The battle above was so loud, the earth seemed to move.
The children heard screams of terror and Indian war cries.
Stunned, they stopped packing for their trip and opened their mouths in alarm.
They fell silent as stones, listening for a clue to how the battle was going.
For the Indians, however, the attack was not a complete surprise.
From the moment the pirates had landed on the island, and one had stepped on a dry stick, the Indians had known the pirates were there and expected a fight.
They had even sent scouts out to investigate.
But the Indians were used to sneaking up on an enemy camp at dawn.
Everyone knew this was how battles with Indians were supposed to go.
So the Indians waited, expecting the pirates to stop and set up camp.
The cunning Captain Hook fooled them.
It was the pirates who snuck up on the Indians, and they attacked late in the night.
Surprised, the Indian warriors grabbed their weapons and yelled out their war cries.
They had promised to guard the children's home, and they fought bravely to the end. But they were beaten.
Only Tiger Lily and a few Indian warriors survived the battle. And they quickly fled.
Hook watched the pirates wipe their swords and catch their breath.
"Well done, men," he grinned. "But the night's work is not over yet."
"What? What does he mean?" said the pirates to one another.
"You see," Hook went on, "The Indians aren't really who I was after.
I want to capture Wendy and the Lost Boys.
And most of all, I want the blood of Peter Pan!"
Peter was such a little boy that it is hard to imagine why Hook hated him so much.
True, Peter had cut off Hook's hand and thrown it to the crocodile.
But it was Peter's pride that really made Hook's blood boil.
"How can a boy so young be so boastful?" he wondered.
Just thinking about it made his iron claw twitch.
The question now for Hook was how to get the pirates down into Peter's underground home.
He knew his pirates were too big to fit into the small boys' hollow trees.
And they would never squeeze through the tunnels to the underground home.
Hook looked over at his men and said quietly, "Now which of you is the skinniest?"
Down below, Peter, Wendy, and the boys were anxious.
"The noise has finally stopped," Peter said. "The battle must be over."
"Yes, but which side has won?" asked Wendy, worried.
Their lives depended on the answer.
"If the Indians have won," answered Peter, "they will beat their drum.
It is their victory signal. So we must listen."
At this, Wendy and the children all went silent again.
Meanwhile, looking for a place to rest, Smee found the Indians' drum and sat on it.
"No one will hear this drum again," he said to himself, pleased.
But to his surprise, Hook whispered, "Smee, beat the drum."
Captain Hook was just as clever as Peter, and Smee smiled when he understood what his sneaky captain was up to.
Smee beat the drum, and the sound rang through the woods.
Below ground the boys yelled, "It's an Indian victory!"
They let out a cheer so loud that the pirates heard it above.
The boys repeated their good-byes to Peter and prepared to come up through the hollow trees.
Above them the pirates smiled evilly at each other and rubbed their hands.
Hook silently motioned each pirate to pick a hollow tree and watch it.
In this way, they would catch the boys as they emerged from the ground.