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flinked
there was a mildness about his mouth and eyes that proclaimed no devil.
effulgence.
enmity,
heads muttering, whispering, heads full of eyes that watched Ralph and speculated. Something was being done.
He hovered between the two courses of apology or further insult.
“and anyway, I’m sorry if you feel like that.
Immured
throwing itself at the elastic traces in all the madness of extreme terror.
The simple statement, unbacked by any proof but the weight of Ralph’s new authority,
leeward
hayrick.
The silence of the forest was more oppressive than the heat,
sepals
He became absorbed beyond mere happiness as he felt himself exercising control over living things.
today, irked by the mention of rescue, the useless, footling mention of rescue, even the green depths of water and the shattered, golden sun held no balm.
His mind was crowded with memories; memories of the knowledge that had come to them when they closed in on the struggling pig, knowledge that they had outwitted a living thing, imposed their will upon it, taken away its life like a long satisfying drink.
They waited for an appropriately decent answer. Yet Ralph’s throat refused to pass one.
You have doctors for everything, even the inside of your mind.
Fear, beasts, no general agreement that the fire was all-important: and when one tried to get the thing straight the argument sheered off, bringing up fresh, unpleasant matter.
“I’m chief. I was chosen.” “Why should choosing make any difference?
“If I blow the conch and they don’t come back; then we’ve had it. We shan’t keep the fire going. We’ll be like animals. We’ll never be rescued.” “If you don’t blow, we’ll soon be animals anyway. I can’t see what they’re doing but I can hear.”
I know about people. I know about me. And him. He can’t hurt you: but if you stand out of the way he’d hurt the next thing. And that’s me.”
The three boys stood in the darkness, striving unsuccessfully to convey the majesty of adult life.
They were the twins, on duty at the fire. In theory one should have been asleep and one on watch. But they could never manage to do things sensibly if that meant acting independently,
It’s time some people knew they’ve got to keep quiet and leave deciding things to the rest of us.”
Samneric.
He noticed that the sweat in his palm was cool now; realized with surprise that he did not really expect to meet any beast and didn’t know what he would do about it if he did.
They forgot the beast in the excitement of exploration.
The sun was bright and danger had faded with the darkness.
He pulled distastefully at his grey shirt and wondered whether he might undertake the adventure of washing it.
scurfy
Berengaria.”
wave-wet rock,
He bound himself together with his will, fused his fear and loathing into a hatred, and stood up.
“As long as there’s light we’re brave enough.
The greatest ideas are the simplest.
Even the butterflies deserted the open space where the obscene thing grinned and dripped.
Power lay in the brown swell of his forearms: authority sat on his shoulder and chattered in his ear like an ape.
They were glad to touch the brown backs of the fence that hemmed in the terror and made it governable.
the complementary circles went round and round as though repetition would achieve safety of itself.
There was loathing, and at the same time a kind of feverish excitement, in his voice.
busying himself with his pain,
They understood only too well the liberation into savagery that the concealing paint brought.
He had even glimpsed one of them, striped brown, black, and red, and had judged that it was Bill. But really, thought Ralph, this was not Bill. This was a savage whose image refused to blend with that ancient picture of a boy in shorts and shirt.
Daylight might have answered yes; but darkness and the horrors of death said no. Lying there in the darkness, he knew he was an outcast.
inimical
Never mind what’s sense. That’s gone—”
The trouble was you only had one chance.
ululation
*used TOO many times
