'T was he cut off my arm . '' He brandished the hook threateningly . `` I 've waited long to shake his hand with this . Oh , I 'll tear him ! '' `` And yet , '' said Smee , `` I have often heard you say that hook was worth a score of hands , for combing the hair and other homely uses . '' `` Ay , '' the captain answered , `` if I was a mother I would pray to have my children born with this instead of that , '' and he cast a look of pride upon his iron hand and one of scorn upon the other . Then again he frowned . `` Peter flung my arm , '' he said , wincing , `` to a crocodile that happened to be passing by . '' `` I have often , '' said Smee , `` noticed your strange dread of crocodiles . '' `` Not of crocodiles , '' Hook corrected him , `` but of that one crocodile . '' He lowered his voice . `` It liked my arm so much , Smee , that it has followed me ever since , from sea to sea and from land to land , licking its lips for the rest of me . '' `` In a way , '' said Smee , `` it 's sort of a compliment . '' `` I want no such compliments , '' Hook barked petulantly . `` I want Peter Pan , who first gave the brute its taste for me . '' He sat down on a large mushroom , and now there was a quiver in his voice . `` Smee , '' he said huskily , `` that crocodile would have had me before this , but by a lucky chance it swallowed a clock which goes tick tick inside it , and so before it can reach me I hear the tick and bolt . '' He laughed , but in a hollow way . `` Some day , '' said Smee , `` the clock will run down , and then he 'll get you . '' Hook wetted his dry lips .
`` XXXXX , '' he said , `` that 's the fear that haunts me . ''
Ay Pan Peter Smee crocodile crocodiles day first quiver taste