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“You come on and see what you get!”
“You come on—”
Piggy clutching the ground was trying to attract Ralph's attention. Ralph moved, bent down, kept a wary eye on Jack.
“Ralph—remember what we came for. The fire. My specs.”
Ralph nodded. He relaxed his fighting muscles, stood easily and grounded the butt of his spear Jack watched him inscrutably through his paint. Ralph glanced up at the pinnacles, then toward the group of savages
“Listen. We've come to say this. First you've got to give back Piggy's specs. If he hasn't got them he can’t see You aren't playing the game—”
The tribe of painted savages giggled and Ralph's mind faltered. He pushed his hair up and gazed at the green and black mask before him, trying to remember what Jack looked like.
Piggy whispered.
“And the fire.”
“Oh yes. Then about the fire. I say this again. I've been saying it ever since we dropped in.”
He held out his spear and pointed at the savages.
“Your only hope is keeping a signal fire going as long as there's light to see. Then maybe a ship`ll notice the smoke and come and rescue us and take us home. But without that smoke we've got to wait till some ship comes by accident. We might wait years; till we were old—”
The shivering, silvery, unreal laughter of the savages sprayed out and echoed away. A gust of rage shook Ralph His voice cracked.
“Don't you understand, you painted fools? Sam, Eric, Piggy and me—we aren't enough. We tried to keep the fire going, but we couldn't. And then you, playing at hunting....”
He pointed past them to where the trickle of smoke dispersed in the pearly air.
“Look at that! Call that a signal fire? That's a cooking fire Now you'll eat and there'll be no smoke. Don't you understand? There may be a ship out there—”
He paused, defeated by the silence and the painted anonymity of the group guarding the entry. Jack opened a pink mouth and addressed Samneric, who were between him and his tribe.
“You two. Get back.”
No one answered him. The twins, puzzled, looked at each Other; while Piggy, reassured by the cessation of violence, stood up carefully. Jack glanced back at Ralph and then at the twins.
“Grab them!”
No one moved. Jack shouted angrily.
“I said ‘grab them’!”
The painted group moved round Samneric nervously and unhandily. Once more the silvery laughter scattered.
Samneric protested out of the heart of civilization.
“Oh, I say!”
“—honestly!”
Their spears were taken from them.
“Tie them up!”
Ralph cried out hopelessly against the black and green mask.
“Jack!”
“Go on. Tie them.”
Now the painted group felt the otherness of Samneric, felt the power in their own hands. They felled the twins clumsily and excitedly. Jack was inspired. He knew that Ralph would attempt a rescue. He struck in a humming circle behind him and Ralph only just parried the blow. Beyond them the tribe and the twins were a loud and writhing heap. Piggy crouched again. Then the twins lay, astonished, and the tribe stood round them. Jack turned to Ralph and spoke between his teeth.
“See? They do what I want.”
There was silence again. The twins lay, inexpertly tied up, and the tribe watched Ralph to see what he would do. He numbered them through his fringe, glimpsed the ineffectual smoke.
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