Повелитель мух
Gift for the Darkness
Piggybrokeintonoisylaughterandtookmorefruit."Hemightbe."Hegulpedhismouthful."He’scracked."
Simonhadpassedthroughtheareaoffruittreesbuttodaythelittlunshadbeentoobusywiththefireonthebeachandtheyhadnotpursuedhimthere.Hewentonamongthecreepersuntilhereachedthegreatmatthatwaswovenbytheopenspaceandcrawledinside.Beyondthescreenofleavesthesunlightpelteddownandthebutterfliesdancedinthemiddletheirunendingdance.Hekneltdownandthearrowofthesunfellonhim.Thatothertimetheairhadseemedtovibratewithheat;butnowitthreatened.Soonthesweatwasrunningfromhislongcoarsehair.Heshiftedrestlesslybuttherewasnoavoidingthesun.Presentlyhewasthirsty,andthenverythirsty.Hecontinuedtosit.
Faroffalongthebeach,Jackwasstandingbeforeasmallgroupofboys.Hewaslookingbrilliantlyhappy.
"Hunting,"hesaid.Hesizedthemup.Eachofthemworetheremainsofablackcapandagesagotheyhadstoodintwodemurerowsandtheirvoiceshadbeenthesongofangels.
"We’llhunt.I’mgoingtobechief."
Theynodded,andthecrisispassedeasily.
"Andthen—aboutthebeast."
Theymoved,lookedattheforest.
