Take him dead or alive ! '' He leaped as he spoke , and simultaneously came the gay voice of Peter . `` Are you ready , boys ? '' `` Ay , ay , '' from various parts of the lagoon . `` Then lam into the pirates . '' The fight was short and sharp . First to draw blood was John , who gallantly climbed into the boat and held Starkey . There was fierce struggle , in which the cutlass was torn from the pirate 's grasp . He wriggled overboard and John leapt after him . The dinghy drifted away . Here and there a head bobbed up in the water , and there was a flash of steel followed by a cry or a whoop . In the confusion some struck at their own side . The corkscrew of Smee got Tootles in the fourth rib , but he was himself pinked -LSB- nicked -RSB- in turn by Curly . Farther from the rock Starkey was pressing Slightly and the twins hard . Where all this time was Peter ? He was seeking bigger game . The others were all brave boys , and they must not be blamed for backing from the pirate captain . His iron claw made a circle of dead water round him , from which they fled like affrighted fishes . But there was one who did not fear him : there was one prepared to enter that circle . Strangely , it was not in the water that they met .
Hook rose to the rock to breathe , and at the same moment XXXXX scaled it on the opposite side .
First John Peter Starkey Tootles ay cutlass fight fourth twins