Lord of the Flies - William Golding [40]
The reply was too emphatic for anyone to doubt them.
Piggy took the conch.
"Couldn't we―kind of―stay here? Maybe the beast won't come near us."
But for the sense of something watching them, Ralph would have shouted at him.
"Stay here? And be cramped into this bit of the island, always on the lookout? How should we get our food? And what about the fire?"
"Let's be moving," said Jack relentlessly, "we're wasting time."
"No we're not. What about the littluns?"
"Sucks to the littluns!"
"Someone's got to look after them."
"Nobody has so far."
"There was no need! Now there is. Piggy'll look after them."
"That's right. Keep Piggy out of danger."
"Have some sense. What can Piggy do with only one eye?"
The rest of the boys were looking from Jack to Ralph, curiously.
"And another thing. You can't have an ordinary hunt because the beast doesn't leave tracks. If it did you'd have seen them. For all we know, the beast may swing through the trees like what's its name."
They nodded.
"So we've got to think."
Piggy took off his damaged glasses and cleaned the remaining lens.
"How about us, Ralph?"
"You haven't got the conch. Here."
"I mean―how about us? Suppose the beast comes when you're all away. I can't see proper, and if I get scared―"
Jack broke in, contemptuously.
"You're always scared."
"I got the conch―"
"Conch! Conch!" shouted Jack. "We don't need the conch any more. We know who ought to say things. What good did Simon do speaking, or Bill, or Walter? It's time some people knew they've got to keep quiet and leave deciding things to the rest of us."
Ralph could no longer ignore his speech. The blood was hot in his cheeks.
"You haven't got the conch," he said. "Sit down."
Jack's face went so white that the freckles showed as clear, brown flecks. He licked his lips and remained standing.
"This is a hunter's job."
The rest of the boys watched intently. Piggy, finding himself uncomfortably embroiled, slid the conch to Ralph's knees and sat down. The silence grew oppressive and Piggy held his breath.
"This is more than a hunter's job," said Ralph at last, "because you can't track the beast. And don't you want to be rescued?"
He turned to the assembly.
"Don't you all want to be rescued?"
He looked back at Jack.
"I said before, the fire is the main thing. Now the fire must be out―"
The old exasperation saved him and gave him the energy to attack.
"Hasn't anyone got any sense? We've got to relight that fire. You never thought of that, Jack, did you? Or don't any of you want to be rescued?"
Yes, they wanted to be rescued, there was no doubt about that; and with a violent swing to Ralph's side, the crisis passed. Piggy let out his breath with a gasp, reached for it again and failed. He lay against a log, his mouth gaping, blue shadows creeping round his lips. Nobody minded him.
"Now think, Jack. Is there anywhere on the island you haven't been?"
Unwillingly Jack answered.
"There's only―but of course! You remember? The tail-end part, where the rocks are all piled up. I've been near there. The rock makes a sort of bridge. There's only one way up."
"And the thing might live there."
All the assembly talked at once.
"Quite! All right. That's where we'll look. If the beast isn't there we'll go up the mountain and look; and light the fire."
"Let's go."
"We'll eat first. Then go." Ralph paused. "We'd better take spears."
After they had eaten, Ralph and the biguns set out along the beach. They left Piggy propped up on the platform. This day promised, like the others, to be a sunbath under a blue dome. The beach stretched away before them in a gentle curve till perspective drew it into one with the forest; for the day was not advanced enough to be obscured by the shifting veils of mirage. Under Ralph's direction, they picked up a careful way along the palm terrace, rather than dare the hot sand down by the water. He let Jack lead the way; and Jack trod with theatrical caution though they could have seen an enemy twenty yards away. Ralph walked in the rear, thankful to have escaped responsibility