There now arose a mighty storm , accompanied by roaring of waters , such as he had never heard the like , and he was tossed this way and that , and his hands so numbed with the cold that he could not close them . Having escaped the danger of which , he was mercifully carried into a small bay , where his boat rode at peace . Nevertheless , he was not yet in safety ; for , on pretending to disembark , he found a multitude of small people drawn up on the shore to contest his landing ; and shouting shrilly to him to be off , for it was long past Lock-out Time . This , with much brandishing of their holly-leaves , and also a company of them carried an arrow which some boy had left in the Gardens , and this they were prepared to use as a battering-ram . Then Peter , who knew them for the fairies , called out that he was not an ordinary human and had no desire to do them displeasure , but to be their friend , nevertheless , having found a jolly harbour , he was in no temper to draw off there-from , and he warned them if they sought to mischief him to stand to their harms . So saying ; he boldly leapt ashore , and they gathered around him with intent to slay him , but there then arose a great cry among the women , and it was because they had now observed that his sail was a baby 's night-gown . Whereupon , they straightway loved him , and grieved that their laps were too small , the which I can not explain , except by saying that such is the way of women . The men-fairies now sheathed their weapons on observing the behaviour of their women , on whose intelligence they set great store , and they led him civilly to their queen , who conferred upon him the courtesy of the Gardens after Lock-out Time , and henceforth Peter could go whither he chose , and the fairies had orders to put him in comfort . Such was his first voyage to the Gardens , and you may gather from the antiquity of the language that it took place a long time ago . But Peter never grows any older , and if we could be watching for him under the bridge to-night -LRB- but , of course , we ca n't -RRB- , I daresay we should see him hoisting his night-gown and sailing or paddling toward us in the Thrush 's Nest . When he sails , he sits down , but he stands up to paddle . I shall tell you presently how he got his paddle . Long before the time for the opening of the gates comes he steals back to the island , for people must not see him -LRB- he is not so human as all that -RRB- , but this gives him hours for play , and he plays exactly as real children play . At least he thinks so , and it is one of the pathetic things about him that he often plays quite wrongly . You see , he had no one to tell him how children really play , for the fairies were all more or less in hiding until dusk , and so know nothing , and though the buds pretended that they could tell him a great deal , when the time for telling came , it was wonderful how little they really knew . They told him the truth about hide-and-seek , and he often plays it by himself , but even the ducks on the Round Pond could not explain to him what it is that makes the pond so fascinating to boys . Every night the ducks have forgotten all the events of the day , except the number of pieces of cake thrown to them . They are gloomy creatures , and say that cake is not what it was in their young days . So Peter had to find out many things for himself . He often played ships at the Round Pond , but his ship was only a hoop which he had found on the grass .
Of course , he had never seen a hoop , and he wondered what you XXXXX at with them , and decided that you play at pretending they are boats .
chose conferred gather gathered hiding observed play sits took watching