Reading Help War of the worlds by H. G. Wells. Book 1
open, upon the heap of coins, and began thrusting handfuls in his `
` pocket. A horse rose close upon him, and in another moment, half `
` rising, he had been borne down under the horse's hoofs. `
` `
` "Stop!" screamed my brother, and pushing a woman out of his way, `
` tried to clutch the bit of the horse. `
` `
` Before he could get to it, he heard a scream under the wheels, and `
` saw through the dust the rim passing over the poor wretch's back. The `
` driver of the cart slashed his whip at my brother, who ran round `
` behind the cart. The multitudinous shouting confused his ears. The `
` man was writhing in the dust among his scattered money, unable to `
` rise, for the wheel had broken his back, and his lower limbs lay limp `
` and dead. My brother stood up and yelled at the next driver, and a `
` man on a black horse came to his assistance. `
` `
` "Get him out of the road," said he; and, clutching the man's collar `
` with his free hand, my brother lugged him sideways. But he still `
` clutched after his money, and regarded my brother fiercely, hammering `
` at his arm with a handful of gold. "Go on! Go on!" shouted angry `
` voices behind. `
` `
` "Way! Way!" `
` `
` There was a smash as the pole of a carriage crashed into the cart `
` that the man on horseback stopped. My brother looked up, and the man `
` with the gold twisted his head round and bit the wrist that held his `
` collar. There was a concussion, and the black horse came staggering `
` sideways, and the carthorse pushed beside it. A hoof missed my `
` brother's foot by a hair's breadth. He released his grip on the `
` fallen man and jumped back. He saw anger change to terror on the face `
` of the poor wretch on the ground, and in a moment he was hidden and my `
` brother was borne backward and carried past the entrance of the lane, `
` and had to fight hard in the torrent to recover it. `
` `
` He saw Miss Elphinstone covering her eyes, and a little child, with `
` all a child's want of sympathetic imagination, staring with dilated `
` eyes at a dusty something that lay black and still, ground and crushed `
` under the rolling wheels. "Let us go back!" he shouted, and began `
` turning the pony round. "We cannot cross this--hell," he said and they `
` went back a hundred yards the way they had come, until the fighting `
` crowd was hidden. As they passed the bend in the lane my brother saw `
` the face of the dying man in the ditch under the privet, deadly white `
` and drawn, and shining with perspiration. The two women sat silent, `
` crouching in their seat and shivering. `
` `
` Then beyond the bend my brother stopped again. Miss Elphinstone `
` was white and pale, and her sister-in-law sat weeping, too wretched `
` even to call upon "George." My brother was horrified and perplexed. `
` So soon as they had retreated he realised how urgent and unavoidable `
` it was to attempt this crossing. He turned to Miss Elphinstone, `
` suddenly resolute. `
` `
` "We must go that way," he said, and led the pony round again. `
` `
` For the second time that day this girl proved her quality. To force `
` their way into the torrent of people, my brother plunged into the `
` traffic and held back a cab horse, while she drove the pony across its `
` head. A waggon locked wheels for a moment and ripped a long splinter `
` from the chaise. In another moment they were caught and swept forward `
` by the stream. My brother, with the cabman's whip marks red across `
` his face and hands, scrambled into the chaise and took the reins from `
` her. `
` `
` "Point the revolver at the man behind," he said, giving it to her, `
` "if he presses us too hard. No!--point it at his horse." `
` `
` Then he began to look out for a chance of edging to the right `
` across the road. But once in the stream he seemed to lose volition, `
` to become a part of that dusty rout. They swept through Chipping `
` Barnet with the torrent; they were nearly a mile beyond the centre of `
` the town before they had fought across to the opposite side of the `
` way. It was din and confusion indescribable; but in and beyond the `
` town the road forks repeatedly, and this to some extent relieved the `
` stress. `
` `
` They struck eastward through Hadley, and there on either side of `
` the road, and at another place farther on they came upon a great `
` multitude of people drinking at the stream, some fighting to come at `
` the water. And farther on, from a lull near East Barnet, they saw `
` two trains running slowly one after the other without signal or `
` order--trains swarming with people, with men even among the coals `
` behind the engines--going northward along the Great Northern Railway. `
` My brother supposes they must have filled outside London, for at that `
` time the furious terror of the people had rendered the central `
` termini impossible. `
` `
` Near this place they halted for the rest of the afternoon, for the `
` violence of the day had already utterly exhausted all three of them. `
` They began to suffer the beginnings of hunger; the night was cold, and `
` none of them dared to sleep. And in the evening many people came `
` hurrying along the road nearby their stopping place, fleeing from `
` unknown dangers before them, and going in the direction from which my `
` brother had come. `
` `
` `
` `
` CHAPTER SEVENTEEN `
` `
` THE "THUNDER CHILD" `
` `
` `
` Had the Martians aimed only at destruction, they might on Monday `
` have annihilated the entire population of London, as it spread itself `
` slowly through the home counties. Not only along the road through `
` Barnet, but also through Edgware and Waltham Abbey, and along the `
` roads eastward to Southend and Shoeburyness, and south of the Thames `
` to Deal and Broadstairs, poured the same frantic rout. If one could `
` have hung that June morning in a balloon in the blazing blue above `
` London every northward and eastward road running out of the tangled `
` maze of streets would have seemed stippled black with the streaming `
` fugitives, each dot a human agony of terror and physical distress. I `
` have set forth at length in the last chapter my brother's account of `
` the road through Chipping Barnet, in order that my readers may realise `
` how that swarming of black dots appeared to one of those concerned. `
` Never before in the history of the world had such a mass of human `
` beings moved and suffered together. The legendary hosts of Goths and `
` Huns, the hugest armies Asia has ever seen, would have been but a drop `
` in that current. And this was no disciplined march; it was a `
` stampede--a stampede gigantic and terrible--without order and without `
` a goal, six million people unarmed and unprovisioned, driving `
` headlong. It was the beginning of the rout of civilisation, of the `
` massacre of mankind. `
` `
` Directly below him the balloonist would have seen the network of `
` streets far and wide, houses, churches, squares, crescents, `
` gardens--already derelict--spread out like a huge map, and in the `
` southward _blotted_. Over Ealing, Richmond, Wimbledon, it would `
` have seemed as if some monstrous pen had flung ink upon the chart. `
` Steadily, incessantly, each black splash grew and spread, shooting out `
` ramifications this way and that, now banking itself against rising `
` ground, now pouring swiftly over a crest into a new-found valley, `
` exactly as a gout of ink would spread itself upon blotting paper. `
` `
` And beyond, over the blue hills that rise southward of the river, `
` the glittering Martians went to and fro, calmly and methodically `
` spreading their poison cloud over this patch of country and then over `
` that, laying it again with their steam jets when it had served its `
` purpose, and taking possession of the conquered country. They do not `
` seem to have aimed at extermination so much as at complete `
` demoralisation and the destruction of any opposition. They exploded `
` any stores of powder they came upon, cut every telegraph, and wrecked `
` the railways here and there. They were hamstringing mankind. They `
` seemed in no hurry to extend the field of their operations, and did `
` not come beyond the central part of London all that day. It is `
` possible that a very considerable number of people in London stuck to `
` their houses through Monday morning. Certain it is that many died at `
` home suffocated by the Black Smoke. `
` `
` Until about midday the Pool of London was an astonishing scene. `
` Steamboats and shipping of all sorts lay there, tempted by the `
` enormous sums of money offered by fugitives, and it is said that many `
` who swam out to these vessels were thrust off with boathooks and `
` drowned. About one o'clock in the afternoon the thinning remnant of a `
` cloud of the black vapour appeared between the arches of Blackfriars `
` Bridge. At that the Pool became a scene of mad confusion, fighting, `
` and collision, and for some time a multitude of boats and barges `
` jammed in the northern arch of the Tower Bridge, and the sailors and `
` lightermen had to fight savagely against the people who swarmed upon `
` them from the riverfront. People were actually clambering down the `
` piers of the bridge from above. `
` `
` When, an hour later, a Martian appeared beyond the Clock Tower and `
` waded down the river, nothing but wreckage floated above Limehouse. `
` `
` Of the falling of the fifth cylinder I have presently to tell. The `
` sixth star fell at Wimbledon. My brother, keeping watch beside the `
` women in the chaise in a meadow, saw the green flash of it far beyond `
` the hills. On Tuesday the little party, still set upon getting across `
` the sea, made its way through the swarming country towards Colchester. `
` The news that the Martians were now in possession of the whole of `
` London was confirmed. They had been seen at Highgate, and even, it `
` was said, at Neasden. But they did not come into my brother's view `
` until the morrow. `
` `
` That day the scattered multitudes began to realise the urgent need `
` of provisions. As they grew hungry the rights of property ceased to `
` be regarded. Farmers were out to defend their cattle-sheds, `
` granaries, and ripening root crops with arms in their hands. A number `
` of people now, like my brother, had their faces eastward, and there `
` were some desperate souls even going back towards London to get food. `
` These were chiefly people from the northern suburbs, whose knowledge `
` of the Black Smoke came by hearsay. He heard that about half the `
` members of the government had gathered at Birmingham, and that `
` enormous quantities of high explosives were being prepared to be used `
` in automatic mines across the Midland counties. `
` `
` He was also told that the Midland Railway Company had replaced the `
` desertions of the first day's panic, had resumed traffic, and was `
` running northward trains from St. Albans to relieve the congestion of `
` the home counties. There was also a placard in Chipping Ongar `
` announcing that large stores of flour were available in the northern `
` towns and that within twenty-four hours bread would be distributed `
` among the starving people in the neighbourhood. But this intelligence `
` did not deter him from the plan of escape he had formed, and the three `
` pressed eastward all day, and heard no more of the bread distribution `
` than this promise. Nor, as a matter of fact, did anyone else hear `
` more of it. That night fell the seventh star, falling upon Primrose `
` Hill. It fell while Miss Elphinstone was watching, for she took that `
` duty alternately with my brother. She saw it. `
` `
`
` pocket. A horse rose close upon him, and in another moment, half `
` rising, he had been borne down under the horse's hoofs. `
` `
` "Stop!" screamed my brother, and pushing a woman out of his way, `
` tried to clutch the bit of the horse. `
` `
` Before he could get to it, he heard a scream under the wheels, and `
` saw through the dust the rim passing over the poor wretch's back. The `
` driver of the cart slashed his whip at my brother, who ran round `
` behind the cart. The multitudinous shouting confused his ears. The `
` man was writhing in the dust among his scattered money, unable to `
` rise, for the wheel had broken his back, and his lower limbs lay limp `
` and dead. My brother stood up and yelled at the next driver, and a `
` man on a black horse came to his assistance. `
` `
` "Get him out of the road," said he; and, clutching the man's collar `
` with his free hand, my brother lugged him sideways. But he still `
` clutched after his money, and regarded my brother fiercely, hammering `
` at his arm with a handful of gold. "Go on! Go on!" shouted angry `
` voices behind. `
` `
` "Way! Way!" `
` `
` There was a smash as the pole of a carriage crashed into the cart `
` that the man on horseback stopped. My brother looked up, and the man `
` with the gold twisted his head round and bit the wrist that held his `
` collar. There was a concussion, and the black horse came staggering `
` sideways, and the carthorse pushed beside it. A hoof missed my `
` brother's foot by a hair's breadth. He released his grip on the `
` fallen man and jumped back. He saw anger change to terror on the face `
` of the poor wretch on the ground, and in a moment he was hidden and my `
` brother was borne backward and carried past the entrance of the lane, `
` and had to fight hard in the torrent to recover it. `
` `
` He saw Miss Elphinstone covering her eyes, and a little child, with `
` all a child's want of sympathetic imagination, staring with dilated `
` eyes at a dusty something that lay black and still, ground and crushed `
` under the rolling wheels. "Let us go back!" he shouted, and began `
` turning the pony round. "We cannot cross this--hell," he said and they `
` went back a hundred yards the way they had come, until the fighting `
` crowd was hidden. As they passed the bend in the lane my brother saw `
` the face of the dying man in the ditch under the privet, deadly white `
` and drawn, and shining with perspiration. The two women sat silent, `
` crouching in their seat and shivering. `
` `
` Then beyond the bend my brother stopped again. Miss Elphinstone `
` was white and pale, and her sister-in-law sat weeping, too wretched `
` even to call upon "George." My brother was horrified and perplexed. `
` So soon as they had retreated he realised how urgent and unavoidable `
` it was to attempt this crossing. He turned to Miss Elphinstone, `
` suddenly resolute. `
` `
` "We must go that way," he said, and led the pony round again. `
` `
` For the second time that day this girl proved her quality. To force `
` their way into the torrent of people, my brother plunged into the `
` traffic and held back a cab horse, while she drove the pony across its `
` head. A waggon locked wheels for a moment and ripped a long splinter `
` from the chaise. In another moment they were caught and swept forward `
` by the stream. My brother, with the cabman's whip marks red across `
` his face and hands, scrambled into the chaise and took the reins from `
` her. `
` `
` "Point the revolver at the man behind," he said, giving it to her, `
` "if he presses us too hard. No!--point it at his horse." `
` `
` Then he began to look out for a chance of edging to the right `
` across the road. But once in the stream he seemed to lose volition, `
` to become a part of that dusty rout. They swept through Chipping `
` Barnet with the torrent; they were nearly a mile beyond the centre of `
` the town before they had fought across to the opposite side of the `
` way. It was din and confusion indescribable; but in and beyond the `
` town the road forks repeatedly, and this to some extent relieved the `
` stress. `
` `
` They struck eastward through Hadley, and there on either side of `
` the road, and at another place farther on they came upon a great `
` multitude of people drinking at the stream, some fighting to come at `
` the water. And farther on, from a lull near East Barnet, they saw `
` two trains running slowly one after the other without signal or `
` order--trains swarming with people, with men even among the coals `
` behind the engines--going northward along the Great Northern Railway. `
` My brother supposes they must have filled outside London, for at that `
` time the furious terror of the people had rendered the central `
` termini impossible. `
` `
` Near this place they halted for the rest of the afternoon, for the `
` violence of the day had already utterly exhausted all three of them. `
` They began to suffer the beginnings of hunger; the night was cold, and `
` none of them dared to sleep. And in the evening many people came `
` hurrying along the road nearby their stopping place, fleeing from `
` unknown dangers before them, and going in the direction from which my `
` brother had come. `
` `
` `
` `
` CHAPTER SEVENTEEN `
` `
` THE "THUNDER CHILD" `
` `
` `
` Had the Martians aimed only at destruction, they might on Monday `
` have annihilated the entire population of London, as it spread itself `
` slowly through the home counties. Not only along the road through `
` Barnet, but also through Edgware and Waltham Abbey, and along the `
` roads eastward to Southend and Shoeburyness, and south of the Thames `
` to Deal and Broadstairs, poured the same frantic rout. If one could `
` have hung that June morning in a balloon in the blazing blue above `
` London every northward and eastward road running out of the tangled `
` maze of streets would have seemed stippled black with the streaming `
` fugitives, each dot a human agony of terror and physical distress. I `
` have set forth at length in the last chapter my brother's account of `
` the road through Chipping Barnet, in order that my readers may realise `
` how that swarming of black dots appeared to one of those concerned. `
` Never before in the history of the world had such a mass of human `
` beings moved and suffered together. The legendary hosts of Goths and `
` Huns, the hugest armies Asia has ever seen, would have been but a drop `
` in that current. And this was no disciplined march; it was a `
` stampede--a stampede gigantic and terrible--without order and without `
` a goal, six million people unarmed and unprovisioned, driving `
` headlong. It was the beginning of the rout of civilisation, of the `
` massacre of mankind. `
` `
` Directly below him the balloonist would have seen the network of `
` streets far and wide, houses, churches, squares, crescents, `
` gardens--already derelict--spread out like a huge map, and in the `
` southward _blotted_. Over Ealing, Richmond, Wimbledon, it would `
` have seemed as if some monstrous pen had flung ink upon the chart. `
` Steadily, incessantly, each black splash grew and spread, shooting out `
` ramifications this way and that, now banking itself against rising `
` ground, now pouring swiftly over a crest into a new-found valley, `
` exactly as a gout of ink would spread itself upon blotting paper. `
` `
` And beyond, over the blue hills that rise southward of the river, `
` the glittering Martians went to and fro, calmly and methodically `
` spreading their poison cloud over this patch of country and then over `
` that, laying it again with their steam jets when it had served its `
` purpose, and taking possession of the conquered country. They do not `
` seem to have aimed at extermination so much as at complete `
` demoralisation and the destruction of any opposition. They exploded `
` any stores of powder they came upon, cut every telegraph, and wrecked `
` the railways here and there. They were hamstringing mankind. They `
` seemed in no hurry to extend the field of their operations, and did `
` not come beyond the central part of London all that day. It is `
` possible that a very considerable number of people in London stuck to `
` their houses through Monday morning. Certain it is that many died at `
` home suffocated by the Black Smoke. `
` `
` Until about midday the Pool of London was an astonishing scene. `
` Steamboats and shipping of all sorts lay there, tempted by the `
` enormous sums of money offered by fugitives, and it is said that many `
` who swam out to these vessels were thrust off with boathooks and `
` drowned. About one o'clock in the afternoon the thinning remnant of a `
` cloud of the black vapour appeared between the arches of Blackfriars `
` Bridge. At that the Pool became a scene of mad confusion, fighting, `
` and collision, and for some time a multitude of boats and barges `
` jammed in the northern arch of the Tower Bridge, and the sailors and `
` lightermen had to fight savagely against the people who swarmed upon `
` them from the riverfront. People were actually clambering down the `
` piers of the bridge from above. `
` `
` When, an hour later, a Martian appeared beyond the Clock Tower and `
` waded down the river, nothing but wreckage floated above Limehouse. `
` `
` Of the falling of the fifth cylinder I have presently to tell. The `
` sixth star fell at Wimbledon. My brother, keeping watch beside the `
` women in the chaise in a meadow, saw the green flash of it far beyond `
` the hills. On Tuesday the little party, still set upon getting across `
` the sea, made its way through the swarming country towards Colchester. `
` The news that the Martians were now in possession of the whole of `
` London was confirmed. They had been seen at Highgate, and even, it `
` was said, at Neasden. But they did not come into my brother's view `
` until the morrow. `
` `
` That day the scattered multitudes began to realise the urgent need `
` of provisions. As they grew hungry the rights of property ceased to `
` be regarded. Farmers were out to defend their cattle-sheds, `
` granaries, and ripening root crops with arms in their hands. A number `
` of people now, like my brother, had their faces eastward, and there `
` were some desperate souls even going back towards London to get food. `
` These were chiefly people from the northern suburbs, whose knowledge `
` of the Black Smoke came by hearsay. He heard that about half the `
` members of the government had gathered at Birmingham, and that `
` enormous quantities of high explosives were being prepared to be used `
` in automatic mines across the Midland counties. `
` `
` He was also told that the Midland Railway Company had replaced the `
` desertions of the first day's panic, had resumed traffic, and was `
` running northward trains from St. Albans to relieve the congestion of `
` the home counties. There was also a placard in Chipping Ongar `
` announcing that large stores of flour were available in the northern `
` towns and that within twenty-four hours bread would be distributed `
` among the starving people in the neighbourhood. But this intelligence `
` did not deter him from the plan of escape he had formed, and the three `
` pressed eastward all day, and heard no more of the bread distribution `
` than this promise. Nor, as a matter of fact, did anyone else hear `
` more of it. That night fell the seventh star, falling upon Primrose `
` Hill. It fell while Miss Elphinstone was watching, for she took that `
` duty alternately with my brother. She saw it. `
` `
`