` Tie her up , ' he shouted . It was Smee who tied her to the mast . ` See here , honey , ' he whispered , ` I 'll save you if you promise to be my mother . ' But not even for Smee would she make such a promise . ' I would almost rather have no children at all , ' she said disdainfully . It is sad to know that not a boy was looking at her as Smee tied her to the mast ; the eyes of all were on the plank : that last little walk they were about to take . They were no longer able to hope that they would walk it manfully , for the capacity to think had gone from them ; they could stare and shiver only . Hook smiled on them with his teeth closed , and took a step toward Wendy . His intention was to turn her face so that she should see the boys walking the plank one by one . But he never reached her , he never heard the cry of anguish he hoped to wring from her . He heard something else instead . It was the terrible tick-tick of the crocodile . They all heard it -- pirates , boys , Wendy ; and immediately every head was blown in one direction ; not to the water whence the sound proceeded , but toward Hook . All knew that what was about to happen concerned him alone , and that from being actors they were suddenly become spectators . Very frightful was it to see the change that came over him . It was as if he had been clipped at every joint . He fell in a little heap . The sound came steadily nearer ; and in advance of it came this ghastly thought , ` The crocodile is about to board the ship . ' Even the iron claw hung inactive ; as if knowing that it was no intrinsic part of what the attacking force wanted . Left so fearfully alone , any other man would have lain with his eyes shut where he fell : but the gigantic brain of Hook was still working , and under its guidance he crawled on his knees along the deck as far from the sound as he could go .
The XXXXX respectfully cleared a passage for him , and it was only when he brought up against the bulwarks that he spoke .
eyes heap man mast pirates plank spectators thought walk water