"Talk," said Ralph bitterly, "talk, talk, talk."
He took the conch from Jack.
"This meeting―"
Jack interrupted him.
"I called it."
"If you hadn't called it I should have. You just blew the conch."
"Well, isn't that calling it?"
"Oh, take it! Go on―talk!"
Ralph thrust the conch into Jack's arms and sat down on the trunk.
"I've called an assembly," said Jack, "because of a lot of things. First, you
know now, we've seen the beast. We crawled up. We were only a few feet
away. The beast sat up and looked at us. I don't know what it does. We don't
even know what it is―"
"The beast comes out of the sea―"
"Out of the dark―"
"Trees―"
"Quiet!" shouted Jack. "You, listen. The beast is sitting up there,
whatever it is―"
"Perhaps it's waiting―"
"Hunting―"
"Yes, hunting."