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801
The
smaller
boys
were
known
now
by
the
generic
title
of
"
littluns
.
"
The
decrease
in
size
,
from
Ralph
down
,
was
gradual
;
and
though
there
was
a
dubious
region
inhabited
by
Simon
and
Robert
and
Maurice
,
nevertheless
no
one
had
any
difficulty
in
recognizing
biguns
at
one
end
and
littluns
at
the
other
.
The
undoubted
littluns
,
those
aged
about
six
,
led
a
quite
distinct
,
and
at
the
same
time
intense
,
life
of
their
own
.
They
ate
most
of
the
day
,
picking
fruit
where
they
could
reach
it
and
not
particular
about
ripeness
and
quality
.
They
were
used
now
to
stomach-aches
and
a
sort
of
chronic
diarrhoea
.
They
suffered
untold
terrors
in
the
dark
and
huddled
together
for
comfort
.
Apart
from
food
and
sleep
,
they
found
time
for
play
,
aimless
and
trivial
,
in
the
white
sand
by
the
bright
water
.
They
cried
for
their
mothers
much
less
often
than
might
have
been
expected
;
they
were
very
brown
,
and
filthily
dirty
.
They
obeyed
the
summons
of
the
conch
,
partly
because
Ralph
blew
it
,
and
he
was
big
enough
to
be
a
link
with
the
adult
world
of
authority
;
and
partly
because
they
enjoyed
the
entertainment
of
the
assemblies
.
But
otherwise
they
seldom
bothered
with
the
biguns
and
their
passionately
emotional
and
corporate
life
was
their
own
.
802
They
had
built
castles
in
the
sand
at
the
bar
of
the
little
river
.
These
castles
were
about
one
foot
high
and
were
decorated
with
shells
,
withered
flowers
,
and
interesting
stones
.
Round
the
castles
was
a
complex
of
marks
,
tracks
,
walls
,
railway
lines
,
that
were
of
significance
only
if
inspected
with
the
eye
at
beach-level
.
The
littluns
played
here
,
if
not
happily
at
least
with
absorbed
attention
;
and
often
as
many
as
three
of
them
would
play
the
same
game
together
.
803
Three
were
playing
here
now
.
Henry
was
the
biggest
of
them
.
He
was
also
a
distant
relative
of
that
other
boy
whose
mulberry-marked
face
had
not
been
seen
since
the
evening
of
the
great
fire
;
but
he
was
not
old
enough
to
understand
this
,
and
if
he
had
been
told
that
the
other
boy
had
gone
home
in
an
aircraft
,
he
would
have
accepted
the
statement
without
fuss
or
disbelief
.
Отключить рекламу
804
Henry
was
a
bit
of
a
leader
this
afternoon
,
because
the
other
two
were
Percival
and
Johnny
,
the
smallest
boys
on
the
island
.
Percival
was
mouse-colored
and
had
not
been
very
attractive
even
to
his
mother
;
Johnny
was
well
built
,
with
fair
hair
and
a
natural
belligerence
.
Just
now
he
was
being
obedient
because
he
was
interested
;
and
the
three
children
,
kneeling
in
the
sand
,
were
at
peace
.
805
Roger
and
Maurice
came
out
of
the
forest
.
They
were
relieved
from
duty
at
the
fire
and
had
come
down
for
a
swim
.
Roger
led
the
way
straight
through
the
castles
,
kicking
them
over
,
burying
the
flowers
,
scattering
the
chosen
stones
.
Maurice
followed
,
laughing
,
and
added
to
the
destruction
.
The
three
littluns
paused
in
their
game
and
looked
up
.
As
it
happened
,
the
particular
marks
in
which
they
were
interested
had
not
been
touched
,
so
they
made
no
protest
.
Only
Percival
began
to
whimper
with
an
eyeful
of
sand
and
Maurice
hurried
away
.
In
his
other
life
Maurice
had
received
chastisement
for
filling
a
younger
eye
with
sand
.
Now
,
though
there
was
no
parent
to
let
fall
a
heavy
hand
,
Maurice
still
felt
the
unease
of
wrongdoing
.
At
the
back
of
his
mind
formed
the
uncertain
outlines
of
an
excuse
.
He
muttered
something
about
a
swim
and
broke
into
a
trot
.
806
Roger
remained
,
watching
the
littluns
.
He
was
not
noticeably
darker
than
when
he
had
dropped
in
,
but
the
shock
of
black
hair
,
down
his
nape
and
low
on
his
forehead
,
seemed
to
suit
his
gloomy
face
and
made
what
had
seemed
at
first
an
unsociable
remoteness
into
something
forbidding
.
807
Percival
finished
his
whimper
and
went
on
playing
,
for
the
tears
had
washed
the
sand
away
.
Johnny
watched
him
with
china-blue
eyes
;
then
began
to
fling
up
sand
in
a
shower
,
and
presently
Percival
was
crying
again
.
Отключить рекламу
808
When
Henry
tired
of
his
play
and
wandered
off
along
the
beach
,
Roger
followed
him
,
keeping
beneath
the
palms
and
drifting
casually
in
the
same
direction
.
Henry
walked
at
a
distance
from
the
palms
and
the
shade
because
he
was
too
young
to
keep
himself
out
of
the
sun
.
He
went
down
the
beach
and
busied
himself
at
the
water
's
edge
.
The
great
Pacific
tide
was
coming
in
and
every
few
seconds
the
relatively
still
water
of
the
lagoon
heaved
forwards
an
inch
.
There
were
creatures
that
lived
in
this
last
fling
of
the
sea
,
tiny
transparencies
that
came
questing
in
with
the
water
over
the
hot
,
dry
sand
.
With
impalpable
organs
of
sense
they
examined
this
new
field
.
Perhaps
food
had
appeared
where
at
the
last
incursion
there
had
been
none
;
bird
droppings
,
insects
perhaps
,
any
of
the
strewn
detritus
of
landward
life
.
Like
a
myriad
of
tiny
teeth
in
a
saw
,
the
transparencies
came
scavenging
over
the
beach
.
809
This
was
fascinating
to
Henry
.
He
poked
about
with
a
bit
of
stick
,
that
itself
was
wave-worn
and
whitened
and
a
vagrant
,
and
tried
to
control
the
motions
of
the
scavengers
.
He
made
little
runnels
that
the
tide
filled
and
tried
to
crowd
them
with
creatures
.
He
became
absorbed
beyond
mere
happiness
as
he
felt
himself
exercising
control
over
living
things
.
He
talked
to
them
,
urging
them
,
ordering
them
.
Driven
back
by
the
tide
,
his
footprints
became
bays
in
which
they
were
trapped
and
gave
him
the
illusion
of
mastery
.
He
squatted
on
his
hams
at
the
water
's
edge
,
bowed
,
with
a
shock
of
hair
falling
over
his
forehead
and
past
his
eyes
,
and
the
afternoon
sun
emptied
down
invisible
arrows
.
810
Roger
waited
too
.
At
first
he
had
hidden
behind
a
great
palm
;
but
Henry
's
absorption
with
the
transparencies
was
so
obvious
that
at
last
he
stood
out
in
full
view
.
He
looked
along
the
beach
.
Percival
had
gone
off
,
crying
,
and
Johnny
was
left
in
triumphant
possession
of
the
castles
,
He
sat
there
,
crooning
to
himself
and
throwing
sand
at
an
imaginary
Percival
.
Beyond
him
,
Roger
could
see
the
platform
and
the
glints
of
spray
where
Ralph
and
Simon
and
Piggy
and
Maurice
were
diving
in
the
pool
.
He
listened
carefully
but
could
only
just
hear
them
.