Then the six would fight, hate with a fury of hatred, and flee home in terror.

Paul never forgot, after one of these fierce internecine fights, seeing a big red moon lift itself up, slowly, between the waste road over the hilltop, steadily, like a great bird.

And he thought of the Bible, that the moon should be turned to blood.

And the next day he made haste to be friends with Billy Pillins.

And then the wild, intense games went on again under the lamp-post, surrounded by so much darkness.