Captain Hook always carried a bottle of poison in his pocket to make sure he could never be captured alive.
He had made the poison himself, so he knew it was effective.
Hook added five drops to Peter's medicine and rubbed his hook against his hand with excitement.
Then, with a triumphant look at his victim, he slid his way back up and out of the tree.
Peter slept on. He knew nothing about the massacre of his Indian friends or about the capture of Wendy and the boys.
He didn't know about Hook coming into his home or about the dangerous cup of medicine standing on the shelf.
Finally he was awakened by a soft, careful knock on the door of his tunnel.
Peter grabbed his dagger and shouted, "Who is it?"
"Let me in quickly, Peter!" said Tinker Bell in her bell-like voice.
Peter opened the round door and she flew into the room.
Her little face was flushed and her dress stained with mud.
"What is it, Tink?" asked Peter.
"Oh, you could never guess!" she cried.
Then she told him the terrible news about how Wendy and the boys had been captured.
As Peter listened, his heart beat faster and faster.
Wendy was tied up and on the pirate ship? He had to rescue her!
Already he had forgotten how angry he was with her.
Wanting to please her, he went to get the medicine off the shelf.
"Don't do that!" screamed Tinker Bell.
She had heard Hook muttering as he went through the forest, and she had learned about the poison.
"Why not?" asked Peter.
"Your medicine is poisoned. Hook did it while you slept," she said.
"Don't be silly," Peter said. "You know that no grown-up can enter here."
Tinker Bell could not explain how Hook had done it because she didn't know the secret of Slightly's tree.
"Besides," said Peter, not wanting to admit that he had cried and fallen asleep, "I never fell asleep."
He raised the cup to his lips. Like a bolt of lightning, Tinker Bell flew between his lips and the liquid. She drank the whole cup.
"How dare you drink my medicine!" he yelled.
But Tinker Bell did not answer.
Already she was fluttering dizzily in the air.
"What's the matter with you?" asked Peter, suddenly afraid.
"I told you," she said softly. "It was poisoned, and now I'm going to die."
"Oh, Tink, you drank the poison to save my life," he said. "Why did you do it?"
"Don't be silly, Peter," she whispered. "You know why."
Tinker Bell flew slowly to her nook and lay on her bed.
As Peter watched, her light grew fainter and fainter.
For the second time in just a few hours, Peter began to cry.
Tink's voice, now very low, stopped his tears for a moment.
"If enough children believe in fairies," she told him, "I know I will get well again."
There were no children left in the house, but Peter knew what he could do.
He called out to all the children who might be dreaming.
Peter knew that in their dreams children were nearer to Neverland than anyone imagined.
"Do you believe?" he shouted. "If you do, please clap your hands!"
Never before had Peter said "please" in such a sincere way.
He stretched out his arms and cried, "Don't let Tinker Bell die!"
Suddenly there was a roar of clapping from around the world.
And as parents all over rushed to their children's rooms to see what was the matter, Tinker Bell sat up in bed.
Her light was bright once again. Peter had saved her!