The first to come out of his tree was Curly—right into the arms of Cecco.
"Here, catch!" yelled Cecco as he threw Curly to Smee.
Smee threw him to Starkey, who threw him to the next pirate in line, until he landed at the feet of Captain Hook.
Each boy was captured this way and tossed around like a sack of potatoes.
But Wendy was treated differently.
When she came out, Hook raised his hat to her with unusual respect.
He offered her his arm and guided her to the spot where the others were being gagged.
Not knowing what else to do, Wendy took his arm.
She was only a frightened little girl, after all.
Now the only one left below was Peter.
To prevent Wendy and the boys from flying away, Hook had cut a long rope into nine equal pieces.
"Tie up these boys, and tie them up tight!" ordered Hook.
The pirates tied up each captive in turn.
This went smoothly until they got to Slightly.
The pirates struggled to get the rope around his plump body.
"This piece of rope must be shorter than the rest," said Cecco angrily.
But the truth was, Slightly had become quite fat from eating Wendy's cooking.
In fact, as he had gained weight, he had found it more and more difficult to fit through his tree tunnel.
So Slightly had been carving out the inside of his tree trunk.
As his belly swelled, his tunnel had gotten larger and larger—until it was now wide enough for a grown-up man.
Seeing his pirates struggling to tie Slightly, the clever Captain Hook guessed what the boy had done.
But he told no one what he had discovered.
"Take these captives to the ship," he commanded his men.
Alone at last, Hook tiptoed to Slightly's tree.
He put his ear to the opening, but could hear nothing from below.
At the bottom of Slightly's tunnel was the unknown land of Hook's enemy.
Was Peter asleep? Or was he waiting, dagger in hand?
A brave man, Hook held his breath and slid down the tree.
Unaware of what had happened above, Peter had pretended to be carefree when Wendy and the boys had left.
"I think I'll play my flute," he said, and for a while he did.
Then he decided not to take his medicine, just to upset Wendy.
He put the cup filled with medicine back on the shelf.
Then Peter lay down across the great bed on top of the covers.
He knew this would annoy Wendy, who liked to tuck the boys under the covers.
Peter started to cry, but then he realized how hurt Wendy would be if he laughed instead.
So he started to laugh and fell fast asleep.
One of his arms dropped over the edge of the bed.
Both legs were relaxed and spread out.
And the unfinished part of his laugh was still on his mouth.
It was in this helpless pose that Hook found Peter when he slid out the bottom end of the tunnel.
Hook stood silent in the underground room.
He watched his enemy asleep on the bed.
How could he kill Peter at this moment?
It was not that Hook felt pity for Peter, but rather that he had never imagined killing his enemy so easily.
Hook had expected a ferocious battle with swords flashing.
At the end of the battle, Hook would kill Peter and stand tall, the proud winner.
But seeing his enemy asleep and defenseless took all the glory out of the imagined fight.
Then Hook noticed the little grin on Peter's face.
It reminded the pirate that he was deeply irritated by Peter's pride and arrogant confidence.
He could not let this chance to kill Peter go by!
Looking about, Hook saw a medicine cup on a shelf.
Suddenly he had a wonderful and evil idea. He would poison Peter.