WENDY (meeting MICHAEL in a moment’s lull). Oh, Michael, stay with me, protect me!
MICHAEL (reeling). Wendy, I’ve killed a pirate!
WENDY. It’s awful, awful.
MICHAEL. No, it isn’t, I like it, I like it.
(He casts himself into the group of boys who are encircling HOOK. Again and again they close upon him and again and again he hews a clear space.)
HOOK. Back, back, you mice. It’s Hook; do you like him? (He lifts up MICHAEL with his claw and uses him as a buckler. A terrible voice breaks in.)
PETER. Put up your swords, boys. This man is mine.
(HOOK shakes MICHAEL off his claw as if he were a drop of water, and these two antagonists face each other for their final bout. They measure swords at arms’ length, make a sweeping motion with them, and bringing the points to the deck rest their hands upon the hilts.)
