فصل 38

CHAPTER 38

GOOD NEWS AND BAD

AT DAWN, A STEWARD ABOARD the Lucy found Peter and Wendy dozing fitfully on deck chairs. Although they were both tired from their ordeal on the pirate ship, and, in Peter’s case, from flying them across to the steamer, the chilly sea air had prevented them from getting much sleep.

Peter had nearly overshot the ship, and had been forced to descend too fast. They’d landed clumsily, pitching forward and sprawling onto the deck. Tink had found this highly amusing; Peter and Wendy had not. After determining that neither of them had been badly hurt, they’d decided to simply stay where they were and wait to be discovered.

When the steward approached, Peter quickly tucked a complaining Tinker Bell into his shirt. He and Wendy made no effort to run away as there was nowhere to go. The steward, realizing that the two disheveled children were not paying passengers, took them to Captain Hart’s cabin. The captain was unhappy to be awakened so early, and much more unhappy to learn he had two stowaways aboard. When he saw Peter and Wendy, he frowned, suddenly remembering the drunken passenger who’d claimed to see a pink-sailed ship, and two children flying over the Lucy.

Could it possibly be?

He shook his head. Nonsense. The passenger had been seeing things; children did not fly. But then how had these two gotten aboard, and where had they been hiding?

For the next half-hour, an increasingly frustrated Captain Hart tried to get information from Peter and Wendy—any information. But they told him nothing, not even their names, having agreed to reveal as little as possible for fear word of their mission would somehow reach the Others.

Finally, Captain Hart gave up. He summoned two large crewmen and ordered that the children be locked up in the brig.

“You’ll stay there until we get to London,” he said. “After that, the police can deal with the both of you.”

Peter and Wendy exchanged looks. The captain had given them good news and bad. The ship would take them to London; that was a lucky break, indeed. But they could not allow themselves to fall into the hands of the police.

As the crewmen herded them belowdecks, Wendy leaned closer to Peter and whispered, “We can’t trust the police. …”

“I know,” whispered Peter, glancing at the crewmen. “We’ll have to escape.”

“How?”

“Don’t worry,” said Peter.

Wendy looked doubtful. Peter didn’t blame her. From inside his shirt came the soft sound of muffled bells.

You can just fly away, you know, said Tink.

“What did she say?” whispered Wendy.

“She said we’ll think of something,” answered Peter.