Now the littluns wer no longer silent. They were reminded of their personal sorrows; and perhaps felt themselves to share in a sorrow that was universal. They began to cry in sympathy, two of them almost as loud as Percival. He pretended to fall over, he rubbed his rump arid sat on the twister so that he fell in the grass. He downed badly; but Percival and the others noticed and sniffed and laughed. Presently they were all laughing so absurdly that the biguns joined up. Jack was the first to make himself heard. He had not got the conch and thus spoke against the rules; but nobody minded. Something strange was happening to Percival. He yawned and staggered, so that Jack seized and shook hide on this island.
