Reading Help War of the worlds by H. G. Wells. Book 1
`
` He read and re-read the paper, fearing the worst had happened to me. `
` He was restless, and after supper prowled out again aimlessly. He `
` returned and tried in vain to divert his attention to his examination `
` notes. He went to bed a little after midnight, and was awakened from `
` lurid dreams in the small hours of Monday by the sound of door `
` knockers, feet running in the street, distant drumming, and a clamour `
` of bells. Red reflections danced on the ceiling. For a moment he lay `
` astonished, wondering whether day had come or the world gone mad. `
` Then he jumped out of bed and ran to the window. `
` `
` His room was an attic and as he thrust his head out, up and down `
` the street there were a dozen echoes to the noise of his window sash, `
` and heads in every kind of night disarray appeared. Enquiries were `
` being shouted. "They are coming!" bawled a policeman, hammering at `
` the door; "the Martians are coming!" and hurried to the next door. `
` `
` The sound of drumming and trumpeting came from the Albany Street `
` Barracks, and every church within earshot was hard at work killing `
` sleep with a vehement disorderly tocsin. There was a noise of doors `
` opening, and window after window in the houses opposite flashed from `
` darkness into yellow illumination. `
` `
` Up the street came galloping a closed carriage, bursting abruptly `
` into noise at the corner, rising to a clattering climax under the `
` window, and dying away slowly in the distance. Close on the rear of `
` this came a couple of cabs, the forerunners of a long procession of `
` flying vehicles, going for the most part to Chalk Farm station, where `
` the North-Western special trains were loading up, instead of coming `
` down the gradient into Euston. `
` `
` For a long time my brother stared out of the window in blank `
` astonishment, watching the policemen hammering at door after door, and `
` delivering their incomprehensible message. Then the door behind him `
` opened, and the man who lodged across the landing came in, dressed `
` only in shirt, trousers, and slippers, his braces loose about his `
` waist, his hair disordered from his pillow. `
` `
` "What the devil is it?" he asked. "A fire? What a devil of a `
` row!" `
` `
` They both craned their heads out of the window, straining to hear `
` what the policemen were shouting. People were coming out of the side `
` streets, and standing in groups at the corners talking. `
` `
` "What the devil is it all about?" said my brother's fellow lodger. `
` `
` My brother answered him vaguely and began to dress, running with `
` each garment to the window in order to miss nothing of the growing `
` excitement. And presently men selling unnaturally early newspapers `
` came bawling into the street: `
` `
` "London in danger of suffocation! The Kingston and Richmond `
` defences forced! Fearful massacres in the Thames Valley!" `
` `
` And all about him--in the rooms below, in the houses on each side `
` and across the road, and behind in the Park Terraces and in the `
` hundred other streets of that part of Marylebone, and the Westbourne `
` Park district and St. Pancras, and westward and northward in Kilburn `
` and St. John's Wood and Hampstead, and eastward in Shoreditch and `
` Highbury and Haggerston and Hoxton, and, indeed, through all the `
` vastness of London from Ealing to East Ham--people were rubbing their `
` eyes, and opening windows to stare out and ask aimless questions, `
` dressing hastily as the first breath of the coming storm of Fear blew `
` through the streets. It was the dawn of the great panic. London, `
` which had gone to bed on Sunday night oblivious and inert, was `
` awakened, in the small hours of Monday morning, to a vivid sense of `
` danger. `
` `
` Unable from his window to learn what was happening, my brother went `
` down and out into the street, just as the sky between the parapets of `
` the houses grew pink with the early dawn. The flying people on foot `
` and in vehicles grew more numerous every moment. "Black Smoke!" he `
` heard people crying, and again "Black Smoke!" The contagion of such `
` a unanimous fear was inevitable. As my brother hesitated on the `
` door-step, he saw another news vender approaching, and got a paper `
` forthwith. The man was running away with the rest, and selling his `
` papers for a shilling each as he ran--a grotesque mingling of profit `
` and panic. `
` `
` And from this paper my brother read that catastrophic dispatch of `
` the Commander-in-Chief: `
` `
` "The Martians are able to discharge enormous clouds of a black and `
` poisonous vapour by means of rockets. They have smothered our `
` batteries, destroyed Richmond, Kingston, and Wimbledon, and are `
` advancing slowly towards London, destroying everything on the way. It `
` is impossible to stop them. There is no safety from the Black Smoke `
` but in instant flight." `
` `
` That was all, but it was enough. The whole population of the great `
` six-million city was stirring, slipping, running; presently it would `
` be pouring _en masse_ northward. `
` `
` "Black Smoke!" the voices cried. "Fire!" `
` `
` The bells of the neighbouring church made a jangling tumult, a cart `
` carelessly driven smashed, amid shrieks and curses, against the water `
` trough up the street. Sickly yellow lights went to and fro in the `
` houses, and some of the passing cabs flaunted unextinguished lamps. `
` And overhead the dawn was growing brighter, clear and steady and calm. `
` `
` He heard footsteps running to and fro in the rooms, and up and down `
` stairs behind him. His landlady came to the door, loosely wrapped in `
` dressing gown and shawl; her husband followed ejaculating. `
` `
` As my brother began to realise the import of all these things, he `
` turned hastily to his own room, put all his available money--some ten `
` pounds altogether--into his pockets, and went out again into the `
` streets. `
` `
` `
` `
` CHAPTER FIFTEEN `
` `
` WHAT HAD HAPPENED IN SURREY `
` `
` `
` It was while the curate had sat and talked so wildly to me under `
` the hedge in the flat meadows near Halliford, and while my brother was `
` watching the fugitives stream over Westminster Bridge, that the `
` Martians had resumed the offensive. So far as one can ascertain from `
` the conflicting accounts that have been put forth, the majority of `
` them remained busied with preparations in the Horsell pit until nine `
` that night, hurrying on some operation that disengaged huge volumes of `
` green smoke. `
` `
` But three certainly came out about eight o'clock and, advancing `
` slowly and cautiously, made their way through Byfleet and Pyrford `
` towards Ripley and Weybridge, and so came in sight of the expectant `
` batteries against the setting sun. These Martians did not advance in `
` a body, but in a line, each perhaps a mile and a half from his nearest `
` fellow. They communicated with one another by means of sirenlike `
` howls, running up and down the scale from one note to another. `
` `
` It was this howling and firing of the guns at Ripley and St. `
` George's Hill that we had heard at Upper Halliford. The Ripley `
` gunners, unseasoned artillery volunteers who ought never to have been `
` placed in such a position, fired one wild, premature, ineffectual `
` volley, and bolted on horse and foot through the deserted village, `
` while the Martian, without using his Heat-Ray, walked serenely over `
` their guns, stepped gingerly among them, passed in front of them, and `
` so came unexpectedly upon the guns in Painshill Park, which he `
` destroyed. `
` `
` The St. George's Hill men, however, were better led or of a better `
` mettle. Hidden by a pine wood as they were, they seem to have been `
` quite unsuspected by the Martian nearest to them. They laid their `
` guns as deliberately as if they had been on parade, and fired at about `
` a thousand yards' range. `
` `
` The shells flashed all round him, and he was seen to advance a few `
` paces, stagger, and go down. Everybody yelled together, and the guns `
` were reloaded in frantic haste. The overthrown Martian set up a `
` prolonged ululation, and immediately a second glittering giant, `
` answering him, appeared over the trees to the south. It would seem `
` that a leg of the tripod had been smashed by one of the shells. The `
` whole of the second volley flew wide of the Martian on the ground, `
` and, simultaneously, both his companions brought their Heat-Rays to `
` bear on the battery. The ammunition blew up, the pine trees all about `
` the guns flashed into fire, and only one or two of the men who were `
` already running over the crest of the hill escaped. `
` `
` After this it would seem that the three took counsel together and `
` halted, and the scouts who were watching them report that they `
` remained absolutely stationary for the next half hour. The Martian `
` who had been overthrown crawled tediously out of his hood, a small `
` brown figure, oddly suggestive from that distance of a speck of `
` blight, and apparently engaged in the repair of his support. About `
` nine he had finished, for his cowl was then seen above the trees `
` again. `
` `
` It was a few minutes past nine that night when these three `
` sentinels were joined by four other Martians, each carrying a thick `
` black tube. A similar tube was handed to each of the three, and the `
` seven proceeded to distribute themselves at equal distances along a `
` curved line between St. George's Hill, Weybridge, and the village of `
` Send, southwest of Ripley. `
` `
` A dozen rockets sprang out of the hills before them so soon as they `
` began to move, and warned the waiting batteries about Ditton and `
` Esher. At the same time four of their fighting machines, similarly `
` armed with tubes, crossed the river, and two of them, black against `
` the western sky, came into sight of myself and the curate as we `
` hurried wearily and painfully along the road that runs northward out `
` of Halliford. They moved, as it seemed to us, upon a cloud, for a `
` milky mist covered the fields and rose to a third of their height. `
` `
` At this sight the curate cried faintly in his throat, and began `
` running; but I knew it was no good running from a Martian, and I `
` turned aside and crawled through dewy nettles and brambles into the `
` broad ditch by the side of the road. He looked back, saw what I was `
` doing, and turned to join me. `
` `
` The two halted, the nearer to us standing and facing Sunbury, the `
` remoter being a grey indistinctness towards the evening star, away `
` towards Staines. `
` `
` The occasional howling of the Martians had ceased; they took up `
` their positions in the huge crescent about their cylinders in absolute `
` silence. It was a crescent with twelve miles between its horns. Never `
`
` He read and re-read the paper, fearing the worst had happened to me. `
` He was restless, and after supper prowled out again aimlessly. He `
` returned and tried in vain to divert his attention to his examination `
` notes. He went to bed a little after midnight, and was awakened from `
` lurid dreams in the small hours of Monday by the sound of door `
` knockers, feet running in the street, distant drumming, and a clamour `
` of bells. Red reflections danced on the ceiling. For a moment he lay `
` astonished, wondering whether day had come or the world gone mad. `
` Then he jumped out of bed and ran to the window. `
` `
` His room was an attic and as he thrust his head out, up and down `
` the street there were a dozen echoes to the noise of his window sash, `
` and heads in every kind of night disarray appeared. Enquiries were `
` being shouted. "They are coming!" bawled a policeman, hammering at `
` the door; "the Martians are coming!" and hurried to the next door. `
` `
` The sound of drumming and trumpeting came from the Albany Street `
` Barracks, and every church within earshot was hard at work killing `
` sleep with a vehement disorderly tocsin. There was a noise of doors `
` opening, and window after window in the houses opposite flashed from `
` darkness into yellow illumination. `
` `
` Up the street came galloping a closed carriage, bursting abruptly `
` into noise at the corner, rising to a clattering climax under the `
` window, and dying away slowly in the distance. Close on the rear of `
` this came a couple of cabs, the forerunners of a long procession of `
` flying vehicles, going for the most part to Chalk Farm station, where `
` the North-Western special trains were loading up, instead of coming `
` down the gradient into Euston. `
` `
` For a long time my brother stared out of the window in blank `
` astonishment, watching the policemen hammering at door after door, and `
` delivering their incomprehensible message. Then the door behind him `
` opened, and the man who lodged across the landing came in, dressed `
` only in shirt, trousers, and slippers, his braces loose about his `
` waist, his hair disordered from his pillow. `
` `
` "What the devil is it?" he asked. "A fire? What a devil of a `
` row!" `
` `
` They both craned their heads out of the window, straining to hear `
` what the policemen were shouting. People were coming out of the side `
` streets, and standing in groups at the corners talking. `
` `
` "What the devil is it all about?" said my brother's fellow lodger. `
` `
` My brother answered him vaguely and began to dress, running with `
` each garment to the window in order to miss nothing of the growing `
` excitement. And presently men selling unnaturally early newspapers `
` came bawling into the street: `
` `
` "London in danger of suffocation! The Kingston and Richmond `
` defences forced! Fearful massacres in the Thames Valley!" `
` `
` And all about him--in the rooms below, in the houses on each side `
` and across the road, and behind in the Park Terraces and in the `
` hundred other streets of that part of Marylebone, and the Westbourne `
` Park district and St. Pancras, and westward and northward in Kilburn `
` and St. John's Wood and Hampstead, and eastward in Shoreditch and `
` Highbury and Haggerston and Hoxton, and, indeed, through all the `
` vastness of London from Ealing to East Ham--people were rubbing their `
` eyes, and opening windows to stare out and ask aimless questions, `
` dressing hastily as the first breath of the coming storm of Fear blew `
` through the streets. It was the dawn of the great panic. London, `
` which had gone to bed on Sunday night oblivious and inert, was `
` awakened, in the small hours of Monday morning, to a vivid sense of `
` danger. `
` `
` Unable from his window to learn what was happening, my brother went `
` down and out into the street, just as the sky between the parapets of `
` the houses grew pink with the early dawn. The flying people on foot `
` and in vehicles grew more numerous every moment. "Black Smoke!" he `
` heard people crying, and again "Black Smoke!" The contagion of such `
` a unanimous fear was inevitable. As my brother hesitated on the `
` door-step, he saw another news vender approaching, and got a paper `
` forthwith. The man was running away with the rest, and selling his `
` papers for a shilling each as he ran--a grotesque mingling of profit `
` and panic. `
` `
` And from this paper my brother read that catastrophic dispatch of `
` the Commander-in-Chief: `
` `
` "The Martians are able to discharge enormous clouds of a black and `
` poisonous vapour by means of rockets. They have smothered our `
` batteries, destroyed Richmond, Kingston, and Wimbledon, and are `
` advancing slowly towards London, destroying everything on the way. It `
` is impossible to stop them. There is no safety from the Black Smoke `
` but in instant flight." `
` `
` That was all, but it was enough. The whole population of the great `
` six-million city was stirring, slipping, running; presently it would `
` be pouring _en masse_ northward. `
` `
` "Black Smoke!" the voices cried. "Fire!" `
` `
` The bells of the neighbouring church made a jangling tumult, a cart `
` carelessly driven smashed, amid shrieks and curses, against the water `
` trough up the street. Sickly yellow lights went to and fro in the `
` houses, and some of the passing cabs flaunted unextinguished lamps. `
` And overhead the dawn was growing brighter, clear and steady and calm. `
` `
` He heard footsteps running to and fro in the rooms, and up and down `
` stairs behind him. His landlady came to the door, loosely wrapped in `
` dressing gown and shawl; her husband followed ejaculating. `
` `
` As my brother began to realise the import of all these things, he `
` turned hastily to his own room, put all his available money--some ten `
` pounds altogether--into his pockets, and went out again into the `
` streets. `
` `
` `
` `
` CHAPTER FIFTEEN `
` `
` WHAT HAD HAPPENED IN SURREY `
` `
` `
` It was while the curate had sat and talked so wildly to me under `
` the hedge in the flat meadows near Halliford, and while my brother was `
` watching the fugitives stream over Westminster Bridge, that the `
` Martians had resumed the offensive. So far as one can ascertain from `
` the conflicting accounts that have been put forth, the majority of `
` them remained busied with preparations in the Horsell pit until nine `
` that night, hurrying on some operation that disengaged huge volumes of `
` green smoke. `
` `
` But three certainly came out about eight o'clock and, advancing `
` slowly and cautiously, made their way through Byfleet and Pyrford `
` towards Ripley and Weybridge, and so came in sight of the expectant `
` batteries against the setting sun. These Martians did not advance in `
` a body, but in a line, each perhaps a mile and a half from his nearest `
` fellow. They communicated with one another by means of sirenlike `
` howls, running up and down the scale from one note to another. `
` `
` It was this howling and firing of the guns at Ripley and St. `
` George's Hill that we had heard at Upper Halliford. The Ripley `
` gunners, unseasoned artillery volunteers who ought never to have been `
` placed in such a position, fired one wild, premature, ineffectual `
` volley, and bolted on horse and foot through the deserted village, `
` while the Martian, without using his Heat-Ray, walked serenely over `
` their guns, stepped gingerly among them, passed in front of them, and `
` so came unexpectedly upon the guns in Painshill Park, which he `
` destroyed. `
` `
` The St. George's Hill men, however, were better led or of a better `
` mettle. Hidden by a pine wood as they were, they seem to have been `
` quite unsuspected by the Martian nearest to them. They laid their `
` guns as deliberately as if they had been on parade, and fired at about `
` a thousand yards' range. `
` `
` The shells flashed all round him, and he was seen to advance a few `
` paces, stagger, and go down. Everybody yelled together, and the guns `
` were reloaded in frantic haste. The overthrown Martian set up a `
` prolonged ululation, and immediately a second glittering giant, `
` answering him, appeared over the trees to the south. It would seem `
` that a leg of the tripod had been smashed by one of the shells. The `
` whole of the second volley flew wide of the Martian on the ground, `
` and, simultaneously, both his companions brought their Heat-Rays to `
` bear on the battery. The ammunition blew up, the pine trees all about `
` the guns flashed into fire, and only one or two of the men who were `
` already running over the crest of the hill escaped. `
` `
` After this it would seem that the three took counsel together and `
` halted, and the scouts who were watching them report that they `
` remained absolutely stationary for the next half hour. The Martian `
` who had been overthrown crawled tediously out of his hood, a small `
` brown figure, oddly suggestive from that distance of a speck of `
` blight, and apparently engaged in the repair of his support. About `
` nine he had finished, for his cowl was then seen above the trees `
` again. `
` `
` It was a few minutes past nine that night when these three `
` sentinels were joined by four other Martians, each carrying a thick `
` black tube. A similar tube was handed to each of the three, and the `
` seven proceeded to distribute themselves at equal distances along a `
` curved line between St. George's Hill, Weybridge, and the village of `
` Send, southwest of Ripley. `
` `
` A dozen rockets sprang out of the hills before them so soon as they `
` began to move, and warned the waiting batteries about Ditton and `
` Esher. At the same time four of their fighting machines, similarly `
` armed with tubes, crossed the river, and two of them, black against `
` the western sky, came into sight of myself and the curate as we `
` hurried wearily and painfully along the road that runs northward out `
` of Halliford. They moved, as it seemed to us, upon a cloud, for a `
` milky mist covered the fields and rose to a third of their height. `
` `
` At this sight the curate cried faintly in his throat, and began `
` running; but I knew it was no good running from a Martian, and I `
` turned aside and crawled through dewy nettles and brambles into the `
` broad ditch by the side of the road. He looked back, saw what I was `
` doing, and turned to join me. `
` `
` The two halted, the nearer to us standing and facing Sunbury, the `
` remoter being a grey indistinctness towards the evening star, away `
` towards Staines. `
` `
` The occasional howling of the Martians had ceased; they took up `
` their positions in the huge crescent about their cylinders in absolute `
` silence. It was a crescent with twelve miles between its horns. Never `
`