you drew in your breath at the top,
- 1:59:51Speaker 2: and down you went at exactly the right speed, while
- 1:59:55Speaker 2: to ascend you drew in and let out alternately, and
- 1:59:59Speaker 2: so wriggled up. Of course, when you have mastered the action.
- 2:00:03Speaker 2: You are able to do these things without thinking of them,
- 2:00:06Speaker 2: and nothing can be more graceful. But you simply must fit,
- 2:00:12Speaker 2: and Peter measures you for your tree as carefully as
- 2:00:16Speaker 2: for a suit of clothes, the only difference being that
- 2:00:19Speaker 2: the clothes are made to fit you, while you have
- 2:00:23Speaker 2: to be made to fit the tree. Usually it is
- 2:00:26Speaker 2: done quite easily, as by your wearing too many garments
- 2:00:31Speaker 2: or too few. But if you are bumpy in awkward places,
- 2:00:35Speaker 2: or the only available tree is an odd shape, Peter
- 2:00:39Speaker 2: does some things to you, and after that you fit.
- 2:00:44Speaker 2: Once you fit, great care must be taken to go
- 2:00:48Speaker 2: on fitting, and this, as Wendy was to discover to
- 2:00:51Speaker 2: her delight, keeps a whole family in perfect condition. Wendy
- 2:00:57Speaker 2: and Michael fitted their trees at the first try, but
- 2:01:01Speaker 2: John had to be altered a little. After a few
- 2:01:05Speaker 2: days practice, they could go up and down as gaily
- 2:01:09Speaker 2: as buckets in a well, and how ardently they grew
- 2:01:13Speaker 2: to love their home under the ground, especially Wendy. It
- 2:01:18Speaker 2: consisted of one large room, as all houses should do,
- 2:01:22Speaker 2: with a floor in which you could dig if you
- 2:01:24Speaker 2: wanted to go fishing, and in this floor grew stout
- 2:01:28Speaker 2: mushrooms of a charming color, which were used as stools.
- 2:01:33Speaker 2: A never tree tried hard to grow in the center
- 2:01:37Speaker 2: of the room, but every morning they sawed the trunk
- 2:01:40Speaker 2: through level with the floor. By tea time, it was
- 2:01:44Speaker 2: always about two feet high, and then they put a
- 2:01:47Speaker 2: door on top of it, the hole thus becoming a table.
- 2:01:51Speaker 2: As soon as they cleared away, they sawed off the
- 2:01:54Speaker 2: trunk again, and thus there was more room to play.
- 2:01:59Speaker 2: There was an enose rmous fireplace, which was in almost
- 2:02:02Speaker 2: any part of the room where you cared to light it,
- 2:02:05Speaker 2: and across this Wendy stretched strings made of fiber, from
- 2:02:10Speaker 2: which she suspended her washing. The bed was tilted against
- 2:02:14Speaker 2: the wall by day and let down at six thirty,
- 2:02:17Speaker 2: when it filled nearly half the room, and all the
- 2:02:21Speaker 2: boys slept in it except Michael, lying like sardines in
- 2:02:25Speaker 2: a tin. There was a strict rule against turning round
- 2:02:29Speaker 2: until one gave the signal when all turned at once.
- 2:02:34Speaker 2: Michael should have used it also, but Wendy would have
- 2:02:39Speaker 2: a baby, and he was the littlest, and you know
- 2:02:44Speaker 2: what women are. And the short and long of it
- 2:02:48Speaker 2: is that he was hung up in a basket. It
- 2:02:53Speaker 2: was rough and simple, and not unlike what baby bears
- 2:02:57Speaker 2: would have made of an underground house in the same circumstances.
- 2:03:01Speaker 2: But there was one recess in the wall, no larger
- 2:03:05Speaker 2: than a birdcage, which was the private apartment of tinker Bell.
- 2:03:10Speaker 2: It could be shut off from the rest of the
- 2:03:12Speaker 2: house by a tiny curtain, which Tink, who was most fastidious,
- 2:03:17Speaker 2: always kept drawn when dressing or undressing. No woman, however large,
- 2:03:23Speaker 2: could have had a more exquisite boudoir and bedchamber combined.
- 2:03:29Speaker 2: The couch, as she always called it, was a genuine
- 2:03:32Speaker 2: queen mab with club legs, and she varied the bedspreads
- 2:03:37Speaker 2: according to what fruit blossom was in season. Her mirror
- 2:03:41Speaker 2: was a puss in boots, of which there are now
- 2:03:44Speaker 2: only three unchipped known to fairy dealers. The washstand was
- 2:03:50Speaker 2: pie crust and reversible, the chest of drawers and authentic
- 2:03:55Speaker 2: charming the sixth and the carpet and rugs the best.
- 2:03:59Speaker 2: The early period of Marjorie and Robin, there was a
- 2:04:04Speaker 2: chandelier from Tiddley Winks for the look of the thing,
- 2:04:07Speaker 2: but of course she lit the residence herself. Tink was
- 2:04:12Speaker 2: very contemptuous of the rest of the house, as indeed
- 2:04:15Speaker 2: was perhaps inevitable, and her chamber, though beautiful, looked rather conceited,
- 2:04:22Speaker 2: having the appearance of a nose permanently turned up. I
- 2:04:28Speaker 2: suppose it was all especially entrancing to Wendy because those
- 2:04:33Speaker 2: rampageous boys of hers gave her so much to do. Really,
- 2:04:38Speaker 2: there were whole weeks when, except perhaps with a stocking
- 2:04:42Speaker 2: in the evening, she was never above ground. The cooking,
- 2:04:47Speaker 2: I can tell you, kept her nose to the pot,
- 2:04:50Speaker 2: and even if there was nothing in it, even if
- 2:04:54Speaker 2: there was no pot, she had to keep watching that
- 2:04:58Speaker 2: it came a boil just the same. You never exactly
- 2:05:02Speaker 2: knew whether there would be a real meal or just
- 2:05:05Speaker 2: a make believe. It all depended upon Peter's whim. He
- 2:05:10Speaker 2: could eat, really eat if it was part of a game,
- 2:05:14Speaker 2: but he could not stodge just to feel stodgy, which
- 2:05:18Speaker 2: is what most children like better than anything else. The
- 2:05:21Speaker 2: next best thing being to talk about it. Make believe
- 2:05:25Speaker 2: was so real to him that during a meal of it,
- 2:05:29Speaker 2: you could see him getting round her. Of course it
- 2:05:33Speaker 2: was trying, but you simply had to follow his lead.
- 2:05:37Speaker 2: And if you could prove to him that you were
- 2:05:39Speaker 2: getting loose for your tree, he let you stodge. Wendy's
- 2:05:45Speaker 2: favorite time for sewing and darning was after they had
- 2:05:48Speaker 2: all gone to bed. Then, as she expressed it, she
- 2:05:53Speaker 2: had a breathing time for herself, and she occupied it
- 2:05:56Speaker 2: in making new things for them and putting double p
- 2:06:00Speaker 2: pieces on the knees, for they were all most frightfully
- 2:06:03Speaker 2: hard on their knees. When she sat down to a
- 2:06:07Speaker 2: basketful of their stockings, every heel with a hole in it,
- 2:06:12Speaker 2: she would fling up her arms and exclaim, oh, dear,
- 2:06:17Speaker 2: I am sure I sometimes think spinsters are to be envied.
- 2:06:22Speaker 2: Her face beamed when she exclaimed this. You remember about
- 2:06:28Speaker 2: her pet wolf, Well, it very soon discovered that she
- 2:06:32Speaker 2: had come to the island, and it found her out,
- 2:06:36Speaker 2: and they just ran into each other's arms. After that,
- 2:06:41Speaker 2: it followed her about everywhere as time wore on. Did
- 2:06:47Speaker 2: she think much about the beloved parents she had left
- 2:06:50Speaker 2: behind her? This is a difficult question, because it is
- 2:06:55Speaker 2: quite impossible to say how time does wear on in
- 2:06:59Speaker 2: the Neverland and where it is calculated by moons and suns,
- 2:07:04Speaker 2: and there are ever so many more of them than
- 2:07:07Speaker 2: on the mainland. But I am afraid that Wendy did
- 2:07:11Speaker 2: not really worry about her father and mother. She was
- 2:07:15Speaker 2: absolutely confident that they would always keep the window open
- 2:07:20Speaker 2: for her to fly back by, and this gave her
- 2:07:23Speaker 2: complete ease of mind. What did disturb her at times
- 2:07:29Speaker 2: was that John remembered his parents vaguely, only as people
- 2:07:33Speaker 2: he had once known, while Michael was quite willing to
- 2:07:37Speaker 2: believe that she was really his mother. These things scared
- 2:07:42Speaker 2: her a little, and nobly anxious to do her duty,
- 2:07:46Speaker 2: she tried to fix the old life in their minds
- 2:07:48Speaker 2: by setting them examination papers on it, as like as
- 2:07:52Speaker 2: possible to the ones she used to do at school.
- 2:07:56Speaker 2: The other boys thought this awfully interesting and insists stood
- 2:08:00Speaker 2: on joining, and they made slates for themselves and sat
- 2:08:03Speaker 2: round the table, writing and thinking hard about the questions
- 2:08:08Speaker 2: she had written on another slate and passed round. They
- 2:08:12Speaker 2: were the most ordinary questions, what was the color of
- 2:08:16Speaker 2: mother's eyes? Which was taller father or mother? Was mother
- 2:08:21Speaker 2: blonde or brunette? Answer all three questions, if possible, A
- 2:08:27Speaker 2: write an essay of not less than forty words on
- 2:08:31Speaker 2: how I spent my last holidays or the characters of
- 2:08:35Speaker 2: father and mother compared only one of these to be attempted,
- 2:08:40Speaker 2: or one describe mother's laugh. Two, describe father's laugh. Three,
- 2:08:48Speaker 2: describe mother's party dress. Four describe the kennel and its inmate.
- 2:08:56Speaker 2: They were just everyday questions like these, and when you
- 2:09:00Speaker 2: could not answer them, you were told to make a cross.
- 2:09:04Speaker 2: And it was really dreadful. What a number of crosses
- 2:09:07Speaker 2: even John made. Of course, the only boy who replied
- 2:09:12Speaker 2: to every question was Slightly, and no one could have
- 2:09:16Speaker 2: been more hopeful of coming out first. But his answers
- 2:09:20Speaker 2: were perfectly ridiculous, and he really came out last. A
- 2:09:25Speaker 2: melancholy thing. Peter did not compete. For one thing, he
- 2:09:31Speaker 2: despised all mothers except Wendy. And for another he was
- 2:09:36Speaker 2: the only boy on the island who could neither write
- 2:09:39Speaker 2: nor spell, not the smallest word. He was above all
- 2:09:44Speaker 2: that sort of thing. By the way, the questions were
- 2:09:49Speaker 2: all written in the past tense. What was the color
- 2:09:54Speaker 2: of mother's eyes? And so on. Wendy, you see, had
- 2:09:59Speaker 2: been forgetting two adventures, of course, as we shall see,
- 2:10:05Speaker 2: were of daily occurrence.
- 2:10:07Speaker 7: But about this.
- 2:10:08Speaker 2: Time Peter invented, with Wendy's help, a new game that
- 2:10:13Speaker 2: fascinated him enormously until he suddenly had no more interest
- 2:10:18Speaker 2: in it, which as you have been told was what
- 2:10:22Speaker 2: always happened with his games. It consisted in pretending not
- 2:10:27Speaker 2: to have adventures, in doing the sort of thing John
- 2:10:31Speaker 2: and Michael had been doing all their lives, sitting on stools,
- 2:10:35Speaker 2: flinging balls in the air, pushing each other, going out
- 2:10:38Speaker 2: for walks, and coming back without having killed so much
- 2:10:42Speaker 2: as a grizzly. To see Peter doing nothing on a
- 2:10:45Speaker 2: stool was a great sight. He could not help looking
- 2:10:49Speaker 2: solemn at such times. To sit still seemed to him
- 2:10:53Speaker 2: such a comic thing to do. He boasted that he
- 2:10:57Speaker 2: had gone walking for the good of him for several sons.
- 2:11:02Speaker 2: These were the most novel of all adventures to him,
- 2:11:07Speaker 2: and John and Michael had to pretend to be delighted also,
- 2:11:11Speaker 2: otherwise he would have treated them severely. He often went
- 2:11:16Speaker 2: out alone, and when he came back you were never
- 2:11:20Speaker 2: absolutely certain whether he had had an adventure or not.
- 2:11:25Speaker 2: He might have forgotten it so completely that he said
- 2:11:29Speaker 2: nothing about it, and then when you went out you
- 2:11:33Speaker 2: found the body. And on the other hand, he might
- 2:11:36Speaker 2: say a great deal about it, and yet you could
- 2:11:40Speaker 2: not find the body. Sometimes he came home with his
- 2:11:44Speaker 2: head bandaged, and then Wendy cooed over him and bathed
- 2:11:49Speaker 2: it in lukewarm water while he told a dazzling tale.
- 2:11:54Speaker 2: But she was never quite sure.
- 2:11:56Speaker 15: You know.
- 2:11:58Speaker 2: There were, however, many ventures which she knew to be true,
- 2:12:02Speaker 2: because she was in them herself. And there were still
- 2:12:06Speaker 2: more that were at least partly true, for the other
- 2:12:09Speaker 2: boys were in them and said they were wholly true.
- 2:12:13Speaker 2: To describe them all would require a book as large
- 2:12:17Speaker 2: as an English Latin Latin English dictionary. And the most
- 2:12:22Speaker 2: we can do is to give one as a specimen
- 2:12:25Speaker 2: of an average hour on the island. The difficulty is
- 2:12:29Speaker 2: which one to choose? Should we take the brush with
- 2:12:33Speaker 2: the redskins at slightly gulch. It was a sanguinary affair,
- 2:12:38Speaker 2: and especially interesting as showing one of Peter's peculiarities, which
- 2:12:44Speaker 2: was that in the middle of a fight he would
- 2:12:47Speaker 2: suddenly change sides at the gulch when victory was still
- 2:12:52Speaker 2: in the balance, sometimes leaning this way and sometimes that,
- 2:12:56Speaker 2: He called out, I'm redskin today, what are you Toodles?
- 2:13:01Speaker 2: And Toodles answered redskin, what are you? Nits? And nib
- 2:13:06Speaker 2: said redskin, what are you twin? And so on, and
- 2:13:11Speaker 2: they were all redskins, and of course this would have
- 2:13:15Speaker 2: ended the fight, had not the real Redskins, fascinated by
- 2:13:19Speaker 2: Peter's methods, agreed to be lost boys for that once,
- 2:13:24Speaker 2: and so at it they all went again, more fiercely
- 2:13:28Speaker 2: than ever. The extraordinary upshot of this adventure was. But
- 2:13:34Speaker 2: we have not decided yet that this is the adventure
- 2:13:38Speaker 2: we are to narrate. Perhaps a better one would be
- 2:13:41Speaker 2: the night attack by the Redskins on the house under
- 2:13:44Speaker 2: the ground, when several of them stuck in the hollow
- 2:13:47Speaker 2: trees and had to be pulled out like corks. Or
- 2:13:52Speaker 2: we might tell how Peter saved Tiger Lily's life in
- 2:13:55Speaker 2: the Mermaid's Lagoon and so made her his ally. Or
- 2:14:01Speaker 2: we could tell of that cake the Pirate's cooked so
- 2:14:04Speaker 2: that the boys might eat it and perish, and how
- 2:14:07Speaker 2: they placed it in one cunning spot after another, but
- 2:14:11Speaker 2: always Wendy snatched it from the hands of her children,
- 2:14:15Speaker 2: so that in time it lost its succulence and became
- 2:14:18Speaker 2: as hard as a stone, and was used as a missile,
- 2:14:22Speaker 2: and hook fell over it in the dark. Or suppose
- 2:14:26Speaker 2: we tell of the birds that were Peter's friends, particularly
- 2:14:30Speaker 2: of the never bird that built in a tree overhanging
- 2:14:34Speaker 2: the lagoon, and how the nest fell into the water,
- 2:14:38Speaker 2: and still the bird sat on her eggs, and Peter
- 2:14:41Speaker 2: gave orders that she was not to be disturbed. That
- 2:14:45Speaker 2: is a pretty story, and the end shows how grateful
- 2:14:49Speaker 2: a bird can be. But if we tell it, we
- 2:14:52Speaker 2: must also tell the whole adventure of the lagoon, which
- 2:14:56Speaker 2: would of course be telling two adventures rather than just one.
- 2:15:01Speaker 2: A shorter adventure, and quite as exciting, was tinker Bell's attempt,
- 2:15:06Speaker 2: with the help of some street fairies, to have the
- 2:15:09Speaker 2: sleeping Wendy conveyed on a great floating leaf to the mainland. Fortunately,
- 2:15:16Speaker 2: the leaf gave way, and Wendy woke, thinking it was
- 2:15:19Speaker 2: bath time, and swam back. Or again, we might choose
- 2:15:24Speaker 2: Peter's defiance of the lions when he drew a circle
- 2:15:29Speaker 2: round him on the ground with an arrow and dared
- 2:15:31Speaker 2: them to cross it. And though he waited for hours
- 2:15:35Speaker 2: with the other boys and Wendy looking on breathlessly from trees,
- 2:15:40Speaker 2: not one of them dared to accept his challenge. Which
- 2:15:45Speaker 2: of these adventures shall we choose? The best way will
- 2:15:49Speaker 2: be to toss for it. I have tossed, and the
- 2:15:53Speaker 2: lagoon has one. This almost makes one wish that the
- 2:15:58Speaker 2: gulch or the cake or tank's leaf had won. Of
- 2:16:02Speaker 2: course I could do it again and make it the
- 2:16:04Speaker 2: best out of three. However, perhaps fairest to stick to
- 2:16:09Speaker 2: the lagoon and of chapter seven of Peter Pan Chapter.
- 2:16:15Speaker 7: Eight, The Mermaid's Lagoon. If you shut your eyes and
- 2:16:20Speaker 7: are a lucky one, you may see at times a
- 2:16:22Speaker 7: shapeless pool of lovely, pale colors suspended in the darkness.
- 2:16:27Speaker 7: Then if you squeeze your eyes tighter, the pool begins
- 2:16:30Speaker 7: to take shape, and the colors become so vivid that
- 2:16:33Speaker 7: with another squeeze they must go on fire. But just
- 2:16:36Speaker 7: before they go on fire, you see the lagoon. This
- 2:16:40Speaker 7: is the nearest you ever get to it on the mainland,
- 2:16:43Speaker 7: Just one heavenly moment. If there could be two moments,
- 2:16:46Speaker 7: you might see the surf and hear the mermaids singing.
- 2:16:50Speaker 7: The children often spent long summer days on this lagoon,
- 2:16:52Speaker 7: swimming or floating, most of the time, playing the mermaid
- 2:16:55Speaker 7: games in the water, and so forth. You must not
- 2:16:58Speaker 7: think from this that the mermaids were on friendly terms
- 2:17:00Speaker 7: with them. On the contrary, it was among Wendy's lasting
- 2:17:04Speaker 7: regrets that all the time she was on the island.
- 2:17:06Speaker 7: She never had a civil word from one of them.
- 2:17:09Speaker 7: When she stole softly to the edge of the lagoon.
- 2:17:12Speaker 7: She might see them by the score, especially on Marooner's Rock,
- 2:17:15Speaker 7: where they loved to bask, combing out their hair in
- 2:17:17Speaker 7: a lazy way that quite irritated her. Or she might
- 2:17:20Speaker 7: even swim on tiptoe, as it were, to within a
- 2:17:23Speaker 7: yard of them. But then they saw her and dived,
- 2:17:26Speaker 7: probably splashing her with their tails, not by accident but intentionally.
- 2:17:32Speaker 7: They treated all the boys in the same way, except,
- 2:17:35Speaker 7: of course Peter, who chatted with them on Marooner's Rock
- 2:17:38Speaker 7: by the hour and sat on their tails. When they
- 2:17:40Speaker 7: got cheeky, he gave Wendy one of their combs. The
- 2:17:44Speaker 7: most haunting time at which to see them is at
- 2:17:47Speaker 7: the turn of the moon, when they utter strange wailing cries.
- 2:17:51Speaker 7: But the lagoon is dangerous for mortals then and until
- 2:17:54Speaker 7: the evening, of which we now have to tell Wendy
- 2:17:57Speaker 7: had never seen the lagoon by moonlight from fear, for
- 2:18:01Speaker 7: of course Peter would have accompanied her then. Because she
- 2:18:04Speaker 7: had strict rules about everyone being in bed by seven,
- 2:18:08Speaker 7: she was often at the lagoon. However, on sunny days
- 2:18:10Speaker 7: after rain when the mermaids come up in extraordinary numbers
- 2:18:14Speaker 7: to play with their bubbles. The bubbles of many colors
- 2:18:17Speaker 7: made in rainbow water. They treat as balls, hitting them
- 2:18:20Speaker 7: gaily from one to another with their tails and trying
- 2:18:23Speaker 7: to keep them in the rainbow until they burst. The
- 2:18:26Speaker 7: goals are at each end of the rainbow, and the
- 2:18:28Speaker 7: keepers only are allowed to use their hands. Sometimes a
- 2:18:32Speaker 7: dozen of these games will be going on in the
- 2:18:34Speaker 7: lagoon at a time, and it is quite a pretty sight.
- 2:18:38Speaker 7: But the moment the children tried to join in, they
- 2:18:41Speaker 7: had to play by themselves, for the mermaids immediately disappeared. Nevertheless,
- 2:18:46Speaker 7: we have proof that they secretly watched the interlopers and
- 2:18:49Speaker 7: were not above taking an idea from them, for John
- 2:18:52Speaker 7: introduced a new way of hitting the bubble with the
- 2:18:55Speaker 7: head instead of the hand, and the mermaids adopted it.
- 2:18:58Speaker 7: This is the one mark that John has left on
- 2:19:00Speaker 7: the Neverland. It must also have been rather pretty to
- 2:19:04Speaker 7: see the children resting on a rock for half an
- 2:19:06Speaker 7: hour after their midday meal. Wendy insisted on their doing this,
- 2:19:11Speaker 7: and it had to be a real rest, even though
- 2:19:13Speaker 7: the meal was make believe, So they lay there in
- 2:19:16Speaker 7: the sun, and their bodies glistened in it, while she
- 2:19:19Speaker 7: sat beside them and looked important. It was one such day,
- 2:19:23Speaker 7: and they were all on Marooner's Rock. The rock was
- 2:19:26Speaker 7: not much larger than their great bed, but of course
- 2:19:29Speaker 7: they all knew how not to take up much room,
- 2:19:31Speaker 7: and they were dozing, or at least lying with their
- 2:19:34Speaker 7: eyes shut, and pinching occasionally when they thought Wendy was
- 2:19:37Speaker 7: not looking. She was very busy stitching. While she stitched,
- 2:19:43Speaker 7: a change came to the lagoon. Little shivers ran over it,
- 2:19:47Speaker 7: and the sun went away, and shadows stole across the water,
- 2:19:51Speaker 7: turning it cold. Wendy could no longer see to thread
- 2:19:54Speaker 7: her needle, and when she looked up, the lagoon that
- 2:19:57Speaker 7: had always hitherto been such a laughing place, seemed formidable
- 2:20:01Speaker 7: and unfriendly. It was not. She knew that night had come,
- 2:20:07Speaker 7: but something as dark as night had come, no worse
- 2:20:11Speaker 7: than that it had not come, but it had sent
- 2:20:15Speaker 7: that shiver through the sea to say that it was coming.
- 2:20:18Speaker 11: What was it?
- 2:20:20Speaker 14: There?
- 2:20:20Speaker 7: Crowded upon her all the stories she had been told
- 2:20:23Speaker 7: of Marooner's Rock, so called because evil captains put sailors
- 2:20:28Speaker 7: on it and leave them there to drown. They drown
- 2:20:31Speaker 7: when the tide rises, for then it is submerged. Of course,
- 2:20:35Speaker 7: she should have roused the children at once, not merely
- 2:20:38Speaker 7: because of the unknown that was stalking towards them, but
- 2:20:41Speaker 7: because it was no longer good for them to sleep
- 2:20:43Speaker 7: on a rock grown chilly. But she was a young mother,
- 2:20:47Speaker 7: and she did not know this. She thought, you simply
- 2:20:50Speaker 7: must stick to your rule. About half an hour after
- 2:20:53Speaker 7: the midday meal. So though fear was upon her, and
- 2:20:56Speaker 7: she longed to hear male voices, she would not waken them.
- 2:21:00Speaker 7: Even when she heard the sound of muffled oars. Though
- 2:21:03Speaker 7: her heart was in her mouth, she did not waken them.
- 2:21:07Speaker 7: She stood over them to let them have their sleep out.
- 2:21:10Speaker 7: Was it not brave of Wendy? It was well for
- 2:21:13Speaker 7: those boys then, that there was one among them who
- 2:21:15Speaker 7: could sniff danger even in his sleep. Peter Sprang erect,
- 2:21:19Speaker 7: as wide awake at once as a dog, and with
- 2:21:22Speaker 7: one warning cry, he roused the others. He stood motionless,
- 2:21:26Speaker 7: one hand to his ear pirates.
- 2:21:29Speaker 3: He cried.
- 2:21:31Speaker 7: The others came closer to him. A strange smile was
- 2:21:34Speaker 7: playing about his face, and Wendy saw it and shuddered.
- 2:21:38Speaker 7: While that smile was on his face. No one dared
- 2:21:41Speaker 7: address him. All they could do was stand ready to obey.
- 2:21:45Speaker 7: The order came sharp and incisive.
- 2:21:47Speaker 15: Dive.
- 2:21:49Speaker 7: There was a gleam of legs, and instantly the lagoon
- 2:21:52Speaker 7: seemed deserted. Marooner's Rock stood alone in the forbidding waters,
- 2:21:56Speaker 7: as if it were itself marooned. The boat drew near.
- 2:22:00Speaker 7: It was the pirate dinghy, with three figures in her
- 2:22:03Speaker 7: smee and starkey, and the third a captive no other
- 2:22:06Speaker 7: than tiger Lily. Her hands and ankles were tied, and
- 2:22:10Speaker 7: she knew what was to be her fate. She was
- 2:22:13Speaker 7: to be left on the rock to perish, an end
- 2:22:15Speaker 7: to one of her race more terrible than death by
- 2:22:18Speaker 7: fire or torture. For is it not written in the
- 2:22:20Speaker 7: book of the tribe that there is no path through
- 2:22:23Speaker 7: water to the happy hunting ground. Yet her face was impassive.
- 2:22:27Speaker 7: She was the daughter of a chief. She must die
- 2:22:30Speaker 7: as a chief's daughter. It is enough they had caught
- 2:22:33Speaker 7: her boarding the pirate ship with a knife in her mouth.
- 2:22:37Speaker 7: No watch was kept on the ship, it being Hook's
- 2:22:39Speaker 7: boast that the wind of his name guarded the ship
- 2:22:42Speaker 7: for a mile around. Now her fate would help to
- 2:22:44Speaker 7: guard it. Also, one more whale would go round in
- 2:22:47Speaker 7: that wind by night. In the gloom that they brought
- 2:22:51Speaker 7: with them, the two pirates did not see the rock
- 2:22:54Speaker 7: till they crashed into it. Luff you lubber, cried an
- 2:22:57Speaker 7: Irish voice that was Smee's. Here's the rock now, then
- 2:23:02Speaker 7: what we have to do is hoist the red skin
- 2:23:04Speaker 7: on to it and leave her here to drown. It
- 2:23:07Speaker 7: was the work of one brutal moment to land the
- 2:23:10Speaker 7: beautiful girl on the rock. She was too proud to
- 2:23:13Speaker 7: offer a vain resistance. Quite near the rock, but out
- 2:23:16Speaker 7: of sight, two heads were bobbing up and down, Peter's
- 2:23:20Speaker 7: and Wendy's. Wendy was crying, for it was the first
- 2:23:24Speaker 7: tragedy she had seen. Peter had seen many tragedies, but
- 2:23:27Speaker 7: he had forgotten them all. He was less sorry than
- 2:23:30Speaker 7: Wendy for Tiger Lily. It was two against one that
- 2:23:33Speaker 7: angered him, and he meant to save her. An easy
- 2:23:36Speaker 7: way would have been to wait until the pirates had gone,
- 2:23:39Speaker 7: but he was never one to choose the easy way.
- 2:23:42Speaker 7: There was almost nothing he could not do. He now
- 2:23:45Speaker 7: imitated the voice of hook ahoy, there you lubbers, he called.
- 2:23:50Speaker 7: It was a marvelous imitation, the captain said, the pirates
- 2:23:54Speaker 7: staring at each other in surprise. He must be swimming
- 2:23:58Speaker 7: out to us, Starkey said, when they had looked for
- 2:24:01Speaker 7: him in vain. We are putting the red skin on
- 2:24:04Speaker 7: the rock. Smee called out, set her free. Came the
- 2:24:09Speaker 7: astonishing answer free, yes, cut her bonds and let her go.
- 2:24:16Speaker 7: But captain, at once, d'ye hear, cried Peter, or I'll
- 2:24:20Speaker 7: plunge my hook and you this is queer. Smee gasped.
- 2:24:26Speaker 7: Better do it, the captain orders, said Starkey nervously. Aye, ay,
- 2:24:30Speaker 7: Smee said, and he cut Tiger Lily's cords at once.
- 2:24:34Speaker 7: Like an eel, she slid between Starkey's legs into the water.
- 2:24:38Speaker 7: Of course, Wendy was very elated over Peter's cleverness, but
- 2:24:42Speaker 7: she knew that he would be elated also, and very
- 2:24:44Speaker 7: likely crow and thus betray himself. So at once her
- 2:24:47Speaker 7: hand went out to cover his mouth, but it was
- 2:24:50Speaker 7: stayed even in the act. For boat Ahoy rang over
- 2:24:54Speaker 7: the lagoon in Hook's voice, and this time it was
- 2:24:56Speaker 7: not Peter who had spoken. Peter may have been about
- 2:25:00Speaker 7: to crow, but his face puckered in a whistle of surprise. Instead,
- 2:25:05Speaker 7: boat ahoy, again came the voice. Now Wendy understood the
- 2:25:10Speaker 7: real hook was also in the water. He was swimming
- 2:25:13Speaker 7: to the boat, and as his men showed a light
- 2:25:15Speaker 7: to guide him, he had soon reached them. In the
- 2:25:18Speaker 7: light of the lantern, Wendy saw his hook grip the
- 2:25:21Speaker 7: boat's side. She saw his evil, swarthy face as he rose,
- 2:25:24Speaker 7: dripping from the water and quaking. She would have liked
- 2:25:27Speaker 7: to swim away, but Peter would not budge. He was
- 2:25:30Speaker 7: tingling with life and also top heavy with conceit. Am
- 2:25:34Speaker 7: I not a wonder? Oh I am a wonder, he
- 2:25:37Speaker 7: whispered to her, And though she thought so also, she
- 2:25:40Speaker 7: was really glad for the sake of his reputation that
- 2:25:43Speaker 7: no one heard him except himself. He signed to her
- 2:25:46Speaker 7: to listen. The two pirates were very curious to know
- 2:25:49Speaker 7: what had brought their captain to them, but he sat
- 2:25:51Speaker 7: with his head on his hook in a position of
- 2:25:53Speaker 7: profound melancholy. Captain, is all well, they asked timidly, But
- 2:26:00Speaker 7: he answered with a hollow moan. He sighs, said Smee.
- 2:26:05Speaker 7: He sighs again, said Starkey. And yet a third time.
- 2:26:08Speaker 7: He sighs, said Smee. Then at last he spoke passionately.
- 2:26:14Speaker 7: The game's up, he cried, Those boys have found a mother.
- 2:26:19Speaker 7: Affrighted though she was, Wendy swelled with pride. Oh, evil day,
- 2:26:24Speaker 7: cried Starkey. What's a mother, asked the ignorant Smee. Wendy
- 2:26:30Speaker 7: was so shocked that she exclaimed, he doesn't know. And
- 2:26:34Speaker 7: always after this she felt that if you could have
- 2:26:36Speaker 7: a pet pirate, Smee would be her one. Peter pulled
- 2:26:39Speaker 7: her beneath the water, for Hook had started up, crying,
- 2:26:42Speaker 7: what was that? I heard nothing, said Starkey, raising the
- 2:26:46Speaker 7: lantern over the waters. And as the pirates looked, they
- 2:26:49Speaker 7: saw a strange sight. It was the nest I have
- 2:26:52Speaker 7: told you of floating on the lagoon, and the never
- 2:26:55Speaker 7: bird was sitting on it. See, said Hook, in answer
- 2:26:59Speaker 7: to Smee's question, that is a mother? What a lesson?
- 2:27:02Speaker 7: The nest must have fallen into the water. But would
- 2:27:05Speaker 7: the mother desert her eggs?
- 2:27:06Speaker 2: No?
- 2:27:08Speaker 7: There was a break in his voice, as if for
- 2:27:10Speaker 7: a moment he recalled innocent days when but he brushed
- 2:27:13Speaker 7: away this weakness with his hook. Smee, much impressed, gazed
- 2:27:17Speaker 7: at the bird as the nest was borne past. But
- 2:27:20Speaker 7: the more suspicious Starkey said, if she is a mother,
- 2:27:24Speaker 7: perhaps she is hanging about here to help Peter. Hook
- 2:27:27Speaker 7: winced aye, he said, that is the fear that haunts me.
- 2:27:33Speaker 7: He was roused from this dejection by Smee's eager voice.
- 2:27:37Speaker 7: Captain said, Smee, could we not kidnap these boys mother
- 2:27:41Speaker 7: and make her our mother. It is a princely scheme,
- 2:27:45Speaker 7: cried Hook, and at once it took practical shape in
- 2:27:48Speaker 7: his great brain. We will seize the children and carry
- 2:27:52Speaker 7: them to the boat. The boys we will make walk
- 2:27:54Speaker 7: the plank, and Wendy shall be our mother again. Wendy
- 2:27:58Speaker 7: forgot herself never She cried and bobbed.
- 2:28:02Speaker 16: What was that?
- 2:28:04Speaker 7: But they could see nothing. They thought it must have
- 2:28:07Speaker 7: been a leaf in the wind. Do you agree, my bullies,
- 2:28:10Speaker 7: asked Hook. There's my hand on it, they both said,
- 2:28:14Speaker 7: and there's my hook swear, they all swore. By this
- 2:28:20Speaker 7: time they were on the rock, and suddenly Hook remembered
- 2:28:23Speaker 7: tiger lily. Where's the red skin? He demanded abruptly. He
- 2:28:28Speaker 7: had a playful humor at moments, and they thought this
- 2:28:31Speaker 7: was one of the moments. That's all right, Captain, Smee
- 2:28:34Speaker 7: answered complacently, we let her go. Let her go, cried Hook.
- 2:28:40Speaker 7: Twas your own orders. The bowsun faltered. You called over
- 2:28:45Speaker 7: the water to us to let her go, said Starkey.
- 2:28:49Speaker 7: Brimstone and Gall thundered Hook, what cousining is going on here?
- 2:28:53Speaker 7: His face had gone black with rage, but he saw
- 2:28:56Speaker 7: that they believed their words, and he was startled. Lads,
- 2:29:00Speaker 7: he said, shaking a little. I gave no such order.
- 2:29:07Speaker 7: It is passing, queer, Smee said, and they all fidgeted uncomfortably.
- 2:29:12Speaker 7: Hook raised his voice, but there was a quiver in it,
- 2:29:16Speaker 7: spirit that haunts this dark lagoon to night. He cried,
- 2:29:20Speaker 7: dost hear me? Of course Peter should have kept quiet,
- 2:29:24Speaker 7: but of course he did not. He immediately answered, in
- 2:29:27Speaker 7: Hook's voice, odds, bobs, hagmer, and tongs, I hear you.
- 2:29:33Speaker 7: In that supreme moment, Hook did not blanch even at
- 2:29:36Speaker 7: the gills, but Smee and Starkey clung to each other
- 2:29:39Speaker 7: in terror. Who are you, stranger, speak, Hook demanded, I
- 2:29:44Speaker 7: am James, Hook replied the voice captain of the Jolly Roger.
- 2:29:50Speaker 7: You are not You are not, Hook cried hoarsely. Brimstone
- 2:29:54Speaker 7: and Gall the voice retorted, Say that again, and I'll
- 2:29:57Speaker 7: cast anchor in you. Hook tried a more ingratiating manner.
- 2:30:04Speaker 7: If you are hook, he said, almost humbly, Come tell
- 2:30:07Speaker 7: me who am I? A codfish? Replied the voice, Only
- 2:30:12Speaker 7: a codfish? A codfish, Hook echoed blankly. And it was then,
- 2:30:18Speaker 7: but not till then, that his proud spirit broke. He
- 2:30:21Speaker 7: saw his men draw back from him. Have we been
- 2:30:25Speaker 7: captained all this time by a codfish? They muttered? It
- 2:30:28Speaker 7: is lowering to our pride. They were his dogs, snapping
- 2:30:32Speaker 7: at him. But tragic figure though he had become, he
- 2:30:35Speaker 7: scarcely heeded them against such fearful evidence. It was not
- 2:30:40Speaker 7: their belief in him that he needed. It was his own.
- 2:30:43Speaker 7: He felt his ego slipping from him. Don't desert me, bully,
- 2:30:47Speaker 7: he whispered hoarsely to it. In his dark nature there
- 2:30:51Speaker 7: was a touch of the feminine, as in all the
- 2:30:53Speaker 7: great pirates, and it sometimes gave him intuitions. Suddenly he
- 2:30:57Speaker 7: tried the guessing game. Hoo, Hook, he called, have you
- 2:31:02Speaker 7: another voice?
- 2:31:04Speaker 5: Now?
- 2:31:05Speaker 7: Peter could never resist a game, and he answered, blithely
- 2:31:07Speaker 7: in his own voice, I have and another name. Ay
- 2:31:13Speaker 7: I vegetable asked Hook, no, mineral, no animal, yes, man no.
- 2:31:26Speaker 7: This answer rang out scornfully boy, yes, ordinary boy no,
- 2:31:35Speaker 7: wonderful boy. To Wendy's pain, the answer that rang out
- 2:31:40Speaker 7: this time was yes. Are you in England?
- 2:31:45Speaker 9: No?
- 2:31:46Speaker 7: Are you here?
- 2:31:48Speaker 11: Yes?
- 2:31:51Speaker 7: Hook was completely puzzled. You asked him some questions, he
- 2:31:54Speaker 7: said to the others, wiping his damp brow. Smee reflected,
- 2:32:00Speaker 7: think of a thing, he said, regretfully. Can't guess, can't guess,
- 2:32:04Speaker 7: crowed Peter, do you give it up? Of course, in
- 2:32:08Speaker 7: his pride he was carrying the game too far, and
- 2:32:11Speaker 7: the miscreants saw their chance. Yes, yes, they answered eagerly. Well,
- 2:32:16Speaker 7: then he cried, I am Peter Pan.
- 2:32:20Speaker 15: Pan.
- 2:32:23Speaker 7: In a moment, Hook was himself again, and Smee and
- 2:32:26Speaker 7: Starkey were his faithful henchmen. Now we have him, Hook
- 2:32:30Speaker 7: shouted into the water. Smee, Starkey, mind the boat, take
- 2:32:34Speaker 7: him dead or alive. He leaped as he spoke, and
- 2:32:38Speaker 7: simultaneously came the gay voice of Peter. Are you ready, boys?
- 2:32:43Speaker 9: Ay?
- 2:32:43Speaker 2: Ay?
- 2:32:43Speaker 7: From various parts of the lagoon, the lamb into the pirates.
- 2:32:48Speaker 7: The fight was short and sharp. First to draw blood
- 2:32:52Speaker 7: was John, who gallantly climbed into the boat and held starky.
- 2:32:56Speaker 7: There was fierce struggle in which the cutlass was torn
- 2:32:58Speaker 7: from the pirate's grasp. He wriggled overboard, and John left
- 2:33:01Speaker 7: after him. The dinghy drifted away. Here and there a
- 2:33:05Speaker 7: head bobbed up in the water, and there was a
- 2:33:07Speaker 7: flash of steel, followed by a cry or a whoop.
- 2:33:10Speaker 7: In the confusion, some struck at their own side. The
- 2:33:13Speaker 7: corkscrew of Smee got tootles in the fourth rib, but
- 2:33:16Speaker 7: he was himself pinked and turned by Curly. Further up
- 2:33:19Speaker 7: the rock, Starkey was pressing slightly in the twins hard,
- 2:33:23Speaker 7: where all this time was Peter. He was seeking bigger game.
- 2:33:28Speaker 7: The others were all brave boys, and they must not
- 2:33:30Speaker 7: be blamed for backing from the pirate. Captain. His iron
- 2:33:34Speaker 7: claw made a circle of dead water round him, from
- 2:33:36Speaker 7: which they fled like affrighted fishes. But there was one
- 2:33:39Speaker 7: who did not fear him. There was one prepared to
- 2:33:43Speaker 7: enter that circle. Strangely, it was not in the water
- 2:33:47Speaker 7: that they met. Hook rose to the rock to breathe,
- 2:33:50Speaker 7: and at the same moment Peter scaled it on the
- 2:33:52Speaker 7: opposite side. The rock was slippery as a ball, and
- 2:33:56Speaker 7: they had to crawl rather than climb. Neither knew that
- 2:33:59Speaker 7: the other was coming. Each, feeling for a grip, met
- 2:34:03Speaker 7: the other's arm. In surprise, they raised their heads. Their
- 2:34:07Speaker 7: faces were almost touching, so they met. Some of the
- 2:34:13Speaker 7: greatest heroes have confessed that just before they fell too,
- 2:34:16Speaker 7: they had a sinking. Had it been so with Peter
- 2:34:19Speaker 7: at that moment, I would admit it. After all, he
- 2:34:23Speaker 7: was the only man that the sea cook had feared.
- 2:34:25Speaker 7: But Peter had no sinking. He had one feeling, only gladness,
- 2:34:30Speaker 7: and he gnashed his pretty teeth with joy. Quick as thought,
- 2:34:34Speaker 7: he snatched a knife from Hook's belt and was about
- 2:34:36Speaker 7: to drive it home when he saw that he was
- 2:34:38Speaker 7: higher up the rock than his foe. It would not
- 2:34:41Speaker 7: have been fighting fair. He gave the pirate a hand
- 2:34:43Speaker 7: to help him up. It was then that Hook bit him.
- 2:34:49Speaker 7: Not the pain of this, but its unfairness, was what
- 2:34:52Speaker 7: dazed Peter. It made him quite helpless. He could only
- 2:34:55Speaker 7: stare horrified. Every child is affected. Thus the first time
- 2:34:59Speaker 7: he is treated unfairly, all he thinks he has a
- 2:35:03Speaker 7: right to. When he comes to you to be yours
- 2:35:05Speaker 7: is fairness. After you have been unfair to him, he
- 2:35:08Speaker 7: will love you again, but will never afterwards be quite
- 2:35:11Speaker 7: the same boy. No one ever gets over the first unfairness,
- 2:35:16Speaker 7: no one except Peter. He often met it, but he
- 2:35:19Speaker 7: always forgot it. I suppose that was the real difference
- 2:35:22Speaker 7: between him and all the rest. So when he met
- 2:35:25Speaker 7: it now it was like the first time, and he
- 2:35:28Speaker 7: could just stare helpless. Twice the iron hand clawed him.
- 2:35:35Speaker 7: A few moments afterwards, the other boys saw Hook in
- 2:35:37Speaker 7: the water, striking wildly for the ship. No elation on
- 2:35:41Speaker 7: the pestilent face, now only white fear, for the crocodile
- 2:35:45Speaker 7: was in dogged pursuit of him. On ordinary occasions, the
- 2:35:48Speaker 7: boys would have swum alongside, cheering, but now they were uneasy,
- 2:35:52Speaker 7: for they had lost both Peter and Wendy and were
- 2:35:55Speaker 7: scouring the lagoon for them, calling them by name. They
- 2:35:58Speaker 7: found the dinghy and went home in it, shouted Peter
- 2:36:01Speaker 7: Wendy as they went, but no answer came, save mocking
- 2:36:06Speaker 7: laughter from the mermaids. They must be swimming back or flying.
- 2:36:09Speaker 7: The boys concluded they were not very anxious because they
- 2:36:13Speaker 7: had such faith in Peter. They chuckled boylike because they
- 2:36:17Speaker 7: would be late for bed, and it was all mother
- 2:36:19Speaker 7: Wendy's fault. When their voices died away, there came cold
- 2:36:23Speaker 7: silence over the lagoon, and then a feeble cry, help help.
- 2:36:31Speaker 7: Two small figures were beating against the rock. The girl
- 2:36:34Speaker 7: had fainted and lay on the boy's arm. With a
- 2:36:37Speaker 7: last effort, Peter pulled her up the rock and then
- 2:36:40Speaker 7: lay down beside her, even as he also fainted. He
- 2:36:43Speaker 7: saw that the water was rising. He knew that they
- 2:36:46Speaker 7: would soon be drowned, but he could do no more.
- 2:36:50Speaker 7: As they lay side by side, a mermaid caught Wendy
- 2:36:53Speaker 7: by the feet and began pulling her softly into the water. Peter,
- 2:36:57Speaker 7: feeling her slip from him, woke with a start and
- 2:36:59Speaker 7: was just in time to draw her back. But he
- 2:37:02Speaker 7: had to tell her the truth. We're on the rock, Wendy,
- 2:37:06Speaker 7: he said, but it is growing smaller. Soon the water
- 2:37:10Speaker 7: will be over it. She did not understand. Even now,
- 2:37:15Speaker 7: we must go, she said, almost brightly. Yes, he answered faintly.
- 2:37:21Speaker 7: Shall we swim or fly? Peter? He had to tell her,
- 2:37:26Speaker 7: do you think you could swim or fly as far
- 2:37:29Speaker 7: as the island? Wendy? Without my help? She had to
- 2:37:33Speaker 7: admit that she was too tired. He moaned, What is it?
- 2:37:38Speaker 7: She asked, anxious about him at once. I can't help you,
- 2:37:41Speaker 7: Wendy hook wounded me. I can neither fly nor swim.
- 2:37:47Speaker 7: Do you mean we shall both be drowned? Look how
- 2:37:50Speaker 7: the water's rising. They put their hands over their eyes
- 2:37:55Speaker 7: to shut out the sight. They thought they would soon
- 2:37:57Speaker 7: be no more. As they sat thus, something brushed against
- 2:38:02Speaker 7: Peter as light as a kiss, and stayed there, as
- 2:38:05Speaker 7: if saying, timidly, can I be of any use? It
- 2:38:08Speaker 7: was the tail of a kite which Michael had made
- 2:38:11Speaker 7: some days before. It had torn itself out of his
- 2:38:13Speaker 7: hand and floated away. Michael's kite, Peter said, without interest.
- 2:38:19Speaker 7: But next moment he had seized the tail and was
- 2:38:21Speaker 7: pulling the kite toward him. It lifted Michael off the ground.
- 2:38:24Speaker 7: He cried, why should it not carry you both of us?
- 2:38:29Speaker 7: I can't lift two Michael, and curly tried let us
- 2:38:34Speaker 7: draw lots. Wendy said, bravely, and you a lady. Never
- 2:38:39Speaker 7: already he had tied the tail round her. She clung
- 2:38:42Speaker 7: to him. She refused to go without him, but with
- 2:38:44Speaker 7: a good bye Wendy, he pushed her from the rock,
- 2:38:48Speaker 7: and in a few minutes she was borne out of
- 2:38:49Speaker 7: his sight. Peter was alone on the lagoon. The rock
- 2:38:54Speaker 7: was very small now soon it would be submerged. Pale
- 2:38:59Speaker 7: rays of light tiptoed across the waters, and by and
- 2:39:02Speaker 7: by there was to be heard a sound, at once
- 2:39:04Speaker 7: the most musical and the most melancholy in the world,
- 2:39:08Speaker 7: the mermaids calling.
- 2:39:09Speaker 12: To the moon.
- 2:39:12Speaker 7: Peter was not quite like other boys, but he was afraid.
- 2:39:15Speaker 15: At last.
- 2:39:16Speaker 7: A tremor ran through him, like a shudder passing over
- 2:39:19Speaker 7: the sea. But on the sea, one shutter follows another
- 2:39:23Speaker 7: till there are hundreds of them, and Peter felt just
- 2:39:25Speaker 7: the one. Next moment, he was standing erect on the
- 2:39:28Speaker 7: rock again, with that smile on his face and a
- 2:39:31Speaker 7: drum beating within him. It was saying, to die will
- 2:39:34Speaker 7: be an awfully big adventure.
- 2:39:38Speaker 10: End of chapter eight, Chapter nine, the never Bird. The
- 2:39:45Speaker 10: last sound Peter heard before he was quite alone, were
- 2:39:48Speaker 10: the mermaids retiring one by one to their bedchambers under
- 2:39:52Speaker 10: the sea. He was too far away to hear their
- 2:39:56Speaker 10: doors shut, but every door in the coral caves where
- 2:39:59Speaker 10: they rings a tiny bell when it opens or closes,
- 2:40:03Speaker 10: as in all the nicest houses on the mainland, and
- 2:40:06Speaker 10: he heard the bells steadily, the waters rose till they
- 2:40:10Speaker 10: were nibbling at his feet, and to pass the time
- 2:40:13Speaker 10: until they made their final gulp, he watched the only
- 2:40:16Speaker 10: thing on the lagoon. He thought it was a piece
- 2:40:19Speaker 10: of floating paper, perhaps part of the kite, and wondered
- 2:40:22Speaker 10: idly how long it would take to drift ashore. Presently,
- 2:40:27Speaker 10: he noticed, as an odd thing that it was undoubtedly
- 2:40:30Speaker 10: out upon the lagoon with some definite purpose, for it
- 2:40:33Speaker 10: was fighting the tide and sometimes winning, And when it won, Peter,
- 2:40:40Speaker 10: always sympathetic to the weaker side, could not help clapping.
- 2:40:44Speaker 10: It was such a gallant piece of paper. It was
- 2:40:49Speaker 10: not really a piece of paper. It was the never bird,
- 2:40:52Speaker 10: making desperate efforts to reach Peter on the nest by
- 2:40:56Speaker 10: working her wings in a way she had learned. Since
- 2:40:59Speaker 10: the nest fell in to the water, she was able
- 2:41:01Speaker 10: to some extent to guide her strange craft. But by
- 2:41:05Speaker 10: the time Peter recognized her, she was very exhausted. She
- 2:41:10Speaker 10: had come to save him, to give him her nest,
- 2:41:13Speaker 10: though there were eggs in it. I rather wonder at
- 2:41:16Speaker 10: the bird, for though he had been nice to her,
- 2:41:19Speaker 10: he had also sometimes tormented her. I can suppose only that,
- 2:41:24Speaker 10: like missus Darling and the rest of them, she was
- 2:41:27Speaker 10: melted because he had all his first teeth. She called
- 2:41:31Speaker 10: out to him what she had come for, and he
- 2:41:33Speaker 10: called out to her what she was doing there. But
- 2:41:36Speaker 10: of course neither of them understood the other's language. In
- 2:41:40Speaker 10: fanciful stories, people can talk to the birds freely, and
- 2:41:44Speaker 10: I wish for the moment I could pretend that this
- 2:41:46Speaker 10: were such a story and say that. Peter replied intelligently
- 2:41:50Speaker 10: to the never bird. But truth is best, and I
- 2:41:54Speaker 10: want to tell you only what really happened. Well, not
- 2:41:58Speaker 10: only could they not understand each each other, but they
- 2:42:01Speaker 10: forgot their manners. I want you to get into the nest,
- 2:42:10Speaker 10: the bird called, speaking as slowly and distinctly as possible,
- 2:42:17Speaker 10: and then you can drift ashore. But I am too
- 2:42:25Speaker 10: tired to bring it any nearer, so you must try
- 2:42:31Speaker 10: to swim to it. What are you quacking about? Peter answered,
- 2:42:37Speaker 10: why don't you let the nest drift as usual?
- 2:42:41Speaker 17: I want you.
- 2:42:43Speaker 10: The bird said, and repeated it all over. Then Peter tried,
- 2:42:48Speaker 10: slow and distinct what are you quacking about? And so on?
- 2:42:56Speaker 10: The never bird became irritated. They have very short time.
- 2:43:01Speaker 10: You dunderheaded little jay, she screamed, why don't you do
- 2:43:05Speaker 10: as I tell you? Peter felt that she was calling
- 2:43:09Speaker 10: him names, and at a venture he retorted hotly, so
- 2:43:13Speaker 10: are you. Then, rather curiously, they both snapped out the
- 2:43:17Speaker 10: same remark, shut up, shut up. Nevertheless, the bird was
- 2:43:23Speaker 10: determined to save him if she could, and by one
- 2:43:27Speaker 10: last mighty effort, she propelled the nest against the rock.
- 2:43:32Speaker 10: Then up she flew, deserting her eggs so as to
- 2:43:36Speaker 10: make her meaning clear. Then at last he understood and
- 2:43:41Speaker 10: clutched the nest and waved his thanks to the bird
- 2:43:44Speaker 10: as she fluttered overhead. It was not to receive his thanks, however,
- 2:43:48Speaker 10: that she hung there in the sky. It was not
- 2:43:51Speaker 10: even to watch him get into the nest. It was
- 2:43:54Speaker 10: to see what he did with her eggs. There were
- 2:43:58Speaker 10: two large white eggs, and Peter lifted them up and reflected.
- 2:44:03Speaker 10: The bird covered her face with her wings so as
- 2:44:05Speaker 10: not to see the last of them, but she could
- 2:44:08Speaker 10: not help peeping between the feathers. I forgot whether I
- 2:44:12Speaker 10: have told you that there was a stave on the rock,
- 2:44:15Speaker 10: driven into it by some buccaneers of long ago to
- 2:44:18Speaker 10: mark the sight of buried treasure. The children had discovered
- 2:44:22Speaker 10: the glittering horde, and when in a mischievous mood, used
- 2:44:26Speaker 10: to fling showers of moy doors, diamonds, pearls, and pieces
- 2:44:30Speaker 10: of eight to the gulls, who pounced upon them for food,
- 2:44:34Speaker 10: and then flew away, raging at the scurvy trick that
- 2:44:37Speaker 10: had been played upon them. The stave was still there,
- 2:44:41Speaker 10: and on it Starkey had hung his hat, a deep
- 2:44:45Speaker 10: tarpaulin watertight with a broad brim. Peter put the eggs
- 2:44:49Speaker 10: into this hat and set it on the lagoon. It
- 2:44:52Speaker 10: floated beautifully. The never bird saw at once what he
- 2:44:56Speaker 10: was up to and screamed her admiration of him, and
- 2:45:00Speaker 10: alas Peter crowed his agreement with her. Then he got
- 2:45:04Speaker 10: into the nest, reared the stave in it as a mast,
- 2:45:07Speaker 10: and hung up his shirt for a sail. At the
- 2:45:11Speaker 10: same moment, the bird fluttered down upon the hat and
- 2:45:14Speaker 10: once more sat snugly on her eggs. She drifted in
- 2:45:18Speaker 10: one direction and he was borne off in another, both cheering.
- 2:45:25Speaker 16: Of course.
- 2:45:25Speaker 10: When Peter landed, he beached his bark small ship actually
- 2:45:30Speaker 10: the never bird's nest in this particular case in point
- 2:45:34Speaker 10: in a place where the bird would easily find it.
- 2:45:37Speaker 10: But the hat was such a great success that she
- 2:45:40Speaker 10: abandoned the nest. It drifted about till it went to
- 2:45:43Speaker 10: pieces and often Starky came to the shore of the lagoon,
- 2:45:47Speaker 10: and with many bitter feelings, watched the bird sitting on
- 2:45:50Speaker 10: his hat. As we shall not see her again, it
- 2:45:54Speaker 10: may be worth mentioning here that all never birds now
- 2:45:58Speaker 10: build in that shape of nest with a broad brim
- 2:46:01Speaker 10: on which the youngsters taken airing. Great were the rejoicings
- 2:46:06Speaker 10: when Peter reached the home under the ground almost as
- 2:46:09Speaker 10: soon as Wendy, who had been carried hither and thither
- 2:46:12Speaker 10: by the kite. Every boy had adventures to tell, but
- 2:46:17Speaker 10: perhaps the biggest adventure of all was that they were
- 2:46:20Speaker 10: several hours late for bed. This so inflated them that
- 2:46:24Speaker 10: they did various dodgy things to get staying up still longer,
- 2:46:28Speaker 10: such as demanding bandages. But Wendy, though glorifying and having
- 2:46:33Speaker 10: them all home again safe and sound, was scandalized by
- 2:46:38Speaker 10: the lateness of the hour, and cried to bed to
- 2:46:41Speaker 10: bed in a voice that had to be obeyed. Next day, however,
- 2:46:46Speaker 10: she was awfully tender and gave out bandages to every one,
- 2:46:50Speaker 10: and they played till bedtime at limping about and carrying
- 2:46:54Speaker 10: their arms in slings.
- 2:46:58Speaker 16: End of chapter nine, Chapter ten, The Happy Home. One
- 2:47:06Speaker 16: important result of the brush on the lagoon was that
- 2:47:08Speaker 16: had made the Redskins their friends. Peter had saved Tiger
- 2:47:12Speaker 16: Lily from a dreadful fate, and now there was nothing
- 2:47:15Speaker 16: she and her braves would not do for him. All
- 2:47:18Speaker 16: night they sat above, keeping watch over the home under
- 2:47:21Speaker 16: the ground and awaiting the big attack by the pirates,
- 2:47:24Speaker 16: which obviously could not be much longer delayed. Even by day,
- 2:47:28Speaker 16: they hung about, smoking the pipe of Peace, and looking
- 2:47:31Speaker 16: almost as if they wanted tit bits to eat. They
- 2:47:35Speaker 16: called Peter the Great White Father, prostrating themselves before him,
- 2:47:39Speaker 16: and he liked this tremendously so that it was not
- 2:47:41Speaker 16: really good for him. The Great White Father, he would
- 2:47:46Speaker 16: say to them, in a very lordly manner, as they
- 2:47:48Speaker 16: groveled at his feet, is glad to see the piccaninny
- 2:47:52Speaker 16: warriors protecting his wigwam from the pirates. Meet Tiger Lily,
- 2:47:58Speaker 16: that lovely creature, would reply, Peter, pan save me me,
- 2:48:02Speaker 16: his very nice friend me, nor let pirates hurt him.
- 2:48:07Speaker 16: She was far too pretty to cringe in this way.
- 2:48:10Speaker 16: But Peter thought it his due, and he would answer condescendingly,
- 2:48:14Speaker 16: it is good Peter Pan has spoken. Always when he
- 2:48:19Speaker 16: said Peter Pan has spoken, it meant that they must
- 2:48:22Speaker 16: now shut up, and they accepted it humbly in that spirit.
- 2:48:28Speaker 16: But they were by no means so respectful to the
- 2:48:29Speaker 16: other boys, whom they looked upon as just ordinary braves.
- 2:48:34Speaker 16: They said, how do to them? And things like that,
- 2:48:38Speaker 16: And what annoyed the boys was that Peter seemed to
- 2:48:40Speaker 16: think this all right. Secretly, Wendy sympathized with them a little,
- 2:48:46Speaker 16: but she was far too loyal a housewife to listen
- 2:48:48Speaker 16: to any complaints against father. Father knows best. She always said,
- 2:48:53Speaker 16: whatever her private opinion must be, her private opinion was
- 2:48:58Speaker 16: that the Redskins should not call her a sque We
- 2:49:03Speaker 16: have now reached the evening that was to be known
- 2:49:05Speaker 16: among them as the Night of Nights, because of its
- 2:49:08Speaker 16: adventures and their upshone the day as if quietly gathering
- 2:49:14Speaker 16: its forces had been almost uneventful. And now the Redskins
- 2:49:18Speaker 16: and their blankets were at their posts above, while below
- 2:49:22Speaker 16: the children were having their evening meal, all except Peter,
- 2:49:26Speaker 16: who had gone out to get the time. The way
- 2:49:28Speaker 16: you got the time on the island was to find
- 2:49:30Speaker 16: the crocodile and then stay near him till the clock struck.
- 2:49:36Speaker 16: Emil happened to be a make believe tea, and they
- 2:49:39Speaker 16: sat around the board, guzzling in their greed and really
- 2:49:42Speaker 16: but with their chattering recriminations. The noise, as Wendy said,
- 2:49:46Speaker 16: was positively deafening. To be sure, she did not mind noise,
- 2:49:51Speaker 16: but she simply would not have them grabbing things and
- 2:49:54Speaker 16: then excusing themselves by saying the toodles had pushed their elbow.
- 2:49:58Speaker 16: There was a fixed rule that they mane never hit
- 2:50:00Speaker 16: back at meals, but should refer the matter of dispute
- 2:50:03Speaker 16: to Wendy by raising the right arm politely and saying
- 2:50:06Speaker 16: I complain of so and so. But what usually happened
- 2:50:11Speaker 16: was that they forgot to do this, or did it
- 2:50:13Speaker 16: too much silence, cried Wendy, when for the twentieth time
- 2:50:19Speaker 16: she had told them that they were not all to
- 2:50:20Speaker 16: speak at once. Is your mug empty, slightly, darling? Not
- 2:50:26Speaker 16: quite empty, mummy slightly, said, after looking into an imaginary mug.
- 2:50:31Speaker 16: He hasn't even begun to drink his milk. Nibs interposed
- 2:50:36Speaker 16: this was telling, and slightly seized his chance. I complain
- 2:50:39Speaker 16: of Nibs, he cried promptly. John, however, had held up
- 2:50:44Speaker 16: his hand first. Well, John, may I sit in Peter's chair,
- 2:50:49Speaker 16: as he is not here? Sit in father's chair John.
- 2:50:54Speaker 16: Wendy was scandalized. Certainly not he is not really our father.
- 2:51:00Speaker 16: John answered, he didn't even know how a father does
- 2:51:03Speaker 16: till I showed him. This was grumbling, we complain of, John,
- 2:51:08Speaker 16: cried the twins. Tootles held up his hand. He was
- 2:51:13Speaker 16: so much the humblest of them. Indeed, he was the
- 2:51:16Speaker 16: only humble one that Wendy was specially gentle with him.
- 2:51:22Speaker 16: I don't suppose, Doodles said diffidently that I could be father,
- 2:51:28Speaker 16: No Tootles. Once Tootles began, which was not very often,
- 2:51:34Speaker 16: he had a silly way of going on. As I
- 2:51:38Speaker 16: can't be father, he said heavily. I don't suppose, Michael
- 2:51:44Speaker 16: you would let me be baby. No, I won't. Michael
- 2:51:48Speaker 16: rapped out, he was already in his basket. As I
- 2:51:53Speaker 16: can't be baby, Toodles said, getting heavier and heavier and heavier.
- 2:52:00Speaker 16: Do you think I could be a twin?
- 2:52:03Speaker 2: No?
- 2:52:03Speaker 16: Indeed, replied the twins. It's awfully difficult to be a twin,
- 2:52:08Speaker 16: as I can't be anything important, said Toodles. Would any
- 2:52:12Speaker 16: of you like to see me do a trick? No,
- 2:52:16Speaker 16: they all replied. Then at last he stopped. I hadn't
- 2:52:21Speaker 16: really any hope, he said. The hateful telling broke out again.
- 2:52:28Speaker 16: Slightly is coughing on the table. The twins began with
- 2:52:31Speaker 16: cheese cakes. Curly is taking both butter and honey. Nibs
- 2:52:36Speaker 16: is speaking with his mouthful. I complain of the twins,
- 2:52:40Speaker 16: I complain of Curly, I complain of Nibs. Oh dear,
- 2:52:44Speaker 16: Oh dear, cried Wendy. I'm sure I sometimes think that
- 2:52:48Speaker 16: spinsters are to be envied. She told them to clear
- 2:52:52Speaker 16: away and sat down to her work basket, a heavy
- 2:52:55Speaker 16: load of stockings and every knee with a hole in it.
- 2:52:57Speaker 16: As usual, Wendy remonstrated Michael, I am too big for
- 2:53:03Speaker 16: a cradle. I must have somebody in a cradle, she said,
- 2:53:08Speaker 16: almost heartily, And you are the littlest. A cradle is
- 2:53:12Speaker 16: such a nice homely thing to have about a house, well,
- 2:53:17Speaker 16: she sewed. They played around her, such a group of
- 2:53:20Speaker 16: happy faces and dancing limbs, lit up by that romantic fire.
- 2:53:25Speaker 16: It had become a very familiar scene, this in the
- 2:53:28Speaker 16: home under the ground, but we are looking on it
- 2:53:31Speaker 16: for the last time. There was a step above in Wendy,
- 2:53:37Speaker 16: you may be sure, was the first to recognize it. Children,
- 2:53:42Speaker 16: I hear your father's step. He likes you to meet
- 2:53:44Speaker 16: him at the door above. The redskins crouched before Peter.
- 2:53:51Speaker 16: Watch well, braves, I have spoken, and then, as so
- 2:53:56Speaker 16: often before, the gay children dragged him from his tree
- 2:54:00Speaker 16: so often before, but never again. He had brought nuts
- 2:54:05Speaker 16: for the boys, as well as the correct time for Wendy. Peter,
- 2:54:10Speaker 16: you just spoil them, you know. Wendy simpered. Ah, old lady,
- 2:54:15Speaker 16: said Peter, hanging up his gun. It was me, told him.
- 2:54:19Speaker 16: Mothers are called old lady. Michael whispered to Curly. I
- 2:54:23Speaker 16: complain of Michael, said Curly. Instantly the first twin came
- 2:54:28Speaker 16: to Peter. Father. We want to dance. Dance away, my
- 2:54:34Speaker 16: little man, said Peter, who was in high, good humor.
- 2:54:37Speaker 16: But we want you to dance. Peter was really the
- 2:54:41Speaker 16: best dancer among them, but he pretended to be scandalized.
- 2:54:45Speaker 12: Me.
- 2:54:46Speaker 16: My old bones would rattle, and Mummy too, What cried Wendy,
- 2:54:53Speaker 16: the mother of such an armful dance, But on his
- 2:54:57Speaker 16: Saturday night, slightly insinuated, it was not really Saturday night.
- 2:55:03Speaker 16: At least it may have been, for they had long
- 2:55:05Speaker 16: lost count of the days, but always if they wanted
- 2:55:08Speaker 16: to do anything special, they said, this was Saturday night,
- 2:55:11Speaker 16: and then they did it. Of course, it is Saturday night, Peter,
- 2:55:16Speaker 16: Wendy said, relenting people of our figure, Wendy, But it
- 2:55:22Speaker 16: is only among our own progeny.
- 2:55:25Speaker 14: True, true.
- 2:55:28Speaker 16: So they were told they could dance, but they must
- 2:55:30Speaker 16: put on their nighties first. Ah, Old lady Peter set
- 2:55:35Speaker 16: aside to Wendy, warming himself by the fire and looking
- 2:55:39Speaker 16: down at her as she sat turning a heel. There
- 2:55:42Speaker 16: is nothing more pleasant of an evening for you and me,
- 2:55:44Speaker 16: when the day's toil is over, than to rest by
- 2:55:47Speaker 16: the fire with the little ones near by. It is sweet, Peter,
- 2:55:51Speaker 16: isn't it, Wendy said, frightfully, gratified, Peter, I think curly
- 2:55:57Speaker 16: has your nose. Michael takes after you. She went to
- 2:56:02Speaker 16: him and put her hand on his shoulder. Dear Peter,
- 2:56:07Speaker 16: she said, with such a large family, of course, I
- 2:56:11Speaker 16: have now passed my best. But you don't want to
- 2:56:13Speaker 16: change me, do you, no, Wendy, certainly he did not
- 2:56:18Speaker 16: want to change, but he looked at her uncomfortably, blinking,
- 2:56:23Speaker 16: you know, like one not sure whether he was awake
- 2:56:26Speaker 16: or asleep. Peter, what is it? I was just thinking,
- 2:56:32Speaker 16: he said, a little scared. It is only make believe,
- 2:56:36Speaker 16: isn't it that I am their father?
- 2:56:39Speaker 12: Oh?
- 2:56:39Speaker 16: Yes, Wendy said, primly. You see, he continued apologetically. It
- 2:56:47Speaker 16: would make me seem so old to be their real father.
- 2:56:51Speaker 16: But they are ours, Peter, yours and mine, But not really, Wendy,
- 2:56:56Speaker 16: he asked anxiously, Not if you don't wish it, she replied,
- 2:57:01Speaker 16: and she distinctly heard his sigh of relief. Peter, she asked,
- 2:57:08Speaker 16: trying to speak firmly, What are your exact feelings to me?
- 2:57:14Speaker 16: Those of a devoted son? Wendy, I thought so, she said,
- 2:57:20Speaker 16: and went and sat by herself at the extreme end
- 2:57:22Speaker 16: of the room. You are so queer, he said, frankly, puzzled,
- 2:57:29Speaker 16: and Tiger Lily is just the same. There is something
- 2:57:32Speaker 16: she wants to be to me, but she says it
- 2:57:34Speaker 16: is not my mother. No, indeed, it is not, Wendy
- 2:57:38Speaker 16: replied with frightful emphasis. Now we know why she was
- 2:57:42Speaker 16: prejudiced against the Redskins. Then what is it? It isn't
- 2:57:47Speaker 16: for a lady to tell? Oh, very well, Peter said,
- 2:57:52Speaker 16: a little nittled. Perhaps tinker Bell will tell me. Oh, yes,
- 2:57:57Speaker 16: tinker Bell will tell you. Wendy retorted, scornful. She is
- 2:58:01Speaker 16: an abandoned little creature. Here Tink, who was in her
- 2:58:05Speaker 16: bedroom heavesdropping, squeaked out something impudent. She says she glories
- 2:58:11Speaker 16: in being abandoned. Peter interpreted he had a sudden idea.
- 2:58:17Speaker 16: Perhaps Tink wants to be my mother. You silly ass,
- 2:58:21Speaker 16: cried tinker Bell in a passion. She had said it
- 2:58:25Speaker 16: so often that Wendy needed no translation. I almost agree
- 2:58:29Speaker 16: with her. Wendy snapped. Fancy Wendy snapping. But she had
- 2:58:35Speaker 16: been much tried, and she little knew what was to
- 2:58:37Speaker 16: happen before the night was out. If she had none,
- 2:58:40Speaker 16: she would not have snapped. None of them knew, Perhaps
- 2:58:46Speaker 16: it was best not to know. Their ignorance gave them
- 2:58:49Speaker 16: one more glad hour, and as it was to be
- 2:58:52Speaker 16: their last hour on the island, let us rejoice that
- 2:58:54Speaker 16: there were sixty glad minutes in it. They sang and
- 2:58:58Speaker 16: danced in their nightgowns. Such a deliciously creepy song it was,
- 2:59:03Speaker 16: in which they pretended to be frightened at their own shadows,
- 2:59:07Speaker 16: little wedding that so soon shadows would close in upon them,
- 2:59:10Speaker 16: from whom they would shrink in real fear. So uproariously
- 2:59:15Speaker 16: gay was the dance, and how they buffeted each other
- 2:59:17Speaker 16: on the bed and out of it. It was a
- 2:59:19Speaker 16: pillow fight rather than a dance. And when it was finished,
- 2:59:22Speaker 16: the pillows insisted on one bout more, like partners who
- 2:59:26Speaker 16: know that they may never meet again. The stories they
- 2:59:29Speaker 16: told before it was time for Wendy's good night story.
- 2:59:33Speaker 16: Even slightly tried to tell a story that night, But
- 2:59:36Speaker 16: the beginning was so fearfully dull that it appalled not
- 2:59:38Speaker 16: only the others but himself. And he said, happily, yes,
- 2:59:43Speaker 16: it is a dull beginning, I say, let us pretend
- 2:59:46Speaker 16: that it is the end. And then at last they
- 2:59:50Speaker 16: all got into bed for Wendy's story, the story they
- 2:59:53Speaker 16: loved best, the story Peter hated. Usually when she began
- 2:59:58Speaker 16: to tell this story, he left the room or put
- 3:00:01Speaker 16: his hands over his ears. Impossibly, if he had done
- 3:00:05Speaker 16: either of those things, this time they might all still
- 3:00:07Speaker 16: be on the island. But tonight he remained on his stool,
- 3:00:12Speaker 16: and we shall see what happened.
- 3:00:16Speaker 17: End of chapter ten, Chapter eleven, Wendy's Story. Listen then said,
- 3:00:25Speaker 17: Wendy set them down to her story, with Michael at
- 3:00:28Speaker 17: her feet and seven boys in the bed. There was
- 3:00:32Speaker 17: once a gentleman. I had rather he had been a lady, Curly, said,
- 3:00:37Speaker 17: I wish he had been a white rat, said NIBBs.
- 3:00:41Speaker 6: Quite.
- 3:00:41Speaker 17: Their mother admonished them there was a lady also, And oh, mummy,
- 3:00:48Speaker 17: cried the first twin. You mean that there is a
- 3:00:51Speaker 17: lady also, don't you? She is not dead, is she?
- 3:00:56Speaker 6: Oh?
- 3:00:56Speaker 17: No, I am awfully glad she isn't dead, said Tootles.
- 3:01:01Speaker 17: Are you glad?
- 3:01:02Speaker 7: John?
- 3:01:03Speaker 17: Of course I am. Are you glad? Nibs rather, are
- 3:01:07Speaker 17: you glad? Twins? We are glad? Oh, dear, sighed Wendy.
- 3:01:13Speaker 17: Little less noise there. Peter cooled out, determined that she
- 3:01:17Speaker 17: should have fair play, however beastly a story it might be,
- 3:01:22Speaker 17: in his opinion. The gentleman's name, Wendy continued, was mister Darling,
- 3:01:28Speaker 17: and her name was missus Darling. I knew them, John
- 3:01:32Speaker 17: said to annoy the others. I think I knew them,
- 3:01:36Speaker 17: said Michael. Rather doubtfully. They were married, you know, explained Wendy.
- 3:01:42Speaker 17: And what do you think they had white rats, cried Nibs. Inspired. No,
- 3:01:49Speaker 17: it's awfully puzzling, said Tootles, who knew the story by heart.
- 3:01:54Speaker 17: Quite Tootles. They had three descendants. What is descendants? Well,
- 3:02:00Speaker 17: you are one twin. Did you hear that, John, I
- 3:02:04Speaker 17: am a descendant. Descendants are only children, said John. Oh dear,
- 3:02:10Speaker 17: oh dear, sighed Wendy. Now, these three children had a
- 3:02:14Speaker 17: faithful nurse called Nana, but mister Darling was angry with
- 3:02:18Speaker 17: her and chained her up in the yard, and so
- 3:02:21Speaker 17: all the children flew away. It's an awfully good story,
- 3:02:26Speaker 17: said NIBBs. They flew away. Wendy continued to the neverland
- 3:02:31Speaker 17: where the lost children are. I just thought they did,
- 3:02:35Speaker 17: curly broke in excitedly. I don't know how it is,
- 3:02:39Speaker 17: but I just thought they did. Oh, Wendy, cried Tootles.
- 3:02:44Speaker 17: Was one of the lost children, called Tootles, Yes, he was.
- 3:02:49Speaker 17: I am in a story. Hooray, I am in a story. NIBBs. Hush, Now,
- 3:02:55Speaker 17: I want you to consider the feelings of the unhappy parents,
- 3:02:59Speaker 17: with all her children flown away. Oh, they all moaned,
- 3:03:04Speaker 17: though they were not really considering the feelings of the
- 3:03:07Speaker 17: unhappy parents. One jot think of the empty beds. Ooh,
- 3:03:14Speaker 17: it's awfully sad, the first twin said, cheerfully. I don't
- 3:03:18Speaker 17: see how it can have a happy ending, said the
- 3:03:21Speaker 17: second twin. Do you, Nibs, I'm frightfully anxious. If you
- 3:03:26Speaker 17: knew how great is a mother's love, Wendy told them triumphantly,
- 3:03:31Speaker 17: you would have no fear. She had now come to
- 3:03:35Speaker 17: the part that Peter hated. I do like a mother's love,
- 3:03:39Speaker 17: said Tootles, hitting Nibs with a pillow. Do you like
- 3:03:43Speaker 17: a mother's love, Nibs, I do, just said Nibs, hitting back.
- 3:03:49Speaker 17: You see, Wendy said, complacently. Our heroine knew that the
- 3:03:55Speaker 17: mother would always leave the window open for her children
- 3:03:58Speaker 17: to fly back by. So they stayed away for years
- 3:04:02Speaker 17: and had a lovely time. Did they ever go back?
- 3:04:07Speaker 17: Let us now, said Wendy, bracing herself up for her
- 3:04:11Speaker 17: finest effort. Take a peep into the future. And they
- 3:04:15Speaker 17: all gave themselves the twist that makes peeps into the
- 3:04:19Speaker 17: future easier. Years have rolled by, and who is this
- 3:04:24Speaker 17: elegant lady of uncertain age alighting at London station? Oh, Wendy,
- 3:04:30Speaker 17: who is she cried NIBBs, every bit as excited as
- 3:04:35Speaker 17: if he didn't know. Can it be? Yes? No, it
- 3:04:39Speaker 17: is the fair Wendy. Oh, and who are the two
- 3:04:44Speaker 17: noble portly figures accompanying her, now grown to man's estate.
- 3:04:49Speaker 17: Can they be John and Michael? They are? Oh see,
- 3:04:55Speaker 17: dear brothers, says Wendy, pointing upwards. There is the window
- 3:04:59Speaker 17: still standing open.
- 3:05:01Speaker 14: Ah.
- 3:05:02Speaker 17: Now we are rewarded for our sublime faith in a
- 3:05:06Speaker 17: mother's love. So up they flew to their mummy and daddy,
- 3:05:11Speaker 17: and pen cannot describe the happy scene over which we
- 3:05:15Speaker 17: draw a veil. That was the story, and they were
- 3:05:19Speaker 17: as pleased with it as the fair narrow to herself,
- 3:05:23Speaker 17: everything just as it should be. You see, Off we skip,
- 3:05:27Speaker 17: like the most heartless things in the world. We choose
- 3:05:31Speaker 17: what children are but so attractive, and we have an
- 3:05:35Speaker 17: entirely selfish time. And then when we have need of
- 3:05:39Speaker 17: special attention, we nobly returned for it, confident that we
- 3:05:44Speaker 17: shall be rewarded instead of smacked. So great indeed was
- 3:05:50Speaker 17: their faith in a mother's love, but they felt they
- 3:05:53Speaker 17: could afford to be callous for a bit longer. But
- 3:05:57Speaker 17: there was one there who knew better. And when Wendy finished,
- 3:06:01Speaker 17: he uttered a hollow groan. What is it, Peter, she cried,
- 3:06:06Speaker 17: running to him, thinking he was ill, She felt him
- 3:06:10Speaker 17: solicitously lower down than his chest. Where is it, Peter?
- 3:06:16Speaker 17: It isn't that kind of pain, Peter replied darkly. Then
- 3:06:20Speaker 17: what kind is it, Wendy? You are wrong about mothers?
- 3:06:25Speaker 17: They all gathered round him in affright. So alarming was
- 3:06:29Speaker 17: his agitation, and with a fine candor, he told them
- 3:06:33Speaker 17: what he had hitherto concealed long ago. He said, I thought,
- 3:06:39Speaker 17: like you that my mother would always keep the window
- 3:06:42Speaker 17: open for me. So I stayed away for moons and
- 3:06:46Speaker 17: moons and moons, and then flew back. But the window
- 3:06:50Speaker 17: was barred, for mother had forgotten all about me, and
- 3:06:54Speaker 17: there was another little boy sleeping in my bed. I
- 3:06:58Speaker 17: am not sure that this was true, but Peter thought
- 3:07:02Speaker 17: it was true, and it scared them. Are you sure
- 3:07:06Speaker 17: mothers are like that?
- 3:07:08Speaker 7: Yes?
- 3:07:09Speaker 17: So this was the truth about mothers the toads. Still,
- 3:07:14Speaker 17: it is best to be careful, and no one knows
- 3:07:18Speaker 17: so quickly as a child when he should give in Wendy,
- 3:07:22Speaker 17: let us go home, cried Michael and John together. Yes,
- 3:07:27Speaker 17: she said, clutching them. Not tonight, asked the lost boys, bewildered.
- 3:07:33Speaker 17: They knew in what they called their hearts that one
- 3:07:36Speaker 17: can get on quite well without a mother, and that
- 3:07:39Speaker 17: it is only the mothers who think you can't. At once,
- 3:07:44Speaker 17: Wendy replied resolutely, for the horrible thought had come to her.
- 3:07:50Speaker 17: Perhaps mother is in half mourning by this time. This
- 3:07:54Speaker 17: dread made her forgetful of what must be Peter's feelings,
- 3:07:58Speaker 17: and she said to him rather sharply, Peter, will you
- 3:08:02Speaker 17: make the necessary arrangements if you wish it? He replied,
- 3:08:08Speaker 17: as cooly as if she had asked him to pass
- 3:08:11Speaker 17: the nuts, not so much as a sorry to lose
- 3:08:14Speaker 17: you between them if she did not mind the party
- 3:08:18Speaker 17: he was going to show her? Was Peter that neither
- 3:08:22Speaker 17: did he, But of course he cared very much, and
- 3:08:26Speaker 17: he was so full of wrath against grown ups, who,
- 3:08:30Speaker 17: as usual, were spoiling everything, that as soon as he
- 3:08:34Speaker 17: got inside his tree he breathed intentionally quick, short breaths
- 3:08:40Speaker 17: at the rate of about five to a second. He
- 3:08:43Speaker 17: did this because there is a saying in the Neverland
- 3:08:46Speaker 17: that every time you breathe, a grown up dies, and
- 3:08:50Speaker 17: Peter was killing them off vindictively as fast as possible. Then,
- 3:08:56Speaker 17: having given the necessary instructions to the Redskins, he returned
- 3:09:00Speaker 17: to the home, where an unworthy scene had been enacted
- 3:09:05Speaker 17: in his absence. Panic stricken at the thought of losing Wendy,
- 3:09:10Speaker 17: the Lost Boys had advanced upon her, threateningly, it will
- 3:09:14Speaker 17: be worse than before she came, they cried. We shan't
- 3:09:18Speaker 17: let her go. Let's keep her prisoner, a chain her up.
- 3:09:23Speaker 17: In her extremity. An instinct told her to which of
- 3:09:27Speaker 17: them to turn. Tootles, she cried, I appeal to you.
- 3:09:32Speaker 17: Was it not strange? She appealed to Tootles, quite the
- 3:09:36Speaker 17: silliest one. Grandly. However, did Tootles respond. For that one
- 3:09:43Speaker 17: moment he dropped his sillinness and spoke with dignity. I
- 3:09:47Speaker 17: am this Tootles, he said, And nobody minds me, but
- 3:09:52Speaker 17: the first who does not behave to Wendy like an
- 3:09:55Speaker 17: English gentleman, I will blood him severely. He drew back
- 3:10:00Speaker 17: his hanger, and for that instant his son was at noon.
- 3:10:04Speaker 17: There others held back uneasily. Then Peter returned, and they
- 3:10:09Speaker 17: saw at once that they would get no support from him.
- 3:10:13Speaker 17: He would keep no girl in the neverland against her will. Wendy,
- 3:10:18Speaker 17: he said, striding up and down. I have asked the
- 3:10:22Speaker 17: Redskins to guide you through the wood as flying tire
- 3:10:26Speaker 17: as you sow. Thank you, Peter. Then he continued, in
- 3:10:31Speaker 17: the short, sharp voice of one accustomed to be obeyed,
- 3:10:35Speaker 17: tinker Bell will take you across the sea. Wake her, Nibs.
- 3:10:41Speaker 17: NIBBs had to knock twice before he got an answer,
- 3:10:44Speaker 17: though Tink had really been sitting up in bed listening
- 3:10:48Speaker 17: for some time.
- 3:10:50Speaker 6: Who are you?
- 3:10:51Speaker 7: How dare you go away?
- 3:10:53Speaker 6: She cried?
- 3:10:55Speaker 17: You are to get up, Tink, Nibs called and take
- 3:10:58Speaker 17: Wendy on a journey. Of course, Tink had been delighted
- 3:11:03Speaker 17: to hear that Wendy was going, but she was jolly
- 3:11:06Speaker 17: well determined not to be her career, and she said
- 3:11:10Speaker 17: so in still more offensive language. Then she pretended to
- 3:11:14Speaker 17: be asleep again. She says she won't, NIBBs exclaimed, aghast
- 3:11:21Speaker 17: at such insubordination, whereupon Peter went sternly toward the young
- 3:11:26Speaker 17: lady's chamber. Tink, he rapped out, if you don't get
- 3:11:31Speaker 17: up and dress at once. I will open the curtains,
- 3:11:34Speaker 17: and then we shall all see you in your neglige O.
- 3:11:39Speaker 17: This made her leap to the floor. Who said, I
- 3:11:42Speaker 17: wasn't getting up, she cried. In the meantime, the boys
- 3:11:46Speaker 17: were gazing very forlornly at Wendy, now equipped with John
- 3:11:51Speaker 17: and Michael for the journey. By this time, they were dejected,
- 3:11:56Speaker 17: not merely because they were about to lose her, but
- 3:12:00Speaker 17: also because they felt that she was going off to
- 3:12:03Speaker 17: something nice to which they had not been invited. Novelty
- 3:12:08Speaker 17: was beckoning to them as usual, crediting them with a
- 3:12:12Speaker 17: nobler feeling. Wendy melted. Dear ones, She said, if you
- 3:12:18Speaker 17: will all come with me, I feel almost sure I
- 3:12:21Speaker 17: can get my father and mother to adopt you. The
- 3:12:25Speaker 17: invitation was meant especially for Peter, but each of the
- 3:12:29Speaker 17: boys was thinking exclusively of himself, and at once they
- 3:12:34Speaker 17: jumped with joy. But won't they think is rather a
- 3:12:38Speaker 17: handful NIBBs asked in the middle of his jump. Oh no,
- 3:12:42Speaker 17: said Wendy, rapidly thinking it out. It will only mean
- 3:12:47Speaker 17: having a few beds in the drawing room. They can
- 3:12:50Speaker 17: be hidden behind the screens on first Thursdays, Peter, can
- 3:12:55Speaker 17: we go? They all cried, imploringly. They took it for
- 3:13:00Speaker 17: granted that if they went, he would go also, but
- 3:13:03Speaker 17: really they scarcely cared. Thus children are ever ready when
- 3:13:08Speaker 17: novelty knocks, to desert their dearest ones. All right, Peter
- 3:13:14Speaker 17: replied with a bitter smile, And immediately they rushed to
- 3:13:18Speaker 17: get their things. And now, Peter, Wendy said, thinking she
- 3:13:23Speaker 17: had put everything right, I am going to give you
- 3:13:26Speaker 17: your medicine before you go. She loved to give the medicine,
- 3:13:31Speaker 17: and undoubtedly gave them too much. Of course, it was
- 3:13:37Speaker 17: only water, but it was out of a bottle, and
- 3:13:40Speaker 17: she always shook the bottle and counted the drops, which
- 3:13:44Speaker 17: gave it a certain medicinal quality. On this occasion, however,
- 3:13:50Speaker 17: she did not give Peter his draft, for just as
- 3:13:54Speaker 17: she had prepared it, she saw a look on his
- 3:13:57Speaker 17: face that made her heart Sinkings Peter, she cried, shaking no,
- 3:14:04Speaker 17: he answered, pretending indifference, I am not going with you, Wendy, Yes, Peter, No.
- 3:14:12Speaker 17: To show that her departure would leave him unmoved, he
- 3:14:16Speaker 17: skipped up and down the room, playing gaily on his
- 3:14:20Speaker 17: heartless pipes. She had to run about after him, though
- 3:14:25Speaker 17: it was rather undignified to find your mother, she coaxed. Now,
- 3:14:31Speaker 17: if Peter had ever quite had a mother, he no
- 3:14:34Speaker 17: longer missed her. He could do very well without one.
- 3:14:38Speaker 17: He had thought them out and remembered only their bad points. No, no,
- 3:14:44Speaker 17: he told Wendy decisively. Perhaps she would say I was
- 3:14:49Speaker 17: old and I just want always to be a little
- 3:14:52Speaker 17: boy and to have fun. But Peter no, And so
- 3:14:57Speaker 17: the others had to be told, Peter isn't coming, Peter
- 3:15:02Speaker 17: not coming. They gazed blankly at him, their sticks over
- 3:15:07Speaker 17: their backs and on edge stick a bundle. Their first
- 3:15:11Speaker 17: thought was that Peter was not going. He had probably
- 3:15:15Speaker 17: changed his mind about letting them go, but he was
- 3:15:19Speaker 17: far too proud for that. If you find your mother's,
- 3:15:23Speaker 17: he said darkly, I hope you will like them. The
- 3:15:28Speaker 17: awful cynisen of this made an uncomfortable impression, and most
- 3:15:33Speaker 17: of them begun to look rather doubtful. After all, their
- 3:15:37Speaker 17: faces said, were they not noodles to want to go?
- 3:15:43Speaker 2: Now?
- 3:15:43Speaker 17: Then cried Peter, no fuss, no blubbering, goodbye, Wendy, And
- 3:15:49Speaker 17: he held out his hand cheeringly, quite as if they
- 3:15:52Speaker 17: must really go. Now, for he had something important to do.
- 3:15:57Speaker 17: She had to take his hand, and there was there's
- 3:16:00Speaker 17: no indication that he would prefer a thimble. You will
- 3:16:04Speaker 17: remember about changing your flannels, Peter, she said, lingering over him.
- 3:16:10Speaker 17: She was always so particular about their flannels. Yes, and
- 3:16:16Speaker 17: you will take your medicine.
- 3:16:18Speaker 5: Yes.
- 3:16:19Speaker 17: That seemed to be everything, and an awkward pause followed. Peter, however,
- 3:16:26Speaker 17: was not the kind that breaks down before other people.
- 3:16:31Speaker 17: Are you ready, tinker Bell, he cooled out. I I
- 3:16:35Speaker 17: then lead the way. Tink darted up the nearest tree,
- 3:16:40Speaker 17: but no one followed her, for it was at this
- 3:16:43Speaker 17: moment that the pirates made their dreadful attack upon the Redskins. Above,
- 3:16:49Speaker 17: where it all had been so steell, the air was
- 3:16:52Speaker 17: rent with shrieks and the clash of steel. Below, there
- 3:16:57Speaker 17: was dead silence. Mouths opened and remained open when he
- 3:17:02Speaker 17: fell on her knees, but her arms were extended toward Peter.
- 3:17:08Speaker 17: All arms were extended to him, as if suddenly blown
- 3:17:12Speaker 17: in his direction. They were beseeching him mutely not to
- 3:17:16Speaker 17: desert them. As for Peter, he seized his sword the
- 3:17:21Speaker 17: same he thought he had slain barbecue with and the
- 3:17:25Speaker 17: lust of battle was in his eye.
- 3:17:29Speaker 12: End of chapter eleven, Chapter twelve, the children are carried off.
- 3:17:36Speaker 12: The pirate attack had been a complete surprise. Are sure
- 3:17:39Speaker 12: proof that the unscrupulous hook had conducted it improperly, For
- 3:17:42Speaker 12: it is apprise Redskins fairly is beyond the wit of
- 3:17:45Speaker 12: the weight man.
- 3:17:46Speaker 16: By all the.
- 3:17:47Speaker 12: Unwritten laws of savage warfare. It is always the redskin
- 3:17:49Speaker 12: who attacks, and with the wiliness of his race, he
- 3:17:51Speaker 12: does it just before the dawn, at which time he
- 3:17:54Speaker 12: knows the courage of the weights to be at its
- 3:17:55Speaker 12: lowest erbor. The weight man, having the maintain, made a
- 3:17:59Speaker 12: rude stock heed on the somewhat of yonder undulating ground,
- 3:18:01Speaker 12: at the foot of which a stream runs, for its
- 3:18:03Speaker 12: destruction to be too far from water. There they await
- 3:18:07Speaker 12: the onslaught, the inexperienced ones clutching their revolvers and treading
- 3:18:10Speaker 12: on twigs, but the old hands sleeping tranquility, until just
- 3:18:13Speaker 12: before the dawn. Through the long black night, the savage
- 3:18:16Speaker 12: scouts wriggle snakelike among the grass, without stirring a blade.
- 3:18:21Speaker 12: The brushwood closes behind them as silently as sand into
- 3:18:23Speaker 12: which shimole has dived. Not a sound is to be heard,
- 3:18:27Speaker 12: save when they give vent to a wonderful imitation and
- 3:18:29Speaker 12: the lonely call of the coyote. The cry is answered
- 3:18:32Speaker 12: by other braves, some of them do it even better
- 3:18:34Speaker 12: than the coyotes, who are not very good at it.
- 3:18:37Speaker 12: So the chill hours wear on and a long suspense
- 3:18:39Speaker 12: is horribly trying to the pale face who has to
- 3:18:41Speaker 12: live through it for the first time. But to the
- 3:18:43Speaker 12: train hand, those ghastly calls and still ghastlier silences are
- 3:18:46Speaker 12: but an intimation of how the night is marching. But
- 3:18:50Speaker 12: this was the usual procedure, was so well known to
- 3:18:52Speaker 12: Hook that in disregarding it, he cannot be excused on
- 3:18:54Speaker 12: the plea of ignorance. The Piccaninnies, on their part, trusted
- 3:18:58Speaker 12: implicitly to his honor, and their election of the night
- 3:19:00Speaker 12: stands out in marked contrast to his. They left nothing
- 3:19:04Speaker 12: undone that was consistent with the reputation of their tribe,
- 3:19:07Speaker 12: With that alertness of the senses which is at once
- 3:19:09Speaker 12: the marvel and despair of civilized peoples, they knew that
- 3:19:13Speaker 12: the pirates were on the island from the moment one
- 3:19:15Speaker 12: of them trod on a dry stick, and in an
- 3:19:17Speaker 12: incredibly short space of time the coyute cries began. Every
- 3:19:21Speaker 12: foot of ground between the spot where Hook had landed
- 3:19:23Speaker 12: his forces and the home own of the trees was
- 3:19:25Speaker 12: stealthily examined by braves wearing their mucksins with the heels
- 3:19:28Speaker 12: in front. They found only one hillock with a stream
- 3:19:32Speaker 12: at its base, so that Hook had no choice here
- 3:19:34Speaker 12: he must establish himself and wait for just before the dawn,
- 3:19:38Speaker 12: everything being thus mapped out with almost diabolical cunning, the
- 3:19:41Speaker 12: main body of the Redskins folded their blankets around them,
- 3:19:44Speaker 12: and a phlegmatic manner, that is to them the pearl
- 3:19:46Speaker 12: of man who had squatted above the children's home, awaiting
- 3:19:49Speaker 12: a cold moment when they should deal pale death here,
- 3:19:52Speaker 12: dreaming though wide awake of the acquisite tortures to which
- 3:19:55Speaker 12: they were to put him. Out break of day, those
- 3:19:57Speaker 12: confiding savages were found by the treacherous Hook Bok. From
- 3:20:00Speaker 12: the accounts afterwards supplied by such of the scouts as
- 3:20:03Speaker 12: escaped the carnage, he does not seem even to have
- 3:20:05Speaker 12: paused at the rising ground, though it is certain that
- 3:20:08Speaker 12: in the gray light he must have seen it. No
- 3:20:11Speaker 12: thought of waiting to be attacked appears from first to
- 3:20:13Speaker 12: last to have visited his huttle mind. He would not
- 3:20:15Speaker 12: even hold off till the night was nearly spent on
- 3:20:18Speaker 12: he pounded, with no policy but to fall to What
- 3:20:22Speaker 12: could the bewildered scouts do? Masters, are they aware of
- 3:20:25Speaker 12: every warlike artifst saved this one, but trot helplessly after him,
- 3:20:29Speaker 12: exposing themselves fatally to view while they gave pathetic utterance
- 3:20:32Speaker 12: to the coyote cry. Around the brave tiger lily were
- 3:20:37Speaker 12: a dozen of her stoutest warriors, and they suddenly saw
- 3:20:39Speaker 12: the perfidious pirates bearing down upon them, fell from their eyes.
- 3:20:43Speaker 12: Then the film through which they had looked at victory.
- 3:20:45Speaker 12: No more would they torture at the stake for them,
- 3:20:48Speaker 12: the happy hunting gruns was now they knew it. But
- 3:20:52Speaker 12: as their father's sons, they quitted themselves. Even then they
- 3:20:55Speaker 12: had time to gather in a phalanx that would have
- 3:20:57Speaker 12: been far to break had they risen quickly. But this
- 3:21:00Speaker 12: they were forbidden to do by the traditions of their race.
- 3:21:03Speaker 12: It is written that the noble savage must never express
- 3:21:05Speaker 12: surprise in the presence of the white, thus terrible as
- 3:21:09Speaker 12: the sudden appearance of the pirates must.
- 3:21:11Speaker 7: Have been to them.
- 3:21:11Speaker 12: They remained stationary for a moment, not a muscle moving,
- 3:21:14Speaker 12: as if the foe had come by invitation. Then indeed
- 3:21:18Speaker 12: the tradition gallantly upheld. They seized their weapons, and the
- 3:21:21Speaker 12: air was torn with the war cry. But it was
- 3:21:23Speaker 12: now too late. It is no part of ours to
- 3:21:29Speaker 12: describe what was a massacre rather than a fight. Thus
- 3:21:32Speaker 12: perished many of the flower of the Piccaninny tribe. Not
- 3:21:35Speaker 12: all unavenged did they die for with lean Wulf fell
- 3:21:38Speaker 12: alf Mason to disturb the spanish Man no more, And
- 3:21:41Speaker 12: among others who bit the dust were George Scry, Charles Turley,
- 3:21:44Speaker 12: and the Alsatian Foggerty Urley fell to the tomahawk of
- 3:21:48Speaker 12: the Terrible Panther, who ultimately cut away through the pirates
- 3:21:51Speaker 12: with tirely and a small remnant of the tribe. To
- 3:21:54Speaker 12: what extent Hook is to blame for his tactics on
- 3:21:56Speaker 12: this occasion, it's for the historian to decide. Had he
- 3:22:00Speaker 12: waited on the rising ground till the proper hour, he
- 3:22:02Speaker 12: and his men would probably have been butchered, And in
- 3:22:04Speaker 12: judging him, it is only fair to take this into account.
- 3:22:08Speaker 12: What he should perhaps have done was to acquaint his
- 3:22:10Speaker 12: opponents that he proposed to follow a new method. Neither hand,
- 3:22:14Speaker 12: this as destroying the ailment of surprise, would have made
- 3:22:16Speaker 12: his strategy of no avail. So that the whole question
- 3:22:19Speaker 12: is beset with difficulties. One cannot, at least withhold a
- 3:22:22Speaker 12: reluctant admiration for the wit that had conceived so bold
- 3:22:25Speaker 12: a scheme, and the fel genius with which it was
- 3:22:28Speaker 12: carried out. What were his own feelings about himself at
- 3:22:32Speaker 12: that triumphant moment, fain would his dogs have known? As
- 3:22:35Speaker 12: breathing heavily and wiping their cutlasses, they gathered at discreet
- 3:22:38Speaker 12: distance from his hook, and squinted through their ferret eyes
- 3:22:41Speaker 12: at this extraordinary man elation must have been in his heart,
- 3:22:45Speaker 12: but his face did not reflect it ever, a dark
- 3:22:48Speaker 12: and solitary enigma he stood aloof from his followers in
- 3:22:51Speaker 12: spirit as in substance. The Knight's work was not yet over,
- 3:22:55Speaker 12: For it was not the redskins he had come out
- 3:22:57Speaker 12: to destroy. They were but the bees to be smoked,
- 3:23:00Speaker 12: so that he should get at the honey. It was
- 3:23:02Speaker 12: Pan he wanted Pan and Wendy in their band. But
- 3:23:06Speaker 12: chiefly Pan Peter was such a small boy that one
- 3:23:10Speaker 12: tends to wonder at the man's hatred of him. True,
- 3:23:13Speaker 12: he had flung Hook's armed to the crocodile. But even
- 3:23:16Speaker 12: this and the increased insecurity of life to which it
- 3:23:18Speaker 12: led owing to the crocodile's pertinacity, hardly account for a
- 3:23:22Speaker 12: vindictiveness so relentless and malignant. The truth is that there
- 3:23:26Speaker 12: was something about Peter which goaded the pirate captain to frenzy.
- 3:23:30Speaker 12: It was not his courage, It was not his engaging appearance.
- 3:23:33Speaker 12: It was not There is no beating about the bush,
- 3:23:36Speaker 12: for we know quite well what it was, and had
- 3:23:37Speaker 12: got to tell It was Peter's cockiness. This had got
- 3:23:42Speaker 12: on Hook's nerves. It made his iron clawed twitch, and
- 3:23:45Speaker 12: at night it disturbed him like an insect. While Peter lived,
- 3:23:49Speaker 12: the tortured man felt that he was aligned in a
- 3:23:51Speaker 12: cage into which a sparrow had gone. The question now
- 3:23:55Speaker 12: was how to get down the trees, or how to
- 3:23:57Speaker 12: get his dogs down. He ran his eyes over them,
- 3:24:00Speaker 12: searching for the thinnest ones. They readled uncomfortably, for they
- 3:24:05Speaker 12: knew he would not scruple to ram them down with poles.
- 3:24:08Speaker 12: In the meantime, one of the boys. We have seen
- 3:24:11Speaker 12: them at the first clang of the weapons, turned, as
- 3:24:13Speaker 12: it were, into stone figures, open mouthed, all appealing with
- 3:24:16Speaker 12: outstretched arms to Peter. And we returned to them as
- 3:24:19Speaker 12: their mouths close and their arms fall to their sides.
- 3:24:23Speaker 12: The pandemonium above has ceased, almost as suddenly as it arose,
- 3:24:26Speaker 12: passed like a fierce gust of wind. But they know
- 3:24:29Speaker 12: that in the passing it has determined their fate which
- 3:24:32Speaker 12: side had won. The pirates, listening avidly at the mouths
- 3:24:37Speaker 12: of the trees, heard the question put by every boy
- 3:24:39Speaker 12: and alas they also heard Peter's answer. If the Redskins
- 3:24:44Speaker 12: have won, he said, they'll beat the tom tom. It
- 3:24:47Speaker 12: is always their sign of victory. Now, Smee had found
- 3:24:51Speaker 12: the tom tom and was at that moment sitting on it.
- 3:24:55Speaker 12: You will never hear the tom tom again, he muttered,
- 3:24:57Speaker 12: but inaudibly, of course, for strict Silen had been enjoined
- 3:25:02Speaker 12: to his amazement. Hook signed him to beat the tom tom,
- 3:25:05Speaker 12: and slowly there came to Smee an understanding of the
- 3:25:08Speaker 12: dreadful wickedness of the order. Never probably had this simple
- 3:25:12Speaker 12: man admired Hook so much. Twice Smee beat upon the instrument,
- 3:25:17Speaker 12: and then stopped to listen gleefully. The tom Tom miss
- 3:25:21Speaker 12: Grants heard Peter cry an Indian victory. The doomed children
- 3:25:26Speaker 12: answered with a cheer that was music to the black
- 3:25:28Speaker 12: hearts above, and almost immediately they repeated their goodbyes to Peter.
- 3:25:32Speaker 12: This puzzled the pirates, but all their other feelings were
- 3:25:35Speaker 12: swollen by a base delight that the enemy were about
- 3:25:37Speaker 12: to plump the trees. They smirked at each other and
- 3:25:40Speaker 12: rubbed their hands rapidly and silently. Hook gave his orders,
- 3:25:44Speaker 12: one man to each tree, and the others to arrange
- 3:25:47Speaker 12: themselves in a line two yards apart.
- 3:25:50Speaker 13: End of chapter twelve, Chapter thirteen. Do you believe in fairies?
- 3:26:00Speaker 13: The more quickly this horror is disposed of, the better.
- 3:26:04Speaker 13: The first to emerge from his tree was Curly. He
- 3:26:07Speaker 13: rose out of it into the arms of Seco, who
- 3:26:10Speaker 13: flung him to Smee, who flung him to Starkey, who
- 3:26:13Speaker 13: flung him to Bill Jukes, who flung him to Noodler,
- 3:26:16Speaker 13: And so he was tossed from one to another till
- 3:26:19Speaker 13: he fell at the feet of the Black Pirate. All
- 3:26:22Speaker 13: the boys were plucked from their trees in this ruthless manner,
- 3:26:25Speaker 13: and several of them were in the air at a time,
- 3:26:28Speaker 13: like bales of goods flung from hand to hand. A
- 3:26:32Speaker 13: different treatment was accorded to Wendy, who came last. With
- 3:26:36Speaker 13: ironical politeness, Hook raised his hat to her, and, offering
- 3:26:40Speaker 13: her his arm, escorted her to the spot where the
- 3:26:43Speaker 13: others were being gagged. He did it with such an air.
- 3:26:47Speaker 13: He was so frightfully distngay that she was too fascinated
- 3:26:52Speaker 13: to cry out she was only a little girl, perhaps
- 3:26:56Speaker 13: at his tell tale to divulge that for a moment,
- 3:26:59Speaker 13: hook In trees against her, And we tell on her
- 3:27:02Speaker 13: only because her slip let the strange results. Had she
- 3:27:06Speaker 13: haughtily unhanded him, and we should have loved to write
- 3:27:10Speaker 13: it of her, she would have been hurled through the
- 3:27:13Speaker 13: air like the others. And then Hook would probably not
- 3:27:16Speaker 13: have been present at the tying of the children. And
- 3:27:19Speaker 13: had he not been at the tying, he would not
- 3:27:21Speaker 13: have discovered Slightly's secret, and without the secret he could
- 3:27:26Speaker 13: not presently have made his foul attempt on Peter's life.
- 3:27:31Speaker 13: They were tied to prevent their flying away, doubled up
- 3:27:34Speaker 13: with their knees close to their ears, and for the
- 3:27:37Speaker 13: trusting of them. The black pirate had cut a rope
- 3:27:40Speaker 13: into nine equal pieces. All went well until Slightly's turn came,
- 3:27:46Speaker 13: when he was found to be like those irritating parcels
- 3:27:49Speaker 13: that use up all the string and going round and
- 3:27:51Speaker 13: leave no tags with which to tie a knot. The
- 3:27:55Speaker 13: pirates kicked him in their rage, just as you kicked
- 3:27:58Speaker 13: the parcel, though in fairness you should kick the string.
- 3:28:02Speaker 13: And strange to say, it was Hook who told them
- 3:28:05Speaker 13: to belay their violence. His lip was curled with malicious triumph,
- 3:28:10Speaker 13: while his dogs were merely sweating, because every time they
- 3:28:14Speaker 13: tried to pack the unhappy lad tight in one part,
- 3:28:17Speaker 13: he bulged out in another. Hook's mastermind had gone far
- 3:28:22Speaker 13: beneath slightly surface, probing not for effects but for causes,
- 3:28:27Speaker 13: and his exultations showed that he had found them slightly
- 3:28:31Speaker 13: white to the gills. Knew that Hook had surprised his secret,
- 3:28:36Speaker 13: which was this, that no boy so blown out could
- 3:28:40Speaker 13: use a tree, wherein an average man kneeds stick. Poor
- 3:28:44Speaker 13: Slightly most wretched of all the children, now, for he
- 3:28:47Speaker 13: was in a panic about Peter bitterly regretted what he
- 3:28:51Speaker 13: had done, madly addicted to the drinking of water when
- 3:28:55Speaker 13: he was hot, he had swelled in consequence to his
- 3:28:58Speaker 13: present girth, and instead of reducing himself to fit his tree,
- 3:29:03Speaker 13: he had, unknown to the others, whittled his tree to
- 3:29:07Speaker 13: make it fit him. Sufficient of this, Hook guessed to
- 3:29:12Speaker 13: persuade him that Peter at last lay at his mercy.
- 3:29:16Speaker 13: But no word of the dark design that now formed
- 3:29:19Speaker 13: in these subterranean caverns of his mind crossed his lips.
- 3:29:24Speaker 13: He merely signed that the captives were to be conveyed
- 3:29:27Speaker 13: to the ship, and that he would be alone. How
- 3:29:31Speaker 13: to convey them. Hunched up in their ropes, they might
- 3:29:35Speaker 13: indeed be rolled downhill like barrels, but most of the
- 3:29:38Speaker 13: way lay through a morass. Again, Hook's genius surmounted difficulties.
- 3:29:44Speaker 13: He indicated that the little house must be used as
- 3:29:47Speaker 13: a conveyance. The children were flung into it. Four stout
- 3:29:52Speaker 13: pirates raised it on their shoulders. The others fell in behind, and,
- 3:29:56Speaker 13: singing the hateful pirate chorus, the strange person set off
- 3:30:00Speaker 13: through the wood. I don't know whether any of the
- 3:30:03Speaker 13: children were crying. If so, the singing drowned the sound.
- 3:30:08Speaker 13: But as the little house disappeared in the forest, a brave,
- 3:30:11Speaker 13: though tiny jet of smoke issued from its chimney, as
- 3:30:14Speaker 13: if defying hook. Hook saw it, and it did Peter
- 3:30:19Speaker 13: a bad service. It dried up any trickle of pity
- 3:30:23Speaker 13: for him that may have remained in the pirate's infuriated breast.
- 3:30:27Speaker 13: The first thing he did, on finding himself alone in
- 3:30:30Speaker 13: the fast falling night, was to tiptoe to slight his
- 3:30:34Speaker 13: tree and make sure that it provided him with a passage.
- 3:30:38Speaker 13: Then for long he remained brooding his hat of ill
- 3:30:42Speaker 13: omen on the sward, so that any gentle breeze which
- 3:30:46Speaker 13: had arisen might play refreshingly through his hair. Dark as
- 3:30:50Speaker 13: were his thoughts, his blue eyes were as soft as
- 3:30:53Speaker 13: the periwinkle. Intently he listened for any sound from the
- 3:30:58Speaker 13: nether world, but all was as silent below as above.
- 3:31:04Speaker 13: The house under the ground seemed to be but one
- 3:31:07Speaker 13: more empty tenement in the void. Was that boy asleep
- 3:31:12Speaker 13: or did he stand waiting at the foot of Slightly's
- 3:31:15Speaker 13: tree with his dagger in his hand. There was no
- 3:31:19Speaker 13: way of knowing, save by going down, Hook let his
- 3:31:22Speaker 13: cloak slip softly to the ground, and then biting his
- 3:31:26Speaker 13: lips still a lewde blood stood on them. He stepped
- 3:31:30Speaker 13: into the tree. He was a brave man, but for
- 3:31:34Speaker 13: a moment he had to stop there and wipe his brow,
- 3:31:37Speaker 13: which was dripping like a candle. Then silently he let
- 3:31:42Speaker 13: himself go into the unknown. He arrived unmolested, at the
- 3:31:48Speaker 13: foot of the shaft and stood still again, biting at
- 3:31:51Speaker 13: his breath, which had almost left him. As his eyes
- 3:31:55Speaker 13: became accustomed to the dim light, various objects in the
- 3:31:58Speaker 13: home under the trees took shape, But the only one
- 3:32:01Speaker 13: on which his greedy gaze rested, long sought for, and
- 3:32:05Speaker 13: found at last was the great bed. On the bed
- 3:32:09Speaker 13: lay Peter fast asleep, unaware of the tragedy being enacted above.
- 3:32:15Speaker 13: Peter had continued for a little time after the children left,
- 3:32:20Speaker 13: to play gaily on his pipes, no doubt, rather a
- 3:32:24Speaker 13: forlorn attempt to prove to himself that he did not care.
- 3:32:28Speaker 13: Then he decided not to take his medicine so as
- 3:32:31Speaker 13: to grieve Wendy. Then he lay down on the bed
- 3:32:34Speaker 13: outside the coverlet to vex her still more, for she
- 3:32:38Speaker 13: had always tucked them inside it. Because you never know
- 3:32:42Speaker 13: that you may not grow chilly at the turn of
- 3:32:44Speaker 13: the night. Then he nearly cried, but it struck him
- 3:32:48Speaker 13: how indignant she would be if he laughed instead. So
- 3:32:52Speaker 13: he laughed a haughty laugh, and fell asleep in the
- 3:32:55Speaker 13: middle of it. Sometimes, though not often, he had dreamed,
- 3:33:00Speaker 13: and they were more painful than the dreams of other boys.
- 3:33:04Speaker 13: For hours he could not be separated from those dreams,
- 3:33:08Speaker 13: though he wailed piteously in them. They had to do,
- 3:33:11Speaker 13: I think, with the riddle of his existence. At such
- 3:33:16Speaker 13: times it had been Wendy's custom to take him out
- 3:33:19Speaker 13: of bed and sit with him on her lap, soothing
- 3:33:22Speaker 13: him in dear ways of her own invention, and when
- 3:33:25Speaker 13: he grew calmer, to put him back to bed before
- 3:33:28Speaker 13: he quite woke up, so that he should not know
- 3:33:31Speaker 13: of the indignity to which she had subjected him. But
- 3:33:35Speaker 13: on this occasion he had fallen at once into a
- 3:33:38Speaker 13: dreamless sleep. One arm dropped over the edge of the bed,
- 3:33:43Speaker 13: one leg was arched, and the unfinished part of his
- 3:33:46Speaker 13: laugh was stranded on his mouth, which was open, showing
- 3:33:50Speaker 13: the little pearls. Thus defenseless hook found him. He stood
- 3:33:56Speaker 13: silent at the foot of the tree, looking across the
- 3:33:59Speaker 13: chamber at his head. Enemy. Did no feeling of compassion
- 3:34:03Speaker 13: disturb his somber breast. The man was not wholly evil.
- 3:34:08Speaker 13: He loved flowers, I have been told, and sweet music.
- 3:34:13Speaker 13: He was himself no mean performer on the harpsichord, and,
- 3:34:19Speaker 13: let it be frankly admitted, the idyllic nature of the
- 3:34:22Speaker 13: scene stirred him profoundly. Mastered by his better self, he
- 3:34:27Speaker 13: would have returned reluctantly up the tree, but for one thing.
- 3:34:34Speaker 13: What stayed him was Peter's impertinent appearance as he slept.
- 3:34:39Speaker 13: The open mouth, the drooping arm, the arched knee. They
- 3:34:43Speaker 13: were such a personification of cockiness, as taken together will
- 3:34:48Speaker 13: never again, one may hope, be presented to eyes so
- 3:34:52Speaker 13: sensitive to their offensiveness. They steeled Hook's heart. If his
- 3:34:58Speaker 13: rage had broken him into a hunt, undred pieces, every
- 3:35:01Speaker 13: one of them would have disregarded the incident and leaped
- 3:35:04Speaker 13: at the sleeper. Though a light from the one lamp
- 3:35:09Speaker 13: shone dimly on the bed, Hooks stood in darkness himself,
- 3:35:13Speaker 13: and at the first stealthy step forward he discovered an obstacle,
- 3:35:18Speaker 13: the door of slightly stree. It did not entirely fill
- 3:35:22Speaker 13: the aperture, and he had been looking over it feeling
- 3:35:26Speaker 13: for the catch. He found, to his fury that it
- 3:35:29Speaker 13: was low down, beyond his reach to his disordered brain.
- 3:35:34Speaker 13: It seemed then that the irritating quality in Peter's face
- 3:35:37Speaker 13: and figure visibly increased, and he rattled the door and
- 3:35:42Speaker 13: flung himself against it. Was his enemy to escape him,
- 3:35:45Speaker 13: after all, But what was that The red in his
- 3:35:49Speaker 13: eye had caught sight of Peter's medicine. Standing on a
- 3:35:52Speaker 13: ledge within easy reach. He fathomed what it was straight away,
- 3:35:57Speaker 13: and immediately knew that the sleep was in his power
- 3:36:02Speaker 13: lest he should be taken alive. Hook always carried about
- 3:36:06Speaker 13: his person a dreadful drug, blended by himself. Of all
- 3:36:10Speaker 13: the death dealing rings that had come into his possession.
- 3:36:14Speaker 13: These he had boiled down into a yellow liquid, quite
- 3:36:17Speaker 13: unknown to science, which was probably the most virulent poison
- 3:36:22Speaker 13: in existence. Five drops of this he now added to
- 3:36:26Speaker 13: Peter's cup. His hand shook, but it was in exultation
- 3:36:32Speaker 13: rather than in shame. As he did it. He avoided
- 3:36:35Speaker 13: glancing at the sleeper, but not lest pity should unnerve him,
- 3:36:40Speaker 13: merely to avoid spilling than one long gloating look he
- 3:36:44Speaker 13: cast upon his victim, and turning, wormed his way with
- 3:36:49Speaker 13: difficulty up the tree. As he emerged at the top,
- 3:36:52Speaker 13: he looked the very spirit of evil breaking from its hole.
- 3:36:57Speaker 13: Donning his hat at its most rakish, he wound his
- 3:37:01Speaker 13: cloak around him, holding one end in front, as if
- 3:37:04Speaker 13: to conceal his person from the night of which it
- 3:37:07Speaker 13: was the blackest part, and muttering strangely to himself, stole
- 3:37:13Speaker 13: away through the trees. Peter slept on. The light guttered
- 3:37:19Speaker 13: and went out, leaving the tenement in darkness. But still
- 3:37:23Speaker 13: he slept. It must have been not less than ten
- 3:37:26Speaker 13: o'clock by the crocodile, when he suddenly sat up in
- 3:37:30Speaker 13: his bed, wakened by he knew not what it was.
- 3:37:34Speaker 13: A soft, cautious tapping on the door of his tree,
- 3:37:39Speaker 13: soft and cautious, but in that stillness it was sinister.
- 3:37:44Speaker 13: Peter felt for his dagger till his hand gripped it.
- 3:37:47Speaker 13: Then he spoke, who is that? For long there was
- 3:37:52Speaker 13: no answer, Then again the knock, Who are you? No answer?
- 3:37:58Speaker 13: He was thrilled, and he loved being thrilled. In two strides,
- 3:38:03Speaker 13: he reached the door. Unlike Slightly's doore, it filled the
- 3:38:07Speaker 13: aperture so that he could not see beyond it, nor
- 3:38:10Speaker 13: could the one knocking see him. I won't open unless
- 3:38:15Speaker 13: you speak, Peter cried. Then at last the visitor spoke,
- 3:38:19Speaker 13: in a lovely bell like voice. Let me in, Peter,
- 3:38:24Speaker 13: it was Tink, and quickly he unbarred to her. She
- 3:38:28Speaker 13: flew in excitedly, her face flushed and her dress stained
- 3:38:32Speaker 13: with mud. What is it, Oh, you can never guess,
- 3:38:37Speaker 13: she cried, and offered him three guesses. Out with it,
- 3:38:41Speaker 13: he shouted, and in one ungrammatical sentence, as long as
- 3:38:45Speaker 13: the ribbons the conjurors pulled from their mouths, she told
- 3:38:49Speaker 13: of the capture of Wendy and the boys. Peter's heart
- 3:38:53Speaker 13: bobbed up and down as he listened. Wendy bound and
- 3:38:57Speaker 13: on the pirate ship. She who loved ever to be
- 3:39:01Speaker 13: just so I'll rescue her, he cried, leaping at his weapons.
- 3:39:06Speaker 13: As he leaped, he thought of something he could do
- 3:39:08Speaker 13: to please her. He could take his medicine. His hand
- 3:39:12Speaker 13: closed on the fatal draft. No, shrieked Tinker Pell, who
- 3:39:17Speaker 13: had heard Hook mutter about his deed as he sped
- 3:39:20Speaker 13: through the forest. Why not, it is poisoned, poisoned? Who
- 3:39:26Speaker 13: could have poisoned it?
- 3:39:28Speaker 14: Hook?
- 3:39:29Speaker 13: Don't be silly? How could Hook have got down here?
- 3:39:33Speaker 13: Alas tinker Bell could not explain this, for even she
- 3:39:36Speaker 13: did not know the dark secret of Slightly's tree. Nevertheless,
- 3:39:41Speaker 13: Hook's words had left no room for doubt. The cup
- 3:39:45Speaker 13: was poisoned. Besides, said Peter, quite believing himself. I never
- 3:39:51Speaker 13: fell asleep. He raised the cup. No time for words,
- 3:39:55Speaker 13: now time for deeds, And with one of her lightning movements,
- 3:40:00Speaker 13: Tink got between his lips and the draft and drained
- 3:40:03Speaker 13: it to the dregs. Why Tink, how dare you drink
- 3:40:07Speaker 13: my medicine? But she did not answer. Already she was
- 3:40:11Speaker 13: reeling in the air. What is the matter with you,
- 3:40:15Speaker 13: cried Peter. Suddenly afraid it was poisoned Peter, she told
- 3:40:20Speaker 13: him softly, and now I am going to be dead.
- 3:40:25Speaker 13: Oh Tink, did you drink it to save me?
- 3:40:29Speaker 15: Yes?
- 3:40:30Speaker 13: But why Tink? Her wings would scarcely carry her now.
- 3:40:35Speaker 13: But in reply, she alighted on his shoulder and gave
- 3:40:38Speaker 13: his nose a loving bite. She whispered in his ear,
- 3:40:43Speaker 13: you silly ass, and then, tottering to her chamber, lay
- 3:40:47Speaker 13: down on the bed. His head almost filled the fourth
- 3:40:51Speaker 13: wall of her little room as he knelt near her
- 3:40:53Speaker 13: in distress. Every moment her light was growing fainter, and
- 3:40:58Speaker 13: he knew that if it went out, she would be
- 3:41:00Speaker 13: no more. She liked his tears so much that she
- 3:41:04Speaker 13: put out her beautiful finger and let them run over it.
- 3:41:09Speaker 13: Her voice was so low that at first he could
- 3:41:12Speaker 13: not make out what she said. Then he made it out.
- 3:41:16Speaker 13: She was saying that she thought she could get well
- 3:41:19Speaker 13: again if children believed in fairies. Peter flung out his arms.
- 3:41:24Speaker 13: There were no children there, and it was night time,
- 3:41:27Speaker 13: but he addressed all who might be dreaming of the neverland,
- 3:41:31Speaker 13: and who were therefore nearer to him than you think,
- 3:41:34Speaker 13: boys and girls in their nighties, and naked papooses in
- 3:41:38Speaker 13: their baskets hung from trees.
- 3:41:40Speaker 6: Do you believe?
- 3:41:42Speaker 13: He cried? Tink sat up in bed, almost briskly, to
- 3:41:45Speaker 13: listen to her fate. She fancied, she heard answers in
- 3:41:49Speaker 13: the affirmative, and then again she wasn't sure. What do
- 3:41:54Speaker 13: you think, she asked Peter, If you believe, he shouted
- 3:41:59Speaker 13: to them, flap your hands, don't let Tink die. Many clapped,
- 3:42:05Speaker 13: some didn't, A few beasts hissed. The clapping stopped suddenly,
- 3:42:12Speaker 13: as if countless mothers had rushed to their nurseries to
- 3:42:15Speaker 13: see what on earth was happening? But already Tink was saved.
- 3:42:19Speaker 13: First her voice grew strong, Then she popped out of bed.
- 3:42:23Speaker 13: Then she was flashing through the room, more merry and
- 3:42:26Speaker 13: impudent than ever. She never thought of thanking those who believed,
- 3:42:31Speaker 13: but she would have liked to get at the ones
- 3:42:33Speaker 13: who had hissed. And now to rescue Wendy. The moon
- 3:42:39Speaker 13: was riding in a cloudy heaven when Peter rose from
- 3:42:41Speaker 13: his tree, but girt with weapons and wearing little else
- 3:42:45Speaker 13: to set out upon his perilous quest. It was not
- 3:42:49Speaker 13: such a night as he would have chosen. He had
- 3:42:51Speaker 13: hoped to fly, keeping not far from the ground, so
- 3:42:55Speaker 13: that nothing unwonted should escape his eyes. But in that
- 3:42:58Speaker 13: fitful light, to a fly own low would have meant
- 3:43:01Speaker 13: trailing his shadow through the trees, thus disturbing birds and
- 3:43:05Speaker 13: acquainting a watchful foe. That he was astir He regretted
- 3:43:10Speaker 13: now that he had given the birds of the island
- 3:43:12Speaker 13: such strange names, that they are very wild and difficult
- 3:43:16Speaker 13: of approach. There was no other course but to press
- 3:43:20Speaker 13: forward in red skinned fashion, at which happily he was
- 3:43:24Speaker 13: an adept. But in what direction, for he could not
- 3:43:28Speaker 13: be sure that the children had been taken to the ship.
- 3:43:31Speaker 13: A light fall of snow had obliterated all footmarks, and
- 3:43:35Speaker 13: a deathly silence pervaded the island, as if for a
- 3:43:39Speaker 13: space nature stood still in horror of the recent carnage.
- 3:43:44Speaker 13: He had taught the children something of the forest lore
- 3:43:47Speaker 13: that he had himself learned from Tiger Lily and tinker Bell,
- 3:43:51Speaker 13: and knew that in their dire hour they were not
- 3:43:54Speaker 13: likely to forget it. Slightly. If he had an opportunity,
- 3:43:59Speaker 13: would blaze the trees. For instance, Curly would drop seeds,
- 3:44:04Speaker 13: and Wendy would leave her handkerchief at some important place.
- 3:44:08Speaker 13: The morning was needed to search for such guidance, and
- 3:44:11Speaker 13: he could not wait. The upper world had called him,
- 3:44:15Speaker 13: but would give no help. The crocodile passed him, but
- 3:44:20Speaker 13: not another living thing, not a sound, not a movement.
- 3:44:24Speaker 13: And yet he knew well that sudden death might be
- 3:44:27Speaker 13: at the next tree, or stalking him from behind. He
- 3:44:32Speaker 13: swore this terrible oath, hook or me this time. Now
- 3:44:38Speaker 13: he crawled forward like a snake, and again erect he
- 3:44:42Speaker 13: darted across the space on which the moonlight played, one
- 3:44:46Speaker 13: finger on his lip and his dagger at the ready.
- 3:44:49Speaker 13: He was frightfully happy.
- 3:44:53Speaker 6: End of chapter Chapter fourteen. The pirate ship one green
- 3:44:59Speaker 6: light squ over Kid's Creek, which is near the mouth
- 3:45:02Speaker 6: of the Pirate River, marked where the brig the Jolly
- 3:45:04Speaker 6: Roger lay low in the water, a rakish looking craft,
- 3:45:08Speaker 6: foul to the hull, every beam in her detestable like ground,
- 3:45:11Speaker 6: strewn with mangled feathers. She was the cannibal of the seas,
- 3:45:15Speaker 6: and scarce needed that watchful eye, for she floated immune
- 3:45:18Speaker 6: in the horror of her name. She was wrapped in
- 3:45:21Speaker 6: a blanket of night, through which no sound from her
- 3:45:24Speaker 6: could have reached the shore. There were little sound, and
- 3:45:26Speaker 6: none agreeable, save the whirr of the ship's sewing machine,
- 3:45:29Speaker 6: at which Smee sat, ever industrious and obliging the essence
- 3:45:32Speaker 6: of the commonplace pathetic Smee. I know not why he
- 3:45:36Speaker 6: was so infinitely pathetic, unless it were because he was
- 3:45:39Speaker 6: so pathetically unaware of it. But even strong men had
- 3:45:42Speaker 6: to turn hastily from looking at him, And more than once,
- 3:45:45Speaker 6: on summer evenings, he had touched the fount of hook's
- 3:45:47Speaker 6: teers and made it flow. Of this, as of almost
- 3:45:50Speaker 6: everything else, Smee was quite unconscious a few of the
- 3:45:54Speaker 6: pirates lent over the bulwarks, drinking in the miasma of
- 3:45:57Speaker 6: the night. Others sprawled by barrel over games of dice
- 3:46:01Speaker 6: and cards. And the exhausted four who had carried little
- 3:46:04Speaker 6: House laid prone on the deck, where even in their
- 3:46:06Speaker 6: sleep they rolled skillfully to this side or that, out
- 3:46:09Speaker 6: of Hook's reach, lest he should claw them mechanically. In passing,
- 3:46:13Speaker 6: Hook trod the deck in thought, oh man, unfathomable. It
- 3:46:17Speaker 6: was his hour of triumph. Peter had been removed forever
- 3:46:20Speaker 6: from his path, and all the other boys were in
- 3:46:23Speaker 6: the brig about to walk the plank. It was his
- 3:46:26Speaker 6: grimaced deed since the days when he had brought barbecue
- 3:46:29Speaker 6: to heal. And knowing as we do, how vain a
- 3:46:31Speaker 6: tabernacle is manned, could we be surprised had he now
- 3:46:35Speaker 6: paced the deck unsteadily, bellied out by the wind of
- 3:46:38Speaker 6: his success. But there was no elation in his gait,
- 3:46:42Speaker 6: which kept pace with the action of his somber mind.
- 3:46:45Speaker 6: Hook was profoundly dejected. He was often thus when communing
- 3:46:49Speaker 6: with himself on board ship in the quietude of the night.
- 3:46:52Speaker 6: It was because he was so terribly alone. This inscribable
- 3:46:56Speaker 6: man never felt more alone than once surrounded by his dogs.
- 3:47:00Speaker 6: They were socially inferior to him. Hook was not his
- 3:47:04Speaker 6: true name. To reveal who he really was, would even
- 3:47:07Speaker 6: at this date, set the country in a blaze. But
- 3:47:10Speaker 6: as those who read between the lines must already have get,
- 3:47:13Speaker 6: he had been at a famous public school, and its
- 3:47:15Speaker 6: tradition still clung to him like garments with which, indeed
- 3:47:18Speaker 6: they are largely concerned. Thus it was offensive to him
- 3:47:21Speaker 6: even now to board a ship in the same dress
- 3:47:24Speaker 6: in which he grappled her, And he still appeared to
- 3:47:26Speaker 6: his walk to the school's distinguished slouch. But above all
- 3:47:29Speaker 6: he retained the passion for a good form, good form.
- 3:47:33Speaker 6: However much he may have degenerated, he still knew that
- 3:47:36Speaker 6: this is all that really matters. From far within him,
- 3:47:39Speaker 6: he heard a creaking as of rusty portals, and through
- 3:47:42Speaker 6: them came a stern tap tap, tap, like hammering in
- 3:47:45Speaker 6: the night when one cannot sleep. Have you been in
- 3:47:48Speaker 6: good form today? Was their eternal question. Fame, fame, that
- 3:47:54Speaker 6: glittering bauble at his mine, He cried, Is it quite
- 3:47:57Speaker 6: good form to be distinguished at anything? The tap tap
- 3:48:01Speaker 6: from his school replied, I am the only man whom
- 3:48:03Speaker 6: barbecue feared he urged, and flint feared barbecue barbecue flint?
- 3:48:08Speaker 6: What house caimed? The cutting report most disquieting reflection of all.
- 3:48:13Speaker 6: Was it not a bad form to think about good form?
- 3:48:17Speaker 6: His vitals were tortured by this problem. It was a
- 3:48:20Speaker 6: claw within him, sharper than the iron one. And as
- 3:48:23Speaker 6: it tore him, the perspiration dripped down his tallow countenance
- 3:48:26Speaker 6: and streaked his doublets. Oft times he drew his sleeve
- 3:48:29Speaker 6: across his face, but there was no damning that trickle
- 3:48:33Speaker 6: ah and be not Hook. There came to him a
- 3:48:37Speaker 6: presentiment of his early dissolution. It was as if Peter's
- 3:48:40Speaker 6: terrible oath had bordered the ship. Hook felt a gloomy
- 3:48:43Speaker 6: desire to make his dying speech, lest presently there should
- 3:48:47Speaker 6: be no time for it. Better for Hook, he cried,
- 3:48:51Speaker 6: if he had had less ambition. It was in his
- 3:48:54Speaker 6: darkest hours only that he referred to himself in the
- 3:48:57Speaker 6: third person. No little children to love me. Strange that
- 3:49:02Speaker 6: he should think of this, which I had never troubled
- 3:49:04Speaker 6: him before. Perhaps a sewing machine brought it to his mind.
- 3:49:07Speaker 6: For long, he muttered to himself, staring at Smee who
- 3:49:11Speaker 6: was hemming placidly under the conviction that all children feared him,
- 3:49:15Speaker 6: feared him, feared Smee. There was not a child on
- 3:49:18Speaker 6: board the brig that night who did not already love him.
- 3:49:21Speaker 6: He had said horrid things to them and hit them
- 3:49:23Speaker 6: with the palm of his hand because he could not
- 3:49:25Speaker 6: hit with his fist, but they had only clung to him.
- 3:49:27Speaker 6: The more Michael had tried on his spectacles to tell
- 3:49:31Speaker 6: poor Smee that they thought him lovable, took itch to
- 3:49:34Speaker 6: do it, but it seemed too brutal. Instead, he revolved
- 3:49:38Speaker 6: this mystery in his mind. Why do they find Smee lovable?
- 3:49:42Speaker 6: He pursued the problem like the sleuth hound that he was.
- 3:49:44Speaker 6: If Smee was lovable, what was it that made him so?
- 3:49:49Speaker 6: A terrible answer suddenly presented itself. Good form had the
- 3:49:55Speaker 6: boats in good form without knowing it, which is the
- 3:49:57Speaker 6: best form of all. You remember that you have to
- 3:50:01Speaker 6: prove you don't know you have it before you're eligible
- 3:50:03Speaker 6: for pop. With a cry of rage, he raised his
- 3:50:06Speaker 6: iron hand over Smee's head, but he did not take tear.
- 3:50:09Speaker 6: What arrested him was this reflection, to claw a man
- 3:50:13Speaker 6: because he is good form what would that be bad form?
- 3:50:19Speaker 6: The unhappy hook was as impotent as he was damp,
- 3:50:21Speaker 6: and he fell forward like a cut flower. His dogs,
- 3:50:24Speaker 6: thinking him out of the way for a time, discipline,
- 3:50:26Speaker 6: instantly relaxed, and they broke into a bacchanalian dance, which
- 3:50:29Speaker 6: brought him poose feet. At once all traces of human
- 3:50:32Speaker 6: weakness gone, as if a bucket of water had passed
- 3:50:35Speaker 6: over him. Quiet you, scugs, he cried, or I'll cast
- 3:50:38Speaker 6: anchor in you, And at once the din was hushed.
- 3:50:42Speaker 6: Are all the children chained so that they cannot fly away?
- 3:50:45Speaker 15: Aye?
- 3:50:45Speaker 13: Aye?
- 3:50:46Speaker 6: Then hohist them up? The wretched prisoners were dragged from
- 3:50:50Speaker 6: the hold, all except Wendy, and ranged in line in
- 3:50:53Speaker 6: front of him. For a time, he seemed unconscious of
- 3:50:56Speaker 6: their presence. He lulled at his ease, humming not unloadiously,
- 3:51:00Speaker 6: snatches of a rude song, and fingering a pack of cards.
- 3:51:03Speaker 6: Ever and anon, the light from a cigar gave a
- 3:51:05Speaker 6: touch of color to his face. Now, then bellize, he said, briskly.
- 3:51:10Speaker 6: Six of you will walk the plank tonight, But I
- 3:51:13Speaker 6: have room for two cabin boys. Which of you is
- 3:51:15Speaker 6: it to be? Don't irritate him unnecessarily have been when
- 3:51:20Speaker 6: these instructions in the hold, so Tootles stepped forward politely.
- 3:51:24Speaker 6: Tootles hated the idea of signing under such a man,
- 3:51:26Speaker 6: but an instinct told him that it would be prudent
- 3:51:28Speaker 6: to lay the responsibility on an absent person. And though
- 3:51:31Speaker 6: a somewhat silly boy, he knew that mothers alone are
- 3:51:33Speaker 6: always willing to be the buffer. All children know this
- 3:51:36Speaker 6: about mothers and despise them for it, but make constant.
- 3:51:39Speaker 14: Use of it.
- 3:51:40Speaker 6: So Tootles explained prudently. You see, sir, I don't think
- 3:51:44Speaker 6: my mother would like me to be a pirate? Would
- 3:51:46Speaker 6: your mother like you to be a pirate? Slightly? He
- 3:51:49Speaker 6: winked it slightly, who said mournfully, I don't think so,
- 3:51:52Speaker 6: as if he wished things had been otherwise. Would your
- 3:51:55Speaker 6: mother like you to be a pirate?
- 3:51:56Speaker 12: Twin?
- 3:51:57Speaker 6: I don't think so, said the first twin. As clever
- 3:51:59Speaker 6: as the others, nibs would stow this gab roared Hook
- 3:52:03Speaker 6: and the spokesman were dragged back. You boy, he said,
- 3:52:06Speaker 6: addressing John, you look as if you had a little
- 3:52:09Speaker 6: pluck in you didst ever want to be a pirate?
- 3:52:11Speaker 6: My hearty, Now, John, had sometimes experienced this hankering at
- 3:52:17Speaker 6: Maths Prep, and he was stuck by Hook picking him out.
- 3:52:20Speaker 6: I once thought of my calling myself red handed Jack,
- 3:52:24Speaker 6: he said, difftantly, and a good name too. We'll call
- 3:52:27Speaker 6: you that here, Bully, if you join? What do you think?
- 3:52:31Speaker 6: Michael asked John? What would you call me if I joined?
- 3:52:35Speaker 6: Michael demanded Blackbeard Joe. Michael was naturally impressed. What do
- 3:52:41Speaker 6: you think, John? He wanted John to decide, and John
- 3:52:44Speaker 6: wanted him to decide. Shall we still be respectful subjects
- 3:52:48Speaker 6: at the king? John inquired brew Hook's teeth came the answer,
- 3:52:53Speaker 6: you would have to swear down with the king. Perhaps
- 3:52:56Speaker 6: John had not behaved very well so far, But don't
- 3:53:00Speaker 6: ask now. Then I refuse, he cried, banging the barrel
- 3:53:03Speaker 6: in front of Hook. And I refuse, cried Michael. Rule Britannia,
- 3:53:08Speaker 6: speaked Billy. The infuriated pirates buffeted them in the mouth,
- 3:53:12Speaker 6: and Hook roared out, that seals your doom, and bring
- 3:53:15Speaker 6: up their mother. Get the plank ready. They were only boys,
- 3:53:19Speaker 6: and they went white as they saw Jukes and Checko
- 3:53:21Speaker 6: preparing fatal plank. But they tried to look brave when
- 3:53:24Speaker 6: Wendy was brought up. No words of mine can tell
- 3:53:27Speaker 6: you how Wendy despised these pirates to the boys. There
- 3:53:30Speaker 6: was at least some glamour in the pirate calling, but
- 3:53:32Speaker 6: all that she saw was that the ship had not
- 3:53:34Speaker 6: been tidied for years. There was not a porthole in
- 3:53:37Speaker 6: the grimy glass of which you might not have written
- 3:53:39Speaker 6: with your finger, dirty pig, And she had already written
- 3:53:42Speaker 6: it on several But as the boys gathered around her,
- 3:53:45Speaker 6: she had no thought, of course, save for them. So,
- 3:53:48Speaker 6: my beauty, said Hook, as if he spoke in syrup.
- 3:53:52Speaker 6: You are to see your children walk the plank. Fine gentleman,
- 3:53:56Speaker 6: though he was, the intensity of his communings had soiled
- 3:53:59Speaker 6: his rough, and suddenly he knew that she was gazing
- 3:54:01Speaker 6: at it with a hasty gesture. He tried to hide it,
- 3:54:04Speaker 6: but he was too late. Are they to die, asked Wendy,
- 3:54:08Speaker 6: with a look of such frightful contempt that he nearly fainted.
- 3:54:12Speaker 12: They are, he.
- 3:54:13Speaker 6: Starled silence all he cried gloatingly. For a mother's last
- 3:54:16Speaker 6: words to her children. At this moment, Wendy was grand.
- 3:54:21Speaker 6: These are my last words, dear boys, she said, firmly.
- 3:54:24Speaker 6: I feel that I have a message to you from
- 3:54:26Speaker 6: your real mother's and it is this. We hope our
- 3:54:29Speaker 6: sons will die like English gentlemen. Even the pirates were
- 3:54:33Speaker 6: odd and Toodles cried up hysterically. I am going to
- 3:54:37Speaker 6: do what my mother hopes?
- 3:54:38Speaker 12: What are you to do?
- 3:54:39Speaker 6: Nibn's what's my mother hopes? What are you to do? Twin?
- 3:54:42Speaker 6: What's my mother hopes? John bud Hook had found his
- 3:54:45Speaker 6: voice again. Tie her up, he shouted. It was Smee
- 3:54:49Speaker 6: who tied her to the mast. See here, honey, he whispered,
- 3:54:52Speaker 6: I'll see to you if you promised me. My mother,
- 3:54:55Speaker 6: But not even for Smee would she make such a promise.
- 3:54:59Speaker 6: I would almost rather I have no children at all,
- 3:55:01Speaker 6: she said disdainfully. It is sad to know that not
- 3:55:05Speaker 6: a boy was looking at her. As snee tighterr to
- 3:55:07Speaker 6: the mast. The eyes of all were on the plank
- 3:55:09Speaker 6: that last little walk they were about to take. They
- 3:55:12Speaker 6: were no longer able to hope that they would walk
- 3:55:14Speaker 6: it manfully, for the capacity to think had gone from them.
- 3:55:18Speaker 6: They could stare and shiver. Only Hook smiled on them
- 3:55:22Speaker 6: with his teeth closed, and took a step toward Wendy
- 3:55:24Speaker 6: His intention was to turn her face so that she
- 3:55:26Speaker 6: should see the boys walking the plank one by one.
- 3:55:29Speaker 6: But he never reached her. He never heard the cry
- 3:55:31Speaker 6: of anguish he hoped to wring from her. He heard
- 3:55:34Speaker 6: something else instead. It was the terrible pick tick of
- 3:55:40Speaker 6: the crocodile. They all heard it. Pirates, boys, Wendy, and
- 3:55:46Speaker 6: immediately every head was blown in one direction, not to
- 3:55:49Speaker 6: the water. Whence the sound proceeded, but toward a hook.
- 3:55:52Speaker 6: All knew that what was about to happen concerned him alone,
- 3:55:56Speaker 6: and that from being actors there were suddenly becoming spectators.
- 3:56:00Speaker 6: Very frightful was it to see the chains that came
- 3:56:02Speaker 6: over him. It was as if he had been clipped
- 3:56:04Speaker 6: at every joint. He fell in a little heat. The
- 3:56:08Speaker 6: sound came steadily nearer, and in advance of it came
- 3:56:11Speaker 6: this ghastly thought the crocodile was about to board the ship.
- 3:56:16Speaker 6: Even the iron claw hung inactive, as if knowing that
- 3:56:19Speaker 6: it was no intrinsic part of the attacking force wanted
- 3:56:22Speaker 6: let left so fearfully alone any other man. Riblin with
- 3:56:25Speaker 6: his eyes shut where he fell. But the gigantic brain
- 3:56:28Speaker 6: of hook was still working, and under its guidance. He
- 3:56:31Speaker 6: crawled on the knees along the deck as far from
- 3:56:33Speaker 6: the sound as he could go. The pirates respectfully cleared
- 3:56:36Speaker 6: a passage for him, and it was only when he
- 3:56:38Speaker 6: brought up against the bulwarks that he spoke, hide me,
- 3:56:42Speaker 6: he cried hoarsely. They gathered round him, all eyes averted
- 3:56:46Speaker 6: from the thing that was coming on board. They had
- 3:56:48Speaker 6: no thought of fighting it. It was fate. Only when
- 3:56:52Speaker 6: Hook was hidden from them did curiosity loosen the limbs
- 3:56:55Speaker 6: of the boys so that they could rush to the
- 3:56:57Speaker 6: ship's side to see the crocodile climbing it. Then they
- 3:57:00Speaker 6: got the strange surprise of the night of Nights, for
- 3:57:03Speaker 6: it was no crocodile that was coming to their aid.
- 3:57:06Speaker 6: It was Peter. He signed them not to give vent
- 3:57:10Speaker 6: to any cry of admiration that might arise suspicion. Then
- 3:57:14Speaker 6: he went on taking end Chapter fourteen.
- 3:57:19Speaker 15: Chapter fifteen, Hook or me. This time, odd things happened
- 3:57:27Speaker 15: to all of us on our way through life, without
- 3:57:30Speaker 15: our noticing for a time that they have happened. Thus,
- 3:57:34Speaker 15: to take an instance, we suddenly discover that we have
- 3:57:38Speaker 15: been deaf in one year for we don't know how long,
- 3:57:42Speaker 15: But say half an hour now. Such an experience had
- 3:57:45Speaker 15: come that night to Peter. When last we saw him,
- 3:57:49Speaker 15: he was stealing across the island with one finger to
- 3:57:52Speaker 15: his lips and his dagger at the ready. He had
- 3:57:55Speaker 15: seen the crocodile pass by without noticing anything peculiar it,
- 3:58:00Speaker 15: but by and bye he remembered that it had not
- 3:58:03Speaker 15: been ticking. At first, he thought this eerie, but soon
- 3:58:08Speaker 15: concluded rightly that the clock had run down without giving
- 3:58:14Speaker 15: a thought to what might be the feelings of a
- 3:58:17Speaker 15: fellow creature. Thus abruptly deprived of its closest companion, Peter
- 3:58:22Speaker 15: began to consider how he could turn the catastrophe to
- 3:58:25Speaker 15: his own use, and he decided to dick, so that
- 3:58:29Speaker 15: wild beasts should believe he was the crocodile and let
- 3:58:33Speaker 15: him pass unmolestic. He ticked superbly, but with one unforeseen result,
- 3:58:39Speaker 15: the crocodile was among those who heard the sound, and
- 3:58:43Speaker 15: it followed him, though whether with the purpose of regaining
- 3:58:47Speaker 15: what it had lost or merely as a friend under
- 3:58:50Speaker 15: the belief that it was again ticking itself, will never
- 3:58:53Speaker 15: be certainly known, For, like slaves to a fixed idea,
- 3:58:58Speaker 15: it was a stupid beast. Peter reached the shore without mishap,
- 3:59:03Speaker 15: and went straight on his legs, encountering the water as
- 3:59:07Speaker 15: if quite unaware that they had entered a new element. Thus,
- 3:59:12Speaker 15: many animals passed from land to water, but no other
- 3:59:16Speaker 15: human of whom I know. As he swam, he had
- 3:59:20Speaker 15: but one thought hook or me. This time he had
- 3:59:25Speaker 15: ticked so long that he now went on ticking without
- 3:59:29Speaker 15: knowing that he was doing it. Had he known, he
- 3:59:32Speaker 15: would have stopped for to boat the brick by help
- 3:59:36Speaker 15: of the tick, though an ingenious idea had not occurred
- 3:59:40Speaker 15: to him. On the contrary, he thought he had scaled
- 3:59:44Speaker 15: her side as noiseless as a mouse, and he was
- 3:59:48Speaker 15: amazed to see the pirates covering from him with hook
- 3:59:52Speaker 15: in their midst, as abject as if he had heard
- 3:59:55Speaker 15: the crocodile the crocodile. No sooner did it be to
- 4:00:00Speaker 15: remember it than he heard the ticking. At first he
- 4:00:04Speaker 15: thought the sound did come from the crocodile, and he
- 4:00:07Speaker 15: looked behind him swiftly. Then he realized that he was
- 4:00:13Speaker 15: doing it himself, and in a flash he understood the situation.
- 4:00:18Speaker 15: How clever of me, he thought at once, and signed
- 4:00:22Speaker 15: to the boys not to burst into applause. It was
- 4:00:26Speaker 15: at this moment that it taint. The quartermaster emerged from
- 4:00:30Speaker 15: the forecastle and came along the deck. Now, reader, time,
- 4:00:36Speaker 15: what happened? By your watch? Peter struck true and deep.
- 4:00:41Speaker 15: John clapped his hands on the ill fated pirate's mouth
- 4:00:44Speaker 15: to stifle the dying groom. He fell forward. Four boys
- 4:00:49Speaker 15: caught him to prevent the thud. Peter gave the signal,
- 4:00:52Speaker 15: and the carrion was cast overboard. There was a splash,
- 4:00:56Speaker 15: and then silence. How long has it taken? One slightly
- 4:01:02Speaker 15: had begun to count none? Too soon Peter, every inch
- 4:01:07Speaker 15: of him on tiptoe, vanished into the cabin. For more
- 4:01:11Speaker 15: than one pirate was screwing up his courage to look round.
- 4:01:15Speaker 15: They could hear each other's distressed breathing now, which showed
- 4:01:19Speaker 15: them that the more terrible sound had passed. It's gone,
- 4:01:23Speaker 15: Captain Smee said, wiping off his spectacles, all still again. Slowly,
- 4:01:31Speaker 15: Hook let his head emerge from his ruff and listened
- 4:01:34Speaker 15: so intently that he could have caught the echo of
- 4:01:37Speaker 15: the tick. There was not a sound, and he drew
- 4:01:40Speaker 15: himself up firmly to his full height. Then here stood
- 4:01:45Speaker 15: Johnny Plank he cried, brazenly, hating the boys more than
- 4:01:49Speaker 15: ever because they had seen him unbent. He broke into
- 4:01:53Speaker 15: the villainous ditty. Yo ho yo ho, the frisky blank.
- 4:01:59Speaker 15: You walks along it so till it goes down, and
- 4:02:02Speaker 15: you goes down to Davy Jones below. To terrorize the
- 4:02:07Speaker 15: prisoners the more, though with a certain loss of dignity.
- 4:02:11Speaker 15: He danced along an imaginary plank, grimacing at them as
- 4:02:15Speaker 15: he sang. And when he finished, he cried, do you
- 4:02:19Speaker 15: want a touch of the cat on nine days before?
- 4:02:22Speaker 15: You walked the plank at that? They fell on their knees. No, no,
- 4:02:28Speaker 15: they cried so piteously that every pirate smiled. Fetch the cat,
- 4:02:33Speaker 15: Jukes said, Hook, it's in the cabin, the cabin. Peter
- 4:02:40Speaker 15: was in the cabin. The children gazed at each other.
- 4:02:45Speaker 15: Aye aye, said Jukes blithely, and he strode into the cabin.
- 4:02:49Speaker 15: They followed him with their eyes. They scarce knew that
- 4:02:53Speaker 15: Hook had resumed his song, his dogs joining in with him.
- 4:02:58Speaker 15: Yo ho, yo oh, Hold the scratch chain cat. Its
- 4:03:03Speaker 15: tails are nine, you know, and when they are writ
- 4:03:06Speaker 15: upon your back. What was the last line will never
- 4:03:10Speaker 15: be known? For of a sudden, the song was stayed
- 4:03:13Speaker 15: by a dreadful screech from the cabin. It wailed through
- 4:03:17Speaker 15: the ship and died away. Then was heard a crowing sound,
- 4:03:21Speaker 15: which was well understood by the boys, but to the
- 4:03:24Speaker 15: pirates was almost more eerie than the screech. What was that,
- 4:03:30Speaker 15: cried Hook two, said, slightly solemnly. The Italian Checko hesitated
- 4:03:37Speaker 15: for a moment, and then swung into the cabin. He
- 4:03:41Speaker 15: tottered out, haggard, what's the matter with Bill Jukes? You talk,
- 4:03:47Speaker 15: hissed Hook, towering over him. The matter with him is
- 4:03:51Speaker 15: he's dead, stad replied Checko in a hollow voice. Bill
- 4:03:57Speaker 15: Jukes dead, cried the startled pirates. The cabin's as black
- 4:04:02Speaker 15: as a pit, Checko said, almost gibbering. But there is
- 4:04:07Speaker 15: something terrible in there. The thing you heard crowing, the
- 4:04:11Speaker 15: exaltation of the boys, the lowering looks of the pirates,
- 4:04:16Speaker 15: both were seen by Hook Checko. He said, in his
- 4:04:21Speaker 15: most steely voice, Go back and fetch me out that doodledoo. Checko,
- 4:04:28Speaker 15: bravest of the brave, covered before his captain, crying no, no,
- 4:04:34Speaker 15: But Hook was purring to his claw. Did you say
- 4:04:38Speaker 15: you would go, Checko? He said, musingly. Checko went first,
- 4:04:44Speaker 15: flinging his arms despairingly. There was no more singing or
- 4:04:48Speaker 15: listen now and again came a dead screech, and again
- 4:04:52Speaker 15: a crow. No one spoke except slightly three, he said,
- 4:04:59Speaker 15: Hook rallied Stalks with a gesture. Is depth the nought's fish?
- 4:05:03Speaker 15: He thundered, Who is to bring me that doodledoo? Wait
- 4:05:09Speaker 15: till Cheko comes out, growled Starkey, and the others took
- 4:05:13Speaker 15: up the cry. I think I heard you, volunteer, Starkey,
- 4:05:18Speaker 15: said Hook, purring again. No by thunder, Starky cried, my hook,
- 4:05:24Speaker 15: thinks you did, said Hook, crossing to him. I wonder
- 4:05:29Speaker 15: if it would not be advisable Starky to humor the hook.
- 4:05:34Speaker 15: I'll swim before I go in there, replied Starkey doggedly.
- 4:05:39Speaker 15: And again he had the support of the crew. Is
- 4:05:42Speaker 15: this mutiny, asked Hook, more pleasantly than ever. Starky is
- 4:05:47Speaker 15: ringleader Captain Mercy. Starky whimpered, all of it tremble Now,
- 4:05:53Speaker 15: shake hands, Starcky, said Hook, proffering his claw. Starkey looked
- 4:05:59Speaker 15: round for help, but all deserted him. As he backed up.
- 4:06:04Speaker 15: Hook advanced, and now the red spark was in his eye.
- 4:06:08Speaker 15: With a despairing scream. The pirate leapt upon long tom
- 4:06:12Speaker 15: and precipitated himself into the sea. Four said slightly, and
- 4:06:18Speaker 15: now said Hook courteously. Did any other gentleman say mutiny?
- 4:06:24Speaker 15: Seizing a lantern and raising his claw with a menacing gesture.
- 4:06:29Speaker 15: I'll bring out that doodledom myself, he said, and sped
- 4:06:33Speaker 15: into the cabin. Five how slightly longed to say it?
- 4:06:38Speaker 15: He wetted his lips to be ready. But Hook came
- 4:06:42Speaker 15: staggering out without his lantern. Something blew out the light,
- 4:06:47Speaker 15: he said, a little unsteadily, Something echoed Mullins. What a checko,
- 4:06:54Speaker 15: demanded Noodler, he's as dead as Juke's, said Hook. Shortly.
- 4:07:00Speaker 15: His reluctance to return to the cabin impressed them all unfavorably,
- 4:07:04Speaker 15: and the mutinous sounds again broke forth. All pirates are superstitious,
- 4:07:09Speaker 15: and cooksin cried. They do say. The surest sign a
- 4:07:13Speaker 15: ship's accursed is when there's one on board more than
- 4:07:17Speaker 15: can be accounted for. I've heard, muttered Mullins. He always
- 4:07:23Speaker 15: boats the pirate craft. Last had he a tale captain,
- 4:07:28Speaker 15: they say, said another, looking viciously at Hook, That when
- 4:07:32Speaker 15: he comes in the likeness of the wickedest man aboard.
- 4:07:36Speaker 15: Had he a hook? Captain asked Cooksen insolently, and one
- 4:07:41Speaker 15: after another took up the cry the ship's doomed. At this,
- 4:07:46Speaker 15: the children could not resist raising a cheer. Hook had
- 4:07:50Speaker 15: well nigh forgotten his prisoners, but as he swung round
- 4:07:54Speaker 15: on them, now his face licked up again. Lads, he
- 4:07:59Speaker 15: cried to his crew, Now here's a notion. Open the
- 4:08:03Speaker 15: cabin door and drive them in. Let them fight the
- 4:08:06Speaker 15: doodle doo for their lives. If they kill him, we're
- 4:08:10Speaker 15: so much the better. If he kills them, we're none
- 4:08:13Speaker 15: the worse. For the last time, his dogs admired Hook,
- 4:08:17Speaker 15: and devotedly they did his bidding. The boys, pretending to struggle,
- 4:08:23Speaker 15: were pushed into the cabin, and the door was closed
- 4:08:26Speaker 15: on them. Now listen, cried Hook, And all listened, but
- 4:08:31Speaker 15: not one dared to face the door. Yes, one, Wendy,
- 4:08:36Speaker 15: who all this time had been bound to the mast.
- 4:08:40Speaker 15: It was for neither a scream nor a crew that
- 4:08:43Speaker 15: she was watching. It was for the reappearance of Peter.
- 4:08:48Speaker 15: She had not long to wait in the cabin. He
- 4:08:51Speaker 15: had found the thing for which he had gone in
- 4:08:53Speaker 15: search the key that would free the children of their manacles.
- 4:08:57Speaker 15: And now they all stole forth, armed with such weapons
- 4:09:01Speaker 15: as they could find. First signing them to hide, Peter
- 4:09:05Speaker 15: cut Wendy's bonds, and then nothing could have been easier
- 4:09:09Speaker 15: than for them all to fly off together. But one
- 4:09:13Speaker 15: thing barred the way, an oath. Hook o meet this time.
- 4:09:18Speaker 15: So when he had freed Wendy, he whispered for her
- 4:09:21Speaker 15: to conceal herself with the others, and himself took her
- 4:09:25Speaker 15: place by the mast, her cloak around him so that
- 4:09:28Speaker 15: he should pass for her. Then he took a great
- 4:09:32Speaker 15: breath and crowed to the pirates. It was a voice
- 4:09:37Speaker 15: crying that all the boys lay slain in the cabin,
- 4:09:40Speaker 15: and they were panicstritten. Hook tried to hearten them, but
- 4:09:44Speaker 15: like the dogs he had made them, they showed him
- 4:09:48Speaker 15: their fangs, and he knew that if he took his
- 4:09:51Speaker 15: eyes off them now, they would leap at him. Lads,
- 4:09:55Speaker 15: he said, ready to casual or strike as need be,
- 4:09:59Speaker 15: But never quailing for an instant, I thought it out.
- 4:10:03Speaker 15: There's a jonah aboard, aye, they snarled, a man with
- 4:10:08Speaker 15: a hook. Now, lads, no, it's the girl. Never was
- 4:10:14Speaker 15: luck on a pirate ship with a woman on board.
- 4:10:17Speaker 15: We'll ride the ship when she is gone. Some of
- 4:10:21Speaker 15: them remembered that this had been a saying of flints.
- 4:10:25Speaker 15: It's worth trying, they said, doubtfully. Fling the girl overboard,
- 4:10:31Speaker 15: cried Hook, and they made a rush at the figure
- 4:10:34Speaker 15: in the cloak. This nun can save you. Now, Missy
- 4:10:39Speaker 15: Mullin's hest jeeringly, there's one, replied the figure. Who's that?
- 4:10:46Speaker 15: Peter Pan the Avenger came the terrible answer, and as
- 4:10:50Speaker 15: he spoke, Peter flung off his cloak. Then they all
- 4:10:54Speaker 15: knew who it was that had been undoing them in
- 4:10:58Speaker 15: the cabin. And twice Hook essayed to speak, and twice
- 4:11:02Speaker 15: he failed. In that frightful moment, I think his fear's
- 4:11:06Speaker 15: heart broke. At last he cried, cleave them to the briskette,
- 4:11:12Speaker 15: But without conviction, down, boys, and at them. Peter's voice
- 4:11:17Speaker 15: rang out, and in another moment, the clash of arms
- 4:11:21Speaker 15: was resounding through the ship. Had the pirates kept together,
- 4:11:25Speaker 15: it is certain that they would have won. But the
- 4:11:27Speaker 15: onset came when they were still unstrung, and they ran
- 4:11:31Speaker 15: hither and thither, striking wildly, each thinking himself the last survivor.
- 4:11:36Speaker 14: Of the crew.
- 4:11:38Speaker 15: Man to man, they were the stronger, but they fought
- 4:11:41Speaker 15: on the defensive only, which enabled the boys to hunt
- 4:11:44Speaker 15: in pairs and choose their quarry. Some of the miscreants
- 4:11:48Speaker 15: leapt into the sea. Others hid in dark recesses, where
- 4:11:53Speaker 15: they were found by Slightly, who did not fight, but
- 4:11:56Speaker 15: ran about with the lantern, which he flashed in their faces,
- 4:12:00Speaker 15: so that they were half blinded and fell as an
- 4:12:03Speaker 15: easy prey to the reeking swords of the other boys.
- 4:12:07Speaker 15: There was little sound to be heard, but the clang
- 4:12:09Speaker 15: of weapons, an occasional screech or splash, and slightly monotonously
- 4:12:14Speaker 15: counting five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven. I think
- 4:12:22Speaker 15: all were gone when a group of savage boys surrounded Hook,
- 4:12:26Speaker 15: who seemed to have a charmed life as he kept
- 4:12:29Speaker 15: them at bay in that circle of fire. They had
- 4:12:32Speaker 15: done for his dogs, But this man alone seemed to
- 4:12:35Speaker 15: be a match for them all. Again and again they
- 4:12:39Speaker 15: closed upon him, and again and again he hewed a
- 4:12:42Speaker 15: clear space. He had lifted up one boy with his
- 4:12:45Speaker 15: hook and was using him as a buckler shield, when another,
- 4:12:50Speaker 15: who had just passed his sword through mulleins, sprang into
- 4:12:53Speaker 15: the Fray. Put up your swords, boys, cried the newcomer,
- 4:12:59Speaker 15: this man a small Thus, suddenly Hook found himself face
- 4:13:04Speaker 15: to face with Peter. The others drew back and formed
- 4:13:07Speaker 15: a ring around them. For long the two enemies looked
- 4:13:11Speaker 15: at one another, Hook shuddering slightly, and Peter with a
- 4:13:15Speaker 15: strange smile upon his face. So pan said Hook, at last,
- 4:13:22Speaker 15: this is all you are doing, aye, James. Hook, came
- 4:13:26Speaker 15: the stern answer, it is all my doing. Proud and
- 4:13:31Speaker 15: insolent youth, said Hook, prepare to meet thy doom, dark
- 4:13:37Speaker 15: and sinister man. Peter answered, have with thee. Without more words,
- 4:13:42Speaker 15: they fell to and for a space. There was no
- 4:13:45Speaker 15: advantage to either blade. Peter was a superb swordsman, and
- 4:13:49Speaker 15: parried with dazzling rapidity. Ever and anone He followed up
- 4:13:54Speaker 15: a faint with a lunge that caught past his for's defense,
- 4:13:58Speaker 15: but his shorter reag stood him in ill stead, and
- 4:14:01Speaker 15: he could not dry the steel home. Hook, scarcely, his
- 4:14:05Speaker 15: inferior and brilliancy, but not quite so nimble in wrist play,
- 4:14:10Speaker 15: forced him back by the weight of his onset, Hoping
- 4:14:13Speaker 15: suddenly to end all with a favorite thrust, taught him
- 4:14:17Speaker 15: long ago by barbecue at rio. But to his astonishment
- 4:14:22Speaker 15: he found his thrust turned aside again and again. Then
- 4:14:27Speaker 15: he sought to close and give the quietness with his
- 4:14:30Speaker 15: iron hook, which all this time had been pawing the air,
- 4:14:35Speaker 15: But Peter doubled under it, and, lunging fiercely, pierced him
- 4:14:39Speaker 15: in the ribs. At the sight of his own blood,
- 4:14:42Speaker 15: whose peculiar color you remember, was offensive to him, the
- 4:14:46Speaker 15: sword fell from Hook's hand, and he was at Peter's mercy.
- 4:14:51Speaker 15: Now cried all the boys. But with a magnificent gesture,
- 4:14:55Speaker 15: Peter invited his opponent to pick up his sword. Hook
- 4:14:59Speaker 15: did so instantly, but with the tragic feeling that Peter
- 4:15:03Speaker 15: was showing good form hit heurto He had thought it
- 4:15:07Speaker 15: was some fiend fighting him, But darker suspicions assailed him.
- 4:15:12Speaker 15: Now Pan, Who and what art thou? He cried, huskily,
- 4:15:19Speaker 15: I'm youth, I'm joy, Peter answered, at a venture, I'm
- 4:15:23Speaker 15: a little bird that has broken out of the egg. This,
- 4:15:28Speaker 15: of course was nonsense, but it was proof to the
- 4:15:31Speaker 15: unhappy Hook that Peter did not know in the least
- 4:15:34Speaker 15: who or what he was, which is the very pinnacle
- 4:15:38Speaker 15: of good form. Dot again, he cried despairingly. He fought
- 4:15:43Speaker 15: now like a human flail, and every sweep of that
- 4:15:47Speaker 15: terrible sword would have severed in twain any man or
- 4:15:50Speaker 15: boy who obstructed it. But Peter fluttered round him, as
- 4:15:55Speaker 15: if the very wind it made blew him out of
- 4:15:58Speaker 15: the danger's zone. And again an again he darted in
- 4:16:01Speaker 15: and pricked. Hook was fighting now without hope. That passionate
- 4:16:06Speaker 15: breast no longer asked for life but for one boon
- 4:16:10Speaker 15: it craved to see Peter show bad form before it
- 4:16:14Speaker 15: was cold. Forever abandoning the fight, he rushed into the
- 4:16:18Speaker 15: powder magazine and fired it in two minutes. He cried,
- 4:16:24Speaker 15: the ship will be blown to pieces. Now, now, he thought,
- 4:16:28Speaker 15: true form will show. But Peter issued from the powder
- 4:16:32Speaker 15: magazine with a shell in his hands, and calmly flung
- 4:16:36Speaker 15: it overboard. What sort of form was Hook himself showing?
- 4:16:41Speaker 15: Misguided man though he was, we may be glad without
- 4:16:44Speaker 15: sympathizing with him that in the end he was true
- 4:16:48Speaker 15: to the traditions of his race. The other boys were
- 4:16:51Speaker 15: flying round him now, flouting scornful, and he staggered about
- 4:16:56Speaker 15: the deck, striking up at them impotently. His mind was
- 4:17:00Speaker 15: no longer with them. It was louching in the playing
- 4:17:03Speaker 15: fields of long ago, or being sent up to the
- 4:17:07Speaker 15: headmaster for good, or watching the wall game from a
- 4:17:10Speaker 15: famous wall. And his shoes were right, and his waistcoat
- 4:17:15Speaker 15: was right, and his tie was right, and his socks
- 4:17:18Speaker 15: were right. James Hook, thou not wholly unheroic figure. Farewell,
- 4:17:24Speaker 15: for we have come to his last moment. Seeing Peter
- 4:17:28Speaker 15: slowly advancing upon him through the air with dagger poised,
- 4:17:33Speaker 15: he sprang upon the bulwarks to cast himself into the sea.
- 4:17:37Speaker 15: He did not know that the crocodile was waiting for him,
- 4:17:41Speaker 15: for we purposely stopped the clock that this knowledge might
- 4:17:44Speaker 15: be spared him a little mark of respect from us.
- 4:17:48Speaker 15: At the end, he had one last triumph, which I
- 4:17:52Speaker 15: think we need not grudge him. As he stood on
- 4:17:55Speaker 15: the bulwark, looking over his shoulder at Peter gliding through
- 4:17:58Speaker 15: the air, he invited him with a gesture to use
- 4:18:01Speaker 15: his foot. It made Peter kick instead of stab. At last,
- 4:18:07Speaker 15: Hook had got the bone for which he craved bad form.
- 4:18:12Speaker 15: He cried jeeringly and went content to the crocodile. Thus
- 4:18:17Speaker 15: perished James Hook seventeen slightly sang out, but he was
- 4:18:23Speaker 15: not quite correct in his figures. Fifteen paid the penalty
- 4:18:27Speaker 15: for their crimes that night, but two reached the shore
- 4:18:31Speaker 15: Starkey to be captured by the Redskins, who made him
- 4:18:35Speaker 15: nurse for all their papooses. A melancholy come down for
- 4:18:39Speaker 15: a pirate, and Smee, who henceforth wandered about the world
- 4:18:44Speaker 15: in his spectacles, making a precarious living by saying he
- 4:18:47Speaker 15: was the only man that James Hook had feared. Wendy,
- 4:18:52Speaker 15: of course, had stood by, taking no part in the fight,
- 4:18:55Speaker 15: though watching Peter with glistening eyes. But now that all
- 4:18:59Speaker 15: was over she became prominent again. She praised them equally
- 4:19:04Speaker 15: and shuddered delightfully when Michael showed her the place where
- 4:19:08Speaker 15: he had killed one. And then she took them into
- 4:19:12Speaker 15: Hook's cabin and pointed to his watch, which was hanging
- 4:19:15Speaker 15: on a nail. It said half past one. The lateness
- 4:19:20Speaker 15: of the hour was almost the biggest thing of all.
- 4:19:23Speaker 15: She got them to bed in the pirate's bunks pretty quickly,
- 4:19:27Speaker 15: you may be sure, all but Peter, who strotted up
- 4:19:31Speaker 15: and down on the deck until at last he fell
- 4:19:34Speaker 15: asleep by the side of long Tom. He had one
- 4:19:37Speaker 15: of his dreams that night, and cried in his sleep
- 4:19:40Speaker 15: for a long time, and Wendy held him tightly. End
- 4:19:47Speaker 15: of Chapter fifteen.
- 4:19:49Speaker 3: Chapter sixteen of Peter Pan by J. M. Barry. The
- 4:19:53Speaker 3: return home by three bells that morning. They were all
- 4:19:59Speaker 3: stirring their stumps, for there was a big sea running
- 4:20:02Speaker 3: and toodles. The bosum was among them, with a rope's
- 4:20:05Speaker 3: end in his hand and chewing tobacco. They all dawned
- 4:20:09Speaker 3: pirate clothes cut off at the knee, shaved smartly, and
- 4:20:12Speaker 3: tumbled up with the true nautical roll in hitching their trousers.
- 4:20:17Speaker 3: It need not be said who was the captain. Nibs
- 4:20:20Speaker 3: and John were first and second mate. There was a
- 4:20:23Speaker 3: woman aboard. The rest were tars before the mast and
- 4:20:26Speaker 3: lived in the forecastle. Peter had already lashed himself to
- 4:20:30Speaker 3: the wheel, but he piped all hands and delivered a
- 4:20:33Speaker 3: short address to them. Said he hoped they would do
- 4:20:35Speaker 3: their duty like gallant hardies, but that he knew they
- 4:20:39Speaker 3: were the scum of Rio and the Gold Coast, and
- 4:20:41Speaker 3: if they snapped at him, he would tear them the bluff.
- 4:20:44Speaker 3: Strident words struck the note. Sailors understood, and they cheered
- 4:20:48Speaker 3: him lustily. Then a few sharp orders were given, and
- 4:20:52Speaker 3: they returned the ship round and nosed her for the mainland.
- 4:20:56Speaker 3: Captain Pan calculated, after consulting the ship's art, that if
- 4:21:01Speaker 3: this weather lasted, they should strike the Azores about the
- 4:21:04Speaker 3: twenty first of June, after which it would save time
- 4:21:07Speaker 3: to fly. Some of them wanted it to be an
- 4:21:09Speaker 3: honest ship, and others were in favor of keeping it
- 4:21:12Speaker 3: a pirate, but the captain treated them as dogs, and
- 4:21:15Speaker 3: they dared not express their wishes to him, even in
- 4:21:18Speaker 3: a round robin one person after another, as they had
- 4:21:21Speaker 3: to captain Hook, instant obedience was the only safe thing.
- 4:21:26Speaker 3: Slightly got a dozen for looking perplexed when told to
- 4:21:29Speaker 3: take soundings. The general feeling was that Peter was honest
- 4:21:32Speaker 3: just now to lull Wendy's suspicions, but that there might
- 4:21:36Speaker 3: be a change when the new suit was ready, which,
- 4:21:38Speaker 3: against her will, she was making for him out of
- 4:21:41Speaker 3: some of Hook's wickedest garments. It was afterwards whispered among
- 4:21:45Speaker 3: them that on the first night he wore this suit,
- 4:21:48Speaker 3: he sat long in the cabin with Hook's cigar holder
- 4:21:51Speaker 3: in his mouth and one hand clenched all but for
- 4:21:54Speaker 3: the forefinger, which he bent and held threateningly aloft like
- 4:21:58Speaker 3: a hook, instead of watching the ship. However, we must
- 4:22:02Speaker 3: now return to that desolate home from which three of
- 4:22:04Speaker 3: our characters had taken heartless flight so long ago. It
- 4:22:08Speaker 3: seems a shame to have neglected number fourteen all this time,
- 4:22:12Speaker 3: And yet we may be sure that missus Darling does
- 4:22:14Speaker 3: not blame us. If we had returned sooner to look
- 4:22:17Speaker 3: with sorrowful sympathy at her, she would probably have cried,
- 4:22:20Speaker 3: don't be silly, what do I matter?
- 4:22:23Speaker 2: Do?
- 4:22:23Speaker 3: Go back and keep an eye on the children. So
- 4:22:26Speaker 3: long as mothers are like this, their children will take
- 4:22:28Speaker 3: advantage of them, and they may lay to bed on
- 4:22:30Speaker 3: that Even now, we venture into that familiar nursery only
- 4:22:35Speaker 3: because its lawful occupants are on their way home. We
- 4:22:38Speaker 3: are merely hurrying on in advance of them, to see
- 4:22:41Speaker 3: that their beds are properly aired, and that mister and
- 4:22:44Speaker 3: missus Darling do not go out for the evening. We
- 4:22:47Speaker 3: are no more than servants. Why on earth should their
- 4:22:50Speaker 3: beds be properly aired, seeing that they left them in
- 4:22:52Speaker 3: such a thankless hurry. Would it not serve them jolly
- 4:22:55Speaker 3: well right if they came back and found that their
- 4:22:58Speaker 3: parents were spending the week end in the cun It
- 4:23:01Speaker 3: would be the moral lesson that they have been in
- 4:23:03Speaker 3: need of ever since we met them. But if we
- 4:23:05Speaker 3: contrived things in this way, Missus Darling would never forgive
- 4:23:09Speaker 3: us one thing I should like to do immensely, and
- 4:23:12Speaker 3: that is to tell her in the way authors have
- 4:23:15Speaker 3: that the children are coming back, that indeed they will
- 4:23:18Speaker 3: be here on Thursday week This would spoil so completely
- 4:23:21Speaker 3: the surprise to which Wendy and John and Michael are
- 4:23:24Speaker 3: looking forward. They have been planning it out on the ship.
- 4:23:28Speaker 3: Mother's rapture, father's shout of joy, Nana's leaped through the
- 4:23:31Speaker 3: air to embrace them first, when what they ought to
- 4:23:34Speaker 3: be prepared for is a good hiding. How delicious to
- 4:23:37Speaker 3: spoil it all by breaking the news in advance, so
- 4:23:40Speaker 3: that when they enter grandly Missus Darling may not even
- 4:23:43Speaker 3: offer Wendy her mouth, and mister Darling may exclaim pittishly.
- 4:23:47Speaker 11: Dash it all.
- 4:23:48Speaker 3: Hear those boys again. However, we should get no thanks
- 4:23:52Speaker 3: even for this. We are beginning to know Missus Darling
- 4:23:55Speaker 3: by this time, and may be sure that she would
- 4:23:57Speaker 3: upbraid us for depriving the children of their little pleasure.
- 4:24:01Speaker 3: But my dear madam, it is ten days till Thursday week,
- 4:24:04Speaker 3: So that by telling you what's what, we can save
- 4:24:06Speaker 3: you ten days of unhappiness? Yes, but at what cost
- 4:24:10Speaker 3: by depriving the children of ten minutes of delight?
- 4:24:14Speaker 15: Oh?
- 4:24:14Speaker 3: If you look at it that way, what other way
- 4:24:17Speaker 3: is there in which to look at it? You see?
- 4:24:20Speaker 3: The woman had no proper spirit. I had meant to
- 4:24:23Speaker 3: say extraordinarily nice things about her, but I despise her,
- 4:24:26Speaker 3: and not one of them will I say?
- 4:24:28Speaker 10: Now?
- 4:24:29Speaker 3: She does not really need to be told to have
- 4:24:31Speaker 3: things ready, for they are ready. All the beds are aired,
- 4:24:34Speaker 3: and she never leaves the house, and observe the window
- 4:24:37Speaker 3: is open for all the use we are to her.
- 4:24:41Speaker 3: We might well go back to the ship. However, as
- 4:24:44Speaker 3: we are here, we may as well stay and look on.
- 4:24:47Speaker 3: That is all we are lookers on. Nobody really wants us,
- 4:24:51Speaker 3: so let us watch and say jaggy things in the
- 4:24:53Speaker 3: hope that some of them will hurt. The only change
- 4:24:56Speaker 3: to be seen in the night nursery is that between
- 4:24:58Speaker 3: nine and six the kennel is no no longer there.
- 4:25:01Speaker 3: When the children flew away, mister Darling felt in his bones,
- 4:25:04Speaker 3: that all the blame was his for having changed Nana up,
- 4:25:08Speaker 3: and that from first to last she had been wiser
- 4:25:11Speaker 3: than he. Of course, as we have seen, he was
- 4:25:14Speaker 3: quite a simple man. Indeed, he might have passed for
- 4:25:16Speaker 3: a boy again if he had been able to take
- 4:25:18Speaker 3: his baldness off. But he had also a noble sense
- 4:25:21Speaker 3: of justice and a lion's courage to do what seemed
- 4:25:24Speaker 3: right to him. And, having thought the matter out with
- 4:25:27Speaker 3: anxious care, after the flight of the children, he went
- 4:25:30Speaker 3: down on all fours and crawled into the kennel. To
- 4:25:33Speaker 3: all missus Darling's dear invitations to him to come out,
- 4:25:37Speaker 3: he replied, sadly but firmly, no, my own one, this
- 4:25:41Speaker 3: is the place for me. In the bitterness of his remorse,
- 4:25:45Speaker 3: he swore that he would never leave the kennel until
- 4:25:47Speaker 3: his children came back. Of course, this was a pity,
- 4:25:50Speaker 3: but whatever mister Darling did, he had to do it
- 4:25:52Speaker 3: in excess, otherwise he soon gave up doing it. And
- 4:25:56Speaker 3: there never was a more humble man than the once
- 4:25:58Speaker 3: proud George Darling. As he sat in the kennel of
- 4:26:01Speaker 3: an evening, talking with his wife of their children and
- 4:26:04Speaker 3: all their pretty ways, very touching was his deference to Nana.
- 4:26:09Speaker 3: He would not let her come into the kennel, but
- 4:26:11Speaker 3: on all other matters he followed her wishes implicitly. Every morning,
- 4:26:15Speaker 3: the kennel was carried with mister Darling in it to
- 4:26:17Speaker 3: a cab, which conveyed him to his office, and he
- 4:26:21Speaker 3: returned home in the same way at six. Something of
- 4:26:24Speaker 3: the strength of character of the man will be seen
- 4:26:26Speaker 3: if we remember how sensitive he was to the opinion
- 4:26:29Speaker 3: of neighbors. This man, whose every movement now attracted surprised attention. Inwardly,
- 4:26:36Speaker 3: he must have suffered torture, but he preserved a calm
- 4:26:39Speaker 3: exterior even when the young criticized his little home, and
- 4:26:43Speaker 3: he always lifted his hat courteously to any lady who
- 4:26:46Speaker 3: looked inside. It may have been quizotic, but it was magnificent.
- 4:26:51Speaker 3: Soon the inward meaning of it leaked out, and the
- 4:26:53Speaker 3: great heart of the public was touched. Crowds followed the cab,
- 4:26:57Speaker 3: cheering it lustily. Charming girls scaled it to get his autograph.
- 4:27:01Speaker 3: Interviews appeared in the better class of papers, and society
- 4:27:05Speaker 3: invited him to dinner, and added, do come in the
- 4:27:08Speaker 3: kennel On that eventful Thursday week, missus Darling was in
- 4:27:12Speaker 3: the night nursery awaiting George's return home, a very sad
- 4:27:15Speaker 3: eyed woman. Now that we look at her closely and
- 4:27:19Speaker 3: remember the gayety of her in the old days, all
- 4:27:22Speaker 3: gone now, just because she has lost her babes, I
- 4:27:25Speaker 3: find I won't be able to say nasty things about her.
- 4:27:27Speaker 3: After all, if she was too fond of her rubbishy children,
- 4:27:31Speaker 3: she couldn't help it. Look at her in her chair
- 4:27:34Speaker 3: where she has fallen asleep. The corner of her mouth,
- 4:27:37Speaker 3: where one looks first, is almost withered up. Her hand
- 4:27:40Speaker 3: moves restlessly on her breast, as if she had had
- 4:27:43Speaker 3: a pain there. Some like Peter Best and some like
- 4:27:47Speaker 3: Wendy Best, but I like her Best. Suppose to make
- 4:27:51Speaker 3: her happy. We whisper to her in her sleep that
- 4:27:53Speaker 3: her brats are coming back. They are really within two
- 4:27:56Speaker 3: miles of the window now and flying strong. But all
- 4:28:00Speaker 3: we need whisper is that they're on their way. Let's
- 4:28:03Speaker 3: it is a pity we did it, for she has
- 4:28:06Speaker 3: started up calling their names, and there is no one
- 4:28:09Speaker 3: in the room but Nana, Oh, Nana. I dreamt my
- 4:28:13Speaker 3: dear ones had come back. Nana had filmy eyes but
- 4:28:17Speaker 3: all she could do was put her paw gently on
- 4:28:19Speaker 3: her mistress's lap, and they were sitting together. Thus, when
- 4:28:23Speaker 3: the kennel was brought back, as mister Darling put his
- 4:28:26Speaker 3: head out to kiss his wife, we see that his
- 4:28:28Speaker 3: face is more worn than of yore, but has a
- 4:28:31Speaker 3: softer expression. He gave his hat to Liza, who took
- 4:28:35Speaker 3: it scornfully. She had no imagination, It was quite incapable
- 4:28:39Speaker 3: of understanding the motives of such a man. Outside the
- 4:28:42Speaker 3: crowd who had accompanied the cab home were still cheering,
- 4:28:46Speaker 3: and he was naturally not unmoved. Listen to them, he said,
- 4:28:50Speaker 3: it is very gratifying. Lots of little boys sneered Eliza.
- 4:28:55Speaker 3: There were several adults to day, he assured her with
- 4:28:58Speaker 3: a faint flush. But when she tossed her head, he
- 4:29:01Speaker 3: had not a word of reproof, for her social success
- 4:29:04Speaker 3: had not spoilt him. It had made him sweeter. For
- 4:29:08Speaker 3: some time he sat with his head out of the kennel,
- 4:29:11Speaker 3: talking with missus Darling of this success, and pressing her
- 4:29:14Speaker 3: hand reassuringly. When she said she hoped his head would
- 4:29:18Speaker 3: not be turned by it. But if I had been
- 4:29:21Speaker 3: a weak man, he said, good heavens if I had
- 4:29:23Speaker 3: been a weak man. And George, she said timidly, you
- 4:29:27Speaker 3: are as full of remorse as ever, aren't you full
- 4:29:31Speaker 3: of remorse as ever? Dearest? See my punishment living in
- 4:29:34Speaker 3: a kennel. But it is punishment, isn't it, George? You
- 4:29:39Speaker 3: are sure you are not enjoying it? My love? You
- 4:29:43Speaker 3: may be sure, she begged his pardon, and then, feeling drowsy,
- 4:29:46Speaker 3: he curled round in the kennel. Won't you play me
- 4:29:49Speaker 3: to sleep? He asked on the nursery piano, And as
- 4:29:52Speaker 3: she was crossing to the day nursery, he added, thoughtlessly,
- 4:29:56Speaker 3: and shut that window. I feel a draft. Oh, George,
- 4:30:00Speaker 3: he ever ask me to do that? The window must
- 4:30:02Speaker 3: always be left open for them, always, always. Now it
- 4:30:07Speaker 3: was his turn to beg her pardon, and she went
- 4:30:09Speaker 3: into the day nursery and played, and soon he was asleep.
- 4:30:13Speaker 3: And while he slept, Wendy and John and Michael flew
- 4:30:16Speaker 3: into the room. Oh no, we have ridden it so,
- 4:30:19Speaker 3: because that was the charming arrangement planned by them before
- 4:30:22Speaker 3: we left the ship. But something must have happened since then,
- 4:30:27Speaker 3: for it is not they who have flown in. It
- 4:30:29Speaker 3: is Peter and tinker Bell. Peter's first words, tell all quick, Tink,
- 4:30:34Speaker 3: He whispered, close the window, bar it. That's right now,
- 4:30:38Speaker 3: You and I must get away by that door. And
- 4:30:39Speaker 3: when Wendy comes, she will think her mother has barred
- 4:30:42Speaker 3: her out, and she will have to go back with me.
- 4:30:45Speaker 3: Now I understand what had hitherto puzzled me. Why when
- 4:30:48Speaker 3: Peter had exterminated the pirates, he did not return to
- 4:30:51Speaker 3: the island and leave Tink to escort the children to
- 4:30:53Speaker 3: the mainland. This trick had been in his head all
- 4:30:56Speaker 3: the time. Instead of feeling that he was behaving back,
- 4:31:00Speaker 3: he danced with glee. Then he peeped into the day
- 4:31:03Speaker 3: nursery to see who was playing. He whispered to Tink,
- 4:31:07Speaker 3: it's Wendy's mother. She is a pretty lady, but not
- 4:31:10Speaker 3: so pretty as my mother. Her mouth is full of thimbles,
- 4:31:13Speaker 3: but not so full as my mother's was. Of course,
- 4:31:16Speaker 3: he knew nothing whatever about his mother, but he sometimes
- 4:31:19Speaker 3: bragged about her. He did not know the tune, which
- 4:31:23Speaker 3: was Home, Sweet Home, but he knew what it was saying,
- 4:31:26Speaker 3: Come back, Wendy, Wendy, Wendy, and he cried exultantly. You
- 4:31:31Speaker 3: will never see Wendy again, lady, for the window is barred.
- 4:31:35Speaker 3: He peeped in again to see why the music had stopped,
- 4:31:38Speaker 3: And now he saw that missus Darling had laid her
- 4:31:40Speaker 3: head on the box, and that two tears were sitting
- 4:31:43Speaker 3: on her eyes. She wants me to unbar the window,
- 4:31:46Speaker 3: thought Peter. But I won't, not I. He peeped again,
- 4:31:51Speaker 3: and the tears were still there, or another two had
- 4:31:53Speaker 3: taken their place. She's awfully fond of Wendy, he said
- 4:31:58Speaker 3: to himself. He was angry with her now for not
- 4:32:01Speaker 3: seeing why she could not have Wendy. The reason was
- 4:32:05Speaker 3: so simple. I'm fond of her too. We can't both
- 4:32:08Speaker 3: have her, lady. But the lady would not make the
- 4:32:11Speaker 3: best of it, and he was unhappy. He ceased to
- 4:32:14Speaker 3: look at her, but even then she would not let
- 4:32:17Speaker 3: go of him. He skipped about and made funny faces,
- 4:32:20Speaker 3: but when he stopped, it was just as if she
- 4:32:23Speaker 3: were inside him knocking. Oh, all right, he said at last,
- 4:32:27Speaker 3: and gulped. Then he unbarred the window. Come on, tink,
- 4:32:30Speaker 3: he cried, with a frightful sneer at the laws of nature.
- 4:32:33Speaker 3: We don't want any silly mothers, And he flew away. Thus,
- 4:32:38Speaker 3: Wendy and John and Michael found the window open for
- 4:32:41Speaker 3: them after all, which of course was more than they deserved.
- 4:32:45Speaker 3: They alighted on the floor, quite unashamed of themselves, and
- 4:32:49Speaker 3: the youngest one had already forgotten his home. John, he said,
- 4:32:53Speaker 3: looking around him, doubtfully, I think I have been here before.
- 4:32:57Speaker 3: Of course you have, you silly. There is your old bed,
- 4:33:01Speaker 3: So it is, Michael said, but not with much conviction.
- 4:33:05Speaker 3: I say, cried John. The kennel, and he dashed across
- 4:33:08Speaker 3: to look into it. Perhaps Nana is inside it, Wendy said,
- 4:33:12Speaker 3: But John whistled, hullo, he said, there's a man inside it.
- 4:33:17Speaker 3: It's father, exclaimed Wendy. Let me see father, Michael begged eagerly,
- 4:33:22Speaker 3: and he took a good look. He is not so
- 4:33:25Speaker 3: big as the pirate I killed, he said, with such
- 4:33:27Speaker 3: frank disappointment that I am glad mister Darling was asleep.
- 4:33:31Speaker 3: It would have been sad if those had been the
- 4:33:33Speaker 3: first words he heard as little Michael say. Wendy and
- 4:33:37Speaker 3: John had been taken aback somewhat at finding their father
- 4:33:39Speaker 3: in the kennel. Surely, said John, like one who had
- 4:33:43Speaker 3: lost faith in his memory. He used not to sleep
- 4:33:46Speaker 3: in this kennel, John, Wendy said, falteringly. Perhaps we don't
- 4:33:50Speaker 3: remember the old life as well as we thought we did.
- 4:33:53Speaker 3: A chill fell upon them and served them right. It
- 4:33:56Speaker 3: is very careless of mother, said the young scoundrel John,
- 4:34:00Speaker 3: not to be here when we come back. It was
- 4:34:03Speaker 3: then that missus Darling began playing again. It's mother, cried Wendy,
- 4:34:08Speaker 3: peeping so it is, said John. Then are you not
- 4:34:12Speaker 3: really our mother? Wendy asked Michael, who was surely sleepy.
- 4:34:16Speaker 3: Oh dear, exclaimed Wendy, with her first real twinge of
- 4:34:19Speaker 3: remorse for having gone. It was quite time we came back.
- 4:34:24Speaker 3: Let us creep in, John suggested, and put our hands
- 4:34:27Speaker 3: over her eyes. But Wendy, who saw that they must
- 4:34:30Speaker 3: break the joyous news more gently, had a better plan.
- 4:34:34Speaker 3: Let us all slip into our beds and be there
- 4:34:37Speaker 3: when she comes in, just as if we had never
- 4:34:39Speaker 3: been away. And so, when missus Darling went back to
- 4:34:42Speaker 3: the night nursery to see if her husband was asleep,
- 4:34:46Speaker 3: all the beds were occupied. The children waited for her
- 4:34:49Speaker 3: cry of joy, but it did not come. She saw them,
- 4:34:53Speaker 3: but she did not believe they were there. You see,
- 4:34:57Speaker 3: She saw them in their beds so often in her
- 4:34:59Speaker 3: dreams that she thought this was just the dream hanging
- 4:35:02Speaker 3: around her. Still, she sat down in the chair by
- 4:35:05Speaker 3: the fire where in the old days she had nursed them.
- 4:35:08Speaker 3: They could not understand this, and a cold fear fell
- 4:35:11Speaker 3: upon all the three of them. Mother Wendy cried, that's Wendy,
- 4:35:17Speaker 3: she said. But still she was sure it was the dream. Mother,
- 4:35:22Speaker 3: that's John, she said. Mother cried, Michael. He knew her. Now,
- 4:35:28Speaker 3: that's Michael, she said, And she stretched out her arms
- 4:35:31Speaker 3: for the three little selfish children. They would never envelope again.
- 4:35:35Speaker 3: Yes they did. They went round Wendy and John and Michael,
- 4:35:39Speaker 3: who had slipped out of bed and run to her. George, George,
- 4:35:43Speaker 3: she cried when she could speak, and mister Darling woke
- 4:35:47Speaker 3: to share her bliss, and Nana came rushing in. There
- 4:35:50Speaker 3: could not have been a lovelier sight, But there was
- 4:35:53Speaker 3: none to see it except a little boy who was
- 4:35:55Speaker 3: staring in at the window. He had had ecstasies in
- 4:35:59Speaker 3: noomble that other children can never know, But he was
- 4:36:03Speaker 3: looking through the window at the one joy from which
- 4:36:06Speaker 3: he must be forever barred.
- 4:36:12Speaker 5: End of Chapter sixteen chapter seventeen. When Wendy grew up,
- 4:36:19Speaker 5: I hope you want to know what became of the
- 4:36:21Speaker 5: other boys. They were waiting below to give Wendy time
- 4:36:24Speaker 5: to explain about them, and when they had counted five hundred,
- 4:36:28Speaker 5: they went up. They went up by the stair because
- 4:36:31Speaker 5: they thought this would make a better impression. They stood
- 4:36:35Speaker 5: in a row in front of Missus Darling, with their
- 4:36:36Speaker 5: hats off and wishing they were not wearing their pirate clothes.
- 4:36:41Speaker 5: They said nothing, but their eyes asked her to have them.
- 4:36:45Speaker 5: They ought to have looked at mister Darling also, but
- 4:36:47Speaker 5: they forgot about him.
- 4:36:50Speaker 4: Of course.
- 4:36:51Speaker 5: Missus Darling said at once that she would have them.
- 4:36:53Speaker 5: But mister Darling was curiously depressed, and they saw that
- 4:36:57Speaker 5: he considered six a rather large number. I must say.
- 4:37:01Speaker 5: He said to Wendy that you don't do things by halves,
- 4:37:05Speaker 5: a grudging remark which the twins thought was pointed at them.
- 4:37:09Speaker 5: The first twin was the proud one, and he asked, flushing,
- 4:37:13Speaker 5: do you think we should be too much of a handful, sir,
- 4:37:15Speaker 5: because if so, we can go away. Father Wendy cried, shocked,
- 4:37:20Speaker 5: but still the cloud was on him. He knew he
- 4:37:23Speaker 5: was behaving unworthily, but he could not help it. We
- 4:37:27Speaker 5: could lie doubled up, said NIBBs. I always cut their
- 4:37:31Speaker 5: hair myself, said Wendy. George, missus Darling exclaimed, pained to
- 4:37:36Speaker 5: see her dear one showing himself in such an unfavorable light.
- 4:37:40Speaker 5: Then he burst into tears and the truth came out.
- 4:37:44Speaker 5: He was as glad to have them as she was,
- 4:37:46Speaker 5: he said, but he thought they should have asked his
- 4:37:48Speaker 5: consent as well as hers, instead of treating him like
- 4:37:51Speaker 5: a cipher in his own house. I don't think he
- 4:37:55Speaker 5: is a cipher, Tootles cried instantly. Do you think he
- 4:37:58Speaker 5: is a cipher? Curly, No, I don't. Do you think
- 4:38:01Speaker 5: he is a cipher?
- 4:38:02Speaker 7: Slightly rather not?
- 4:38:04Speaker 6: Twin?
- 4:38:04Speaker 4: What do you think?
- 4:38:07Speaker 5: It turned out that not one of them thought him
- 4:38:08Speaker 5: a cipher, and he was absurdly gratified and said he
- 4:38:13Speaker 5: would find space for them all in the drawing room
- 4:38:14Speaker 5: if they fitted in. We'll fit in, sir, they assured him.
- 4:38:19Speaker 5: Then follow the leader, he cried, gaily, mind you, I
- 4:38:22Speaker 5: am not sure that we have a drawing room, but
- 4:38:24Speaker 5: we pretend we have, and it's all the same.
- 4:38:26Speaker 7: Hoopla.
- 4:38:28Speaker 5: He went off dancing through the house, and they all
- 4:38:30Speaker 5: cried hoopla and danced after him, searching for the drawing room.
- 4:38:35Speaker 5: And I forget whether they found it, but at any
- 4:38:37Speaker 5: rate they found corners, and they all fitted in. As
- 4:38:41Speaker 5: for Peter, he saw Wendy once again before he flew away.
- 4:38:46Speaker 5: He did not exactly come to the window, but he
- 4:38:48Speaker 5: brushed against it in passing, so that she could open
- 4:38:50Speaker 5: it if she liked, and called to him.
- 4:38:53Speaker 11: That was what she did.
- 4:38:55Speaker 5: Hullo, Wendy, good bye, he said, Oh dear, are.
- 4:38:59Speaker 6: You going away?
- 4:39:00Speaker 5: Yes, you don't feel Peter. She said, falteringly that you
- 4:39:06Speaker 5: would like to say anything to my parents about a
- 4:39:08Speaker 5: very sweet subject. No about me, Peter, No, missus Darling
- 4:39:17Speaker 5: came to the window, for at present she was keeping
- 4:39:19Speaker 5: a sharp eye on Wendy. She told Peter that she
- 4:39:22Speaker 5: had adopted all the other boys and would like to
- 4:39:25Speaker 5: adopt him. Also, would you send me to school? He
- 4:39:28Speaker 5: inquired craftily, Yes, and then to an office. I suppose
- 4:39:33Speaker 5: so soon I should be a man, very soon. I
- 4:39:37Speaker 5: don't want to go to school and learn solemn things,
- 4:39:40Speaker 5: he told her passionately. I don't want to be a man, Oh,
- 4:39:44Speaker 5: Wendy's mother, If I was to wake up and feel
- 4:39:46Speaker 5: there was a beard. Peter said, Wendy the comforter, I
- 4:39:50Speaker 5: should love you in a beard, and missus Darling stretched
- 4:39:53Speaker 5: out her arms to him, but he repulsed her. Keep back, lady,
- 4:39:57Speaker 5: no one is going to catch me and make me
- 4:39:59Speaker 5: a man. But where are you going to live with Tink?
- 4:40:03Speaker 5: In the house we built for Wendy. The fairies are
- 4:40:05Speaker 5: to put it high up among the tree tops where
- 4:40:07Speaker 5: they sleep at nights. How lovely, cried Wendy, so longingly
- 4:40:11Speaker 5: that missus Darling tightened her grip. I thought all the
- 4:40:14Speaker 5: fairies were dead, missus Darling said. There are always a
- 4:40:17Speaker 5: lot of young ones, explained Wendy, who is not quite
- 4:40:20Speaker 5: an authority, because you see, when a new baby laughs
- 4:40:23Speaker 5: for the first time, a new fairy is born. And
- 4:40:25Speaker 5: as there are always new babies, there are always new fairies.
- 4:40:28Speaker 5: They live in nests on the tops of trees, and
- 4:40:31Speaker 5: the mauve ones are boys, and the white ones are girls,
- 4:40:33Speaker 5: and the blue ones are just little sillies who are
- 4:40:35Speaker 5: not sure what they are. I shall have such fun,
- 4:40:39Speaker 5: said Peter, with one eye on Wendy. It will be
- 4:40:42Speaker 5: rather lonely in the evening, she said, sitting by the fire.
- 4:40:45Speaker 5: I shall have tink. Tink can't go a twentieth part
- 4:40:48Speaker 5: of the way around, She reminded him. A little tartly, sneaky,
- 4:40:53Speaker 5: tell tale tink called out from somewhere round the corner.
- 4:40:57Speaker 5: It doesn't matter, Peter said, Oh, Peter, you know it matters. Well,
- 4:41:01Speaker 5: then come with me to the little house, may I?
- 4:41:04Speaker 16: Mummy?
- 4:41:05Speaker 5: Certainly not. I have got you home again, and I
- 4:41:07Speaker 5: mean to keep you. But he does so need a mother,
- 4:41:10Speaker 5: So do you, my love? Oh all right, Peter said,
- 4:41:14Speaker 5: as if he had asked her from politeness merely. But
- 4:41:17Speaker 5: missus Darling saw his mouth twitch, and she made this
- 4:41:20Speaker 5: handsome offer to let Wendy go to him for a
- 4:41:23Speaker 5: week every year and do his spring cleaning. Wendy would
- 4:41:26Speaker 5: have preferred a more permanent arrangement, and it seemed to
- 4:41:28Speaker 5: her that spring would be long in coming. But this
- 4:41:32Speaker 5: promise sent Peter away quite gay again. He had no
- 4:41:35Speaker 5: sense of time, and was so full of adventures that
- 4:41:38Speaker 5: all I have told you about him is only a
- 4:41:39Speaker 5: hapeney worth of them. I suppose it was because Wendy
- 4:41:43Speaker 5: knew this that her last words to him were these
- 4:41:45Speaker 5: rather plaintive ones. You won't forget me, Peter, will you
- 4:41:48Speaker 5: before spring cleaning time comes? Of course, Peter promised, and
- 4:41:52Speaker 5: then he flew away. He took missus Darling's kiss with him,
- 4:41:57Speaker 5: the kiss that had been for no one else took
- 4:42:00Speaker 5: quite easily funny, but she seemed satisfied. Of course, all
- 4:42:06Speaker 5: the boys went to school, and most of them got
- 4:42:08Speaker 5: into class three, but slightly was put first into class
- 4:42:11Speaker 5: four and then into class five. Class one is the
- 4:42:13Speaker 5: top class. Before they had attended school a week, they
- 4:42:17Speaker 5: saw what goats they had been not to remain on
- 4:42:19Speaker 5: the island, But it was too late now, and soon
- 4:42:21Speaker 5: they settled down to being as ordinary as you or
- 4:42:24Speaker 5: me or Jenkins minor. It is sad to have to
- 4:42:27Speaker 5: say that the power to fly gradually left them. At first,
- 4:42:31Speaker 5: Nana tied their feet to the bedposts so that they
- 4:42:34Speaker 5: should not fly away in the night, and one of
- 4:42:36Speaker 5: their diversions by day was to pretend to fall off buses.
- 4:42:40Speaker 5: But by and bye they ceased to tug at their
- 4:42:41Speaker 5: bonds in bed and found that they hurt themselves when
- 4:42:44Speaker 5: they let go of the bus. In time, they could
- 4:42:47Speaker 5: not even fly after their hats. Want of practice, they
- 4:42:50Speaker 5: called it, But what it really meant was that they
- 4:42:53Speaker 5: no longer believed. Michael believed longer than the other boys,
- 4:42:59Speaker 5: though they jeered at him. So he was with Wendy
- 4:43:00Speaker 5: when Peter came for her. At the end of the
- 4:43:02Speaker 5: first year. She flew away with Peter in the frock
- 4:43:05Speaker 5: she had woven from the leaves and berries in the Neverland,
- 4:43:08Speaker 5: and her one fear was that he might notice how
- 4:43:10Speaker 5: short it had become. But he never noticed. He had
- 4:43:13Speaker 5: so much to say about himself. She had looked forward
- 4:43:16Speaker 5: to thrilling talks with him about old times, but new
- 4:43:19Speaker 5: adventures had crowded out the old ones from his mind.
- 4:43:23Speaker 5: Who is Captain Hook, he asked her with interest when
- 4:43:26Speaker 5: she spoke of the arch enemy. Don't you remember, she asked, amazed,
- 4:43:29Speaker 5: how you killed him and saved all our lives. I
- 4:43:32Speaker 5: forget them after I killed them, he replied carelessly. When
- 4:43:37Speaker 5: she expressed a doubtful hope that tinker Bell would be
- 4:43:39Speaker 5: glad to see her, he said, who is tinker Bell? Oh, Peter,
- 4:43:43Speaker 5: she said, shocked, But even when she explained, he could
- 4:43:46Speaker 5: not remember. There are such a lot of them, he said,
- 4:43:50Speaker 5: I expect she is no more. I expect he was
- 4:43:53Speaker 5: right for Fairies don't live long, but they are so
- 4:43:56Speaker 5: little that a short time seems a good while to them.
- 4:44:00Speaker 5: Wendy was pained too to find that the past year
- 4:44:02Speaker 5: was but as yesterday. To Peter. It seemed such a
- 4:44:05Speaker 5: long year of waiting to her, But he was exactly
- 4:44:08Speaker 5: as fascinating as ever, and they had a lovely spring
- 4:44:11Speaker 5: cleaning in the little house on the tree tops. Next year,
- 4:44:15Speaker 5: he did not come for her. She waited in a
- 4:44:17Speaker 5: new frock because the old one simply would not meet.
- 4:44:20Speaker 5: But he never came. Perhaps he is ill, Michael said,
- 4:44:25Speaker 5: you know, he is never ill. Michael came close to
- 4:44:28Speaker 5: her and whispered with a shiver, Perhaps there is no
- 4:44:32Speaker 5: such person, Wendy. And then Wendy would have cried if
- 4:44:36Speaker 5: Michael had not been crying. Peter came next spring cleaning,
- 4:44:41Speaker 5: and the strange thing was that he never knew he
- 4:44:42Speaker 5: had missed a year. That was the last time the
- 4:44:47Speaker 5: girl Wendy ever saw him for a little longer. She tried,
- 4:44:51Speaker 5: for his sake not to have growing pains, and she
- 4:44:53Speaker 5: felt she was untrue to him when she got a
- 4:44:56Speaker 5: prize for general knowledge. But the years came and went
- 4:45:00Speaker 5: without bringing the careless boy and when they met again,
- 4:45:03Speaker 5: Wendy was a married woman, and Peter was no more
- 4:45:05Speaker 5: to her than a little dust in the box in
- 4:45:08Speaker 5: which she had kept her toys. Wendy was grown up.
- 4:45:13Speaker 5: You need not be sorry for her. She was one
- 4:45:15Speaker 5: of the kind that likes to grow up. In the end,
- 4:45:18Speaker 5: she grew up of her own free will a day
- 4:45:20Speaker 5: quicker than other girls. All the boys were grown up
- 4:45:24Speaker 5: and done for by this time, so it is scarcely
- 4:45:26Speaker 5: worth while saying anything more about them. You may see
- 4:45:30Speaker 5: the twins and Nibs and Curly any day going to
- 4:45:32Speaker 5: an office, each carrying a little bag and an umbrella.
- 4:45:35Speaker 5: Michael is an engine driver, slightly married a lady of title,
- 4:45:39Speaker 5: and so he became a lord. You see that judge
- 4:45:41Speaker 5: in a wig coming out at the iron door that
- 4:45:44Speaker 5: used to be Tootles. The bearded man who doesn't know
- 4:45:47Speaker 5: any story to tell his children was once John. Wendy
- 4:45:53Speaker 5: was married in white with a pink sash. It is
- 4:45:55Speaker 5: strange to think Peter did not alight in the church
- 4:45:57Speaker 5: and forbid the bands. Years rolled on again, and Wendy
- 4:46:02Speaker 5: had a daughter. This ought not to be written in ink,
- 4:46:05Speaker 5: but in a golden splash. She was called Jane, and
- 4:46:10Speaker 5: always had an odd, inquiring look, as if from the
- 4:46:13Speaker 5: moment she arrived on the mainland she wanted to ask questions.
- 4:46:17Speaker 5: When she was old enough to ask them, They were
- 4:46:19Speaker 5: mostly about Peter Pan. She loved to hear of Peter,
- 4:46:23Speaker 5: and Wendy told her all she could remember. In the
- 4:46:25Speaker 5: very nursery from which the famous flight had taken place.
- 4:46:29Speaker 5: It was Jane's nursery now, for her father had bought
- 4:46:31Speaker 5: it at three percents from Wendy's father, who was no
- 4:46:34Speaker 5: longer fond of stairs. Missus Darling was now dead and forgotten.
- 4:46:40Speaker 5: There were only two beds in the nursery now, Jane's
- 4:46:42Speaker 5: and her nurse's, and there was no kennel, for Nana
- 4:46:45Speaker 5: also had passed away. She died of old age, and
- 4:46:48Speaker 5: at the end she had been rather difficult to get
- 4:46:50Speaker 5: on with, being very firmly convinced that no one knew
- 4:46:53Speaker 5: how to look after her children except herself. Once a week,
- 4:46:58Speaker 5: Jane's nurse had her evening off, and then it was
- 4:47:00Speaker 5: Wendy's part to put Jane to bed. That was the
- 4:47:03Speaker 5: time for stories. It was Jane's invention to raise the
- 4:47:07Speaker 5: sheet over her mother's head in her own, thus making
- 4:47:09Speaker 5: a tent and in the awful darkness to whisper, what do.
- 4:47:14Speaker 11: We see now?
- 4:47:17Speaker 5: I don't think I see anything tonight, says Wendy, with
- 4:47:19Speaker 5: a feeling that if Nana were here, she would object
- 4:47:21Speaker 5: to further conversation. Yes you do, says Jane. You see
- 4:47:26Speaker 5: when you were a little girl. That is a long
- 4:47:30Speaker 5: time ago, sweetheart, says Wendy. Ah me, how time flies?
- 4:47:35Speaker 5: Does it fly? Asked the artful child. The way you
- 4:47:38Speaker 5: flew when you were a little girl, The way I flew?
- 4:47:41Speaker 5: Do you know, Jane? I sometimes wonder whether I ever
- 4:47:44Speaker 5: did really fly? Yes, you did, the dear old days
- 4:47:50Speaker 5: when I could fly? Why can't you fly now?
- 4:47:52Speaker 12: Mother?
- 4:47:54Speaker 5: Because I am grown up, dearest. When people grow up,
- 4:47:57Speaker 5: they forget the way. Why do they forget away? Because
- 4:48:01Speaker 5: they are no longer gay and innocent and heartless. It
- 4:48:04Speaker 5: is only the gay and innocent and heartless who can fly?
- 4:48:08Speaker 5: What is gay and innocent and heartless? I do wish
- 4:48:11Speaker 5: I was gay and innocent and heartless. Well, perhaps Wendy
- 4:48:16Speaker 5: admits she does see something. I do believe she says
- 4:48:20Speaker 5: that it is this nursery. I do believe it is,
- 4:48:24Speaker 5: says Jane.
- 4:48:25Speaker 12: Go on.
- 4:48:27Speaker 5: They are now embarked on the great adventure of the night.
- 4:48:29Speaker 5: When Peter flew in looking for his shadow, the foolish
- 4:48:33Speaker 5: fellow says, Wendy tried to stick it on with soap,
- 4:48:36Speaker 5: and when he could not, he cried, And that woke me,
- 4:48:39Speaker 5: and I sewed it on for him. You have missed
- 4:48:41Speaker 5: a bit, interrupts Jane, who now knows the story better
- 4:48:44Speaker 5: than her mother.
- 4:48:46Speaker 11: When you saw him.
- 4:48:46Speaker 5: Sitting on the floor crying, what did you say? I
- 4:48:50Speaker 5: sat up in bed and I said, boy, why are
- 4:48:53Speaker 5: you crying? Yes, that was it, says Jane, with a
- 4:48:58Speaker 5: big breath. And then he flew us all away to
- 4:49:01Speaker 5: the Neverland and the fairies and the pirates, and the Redskins,
- 4:49:04Speaker 5: and the Mermaid's Lagoon, and the Home under the Ground
- 4:49:07Speaker 5: and the little house. Yes, wish did you like best
- 4:49:11Speaker 5: of all? I think I liked the Home under the
- 4:49:14Speaker 5: ground best of all.
- 4:49:16Speaker 11: Yes, so do I.
- 4:49:17Speaker 5: What was the last thing Peter ever said to you?
- 4:49:21Speaker 5: The last thing he ever said to me was just
- 4:49:23Speaker 5: always be waiting for me, and then some night you
- 4:49:26Speaker 5: will hear me crowing. Yes, but alas he forgot all
- 4:49:32Speaker 5: about me. Wendy said it with a smile. She was
- 4:49:36Speaker 5: as grown up as that. What did his crow sound like,
- 4:49:40Speaker 5: Jane asked one evening. It was like this, Wendy said, er,
- 4:49:45Speaker 5: trying to imitate Peter's crow. No it wasn't, Jane said gravely.
- 4:49:50Speaker 5: It was like this, and she did it, ever so
- 4:49:56Speaker 5: much better than her mother. Wendy was a little startled,
- 4:50:01Speaker 5: my darling, how can you know I often hear it
- 4:50:04Speaker 5: when I am sleeping? Jane said, Ah, yes, many girls
- 4:50:08Speaker 5: hear it when they are sleeping, But I was the
- 4:50:10Speaker 5: only one who heard it.
- 4:50:10Speaker 4: Awake, Lucky you.
- 4:50:13Speaker 5: Said Jane. And then one night came the tragedy. It
- 4:50:20Speaker 5: was the spring of the year, and the story had
- 4:50:22Speaker 5: been told for the night, and Jane was now asleep
- 4:50:24Speaker 5: in her bed. Wendy was sitting on the floor, very
- 4:50:27Speaker 5: close to the fire so as to see to darn,
- 4:50:29Speaker 5: for there was no other light in the nursery. And
- 4:50:32Speaker 5: while she sat darning, she heard a crow. Then the
- 4:50:36Speaker 5: window blew open as of old, and Peter dropped on
- 4:50:39Speaker 5: the floor. He was exactly the same as ever, and
- 4:50:43Speaker 5: Wendy saw at once that he still had all his
- 4:50:45Speaker 5: first teeth. He was a little boy and she was
- 4:50:49Speaker 5: grown up. She huddled by the fire, not daring to move,
- 4:50:54Speaker 5: helpless and guilty. A big woman. Hello, Wendy, he said,
- 4:50:59Speaker 5: not noticing any difference, for he was thinking chiefly of himself,
- 4:51:04Speaker 5: and in the dim light, her white dress might have
- 4:51:05Speaker 5: been the nightgown in which he had seen her first.
- 4:51:09Speaker 5: Hello Peter, she replied, faintly, squeezing herself as small as possible.
- 4:51:14Speaker 5: Something inside her was crying, woman, woman, Let go of me. Hullo,
- 4:51:21Speaker 5: where is John, he asked, suddenly missing the third bed.
- 4:51:25Speaker 5: Jahn is not here now, she gasped. Is Michael asleep?
- 4:51:29Speaker 5: He asked, with a careless glance at Jane. Yes, she answered,
- 4:51:33Speaker 5: and now she felt that she was untrue to Jane
- 4:51:35Speaker 5: as well as to Peter. That is not Michael, she said, quickly,
- 4:51:38Speaker 5: lest a judgment should fall on her. Peter looked, hullo,
- 4:51:42Speaker 5: is it a new one?
- 4:51:44Speaker 1: Yes?
- 4:51:45Speaker 5: Boy or girl? Girl? Now surely he would understand. But
- 4:51:49Speaker 5: not a bit of it, Peter, she said, faltering, Are
- 4:51:53Speaker 5: you expecting me to fly away with you? Of course,
- 4:51:57Speaker 5: that is why I have come, he added, little sternly.
- 4:52:00Speaker 5: Have you forgotten that this is spring cleaning time? She
- 4:52:04Speaker 5: knew it was useless to say that he had let
- 4:52:06Speaker 5: many spring cleaning times pass. I can't come, she said, apologetically.
- 4:52:11Speaker 5: I have forgotten how to fly. I'll soon teach you again.
- 4:52:16Speaker 5: Oh Peter, don't waste the fairy dust on me. She
- 4:52:19Speaker 5: had risen, and now at last a fear assailed him.
- 4:52:22Speaker 12: What is it?
- 4:52:23Speaker 5: He cried, shrinking. I will turn up the light, she said,
- 4:52:26Speaker 5: and then you can see for yourself. For almost the
- 4:52:30Speaker 5: only time in his life that I know of, Peter
- 4:52:32Speaker 5: was afraid. Don't turn up the light, he cried. She
- 4:52:37Speaker 5: let her hands play in the hair of the tragic boy.
- 4:52:40Speaker 5: She was not a little girl heartbroken about him. She
- 4:52:43Speaker 5: was a grown woman, smiling at it all. But they
- 4:52:46Speaker 5: were wet smiles. Then she turned up the light and
- 4:52:50Speaker 5: Peter saw. He gave a cry of pain, and when
- 4:52:53Speaker 5: the tall, beautiful creature stooped to lift him in her arms,
- 4:52:57Speaker 5: he drew back sharply.
- 4:52:59Speaker 12: What is it?
- 4:52:59Speaker 5: He cried again. She had to tell him. I am old, Peter.
- 4:53:05Speaker 5: I am ever so much more than twenty. I grew
- 4:53:07Speaker 5: up long ago. You promised not to. I couldn't help it.
- 4:53:12Speaker 5: I'm a married woman, Peter. No, you're not. Yes, And
- 4:53:16Speaker 5: the little girl in the bed is my baby. No,
- 4:53:18Speaker 5: she's not, but he supposed she was, and he took
- 4:53:22Speaker 5: a step toward the sleeping child with his fist upraised.
- 4:53:25Speaker 5: Of course, he did not strike her. He sat down
- 4:53:29Speaker 5: on the floor and sobbed, and Wendy did not know
- 4:53:31Speaker 5: how to comfort him, though she could have done it
- 4:53:33Speaker 5: so easily once. She was only a woman now, and
- 4:53:38Speaker 5: she ran out of the room to try to think.
- 4:53:41Speaker 5: Peter continued to cry, and soon his sobs woke Jane.
- 4:53:46Speaker 5: She sat up in bed and was interested at once boy.
- 4:53:50Speaker 5: She said, why are you crying. Peter rose and bowed
- 4:53:55Speaker 5: to her, and she bowed to him from the bed. Hullo,
- 4:53:59Speaker 5: he said, hullo, oh, said Jane. My name is Peter
- 4:54:02Speaker 5: Pan He told her, Yes, I know. I came back
- 4:54:07Speaker 5: from my mother, he explained, to take her to the Neverland.
- 4:54:10Speaker 5: Yes I know, Jane said, I have been waiting for you.
- 4:54:14Speaker 5: When Wendy returned, diffidently, she found Peter sitting on the
- 4:54:17Speaker 5: bedpost crowing gloriously, while Jane, in her nighty, was flying
- 4:54:21Speaker 5: round the room in solemn ecstasy. She is my mother,
- 4:54:26Speaker 5: Peter explained, and Jane descended and stood by his side
- 4:54:29Speaker 5: with a look on her face that he'd liked to
- 4:54:31Speaker 5: see on ladies when they gazed at him. He does
- 4:54:34Speaker 5: so need a mother. Jane said, yes, I know, Wendy admitted,
- 4:54:39Speaker 5: rather forlornly. No one knows it so well as I. Goodbye,
- 4:54:44Speaker 5: said Peter to Wendy, and he rose in the air,
- 4:54:46Speaker 5: and the shameless Jane rose with him. It was already
- 4:54:49Speaker 5: her easiest way of moving about. Wendy rushed to the window. No, no,
- 4:54:56Speaker 5: she cried, It is just for spring cleaning time. Jane said.
- 4:55:01Speaker 4: He wants me always to.
- 4:55:02Speaker 5: Do his spring cleaning. If only I could go with you,
- 4:55:08Speaker 5: Wendy sighed, You see, you can't fly, said Jane. Of course.
- 4:55:16Speaker 5: In the end, Wendy let them fly away together. Our
- 4:55:19Speaker 5: last glimpse of her shows her at the window, watching them,
- 4:55:22Speaker 5: orceeding into the sky until they were as small as stars.
- 4:55:27Speaker 5: As you look at Wendy, you may see her hair
- 4:55:29Speaker 5: becoming white and her figure little again. For all this
- 4:55:32Speaker 5: happened long ago, Jane is now a common grown up
- 4:55:36Speaker 5: with a daughter called Margaret, and every spring cleaning time,
- 4:55:41Speaker 5: except when he forgets, Peter comes from Margaret and takes
- 4:55:44Speaker 5: her to the neverland, where she tells him stories about himself,
- 4:55:48Speaker 5: to which he listens eagerly. When Margaret grows up, she
- 4:55:52Speaker 5: will have a daughter who is to be Peter's mother
- 4:55:54Speaker 5: in turn. And so it will go on, so long
- 4:55:59Speaker 5: as children are gay and innocent and heartless. End of
- 4:56:08Speaker 5: Chapter seventeen.