` Fame , fame , that glittering bauble , it is mine , ' he cried . ` Is it quite good form to be distinguished at anything ? ' the tap-tap from his school replied . ' I am the only man whom Barbecue feared , ' he urged ; ` and Flint himself feared Barbecue . ' ` Barbecue , Flint -- what house ? ' came the cutting retort . Most disquieting reflection of all , was it not bad form to think about good form ? His vitals were tortured by this problem . It was a claw within him sharper than the iron one ; and as it tore him , the perspiration dripped down his tallow countenance and streaked his doublet . Ofttimes he drew his sleeve across his face , but there was no damming that trickle . Ah , envy not Hook . There came to him a presentiment of his early dissolution . It was as if Peter 's terrible oath had boarded the ship . Hook felt a gloomy desire to make his dying speech , lest presently there should be no time for it . ` Better for Hook , ' he cried , ` if he had had less ambition . ' It was in his darkest hours only that he referred to himself in the third person . ` No little children love me . ' Strange that he should think of this , which had never troubled him before ; perhaps the sewing machine brought it to his mind . For long he muttered to himself , staring at Smee , who was hemming placidly , under the conviction that all children feared him . Feared him !
Feared XXXXX !
Barbecue Flint Peter Smee damming doublet hours presentiment tap-tap third