Ralph hides in the woods and ruminates on how civilization has entirely left the island, leaving only savages in the place of the boys they once were. After getting some fruit Ralph finds the pig’s skull, which he breaks in half in a fit of fear and rage. He then takes the stick it was hanging on as a weapon, and travels to the thicket near Castle Rock to spy on the savages having a feast. He sees Samneric on guard and calls to them. They tell Ralph he has to leave because Jack is going to hunt him down tomorrow, and give him some meat. However, they refuse to leave the tribe due to their fear of Jack and Roger. Ralph goes to sleep in the ferns near the savages’ camp.
Ralph wakes up savages near his hiding spot, and has faith that they won’t find him until he realizes that they tortured Samneric for info on his whereabouts. They almost crush Ralph with a boulder like they did with Piggy, but Ralph manages to avoid it. He is then forced to run when Jack sets the forest on fire to smoke him out. Ralph tries hiding, but is eventually found by the savages and forced to fight and run to the beach.
A navy officer is there, and says he found them from the smoke. He assumes the kids were playing a fun game until Ralph tells him two kids died. The officer expresses his disappointment in their lack of civility as British boys, and when the others come back to the beach they are described as boys with names rather than savages. Ralph then crys “for the end of innocence [and] the darkness of man’s heart” (290), which spurs all the other kids to start crying too.