Lord of the Flies Read Online Free PDF Page B

showing as in an aquarium; outside was the dark blue of the sea. The tide was running so that long streaks of foam tailed away from the reef and for a moment they felt that the boat was moving steadily astern.
                Jack pointed down.
                "That's where we landed."
                Beyond falls and cliffs there was a gash visible in the trees; there were the splintered trunks and then the drag, leaving only a fringe of palm between the scar and the sea. There, too, jutting into the lagoon, was the platform, with insect-like figures moving near it.
                Ralph sketched a twining line from the bald spot on which they stood down a slope, a gully, through flowers, round and down to the rock where the scar started.
                "That's the quickest way back."
                Eyes shining, mouths open, triumphant, they savored the right of domination. They were lifted up: were friends.
                "There's no village smoke, and no boats," said Ralph wisely. "We'll make sure later; but I think it's uninhabited."
                "We'll get food," cried Jack. "Hunt. Catch things. until they fetch us."
                Simon looked at them both, saying nothing but nodding till his black hair flopped backwards and forwards: his face was glowing.
                Ralph looked down the other way where there was no reef.
                "Steeper," said Jack.
                Ralph made a cupping gesture.
                "That bit of forest down there . . . the mountain holds it up."
                Every point of the mountain held up trees--flowers and trees. Now the forest stirred, roared, flailed. The nearer acres of rock flowers fluttered and for half a minute the breeze blew cool on their faces.
                Ralph spread his arms.
                "All ours."
                They laughed and tumbled and shouted on the mountain.
                "I'm hungry."
                When Simon mentioned his hunger the others became aware of theirs.
                "Come on," said Ralph. "We've found out what we wanted to know."
                They scrambled down a rock slope, dropped among flowers and made their way under the trees. Here they paused and examined the bushes round them curiously.
                Simon spoke first.
                "Like candles. Candle bushes. Candle buds."
                The bushes were dark evergreen and aromatic and the many buds were waxen green and folded up against the light. Jack slashed at one with his knife and the scent spilled over them.
                "Candle buds."
                "You couldn't light them," said Ralph. "They just look like candles."
                "Green candles," said Jack contemptuously. "We can't eat them. Come on."
                They were in the beginnings of the thick forest, plonking with weary feet on a track, when they heard the noises--squeakings--and the hard strike of hoofs on a path. As they pushed forward the squeaking increased till it became a frenzy. They found a piglet caught in a curtain of creepers, throwing itself at the elastic traces in all the madness of extreme terror. Its voice was thin, needle-sharp and insistent; The three boys rushed forward and Jack drew his knife again with a flourish. He raised his arm in the air. There came a pause, a hiatus, the pig continued to scream and the creepers to jerk, and the blade continued to flash at the end of a bony arm. The pause was only long enough for them to understand what an enormity the downward stroke would be. Then the piglet tore loose from the creepers and scurried into the undergrowth. They were left looking at each other and the place of terror. Jack's face was white under the freckles. He noticed that he still held the knife aloft and brought his