CHAPTER ELEVEN

Capture!

Wendy, her brothers and the lost boys were all ready to go now. They grabbed their things and Tink flew outside to go and find the Indians. The children were about to leave the secret house when they heard loud screams outside. It was the sound of the Indians and the pirates fighting. The fight sounded fierce and violent. Wendy and the boys were glad that they were safe in the secret house underground. They looked at Peter, wondering what he planned to do. Without saying anything, he grabbed his sword.

The Indians could have called out for help, but their laws said that they couldn't show surprise in front of their enemies. Because of this the Indians stayed sitting for too long after the pirates suddenly appeared. By the time they reached for their weapons, many had already been killed.

The Indians were brave and they killed many of the pirates. Sadly, in the end, the Indians were all killed; even the brave and beautiful Tiger Lily fell to her death.

After this great battle the pirates did not return to their ship. Instead they moved towards the lost boys' secret house. Their main goal that night was not to kill the Indians, but to destroy the lost boys, capture Wendy and, especially, kill Peter Pan.

It was strange that a big and strong man like Captain James Hook cared so much about killing a small boy like Peter Pan. But Hook truly hated Pan. He hated him because Peter had cut off his arm and fed it to the great crocodile; but Hook hated Peter even more because he was a show-off! Everyone on the island loved Peter and hated Hook and he couldn't wait to push his iron hand into Peter's heart!

The pirates still had one problem. The holes in the trees were too small for adults and they didn't have any way to get down into the secret house. They stood above the house and listened down the chimney.

Down below, Wendy and the lost boys were silent. They all felt very frightened. They knew that the battle must have ended because it was now silent outside, but they did not know who had won.

"When the Indians win a battle," Peter finally said, "they always hit their drums. That is their sign of victory."

The pirates heard what Peter said and smiled terrible smiles. Captain Hook told the pirates to go to get the drums from the dead Indians and hit them for a while. Smee went and hit the drums and after two hits, Hook heard Peter cry happily:

"I hear drums! The Indians won the battle!"

The children shouted happily and again prepared to leave. They again said goodbye to Peter and grasped their things. They did not know the terrible danger waiting for them outside.

Hook ordered his men to wait by each of the trees with holes. The first boy to come out was Curly. Cecco grasped him and tied a cloth around his mouth before he could yell for help. He was then thrown at Captain Hook's feet. All of the boys were captured in the same way.

Wendy was the last to come out, but she was not grasped or thrown. Captain Hook, strangely, was a gentleman. He took off his hat and bowed to her. He then offered her his right arm, and gently walked with her to the place where the others were tied up. Wendy was so surprised that she didn't yell to Peter; she was just a young girl.

The pirates quickly tied up all the boys except Slightly. Slightly was too fat and the rope they had was not long enough. At first Captain Hook was very annoyed, but he quickly became quite happy. Hook realized that one of the holes into the secret house must be longer than the others to fit Slightly's fat body. The horrible and violent pirate planned to use this hole to get into the secret house and kill Peter Pan.

Hook ordered the pirates to carry the children back to their ship. The pirates threw all the kids into Wendy's little house, and then used their strong arms to carry the whole house back to the ship. Hook stayed above the secret house and waited for nighttime.

When night arrived, Captain Hook climbed into the large hole in Slightly's tree. He was almost too big to get into the tree and he had to take off his thick coat to fit in. Moving inside the hole was hard for Hook, but he eventually got down to the bottom and looked around the secret house with great interest. Finally his eyes found their target—Peter Pan was sleeping alone in the huge bed!

When he saw the boy Hook filled with anger. He tried to move closer toward the bed, but he couldn't fit through the small end of Slightly's hole. He reached out toward Peter with his iron hook, but the sleeping boy was too far away. Hook became more and more angry; he had come so far, but could still not move the last distance to kill his enemy. He worried that Peter was going to escape him again.

Suddenly Hook saw Peter's medicine bottle sitting on the table. The table was close enough that Hook could reach it. The horrible pirate then had an idea. He always carried a small bottle of poison in his pocket. He had it so that he could kill himself if one of his enemies ever captured him alive. He put five drops of his terrible yellow poison into Peter's medicine bottle.

Then Hook looked one last time at the sleeping boy. He climbed back up the tree and put on his black coat and pirate hat. As he walked back to his ship he laughed and whispered what he had done to himself.

(end of section)