Things look bleak for Ralph as he tries to avoid the
murderous boys who are hunting him in the final chapter of Lord of the
Flies. He has already been warned by Samneric that the painted hunters will
form a line and converge upon Ralph until he is found; a stick with points on both ends
await him when he is eventually discovered. Ralph manages to avoid capture, wounding one
hunter and stumbling past another until he rolls out of the thicket onto the beach. When
he looks up, instead of finding the hunters converging upon him, he sees a naval officer
carrying a revolver
looking down at Ralph in wary astonishment. On
the beach behind him was a cutter, her bows hauled up and held by two ratings. In the
stern-sheets another rating held a sub-machine gun.
"Fun and games," said
the officer.
Ralph was saved
from certain death, and the horrors of life on the island had come to an end. The boys
were rescued at last, but
the officer... was moved and a little
embarrassed. He turned away to give them time to pull themselves together; and waited,
allowing his eyes to rest on the trim cruiser in the
distance.
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