Повелитель мух / Lord of the Flies

He says will it come back tonight?”

“But there isn’t a beastie!”

There was no laughter at all now and more grave watching. Ralph pushed both hands through his hair and looked at the little boy in mixed amusement and exasperation.

Jack seized the conch.

“Ralph’s right of course. There isn’t a snake-thing. But if there was a snake we’d hunt it and kill it. We’re going to hunt pigs to get meat for everybody. And we’ll look for the snake too—”

“But there isn’t a snake!”

“We’ll make sure when we go hunting.

”

Ralph was annoyed and, for the moment, defeated. He felt himself facing something ungraspable. The eyes that looked so intently at him were without humor.

“But there isn’t a beast!”

Something he had not known was there rose in him and compelled him to make the point, loudly and again.

“But I tell you there isn’t a beast!”

The assembly was silent.

Ralph lifted the conch again and his good humor came back as he thought of what he had to say next.

“Now we come to the most important thing. I’ve been thinking. I was thinking while we were climbing the mountain.” He flashed a conspiratorial grin at the other two. “And on the beach just now. This is what I thought. We want to have fun. And we want to be rescued.”

The passionate noise of agreement from the assembly hit him like a wave and he lost his thread. He thought again.

“We want to be rescued; and of course we shall be rescued.”

Voices babbled.

The simple statement, unbacked by any proof but the weight of Ralph’s new authority, brought light and happiness. He had to wave the conch before he could make them hear him.

“My father’s in the Navy. He said there aren’t any unknown islands left. He says the Queen has a big room full of maps and all the islands in the world are drawn there. So the Queen’s got a picture of this island.”

Again came the sounds of cheerfulness and better heart.

“And sooner or later a ship will put in here.

It might even be Daddy’s ship. So you see, sooner or later, we shall be rescued.”

He paused, with the point made. The assembly was lifted toward safety by his words. They liked and now respected him. Spontaneously they began to clap and presently the platform was loud with applause. Ralph flushed, looking sideways at Piggy’s open admiration, and then the other way at Jack who was smirking and showing that he too knew how to clap.