He made a sweeping movement with his hand. Ralph looked toward the
mountain.
"What's the matter?"Ralph turned."Why?""You were looking―I don't know why.""There's no signal now. Nothing to show.""You're nuts on the signal."The taut blue horizon encircled them, broken only by the mountain-top."That's all we've got."He leaned his spear against the rocking stone and pushed back two
handfuls of hair.
"We'll have to go back and climb the mountain. That's where they saw
the beast."
"The beast won't be there.""What else can we do?"The others, waiting in the grass, saw Jack and Ralph unharmed and broke
cover into the sunlight. They forgot the beast in the excitement of
exploration. They swarmed across the bridge and soon were climbing and
shouting. Ralph stood now, one hand against an enormous red block, a
block large as a mill wheel that had been split off and hung, tottering.
Somberly he watched the mountain. He clenched his fist and beat hammer-
wise on the red wall at his right. His lips were tightly compressed and his
eyes yearned beneath the fringe of hair.
"Smoke."