By and by she tucked them up in the great bed in the home under the trees , but she herself slept that night in the little house , and Peter kept watch outside with drawn sword , for the pirates could be heard carousing far away and the wolves were on the prowl . The little house looked so cosy and safe in the darkness , with a bright light showing through its blinds , and the chimney smoking beautifully , and Peter standing on guard . After a time he fell asleep , and some unsteady fairies had to climb over him on their way home from an orgy . Any of the other boys obstructing the fairy path at night they would have mischiefed , but they just tweaked Peter 's nose and passed on . -LSB- Illustration : PETER ON GUARD -RSB- CHAPTER VII THE HOME UNDER THE GROUND One of the first things Peter did next day was to measure Wendy and John and Michael for hollow trees . Hook , you remember , had sneered at the boys for thinking they needed a tree apiece , but this was ignorance , for unless your tree fitted you it was difficult to go up and down , and no two of the boys were quite the same size . Once you fitted , you drew in your breath at the top , and down you went at exactly the right speed , while to ascend you drew in and let out alternately , and so wriggled up . Of course , when you have mastered the action you are able to do these things without thinking of them , and then nothing can be more graceful . But you simply must fit , and Peter measures you for your tree as carefully as for a suit of clothes : the only difference being that the clothes are made to fit you , while you have to be made to fit the tree . Usually it is done quite easily , as by your wearing too many garments or too few ; but if you are bumpy in awkward places or the only available tree is an odd shape , Peter does some things to you , and after that you fit . Once you fit , great care must be taken to go on fitting , and this , as Wendy was to discover to her delight , keeps a whole family in perfect condition . Wendy and Michael fitted their trees at the first try , but John had to be altered a little . After a few days ' practice they could go up and down as gaily as buckets in a well . And how ardently they grew to love their home under the ground ; especially Wendy . It consisted of one large room , as all houses should do , with a floor in which you could dig if you wanted to go fishing , and in this floor grew stout mushrooms of a charming colour , which were used as stools . A Never tree tried hard to grow in the centre of the room , but every morning they sawed the trunk through , level with the floor . By tea-time it was always about two feet high , and then they put a door on top of it , the whole thus becoming a table ; as soon as they cleared away , they sawed off the trunk again , and thus there was more room to play . There was an enormous fireplace which was in almost any part of the room where you cared to light it , and across this Wendy stretched strings , made of fibre , from which she suspended her washing . The bed was tilted against the wall by day , and let down at 6.30 , when it filled nearly half the room ; and all the boys except Michael slept in it , lying like sardines in a tin . There was a strict rule against turning round until one gave the signal , when all turned at once .
XXXXX should have used it also ; but Wendy would have a baby , and he was the littlest , and you know what women are , and the short and the long of it is that he was hung up in a basket .
John Michael PETER VII centre colour day first right smoking