because when they heard the conch being blown, they knew there was some person on the island and they weren't alone, or that they thought somebody was coming to save them
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Ralph and Piggy use a conch shell to call the boys together.
When Ralph is voted as leader the reasons he is picked are "his size, and attractive appearance; and most obscurely, yet most powerfully, there was the conch." (22) its a symbol of authority because in the beginning it is agreed that when somone has the conch in their possesion they have the right to speak and because Ralph blew the conch and found it he is also seen as an authoritative figure making the conch athoritative ;)
When Ralph first spots the conch in the lagoon Piggy tells him, "I knew a boy who had one of those, on his garden wal it was, they are ever so valuable." He later tells Ralph that the boy, "he used to blow it to make a noise," and explains to Ralph that the boy blew from his diaphragm in order to get a noise from the conch shell. So although Ralph actually finds, recovers and blows the conch. Piggy identifies it correctly and informs Ralph that it can be blown.
The conch shell.
The conch is a very big and important symbol throughout the whole book, linked to several characters as well. During the election of the boys' leader, the conch was in the hands of Ralph. After putting it down, he was still looked up to as a leader, because almost all of the youngest boys leaned towards Ralph. Ralph seemed to be the symbol of the conch, where he radiated leadership and was in fact the first person (after Piggy) who found the conch. The other boys saw him carrying it, and perhaps the author suggests that they linked the conch to Ralph automatically. As for the older and oldest boys, most of them looked up to him as well, but notice that Jack's choir boys voted for Jack only. To Jack the conch was a symbol of leadership, but only that. He saw it as an object which Ralph did not deserve, and the conch was mostly quabbled over like the last chicken leg of the dogs' dinner.