Reading Help The Time Machine by H. G. Wells

Wood, I observed far off, in the direction of nineteenth-century `
` Banstead, a vast green structure, different in character from any `
` I had hitherto seen. It was larger than the largest of the palaces `
` or ruins I knew, and the facade had an Oriental look: the face `
` of it having the lustre, as well as the pale-green tint, a kind `
` of bluish-green, of a certain type of Chinese porcelain. This `
` difference in aspect suggested a difference in use, and I was minded `
` to push on and explore. But the day was growing late, and I had come `
` upon the sight of the place after a long and tiring circuit; so I `
` resolved to hold over the adventure for the following day, and I `
` returned to the welcome and the caresses of little Weena. But next `
` morning I perceived clearly enough that my curiosity regarding the `
` Palace of Green Porcelain was a piece of self-deception, to enable `
` me to shirk, by another day, an experience I dreaded. I resolved I `
` would make the descent without further waste of time, and started `
` out in the early morning towards a well near the ruins of granite `
` and aluminium. `
` `
` 'Little Weena ran with me. She danced beside me to the well, but `
` when she saw me lean over the mouth and look downward, she seemed `
` strangely disconcerted. "Good-bye, little Weena," I said, kissing `
` her; and then putting her down, I began to feel over the parapet `
` for the climbing hooks. Rather hastily, I may as well confess, for `
` I feared my courage might leak away! At first she watched me in `
` amazement. Then she gave a most piteous cry, and running to me, she `
` began to pull at me with her little hands. I think her opposition `
` nerved me rather to proceed. I shook her off, perhaps a little `
` roughly, and in another moment I was in the throat of the well. I `
` saw her agonized face over the parapet, and smiled to reassure her. `
` Then I had to look down at the unstable hooks to which I clung. `
` `
` 'I had to clamber down a shaft of perhaps two hundred yards. The `
` descent was effected by means of metallic bars projecting from `
` the sides of the well, and these being adapted to the needs of `
` a creature much smaller and lighter than myself, I was speedily `
` cramped and fatigued by the descent. And not simply fatigued! One of `
` the bars bent suddenly under my weight, and almost swung me off into `
` the blackness beneath. For a moment I hung by one hand, and after `
` that experience I did not dare to rest again. Though my arms and `
` back were presently acutely painful, I went on clambering down the `
` sheer descent with as quick a motion as possible. Glancing upward, `
` I saw the aperture, a small blue disk, in which a star was visible, `
` while little Weena's head showed as a round black projection. The `
` thudding sound of a machine below grew louder and more oppressive. `
` Everything save that little disk above was profoundly dark, and when `
` I looked up again Weena had disappeared. `
` `
` 'I was in an agony of discomfort. I had some thought of trying to go `
` up the shaft again, and leave the Under-world alone. But even while `
` I turned this over in my mind I continued to descend. At last, with `
` intense relief, I saw dimly coming up, a foot to the right of me, a `
` slender loophole in the wall. Swinging myself in, I found it was the `
` aperture of a narrow horizontal tunnel in which I could lie down and `
` rest. It was not too soon. My arms ached, my back was cramped, and I `
` was trembling with the prolonged terror of a fall. Besides this, the `
` unbroken darkness had had a distressing effect upon my eyes. The air `
` was full of the throb and hum of machinery pumping air down the `
` shaft. `
` `
` 'I do not know how long I lay. I was roused by a soft hand touching `
` my face. Starting up in the darkness I snatched at my matches and, `
` hastily striking one, I saw three stooping white creatures similar `
` to the one I had seen above ground in the ruin, hastily retreating `
` before the light. Living, as they did, in what appeared to me `
` impenetrable darkness, their eyes were abnormally large and `
` sensitive, just as are the pupils of the abysmal fishes, and they `
` reflected the light in the same way. I have no doubt they could see `
` me in that rayless obscurity, and they did not seem to have any fear `
` of me apart from the light. But, so soon as I struck a match in `
` order to see them, they fled incontinently, vanishing into dark `
` gutters and tunnels, from which their eyes glared at me in the `
` strangest fashion. `
` `
` 'I tried to call to them, but the language they had was apparently `
` different from that of the Over-world people; so that I was needs `
` left to my own unaided efforts, and the thought of flight before `
` exploration was even then in my mind. But I said to myself, "You are `
` in for it now," and, feeling my way along the tunnel, I found the `
` noise of machinery grow louder. Presently the walls fell away from `
` me, and I came to a large open space, and striking another match, `
` saw that I had entered a vast arched cavern, which stretched into `
` utter darkness beyond the range of my light. The view I had of it `
` was as much as one could see in the burning of a match. `
` `
` 'Necessarily my memory is vague. Great shapes like big machines rose `
` out of the dimness, and cast grotesque black shadows, in which dim `
` spectral Morlocks sheltered from the glare. The place, by the by, `
` was very stuffy and oppressive, and the faint halitus of freshly `
` shed blood was in the air. Some way down the central vista was a `
` little table of white metal, laid with what seemed a meal. The `
` Morlocks at any rate were carnivorous! Even at the time, I remember `
` wondering what large animal could have survived to furnish the red `
` joint I saw. It was all very indistinct: the heavy smell, the big `
` unmeaning shapes, the obscene figures lurking in the shadows, and `
` only waiting for the darkness to come at me again! Then the match `
` burned down, and stung my fingers, and fell, a wriggling red spot `
` in the blackness. `
` `
` 'I have thought since how particularly ill-equipped I was for such `
` an experience. When I had started with the Time Machine, I had `
` started with the absurd assumption that the men of the Future would `
` certainly be infinitely ahead of ourselves in all their appliances. `
` I had come without arms, without medicine, without anything to `
` smoke--at times I missed tobacco frightfully--even without enough `
` matches. If only I had thought of a Kodak! I could have flashed that `
` glimpse of the Underworld in a second, and examined it at leisure. `
` But, as it was, I stood there with only the weapons and the powers `
` that Nature had endowed me with--hands, feet, and teeth; these, and `
` four safety-matches that still remained to me. `
` `
` 'I was afraid to push my way in among all this machinery in the `
` dark, and it was only with my last glimpse of light I discovered `
` that my store of matches had run low. It had never occurred to me `
` until that moment that there was any need to economize them, and I `
` had wasted almost half the box in astonishing the Upper-worlders, to `
` whom fire was a novelty. Now, as I say, I had four left, and while I `
` stood in the dark, a hand touched mine, lank fingers came feeling `
` over my face, and I was sensible of a peculiar unpleasant odour. I `
` fancied I heard the breathing of a crowd of those dreadful little `
` beings about me. I felt the box of matches in my hand being gently `
` disengaged, and other hands behind me plucking at my clothing. The `
` sense of these unseen creatures examining me was indescribably `
` unpleasant. The sudden realization of my ignorance of their ways of `
` thinking and doing came home to me very vividly in the darkness. I `
` shouted at them as loudly as I could. They started away, and then `
` I could feel them approaching me again. They clutched at me more `
` boldly, whispering odd sounds to each other. I shivered violently, `
` and shouted again--rather discordantly. This time they were not so `
` seriously alarmed, and they made a queer laughing noise as they came `
` back at me. I will confess I was horribly frightened. I determined `
` to strike another match and escape under the protection of its `
` glare. I did so, and eking out the flicker with a scrap of paper `
` from my pocket, I made good my retreat to the narrow tunnel. But I `
` had scarce entered this when my light was blown out and in the `
` blackness I could hear the Morlocks rustling like wind among leaves, `
` and pattering like the rain, as they hurried after me. `
` `
` 'In a moment I was clutched by several hands, and there was no `
` mistaking that they were trying to haul me back. I struck another `
` light, and waved it in their dazzled faces. You can scarce imagine `
` how nauseatingly inhuman they looked--those pale, chinless faces `
` and great, lidless, pinkish-grey eyes!--as they stared in their `
` blindness and bewilderment. But I did not stay to look, I promise `
` you: I retreated again, and when my second match had ended, I struck `
` my third. It had almost burned through when I reached the opening `
` into the shaft. I lay down on the edge, for the throb of the great `
` pump below made me giddy. Then I felt sideways for the projecting `
` hooks, and, as I did so, my feet were grasped from behind, and I `
` was violently tugged backward. I lit my last match ... and it `
` incontinently went out. But I had my hand on the climbing bars now, `
` and, kicking violently, I disengaged myself from the clutches of the `
` Morlocks and was speedily clambering up the shaft, while they stayed `
` peering and blinking up at me: all but one little wretch who `
` followed me for some way, and well-nigh secured my boot as a trophy. `
` `
` 'That climb seemed interminable to me. With the last twenty or `
` thirty feet of it a deadly nausea came upon me. I had the greatest `
` difficulty in keeping my hold. The last few yards was a frightful `
` struggle against this faintness. Several times my head swam, and I `
` felt all the sensations of falling. At last, however, I got over the `
` well-mouth somehow, and staggered out of the ruin into the blinding `
` sunlight. I fell upon my face. Even the soil smelt sweet and clean. `
` Then I remember Weena kissing my hands and ears, and the voices of `
` others among the Eloi. Then, for a time, I was insensible. `
` `
` `
` `
` VII `
` `
` `
` 'Now, indeed, I seemed in a worse case than before. Hitherto, `
` except during my night's anguish at the loss of the Time Machine, `
` I had felt a sustaining hope of ultimate escape, but that hope was `
` staggered by these new discoveries. Hitherto I had merely thought `
` myself impeded by the childish simplicity of the little people, and `
` by some unknown forces which I had only to understand to overcome; `
` but there was an altogether new element in the sickening quality of `
` the Morlocks--a something inhuman and malign. Instinctively I `
` loathed them. Before, I had felt as a man might feel who had fallen `
` into a pit: my concern was with the pit and how to get out of it. `
` Now I felt like a beast in a trap, whose enemy would come upon him `
` soon. `
` `
` 'The enemy I dreaded may surprise you. It was the darkness of the `
` new moon. Weena had put this into my head by some at first `
` incomprehensible remarks about the Dark Nights. It was not now `
` such a very difficult problem to guess what the coming Dark Nights `
` might mean. The moon was on the wane: each night there was a longer `
` interval of darkness. And I now understood to some slight degree at `
` least the reason of the fear of the little Upper-world people for `
` the dark. I wondered vaguely what foul villainy it might be that `
` the Morlocks did under the new moon. I felt pretty sure now that `
` my second hypothesis was all wrong. The Upper-world people might `
` once have been the favoured aristocracy, and the Morlocks their `
` mechanical servants: but that had long since passed away. The two `
` species that had resulted from the evolution of man were sliding `
` down towards, or had already arrived at, an altogether new `
` relationship. The Eloi, like the Carolingian kings, had decayed `
` to a mere beautiful futility. They still possessed the earth on `
` sufferance: since the Morlocks, subterranean for innumerable `
` generations, had come at last to find the daylit surface `
`