CHAPTER EIGHT
Gift for the Darkness
Piggy looked up miserably from the dawn-pale beach to the dark mountain.
"Are you sure? Really sure, I mean?"I told you a dozen times now," said Ralph, "we saw it.""D'you think we're safe down here?""How the hell should I know?"Ralph jerked away from him and walked a few paces along the beach.
Jack was kneeling and drawing a circular pattern in the sand with his
forefinger. Piggy's voice came to them, hushed.
"Are you sure? Really?""Go up and see," said Jack contemptuously, "and good riddance.""No fear.""The beast had teeth," said Ralph, "and big black eyes."He shuddered violently. Piggy took off his one round of glass and
polished the surface.
"What we going to do?"Ralph turned toward the platform. The conch glimmered among the trees,
a white blob against the place where the sun would rise. He pushed back his
mop.