Chapter 15
"HOOK OR ME THIS TIME"Odd things happen to all of us on our way through life without
our noticing for a time that they have happened. Thus, to take an
instance, we suddenly discover that we have been deaf in one ear
for we don't know how long, but, say, half an hour. Now such an
experience had come that night to Peter. When last we saw him he
was stealing across the island with one finger to his lips and his
dagger at the ready. He had seen the crocodile pass by without
noticing anything peculiar about it, but by and by he remembered
that it had not been ticking. At first he thought this eerie, but
soon concluded rightly that the clock had run down.
Without giving a thought to what might be the feelings of a
fellow-creature thus abruptly deprived of its closest compa
