Chapter VIII. THE MERMAIDS’ LAGOON · page 31 2 3201In a moment Hook was himself again, and Smee and Starkey were his faithful henchmen.202“Now we have him,” Hook shouted.203“Into the water, Smee.204Starkey, mind the boat.205Take him dead or alive!”206He leaped as he spoke, and simultaneously came the gay voice of Peter.207“Are you ready, boys?”208“Ay, ay,” from various parts of the lagoon.209“Then lam into the pirates.”210The fight was short and sharp.211First to draw blood was John, who gallantly climbed into the boat and held Starkey.212There was fierce struggle, in which the cutlass was torn from the pirate’s grasp.213He wriggled overboard and John leapt after him.214The dinghy drifted away.215Here and there a head bobbed up in the water, and there was a flash of steel followed by a cry or a whoop.216In the confusion some struck at their own side.217The corkscrew of Smee got Tootles in the fourth rib, but he was himself pinked in turn by Curly.218Farther from the rock Starkey was pressing Slightly and the twins hard.219Where all this time was Peter?220He was seeking bigger game.221The others were all brave boys, and they must not be blamed for backing from the pirate captain.checked by a teacher222His iron claw made a circle of dead water round him, from which they fled like affrighted fishes.223But there was one who did not fear him: there was one prepared to enter that circle.224Strangely, it was not in the water that they met.225Hook rose to the rock to breathe, and at the same moment Peter scaled it on the opposite side.226The rock was slippery as a ball, and they had to crawl rather than climb.227Neither knew that the other was coming.228Each feeling for a grip met the other’s arm: in surprise they raised their heads; their faces were almost touching; so they met.229Some of the greatest heroes have confessed that just before they fell to they had a sinking.230Had it been so with Peter at that moment I would admit it.231After all, he was the only man that the Sea-Cook had feared.232But Peter had no sinking, he had one feeling only, gladness; and he gnashed his pretty teeth with joy.233Quick as thought he snatched a knife from Hook’s belt and was about to drive it home, when he saw that he was higher up the rock than his foe.234It would not have been fighting fair.235He gave the pirate a hand to help him up.236It was then that Hook bit him.237Not the pain of this but its unfairness was what dazed Peter.238It made him quite helpless.239He could only stare, horrified.240Every child is affected thus the first time he is treated unfairly.241All he thinks he has a right to when he comes to you to be yours is fairness.checked by a teacher242After you have been unfair to him he will love you again, but will never afterwards be quite the same boy.243No one ever gets over the first unfairness; no one except Peter.244He often met it, but he always forgot it.245I suppose that was the real difference between him and all the rest.246So when he met it now it was like the first time; and he could just stare, helpless.247Twice the iron hand clawed him.248A few moments afterwards the other boys saw Hook in the water striking wildly for the ship; no elation on the pestilent face now, only white fear, for the crocodile was in dogged pursuit of him.249On ordinary occasions the boys would have swum alongside cheering; but now they were uneasy, for they had lost both Peter and Wendy, and were scouring the lagoon for them, calling them by name.250They found the dinghy and went home in it, shouting “Peter, Wendy” as they went, but no answer came save mocking laughter from the mermaids.251“They must be swimming back or flying,” the boys concluded.252They were not very anxious, because they had such faith in Peter.253They chuckled, boylike, because they would be late for bed; and it was all mother Wendy’s fault!checked by a teacher254When their voices died away there came cold silence over the lagoon, and then a feeble cry.255“Help, help!”256Two small figures were beating against the rock; the girl had fainted and lay on the boy’s arm.257With a last effort Peter pulled her up the rock and then lay down beside her.258Even as he also fainted he saw that the water was rising.259He knew that they would soon be drowned, but he could do no more.260As they lay side by side a mermaid caught Wendy by the feet, and began pulling her softly into the water.261Peter, feeling her slip from him, woke with a start, and was just in time to draw her back.262But he had to tell her the truth.263“We are on the rock, Wendy,” he said, “but it is growing smaller.264Soon the water will be over it.”265She did not understand even now.266“We must go,” she said, almost brightly.267“Yes,” he answered faintly.268“Shall we swim or fly, Peter?”269He had to tell her.270“Do you think you could swim or fly as far as the island, Wendy, without my help?”271She had to admit that she was too tired.272He moaned.273“What is it?” she asked, anxious about him at once.274“I can’t help you, Wendy.275Hook wounded me.276I can neither fly nor swim.”277“Do you mean we shall both be drowned?”278“Look how the water is rising.”279They put their hands over their eyes to shut out the sight.280They thought they would soon be no more.281As they sat thus something brushed against Peter as light as a kiss, and stayed there, as if saying timidly, “Can I be of any use?”282It was the tail of a kite, which Michael had made some days before.283It had torn itself out of his hand and floated away.284“Michael’s kite,” Peter said without interest, but next moment he had seized the tail, and was pulling the kite toward him.285“It lifted Michael off the ground,” he cried; “why should it not carry you?”286“Both of us!”287“It can’t lift two; Michael and Curly tried.”288“Let us draw lots,” Wendy said bravely.289“And you a lady; never.”290Already he had tied the tail round her.291She clung to him; she refused to go without him; but with a “Good-bye, Wendy,” he pushed her from the rock; and in a few minutes she was borne out of his sight.292Peter was alone on the lagoon.293The rock was very small now; soon it would be submerged.294Pale rays of light tiptoed across the waters; and by and by there was to be heard a sound at once the most musical and the most melancholy in the world: the mermaids calling to the moon.checked by a teacher295Peter was not quite like other boys; but he was afraid at last.296A tremour ran through him, like a shudder passing over the sea; but on the sea one shudder follows another till there are hundreds of them, and Peter felt just the one.297Next moment he was standing erect on the rock again, with that smile on his face and a drum beating within him.298It was saying, “To die will be an awfully big adventure.”1 2 3← previousChapter VII. 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