With ironical politeness Hook raised his hat to her , and , offering her his arm , escorted her to the spot where the others were being gagged . He did it with such an air , he was so frightfully distingué , that she was too fascinated to cry out . She was only a little girl . Perhaps it is tell-tale to divulge that for a moment Hook entranced her , and we tell on her only because her slip led to strange results . Had she haughtily unhanded him -LRB- and we should have loved to write it of her -RRB- , she would have been hurled through the air like the others , and then Hook would probably not have been present at the tying of the children ; and had he not been at the tying he would not have discovered Slightly 's secret , and without the secret he could not presently have made his foul attempt on Peter 's life . They were tied to prevent their flying away , doubled up with their knees close to their ears ; and for the trussing of them the black pirate had cut a rope into nine equal pieces . All went well until Slightly 's turn came , when he was found to be like those irritating parcels that use up all the string in going round and leave no tags with which to tie a knot . The pirates kicked him in their rage , just as you kick the parcel -LRB- though in fairness you should kick the string -RRB- ; and strange to say it was Hook who told them to belay their violence . His lip was curled with malicious triumph . While his dogs were merely sweating because every time they tried to pack the unhappy lad tight in one part he bulged out in another , Hook 's master mind had gone far beneath Slightly 's surface , probing not for effects but for causes ; and his exultation showed that he had found them . Slightly , white to the gills , knew that Hook had surprised his secret , which was this , that no boy so blown out could use a tree wherein an average man need stick . Poor Slightly , most wretched of all the children now , for he was in a panic about Peter , bitterly regretted what he had done . Madly addicted to the drinking of water when he was hot , he had swelled in consequence to his present girth , and instead of reducing himself to fit his tree he had , unknown to the others , whittled his tree to make it fit him . Sufficient of this Hook guessed to persuade him that Peter at last lay at his mercy ; but no word of the dark design that now formed in the subterranean caverns of his mind crossed his lips ; he merely signed that the captives were to be conveyed to the ship , and that he would be alone . How to convey them ? Hunched up in their ropes they might indeed be rolled down hill like barrels , but most of the way lay through a morass . Again Hook 's genius surmounted difficulties . He indicated that the little house must be used as a conveyance . The children were flung into it , four stout pirates raised it on their shoulders , the others fell in behind , and singing the hateful pirate chorus the strange procession set off through the wood . I do n't know whether any of the children were crying ; if so , the singing drowned the sound ; but as the little house disappeared in the forest , a brave though tiny jet of smoke issued from its chimney as if defying Hook .
Hook saw it , and it did XXXXX a bad service .
Peter design distingué drowned fairness gills pieces pirates trussing violence