Ralph thinks about how dirty he and the rest of the boys have gotten, and starts to feel hopeless while thinking about the vastness of the ocean. Simon reassures Ralph that he’ll make it back. Ralph remembers his old home life in the cottage back in England, and then goes on a hunt with the other boys. Ralph throws his spear at the boar, and gets proud when it hits it even though the spear didn’t subdue it. In their excitement the boys reenact hunting down the boar with Robert as the boar in the middle of their circle. They start chanting about killing the pig, and Ralph directly participates in the frenzy. The boys get so involved that they nearly kill Robert, and when he says they should use a real boar next time Jack says they should use a littlun.
It starts getting dark out, but the boys can’t make it back to the beach in the dark. However, since they can’t leave Piggy alone with the littluns Simon volunteers to go by himself in the dark. Jack and Ralph get into an argument about who has more authority. Jack decides to go up the mountain to hunt for the beast with Roger, and Ralph joins them in order to appear more powerful to the rest of the group. Jack goes up further by himself while Ralph and Roger wait, and when he comes back Jack claims to have seen the beast. Ralph decides to take the lead and go see for himself, and sees the bowing creature who is actually a dead parachutist. The boys get scared and run back down the mountain.