He stopped again. The careful plan of this assembly had broken down. "What d'you want me to say then? I was wrong to call this assembly so late. We'll have a vote on them on ghosts I mean; and then

A sudden gust of wind made the palms talk1 and the noise seemed very loud now that darkness and silence made it so noticeable. Two grey trunks rubbed each other with an evil speaking that no one had noticed

Jack dropped into the uncomprehending silence that followed it the one crude expressive syllable. Release was immense. Those littluns who had climbed back on the twister fell off again and did not mind.

Ralph seated this seemed the breaking up of sanity. Fear, beasts no general agreement that the fire was all important; and when one tried to get the thing straight the argument sheered off, bringing up

Ralph held out the glimmering conch and Maurice took it obediently. The meeting subsided and an argument started again. "I mean when Jack says you can be frightened because people are frightened anyway

Jack listened to Percival's answer and then let go of him. Percival released, surrounded by the confortable presence of humans, fell in the long grass and went to sleep. Jack cleared his throat, then reported

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

Ralph peered at the child in the twilight. Now tell us what's your name? "Percival Wemys Madison. The Vicrage, Harcourt St. Anthony, Hants telephone. As if this information was rooted far down in

The littluns pushed Percival forward, then left him by himself. He stood knee-deep in the central grass, looking at his hidden feet, trying to pretend he was in a tent. Ralph remembered another small boy

Jack settled the question for them with that contempt in his voice that could sound so funny and so final. He was taken short. With a feeling humiliation on Simon's behalf, Ralph took back the conch, looking

Ralph was asleep when the twisty things were fighting and when they went away he was awake, and he saw something big and horrid moving in the trees. He help out his hands for the conch and the littlun

For a littlun he was self-confident, holding out his hands, cradling the conch as Ralph did, looking round at them to collect their attention before he spoke. "Last night I had a dream, a horrid dream,

If the littluns climb back on the twister again they'll only fall off in a sec. So they might as well sit on the ground and listen. No, you have doctors for everything, even the inside of your mind. You

Piggy got the conch and Ralph ought to shut up. You shut up, you littluns! What I mean is that I don't agree about this here fear. Of course there isn't nothing to be afraid of in the forest. Why I been

I've got the conch. I'm not talking about the fear, I'm talking about the beast. Be frightened if you like. But as for the beast. Jack paused, cradling the conch and turned to his hunters with their dirty

"The thing is-fear can't hurt you any more than a dream. There aren't any beasts to be afraid of on this island." He looked along the row of whispering littluns. "Serve you right if something

Ralph laid the conch on the trunk beside him as a sign that the speech was over. What sunlight reached them was level. Jack stood up and took the conch. "So this is the meaning to find out what's

A murmur, almost a moan, rose and passed away, Jack had stopped whittling. Ralph went on, abruptly. "But that's littluns' talk. We'll get that straight. So the last part, the bit we can all talk about,

Ralph paused for a moment and automatically pushed back his hair, Piggy tiptoed to the triangle, his ineffectual protest made, and joined the others. Ralph went on. " We have lots of assemblies. Everybody

Ralph was searching his mind for simple words so that even the littluns would understand what the assembly was about. Later perhaps, practised debaters-Jack, Maurice, Piggy, would use their whole art to