Reading Help War of the worlds by H. G. Wells. Book 1
I turned and, running madly, made for the first group of trees, `
` perhaps a hundred yards away; but I ran slantingly and stumbling, for `
` I could not avert my face from these things. `
` `
` There, among some young pine trees and furze bushes, I stopped, `
` panting, and waited further developments. The common round the sand `
` pits was dotted with people, standing like myself in a half-fascinated `
` terror, staring at these creatures, or rather at the heaped gravel at `
` the edge of the pit in which they lay. And then, with a renewed `
` horror, I saw a round, black object bobbing up and down on the edge of `
` the pit. It was the head of the shopman who had fallen in, but `
` showing as a little black object against the hot western sun. Now he `
` got his shoulder and knee up, and again he seemed to slip back until `
` only his head was visible. Suddenly he vanished, and I could have `
` fancied a faint shriek had reached me. I had a momentary impulse to `
` go back and help him that my fears overruled. `
` `
` Everything was then quite invisible, hidden by the deep pit and the `
` heap of sand that the fall of the cylinder had made. Anyone coming `
` along the road from Chobham or Woking would have been amazed at the `
` sight--a dwindling multitude of perhaps a hundred people or more `
` standing in a great irregular circle, in ditches, behind bushes, `
` behind gates and hedges, saying little to one another and that in `
` short, excited shouts, and staring, staring hard at a few heaps of `
` sand. The barrow of ginger beer stood, a queer derelict, black `
` against the burning sky, and in the sand pits was a row of deserted `
` vehicles with their horses feeding out of nosebags or pawing the `
` ground. `
` `
` `
` `
` CHAPTER FIVE `
` `
` THE HEAT-RAY `
` `
` `
` After the glimpse I had had of the Martians emerging from the `
` cylinder in which they had come to the earth from their planet, a kind `
` of fascination paralysed my actions. I remained standing knee-deep in `
` the heather, staring at the mound that hid them. I was a battleground `
` of fear and curiosity. `
` `
` I did not dare to go back towards the pit, but I felt a passionate `
` longing to peer into it. I began walking, therefore, in a big curve, `
` seeking some point of vantage and continually looking at the sand `
` heaps that hid these new-comers to our earth. Once a leash of thin `
` black whips, like the arms of an octopus, flashed across the sunset `
` and was immediately withdrawn, and afterwards a thin rod rose up, `
` joint by joint, bearing at its apex a circular disk that spun with a `
` wobbling motion. What could be going on there? `
` `
` Most of the spectators had gathered in one or two groups--one a `
` little crowd towards Woking, the other a knot of people in the `
` direction of Chobham. Evidently they shared my mental conflict. `
` There were few near me. One man I approached--he was, I perceived, `
` a neighbour of mine, though I did not know his name--and accosted. `
` But it was scarcely a time for articulate conversation. `
` `
` "What ugly _brutes_!" he said. "Good God! What ugly brutes!" He `
` repeated this over and over again. `
` `
` "Did you see a man in the pit?" I said; but he made no answer to `
` that. We became silent, and stood watching for a time side by side, `
` deriving, I fancy, a certain comfort in one another's company. Then I `
` shifted my position to a little knoll that gave me the advantage of a `
` yard or more of elevation and when I looked for him presently he was `
` walking towards Woking. `
` `
` The sunset faded to twilight before anything further happened. The `
` crowd far away on the left, towards Woking, seemed to grow, and I `
` heard now a faint murmur from it. The little knot of people towards `
` Chobham dispersed. There was scarcely an intimation of movement from `
` the pit. `
` `
` It was this, as much as anything, that gave people courage, and I `
` suppose the new arrivals from Woking also helped to restore `
` confidence. At any rate, as the dusk came on a slow, intermittent `
` movement upon the sand pits began, a movement that seemed to gather `
` force as the stillness of the evening about the cylinder remained `
` unbroken. Vertical black figures in twos and threes would advance, `
` stop, watch, and advance again, spreading out as they did so in a thin `
` irregular crescent that promised to enclose the pit in its attenuated `
` horns. I, too, on my side began to move towards the pit. `
` `
` Then I saw some cabmen and others had walked boldly into the sand `
` pits, and heard the clatter of hoofs and the gride of wheels. I saw a `
` lad trundling off the barrow of apples. And then, within thirty yards `
` of the pit, advancing from the direction of Horsell, I noted a little `
` black knot of men, the foremost of whom was waving a white flag. `
` `
` This was the Deputation. There had been a hasty consultation, and `
` since the Martians were evidently, in spite of their repulsive forms, `
` intelligent creatures, it had been resolved to show them, by `
` approaching them with signals, that we too were intelligent. `
` `
` Flutter, flutter, went the flag, first to the right, then to the `
` left. It was too far for me to recognise anyone there, but afterwards `
` I learned that Ogilvy, Stent, and Henderson were with others in this `
` attempt at communication. This little group had in its advance `
` dragged inward, so to speak, the circumference of the now almost `
` complete circle of people, and a number of dim black figures followed `
` it at discreet distances. `
` `
` Suddenly there was a flash of light, and a quantity of luminous `
` greenish smoke came out of the pit in three distinct puffs, which `
` drove up, one after the other, straight into the still air. `
` `
` This smoke (or flame, perhaps, would be the better word for it) was `
` so bright that the deep blue sky overhead and the hazy stretches of `
` brown common towards Chertsey, set with black pine trees, seemed to `
` darken abruptly as these puffs arose, and to remain the darker after `
` their dispersal. At the same time a faint hissing sound became `
` audible. `
` `
` Beyond the pit stood the little wedge of people with the white flag `
` at its apex, arrested by these phenomena, a little knot of small `
` vertical black shapes upon the black ground. As the green smoke arose, `
` their faces flashed out pallid green, and faded again as it vanished. `
` Then slowly the hissing passed into a humming, into a long, loud, `
` droning noise. Slowly a humped shape rose out of the pit, and the `
` ghost of a beam of light seemed to flicker out from it. `
` `
` Forthwith flashes of actual flame, a bright glare leaping from one `
` to another, sprang from the scattered group of men. It was as if some `
` invisible jet impinged upon them and flashed into white flame. It was `
` as if each man were suddenly and momentarily turned to fire. `
` `
` Then, by the light of their own destruction, I saw them staggering `
` and falling, and their supporters turning to run. `
` `
` I stood staring, not as yet realising that this was death leaping `
` from man to man in that little distant crowd. All I felt was that it `
` was something very strange. An almost noiseless and blinding flash of `
` light, and a man fell headlong and lay still; and as the unseen shaft `
` of heat passed over them, pine trees burst into fire, and every dry `
` furze bush became with one dull thud a mass of flames. And far away `
` towards Knaphill I saw the flashes of trees and hedges and wooden `
` buildings suddenly set alight. `
` `
` It was sweeping round swiftly and steadily, this flaming death, `
` this invisible, inevitable sword of heat. I perceived it coming `
` towards me by the flashing bushes it touched, and was too astounded `
` and stupefied to stir. I heard the crackle of fire in the sand pits `
` and the sudden squeal of a horse that was as suddenly stilled. Then `
` it was as if an invisible yet intensely heated finger were drawn `
` through the heather between me and the Martians, and all along a `
` curving line beyond the sand pits the dark ground smoked and crackled. `
` Something fell with a crash far away to the left where the road from `
` Woking station opens out on the common. Forth-with the hissing and `
` humming ceased, and the black, dome-like object sank slowly out of `
` sight into the pit. `
` `
` All this had happened with such swiftness that I had stood `
` motionless, dumbfounded and dazzled by the flashes of light. Had that `
` death swept through a full circle, it must inevitably have slain me in `
` my surprise. But it passed and spared me, and left the night about me `
` suddenly dark and unfamiliar. `
` `
` The undulating common seemed now dark almost to blackness, except `
` where its roadways lay grey and pale under the deep blue sky of the `
` early night. It was dark, and suddenly void of men. Overhead the `
` stars were mustering, and in the west the sky was still a pale, `
` bright, almost greenish blue. The tops of the pine trees and the `
` roofs of Horsell came out sharp and black against the western `
` afterglow. The Martians and their appliances were altogether `
` invisible, save for that thin mast upon which their restless mirror `
` wobbled. Patches of bush and isolated trees here and there smoked and `
` glowed still, and the houses towards Woking station were sending up `
` spires of flame into the stillness of the evening air. `
` `
` Nothing was changed save for that and a terrible astonishment. The `
` little group of black specks with the flag of white had been swept out `
` of existence, and the stillness of the evening, so it seemed to me, `
` had scarcely been broken. `
` `
` It came to me that I was upon this dark common, helpless, `
` unprotected, and alone. Suddenly, like a thing falling upon me from `
` without, came--fear. `
` `
` With an effort I turned and began a stumbling run through the `
` heather. `
` `
` The fear I felt was no rational fear, but a panic terror not only `
` of the Martians, but of the dusk and stillness all about me. Such an `
` extraordinary effect in unmanning me it had that I ran weeping `
` silently as a child might do. Once I had turned, I did not dare to `
` look back. `
` `
` I remember I felt an extraordinary persuasion that I was being `
` played with, that presently, when I was upon the very verge of safety, `
` this mysterious death--as swift as the passage of light--would leap `
` after me from the pit about the cylinder and strike me down. `
` `
` `
` `
` CHAPTER SIX `
` `
` THE HEAT-RAY IN THE CHOBHAM ROAD `
` `
` `
` It is still a matter of wonder how the Martians are able to slay `
`
` perhaps a hundred yards away; but I ran slantingly and stumbling, for `
` I could not avert my face from these things. `
` `
` There, among some young pine trees and furze bushes, I stopped, `
` panting, and waited further developments. The common round the sand `
` pits was dotted with people, standing like myself in a half-fascinated `
` terror, staring at these creatures, or rather at the heaped gravel at `
` the edge of the pit in which they lay. And then, with a renewed `
` horror, I saw a round, black object bobbing up and down on the edge of `
` the pit. It was the head of the shopman who had fallen in, but `
` showing as a little black object against the hot western sun. Now he `
` got his shoulder and knee up, and again he seemed to slip back until `
` only his head was visible. Suddenly he vanished, and I could have `
` fancied a faint shriek had reached me. I had a momentary impulse to `
` go back and help him that my fears overruled. `
` `
` Everything was then quite invisible, hidden by the deep pit and the `
` heap of sand that the fall of the cylinder had made. Anyone coming `
` along the road from Chobham or Woking would have been amazed at the `
` sight--a dwindling multitude of perhaps a hundred people or more `
` standing in a great irregular circle, in ditches, behind bushes, `
` behind gates and hedges, saying little to one another and that in `
` short, excited shouts, and staring, staring hard at a few heaps of `
` sand. The barrow of ginger beer stood, a queer derelict, black `
` against the burning sky, and in the sand pits was a row of deserted `
` vehicles with their horses feeding out of nosebags or pawing the `
` ground. `
` `
` `
` `
` CHAPTER FIVE `
` `
` THE HEAT-RAY `
` `
` `
` After the glimpse I had had of the Martians emerging from the `
` cylinder in which they had come to the earth from their planet, a kind `
` of fascination paralysed my actions. I remained standing knee-deep in `
` the heather, staring at the mound that hid them. I was a battleground `
` of fear and curiosity. `
` `
` I did not dare to go back towards the pit, but I felt a passionate `
` longing to peer into it. I began walking, therefore, in a big curve, `
` seeking some point of vantage and continually looking at the sand `
` heaps that hid these new-comers to our earth. Once a leash of thin `
` black whips, like the arms of an octopus, flashed across the sunset `
` and was immediately withdrawn, and afterwards a thin rod rose up, `
` joint by joint, bearing at its apex a circular disk that spun with a `
` wobbling motion. What could be going on there? `
` `
` Most of the spectators had gathered in one or two groups--one a `
` little crowd towards Woking, the other a knot of people in the `
` direction of Chobham. Evidently they shared my mental conflict. `
` There were few near me. One man I approached--he was, I perceived, `
` a neighbour of mine, though I did not know his name--and accosted. `
` But it was scarcely a time for articulate conversation. `
` `
` "What ugly _brutes_!" he said. "Good God! What ugly brutes!" He `
` repeated this over and over again. `
` `
` "Did you see a man in the pit?" I said; but he made no answer to `
` that. We became silent, and stood watching for a time side by side, `
` deriving, I fancy, a certain comfort in one another's company. Then I `
` shifted my position to a little knoll that gave me the advantage of a `
` yard or more of elevation and when I looked for him presently he was `
` walking towards Woking. `
` `
` The sunset faded to twilight before anything further happened. The `
` crowd far away on the left, towards Woking, seemed to grow, and I `
` heard now a faint murmur from it. The little knot of people towards `
` Chobham dispersed. There was scarcely an intimation of movement from `
` the pit. `
` `
` It was this, as much as anything, that gave people courage, and I `
` suppose the new arrivals from Woking also helped to restore `
` confidence. At any rate, as the dusk came on a slow, intermittent `
` movement upon the sand pits began, a movement that seemed to gather `
` force as the stillness of the evening about the cylinder remained `
` unbroken. Vertical black figures in twos and threes would advance, `
` stop, watch, and advance again, spreading out as they did so in a thin `
` irregular crescent that promised to enclose the pit in its attenuated `
` horns. I, too, on my side began to move towards the pit. `
` `
` Then I saw some cabmen and others had walked boldly into the sand `
` pits, and heard the clatter of hoofs and the gride of wheels. I saw a `
` lad trundling off the barrow of apples. And then, within thirty yards `
` of the pit, advancing from the direction of Horsell, I noted a little `
` black knot of men, the foremost of whom was waving a white flag. `
` `
` This was the Deputation. There had been a hasty consultation, and `
` since the Martians were evidently, in spite of their repulsive forms, `
` intelligent creatures, it had been resolved to show them, by `
` approaching them with signals, that we too were intelligent. `
` `
` Flutter, flutter, went the flag, first to the right, then to the `
` left. It was too far for me to recognise anyone there, but afterwards `
` I learned that Ogilvy, Stent, and Henderson were with others in this `
` attempt at communication. This little group had in its advance `
` dragged inward, so to speak, the circumference of the now almost `
` complete circle of people, and a number of dim black figures followed `
` it at discreet distances. `
` `
` Suddenly there was a flash of light, and a quantity of luminous `
` greenish smoke came out of the pit in three distinct puffs, which `
` drove up, one after the other, straight into the still air. `
` `
` This smoke (or flame, perhaps, would be the better word for it) was `
` so bright that the deep blue sky overhead and the hazy stretches of `
` brown common towards Chertsey, set with black pine trees, seemed to `
` darken abruptly as these puffs arose, and to remain the darker after `
` their dispersal. At the same time a faint hissing sound became `
` audible. `
` `
` Beyond the pit stood the little wedge of people with the white flag `
` at its apex, arrested by these phenomena, a little knot of small `
` vertical black shapes upon the black ground. As the green smoke arose, `
` their faces flashed out pallid green, and faded again as it vanished. `
` Then slowly the hissing passed into a humming, into a long, loud, `
` droning noise. Slowly a humped shape rose out of the pit, and the `
` ghost of a beam of light seemed to flicker out from it. `
` `
` Forthwith flashes of actual flame, a bright glare leaping from one `
` to another, sprang from the scattered group of men. It was as if some `
` invisible jet impinged upon them and flashed into white flame. It was `
` as if each man were suddenly and momentarily turned to fire. `
` `
` Then, by the light of their own destruction, I saw them staggering `
` and falling, and their supporters turning to run. `
` `
` I stood staring, not as yet realising that this was death leaping `
` from man to man in that little distant crowd. All I felt was that it `
` was something very strange. An almost noiseless and blinding flash of `
` light, and a man fell headlong and lay still; and as the unseen shaft `
` of heat passed over them, pine trees burst into fire, and every dry `
` furze bush became with one dull thud a mass of flames. And far away `
` towards Knaphill I saw the flashes of trees and hedges and wooden `
` buildings suddenly set alight. `
` `
` It was sweeping round swiftly and steadily, this flaming death, `
` this invisible, inevitable sword of heat. I perceived it coming `
` towards me by the flashing bushes it touched, and was too astounded `
` and stupefied to stir. I heard the crackle of fire in the sand pits `
` and the sudden squeal of a horse that was as suddenly stilled. Then `
` it was as if an invisible yet intensely heated finger were drawn `
` through the heather between me and the Martians, and all along a `
` curving line beyond the sand pits the dark ground smoked and crackled. `
` Something fell with a crash far away to the left where the road from `
` Woking station opens out on the common. Forth-with the hissing and `
` humming ceased, and the black, dome-like object sank slowly out of `
` sight into the pit. `
` `
` All this had happened with such swiftness that I had stood `
` motionless, dumbfounded and dazzled by the flashes of light. Had that `
` death swept through a full circle, it must inevitably have slain me in `
` my surprise. But it passed and spared me, and left the night about me `
` suddenly dark and unfamiliar. `
` `
` The undulating common seemed now dark almost to blackness, except `
` where its roadways lay grey and pale under the deep blue sky of the `
` early night. It was dark, and suddenly void of men. Overhead the `
` stars were mustering, and in the west the sky was still a pale, `
` bright, almost greenish blue. The tops of the pine trees and the `
` roofs of Horsell came out sharp and black against the western `
` afterglow. The Martians and their appliances were altogether `
` invisible, save for that thin mast upon which their restless mirror `
` wobbled. Patches of bush and isolated trees here and there smoked and `
` glowed still, and the houses towards Woking station were sending up `
` spires of flame into the stillness of the evening air. `
` `
` Nothing was changed save for that and a terrible astonishment. The `
` little group of black specks with the flag of white had been swept out `
` of existence, and the stillness of the evening, so it seemed to me, `
` had scarcely been broken. `
` `
` It came to me that I was upon this dark common, helpless, `
` unprotected, and alone. Suddenly, like a thing falling upon me from `
` without, came--fear. `
` `
` With an effort I turned and began a stumbling run through the `
` heather. `
` `
` The fear I felt was no rational fear, but a panic terror not only `
` of the Martians, but of the dusk and stillness all about me. Such an `
` extraordinary effect in unmanning me it had that I ran weeping `
` silently as a child might do. Once I had turned, I did not dare to `
` look back. `
` `
` I remember I felt an extraordinary persuasion that I was being `
` played with, that presently, when I was upon the very verge of safety, `
` this mysterious death--as swift as the passage of light--would leap `
` after me from the pit about the cylinder and strike me down. `
` `
` `
` `
` CHAPTER SIX `
` `
` THE HEAT-RAY IN THE CHOBHAM ROAD `
` `
` `
` It is still a matter of wonder how the Martians are able to slay `
`