During the night, whilst everyone is asleep, war planes fight over the island but the boys are unaware as Sam and Eric, the twins who were supposed to be watching the signal fire, have fallen asleep. A parachutist descends onto the island, dead, and his chute is caught in a series of rocks, with his chute’s shadow casting something fearful. 

The twins wake up and decide to make the signal fire brighter, which allows them to see the shape of the dead parachutist more clearly. They spy the flapping material and mistake it for the beast, rushing back to tell Ralph all about it. Ralph organises a meeting and the twins tell all about what they say, which incites all, except for the littluns and Piggy, to search the island for the monster. 

The searchers come across a part of the island, a precarious hill dotted with caves. All are afraid to advance but Ralph decides it must be him to make sure the way is safe. In doing so, he realises that, alone, he is free from the collective fear of the group and is quite confident. Whilst exploring one of the caves, Jack joins him. They both begin to warm to one another again.

Ralph is then quickly annoyed by the rest of the group and their lacking focus, choosing to instead push rocks off the edge. He makes them return to light the signal fire.