could say what they would as though they were speaking to only one
person. He stepped aside and looked back. Ralph was coming along,
holding his spear over his shoulder. Diffidently, Simon allowed his pace to
slacken until he was walking side by side with Ralph and looking up at him
through the coarse black hair that now fell to his eyes. Ralph glanced
sideways, smiled constrainedly as though he had forgotten that Simon had
made a fool of himself, then looked away again at nothing. For a moment or
two Simon was happy to be accepted and then he ceased to think about
himself. When he bashed into a tree Ralph looked sideways impatiently and
Robert sniggered. Simon reeled and a white spot on his forehead turned red
and trickled. Ralph dismissed Simon and returned to his personal hell. They
would reach the castle some time; and the chief would have to go forward.
Jack came trotting back. "We're in sight now.""All right. We'll get as close as we can."He followed Jack toward the castle where the ground rose slightly. On
their left was an impenetrable tangle of creepers and trees.
"Why couldn't there be something in that?""Because you can see. Nothing goes in or out.""What about the castle then?""Look."Ralph parted the screen of grass and looked out. There were only a few
more yards of stony ground and then the two sides of the island came
almost together so that one expected a peak of headland. But instead of this
a narrow ledge of rock, a few yards wide and perhaps fifteen long,
continued the island out into the sea. There lay another of those pieces of
pink squareness that underlay the structure of the island. This side of the
castle, perhaps a hundred feet high, was the pink bastion they had seen from
the mountain-top. The rock of the cliff was split and the top littered with
great lumps that seemed to totter.