Reading Help War of the worlds by H. G. Wells. Book 1
silence. It was a crescent with twelve miles between its horns. Never `
` since the devising of gunpowder was the beginning of a battle so `
` still. To us and to an observer about Ripley it would have had `
` precisely the same effect--the Martians seemed in solitary possession `
` of the darkling night, lit only as it was by the slender moon, the `
` stars, the afterglow of the daylight, and the ruddy glare from St. `
` George's Hill and the woods of Painshill. `
` `
` But facing that crescent everywhere--at Staines, Hounslow, Ditton, `
` Esher, Ockham, behind hills and woods south of the river, and across `
` the flat grass meadows to the north of it, wherever a cluster of trees `
` or village houses gave sufficient cover--the guns were waiting. The `
` signal rockets burst and rained their sparks through the night and `
` vanished, and the spirit of all those watching batteries rose to a `
` tense expectation. The Martians had but to advance into the line of `
` fire, and instantly those motionless black forms of men, those guns `
` glittering so darkly in the early night, would explode into a `
` thunderous fury of battle. `
` `
` No doubt the thought that was uppermost in a thousand of those `
` vigilant minds, even as it was uppermost in mine, was the riddle--how `
` much they understood of us. Did they grasp that we in our millions `
` were organized, disciplined, working together? Or did they interpret `
` our spurts of fire, the sudden stinging of our shells, our steady `
` investment of their encampment, as we should the furious unanimity of `
` onslaught in a disturbed hive of bees? Did they dream they might `
` exterminate us? (At that time no one knew what food they needed.) A `
` hundred such questions struggled together in my mind as I watched that `
` vast sentinel shape. And in the back of my mind was the sense of all `
` the huge unknown and hidden forces Londonward. Had they prepared `
` pitfalls? Were the powder mills at Hounslow ready as a snare? Would `
` the Londoners have the heart and courage to make a greater Moscow of `
` their mighty province of houses? `
` `
` Then, after an interminable time, as it seemed to us, crouching and `
` peering through the hedge, came a sound like the distant concussion of `
` a gun. Another nearer, and then another. And then the Martian beside `
` us raised his tube on high and discharged it, gunwise, with a heavy `
` report that made the ground heave. The one towards Staines answered `
` him. There was no flash, no smoke, simply that loaded detonation. `
` `
` I was so excited by these heavy minute-guns following one another `
` that I so far forgot my personal safety and my scalded hands as to `
` clamber up into the hedge and stare towards Sunbury. As I did so a `
` second report followed, and a big projectile hurtled overhead towards `
` Hounslow. I expected at least to see smoke or fire, or some such `
` evidence of its work. But all I saw was the deep blue sky above, with `
` one solitary star, and the white mist spreading wide and low beneath. `
` And there had been no crash, no answering explosion. The silence was `
` restored; the minute lengthened to three. `
` `
` "What has happened?" said the curate, standing up beside me. `
` `
` "Heaven knows!" said I. `
` `
` A bat flickered by and vanished. A distant tumult of shouting `
` began and ceased. I looked again at the Martian, and saw he was now `
` moving eastward along the riverbank, with a swift, rolling motion. `
` `
` Every moment I expected the fire of some hidden battery to spring `
` upon him; but the evening calm was unbroken. The figure of the Martian `
` grew smaller as he receded, and presently the mist and the gathering `
` night had swallowed him up. By a common impulse we clambered higher. `
` Towards Sunbury was a dark appearance, as though a conical hill had `
` suddenly come into being there, hiding our view of the farther `
` country; and then, remoter across the river, over Walton, we saw `
` another such summit. These hill-like forms grew lower and broader `
` even as we stared. `
` `
` Moved by a sudden thought, I looked northward, and there I `
` perceived a third of these cloudy black kopjes had risen. `
` `
` Everything had suddenly become very still. Far away to the `
` southeast, marking the quiet, we heard the Martians hooting to one `
` another, and then the air quivered again with the distant thud of `
` their guns. But the earthly artillery made no reply. `
` `
` Now at the time we could not understand these things, but later I `
` was to learn the meaning of these ominous kopjes that gathered in the `
` twilight. Each of the Martians, standing in the great crescent I have `
` described, had discharged, by means of the gunlike tube he carried, a `
` huge canister over whatever hill, copse, cluster of houses, or other `
` possible cover for guns, chanced to be in front of him. Some fired `
` only one of these, some two--as in the case of the one we had seen; `
` the one at Ripley is said to have discharged no fewer than five at `
` that time. These canisters smashed on striking the ground--they did `
` not explode--and incontinently disengaged an enormous volume of heavy, `
` inky vapour, coiling and pouring upward in a huge and ebony cumulus `
` cloud, a gaseous hill that sank and spread itself slowly over the `
` surrounding country. And the touch of that vapour, the inhaling of `
` its pungent wisps, was death to all that breathes. `
` `
` It was heavy, this vapour, heavier than the densest smoke, so that, `
` after the first tumultuous uprush and outflow of its impact, it sank `
` down through the air and poured over the ground in a manner rather `
` liquid than gaseous, abandoning the hills, and streaming into the `
` valleys and ditches and watercourses even as I have heard the `
` carbonic-acid gas that pours from volcanic clefts is wont to do. And `
` where it came upon water some chemical action occurred, and the `
` surface would be instantly covered with a powdery scum that sank `
` slowly and made way for more. The scum was absolutely insoluble, and `
` it is a strange thing, seeing the instant effect of the gas, that one `
` could drink without hurt the water from which it had been strained. `
` The vapour did not diffuse as a true gas would do. It hung together `
` in banks, flowing sluggishly down the slope of the land and driving `
` reluctantly before the wind, and very slowly it combined with the mist `
` and moisture of the air, and sank to the earth in the form of dust. `
` Save that an unknown element giving a group of four lines in the blue `
` of the spectrum is concerned, we are still entirely ignorant of the `
` nature of this substance. `
` `
` Once the tumultuous upheaval of its dispersion was over, the black `
` smoke clung so closely to the ground, even before its precipitation, `
` that fifty feet up in the air, on the roofs and upper stories of high `
` houses and on great trees, there was a chance of escaping its poison `
` altogether, as was proved even that night at Street Cobham and Ditton. `
` `
` The man who escaped at the former place tells a wonderful story of `
` the strangeness of its coiling flow, and how he looked down from the `
` church spire and saw the houses of the village rising like ghosts out `
` of its inky nothingness. For a day and a half he remained there, `
` weary, starving and sun-scorched, the earth under the blue sky and `
` against the prospect of the distant hills a velvet-black expanse, with `
` red roofs, green trees, and, later, black-veiled shrubs and gates, `
` barns, outhouses, and walls, rising here and there into the sunlight. `
` `
` But that was at Street Cobham, where the black vapour was allowed `
` to remain until it sank of its own accord into the ground. As a rule `
` the Martians, when it had served its purpose, cleared the air of it `
` again by wading into it and directing a jet of steam upon it. `
` `
` This they did with the vapour banks near us, as we saw in the `
` starlight from the window of a deserted house at Upper Halliford, `
` whither we had returned. From there we could see the searchlights on `
` Richmond Hill and Kingston Hill going to and fro, and about eleven the `
` windows rattled, and we heard the sound of the huge siege guns that `
` had been put in position there. These continued intermittently for `
` the space of a quarter of an hour, sending chance shots at the `
` invisible Martians at Hampton and Ditton, and then the pale beams of `
` the electric light vanished, and were replaced by a bright red glow. `
` `
` Then the fourth cylinder fell--a brilliant green meteor--as I `
` learned afterwards, in Bushey Park. Before the guns on the Richmond `
` and Kingston line of hills began, there was a fitful cannonade far `
` away in the southwest, due, I believe, to guns being fired haphazard `
` before the black vapour could overwhelm the gunners. `
` `
` So, setting about it as methodically as men might smoke out a `
` wasps' nest, the Martians spread this strange stifling vapour over the `
` Londonward country. The horns of the crescent slowly moved apart, `
` until at last they formed a line from Hanwell to Coombe and Malden. `
` All night through their destructive tubes advanced. Never once, after `
` the Martian at St. George's Hill was brought down, did they give the `
` artillery the ghost of a chance against them. Wherever there was a `
` possibility of guns being laid for them unseen, a fresh canister of `
` the black vapour was discharged, and where the guns were openly `
` displayed the Heat-Ray was brought to bear. `
` `
` By midnight the blazing trees along the slopes of Richmond Park and `
` the glare of Kingston Hill threw their light upon a network of black `
` smoke, blotting out the whole valley of the Thames and extending as `
` far as the eye could reach. And through this two Martians slowly `
` waded, and turned their hissing steam jets this way and that. `
` `
` They were sparing of the Heat-Ray that night, either because they `
` had but a limited supply of material for its production or because `
` they did not wish to destroy the country but only to crush and overawe `
` the opposition they had aroused. In the latter aim they certainly `
` succeeded. Sunday night was the end of the organised opposition to `
` their movements. After that no body of men would stand against them, `
` so hopeless was the enterprise. Even the crews of the torpedo-boats `
` and destroyers that had brought their quick-firers up the Thames `
` refused to stop, mutinied, and went down again. The only offensive `
` operation men ventured upon after that night was the preparation of `
` mines and pitfalls, and even in that their energies were frantic and `
` spasmodic. `
` `
` One has to imagine, as well as one may, the fate of those batteries `
` towards Esher, waiting so tensely in the twilight. Survivors there `
` were none. One may picture the orderly expectation, the officers `
` alert and watchful, the gunners ready, the ammunition piled to hand, `
` the limber gunners with their horses and waggons, the groups of `
` civilian spectators standing as near as they were permitted, the `
` evening stillness, the ambulances and hospital tents with the burned `
` and wounded from Weybridge; then the dull resonance of the shots the `
` Martians fired, and the clumsy projectile whirling over the trees and `
` houses and smashing amid the neighbouring fields. `
` `
` One may picture, too, the sudden shifting of the attention, the `
` swiftly spreading coils and bellyings of that blackness advancing `
` headlong, towering heavenward, turning the twilight to a palpable `
` darkness, a strange and horrible antagonist of vapour striding upon `
` its victims, men and horses near it seen dimly, running, shrieking, `
` falling headlong, shouts of dismay, the guns suddenly abandoned, men `
` choking and writhing on the ground, and the swift broadening-out of `
` the opaque cone of smoke. And then night and extinction--nothing but `
` a silent mass of impenetrable vapour hiding its dead. `
` `
` Before dawn the black vapour was pouring through the streets of `
` Richmond, and the disintegrating organism of government was, with a `
` last expiring effort, rousing the population of London to the `
`
` since the devising of gunpowder was the beginning of a battle so `
` still. To us and to an observer about Ripley it would have had `
` precisely the same effect--the Martians seemed in solitary possession `
` of the darkling night, lit only as it was by the slender moon, the `
` stars, the afterglow of the daylight, and the ruddy glare from St. `
` George's Hill and the woods of Painshill. `
` `
` But facing that crescent everywhere--at Staines, Hounslow, Ditton, `
` Esher, Ockham, behind hills and woods south of the river, and across `
` the flat grass meadows to the north of it, wherever a cluster of trees `
` or village houses gave sufficient cover--the guns were waiting. The `
` signal rockets burst and rained their sparks through the night and `
` vanished, and the spirit of all those watching batteries rose to a `
` tense expectation. The Martians had but to advance into the line of `
` fire, and instantly those motionless black forms of men, those guns `
` glittering so darkly in the early night, would explode into a `
` thunderous fury of battle. `
` `
` No doubt the thought that was uppermost in a thousand of those `
` vigilant minds, even as it was uppermost in mine, was the riddle--how `
` much they understood of us. Did they grasp that we in our millions `
` were organized, disciplined, working together? Or did they interpret `
` our spurts of fire, the sudden stinging of our shells, our steady `
` investment of their encampment, as we should the furious unanimity of `
` onslaught in a disturbed hive of bees? Did they dream they might `
` exterminate us? (At that time no one knew what food they needed.) A `
` hundred such questions struggled together in my mind as I watched that `
` vast sentinel shape. And in the back of my mind was the sense of all `
` the huge unknown and hidden forces Londonward. Had they prepared `
` pitfalls? Were the powder mills at Hounslow ready as a snare? Would `
` the Londoners have the heart and courage to make a greater Moscow of `
` their mighty province of houses? `
` `
` Then, after an interminable time, as it seemed to us, crouching and `
` peering through the hedge, came a sound like the distant concussion of `
` a gun. Another nearer, and then another. And then the Martian beside `
` us raised his tube on high and discharged it, gunwise, with a heavy `
` report that made the ground heave. The one towards Staines answered `
` him. There was no flash, no smoke, simply that loaded detonation. `
` `
` I was so excited by these heavy minute-guns following one another `
` that I so far forgot my personal safety and my scalded hands as to `
` clamber up into the hedge and stare towards Sunbury. As I did so a `
` second report followed, and a big projectile hurtled overhead towards `
` Hounslow. I expected at least to see smoke or fire, or some such `
` evidence of its work. But all I saw was the deep blue sky above, with `
` one solitary star, and the white mist spreading wide and low beneath. `
` And there had been no crash, no answering explosion. The silence was `
` restored; the minute lengthened to three. `
` `
` "What has happened?" said the curate, standing up beside me. `
` `
` "Heaven knows!" said I. `
` `
` A bat flickered by and vanished. A distant tumult of shouting `
` began and ceased. I looked again at the Martian, and saw he was now `
` moving eastward along the riverbank, with a swift, rolling motion. `
` `
` Every moment I expected the fire of some hidden battery to spring `
` upon him; but the evening calm was unbroken. The figure of the Martian `
` grew smaller as he receded, and presently the mist and the gathering `
` night had swallowed him up. By a common impulse we clambered higher. `
` Towards Sunbury was a dark appearance, as though a conical hill had `
` suddenly come into being there, hiding our view of the farther `
` country; and then, remoter across the river, over Walton, we saw `
` another such summit. These hill-like forms grew lower and broader `
` even as we stared. `
` `
` Moved by a sudden thought, I looked northward, and there I `
` perceived a third of these cloudy black kopjes had risen. `
` `
` Everything had suddenly become very still. Far away to the `
` southeast, marking the quiet, we heard the Martians hooting to one `
` another, and then the air quivered again with the distant thud of `
` their guns. But the earthly artillery made no reply. `
` `
` Now at the time we could not understand these things, but later I `
` was to learn the meaning of these ominous kopjes that gathered in the `
` twilight. Each of the Martians, standing in the great crescent I have `
` described, had discharged, by means of the gunlike tube he carried, a `
` huge canister over whatever hill, copse, cluster of houses, or other `
` possible cover for guns, chanced to be in front of him. Some fired `
` only one of these, some two--as in the case of the one we had seen; `
` the one at Ripley is said to have discharged no fewer than five at `
` that time. These canisters smashed on striking the ground--they did `
` not explode--and incontinently disengaged an enormous volume of heavy, `
` inky vapour, coiling and pouring upward in a huge and ebony cumulus `
` cloud, a gaseous hill that sank and spread itself slowly over the `
` surrounding country. And the touch of that vapour, the inhaling of `
` its pungent wisps, was death to all that breathes. `
` `
` It was heavy, this vapour, heavier than the densest smoke, so that, `
` after the first tumultuous uprush and outflow of its impact, it sank `
` down through the air and poured over the ground in a manner rather `
` liquid than gaseous, abandoning the hills, and streaming into the `
` valleys and ditches and watercourses even as I have heard the `
` carbonic-acid gas that pours from volcanic clefts is wont to do. And `
` where it came upon water some chemical action occurred, and the `
` surface would be instantly covered with a powdery scum that sank `
` slowly and made way for more. The scum was absolutely insoluble, and `
` it is a strange thing, seeing the instant effect of the gas, that one `
` could drink without hurt the water from which it had been strained. `
` The vapour did not diffuse as a true gas would do. It hung together `
` in banks, flowing sluggishly down the slope of the land and driving `
` reluctantly before the wind, and very slowly it combined with the mist `
` and moisture of the air, and sank to the earth in the form of dust. `
` Save that an unknown element giving a group of four lines in the blue `
` of the spectrum is concerned, we are still entirely ignorant of the `
` nature of this substance. `
` `
` Once the tumultuous upheaval of its dispersion was over, the black `
` smoke clung so closely to the ground, even before its precipitation, `
` that fifty feet up in the air, on the roofs and upper stories of high `
` houses and on great trees, there was a chance of escaping its poison `
` altogether, as was proved even that night at Street Cobham and Ditton. `
` `
` The man who escaped at the former place tells a wonderful story of `
` the strangeness of its coiling flow, and how he looked down from the `
` church spire and saw the houses of the village rising like ghosts out `
` of its inky nothingness. For a day and a half he remained there, `
` weary, starving and sun-scorched, the earth under the blue sky and `
` against the prospect of the distant hills a velvet-black expanse, with `
` red roofs, green trees, and, later, black-veiled shrubs and gates, `
` barns, outhouses, and walls, rising here and there into the sunlight. `
` `
` But that was at Street Cobham, where the black vapour was allowed `
` to remain until it sank of its own accord into the ground. As a rule `
` the Martians, when it had served its purpose, cleared the air of it `
` again by wading into it and directing a jet of steam upon it. `
` `
` This they did with the vapour banks near us, as we saw in the `
` starlight from the window of a deserted house at Upper Halliford, `
` whither we had returned. From there we could see the searchlights on `
` Richmond Hill and Kingston Hill going to and fro, and about eleven the `
` windows rattled, and we heard the sound of the huge siege guns that `
` had been put in position there. These continued intermittently for `
` the space of a quarter of an hour, sending chance shots at the `
` invisible Martians at Hampton and Ditton, and then the pale beams of `
` the electric light vanished, and were replaced by a bright red glow. `
` `
` Then the fourth cylinder fell--a brilliant green meteor--as I `
` learned afterwards, in Bushey Park. Before the guns on the Richmond `
` and Kingston line of hills began, there was a fitful cannonade far `
` away in the southwest, due, I believe, to guns being fired haphazard `
` before the black vapour could overwhelm the gunners. `
` `
` So, setting about it as methodically as men might smoke out a `
` wasps' nest, the Martians spread this strange stifling vapour over the `
` Londonward country. The horns of the crescent slowly moved apart, `
` until at last they formed a line from Hanwell to Coombe and Malden. `
` All night through their destructive tubes advanced. Never once, after `
` the Martian at St. George's Hill was brought down, did they give the `
` artillery the ghost of a chance against them. Wherever there was a `
` possibility of guns being laid for them unseen, a fresh canister of `
` the black vapour was discharged, and where the guns were openly `
` displayed the Heat-Ray was brought to bear. `
` `
` By midnight the blazing trees along the slopes of Richmond Park and `
` the glare of Kingston Hill threw their light upon a network of black `
` smoke, blotting out the whole valley of the Thames and extending as `
` far as the eye could reach. And through this two Martians slowly `
` waded, and turned their hissing steam jets this way and that. `
` `
` They were sparing of the Heat-Ray that night, either because they `
` had but a limited supply of material for its production or because `
` they did not wish to destroy the country but only to crush and overawe `
` the opposition they had aroused. In the latter aim they certainly `
` succeeded. Sunday night was the end of the organised opposition to `
` their movements. After that no body of men would stand against them, `
` so hopeless was the enterprise. Even the crews of the torpedo-boats `
` and destroyers that had brought their quick-firers up the Thames `
` refused to stop, mutinied, and went down again. The only offensive `
` operation men ventured upon after that night was the preparation of `
` mines and pitfalls, and even in that their energies were frantic and `
` spasmodic. `
` `
` One has to imagine, as well as one may, the fate of those batteries `
` towards Esher, waiting so tensely in the twilight. Survivors there `
` were none. One may picture the orderly expectation, the officers `
` alert and watchful, the gunners ready, the ammunition piled to hand, `
` the limber gunners with their horses and waggons, the groups of `
` civilian spectators standing as near as they were permitted, the `
` evening stillness, the ambulances and hospital tents with the burned `
` and wounded from Weybridge; then the dull resonance of the shots the `
` Martians fired, and the clumsy projectile whirling over the trees and `
` houses and smashing amid the neighbouring fields. `
` `
` One may picture, too, the sudden shifting of the attention, the `
` swiftly spreading coils and bellyings of that blackness advancing `
` headlong, towering heavenward, turning the twilight to a palpable `
` darkness, a strange and horrible antagonist of vapour striding upon `
` its victims, men and horses near it seen dimly, running, shrieking, `
` falling headlong, shouts of dismay, the guns suddenly abandoned, men `
` choking and writhing on the ground, and the swift broadening-out of `
` the opaque cone of smoke. And then night and extinction--nothing but `
` a silent mass of impenetrable vapour hiding its dead. `
` `
` Before dawn the black vapour was pouring through the streets of `
` Richmond, and the disintegrating organism of government was, with a `
` last expiring effort, rousing the population of London to the `
`