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There were four or five boys sitting on the edge of the Pit, with `
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their feet dangling, and amusing themselves--until I stopped them--by `
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throwing stones at the giant mass. After I had spoken to them about `
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it, they began playing at "touch" in and out of the group of `
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bystanders. `
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Among these were a couple of cyclists, a jobbing gardener I `
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employed sometimes, a girl carrying a baby, Gregg the butcher and his `
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little boy, and two or three loafers and golf caddies who were `
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accustomed to hang about the railway station. There was very little `
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talking. Few of the common people in England had anything but the `
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vaguest astronomical ideas in those days. Most of them were staring `
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quietly at the big table like end of the cylinder, which was still as `
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Ogilvy and Henderson had left it. I fancy the popular expectation of `
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a heap of charred corpses was disappointed at this inanimate bulk. `
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Some went away while I was there, and other people came. I clambered `
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into the pit and fancied I heard a faint movement under my feet. The `
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top had certainly ceased to rotate. `
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It was only when I got thus close to it that the strangeness of `
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this object was at all evident to me. At the first glance it was `
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really no more exciting than an overturned carriage or a tree blown `
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across the road. Not so much so, indeed. It looked like a rusty gas `
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float. It required a certain amount of scientific education to `
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perceive that the grey scale of the Thing was no common oxide, that `
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the yellowish-white metal that gleamed in the crack between the lid `
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and the cylinder had an unfamiliar hue. "Extra-terrestrial" had no `
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meaning for most of the onlookers. `
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At that time it was quite clear in my own mind that the Thing had `
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come from the planet Mars, but I judged it improbable that it `
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contained any living creature. I thought the unscrewing might be `
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automatic. In spite of Ogilvy, I still believed that there were men `
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in Mars. My mind ran fancifully on the possibilities of its `
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containing manuscript, on the difficulties in translation that might `
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arise, whether we should find coins and models in it, and so forth. `
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Yet it was a little too large for assurance on this idea. I felt an `
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impatience to see it opened. About eleven, as nothing seemed `
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happening, I walked back, full of such thought, to my home in Maybury. `
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But I found it difficult to get to work upon my abstract `
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investigations. `
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In the afternoon the appearance of the common had altered very `
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much. The early editions of the evening papers had startled London `
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with enormous headlines: `
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"A MESSAGE RECEIVED FROM MARS." `
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"REMARKABLE STORY FROM WOKING," `
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and so forth. In addition, Ogilvy's wire to the Astronomical Exchange `
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had roused every observatory in the three kingdoms. `
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There were half a dozen flies or more from the Woking station `
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standing in the road by the sand pits, a basket-chaise from Chobham, `
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and a rather lordly carriage. Besides that, there was quite a heap of `
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bicycles. In addition, a large number of people must have walked, in `
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spite of the heat of the day, from Woking and Chertsey, so that there `
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was altogether quite a considerable crowd--one or two gaily dressed `
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ladies among the others. `
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It was glaringly hot, not a cloud in the sky nor a breath of wind, `
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and the only shadow was that of the few scattered pine trees. The `
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burning heather had been extinguished, but the level ground towards `
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Ottershaw was blackened as far as one could see, and still giving off `
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vertical streamers of smoke. An enterprising sweet-stuff dealer in `
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the Chobham Road had sent up his son with a barrow-load of green `
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apples and ginger beer. `
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Going to the edge of the pit, I found it occupied by a group of `
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about half a dozen men--Henderson, Ogilvy, and a tall, fair-haired man `
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that I afterwards learned was Stent, the Astronomer Royal, with `
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several workmen wielding spades and pickaxes. Stent was giving `
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directions in a clear, high-pitched voice. He was standing on the `
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cylinder, which was now evidently much cooler; his face was crimson `
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and streaming with perspiration, and something seemed to have `
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irritated him. `
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A large portion of the cylinder had been uncovered, though its `
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lower end was still embedded. As soon as Ogilvy saw me among the `
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staring crowd on the edge of the pit he called to me to come down, and `
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asked me if I would mind going over to see Lord Hilton, the lord of `
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the manor. `
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The growing crowd, he said, was becoming a serious impediment to `
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their excavations, especially the boys. They wanted a light railing `
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put up, and help to keep the people back. He told me that a faint `
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stirring was occasionally still audible within the case, but that the `
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workmen had failed to unscrew the top, as it afforded no grip to them. `
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The case appeared to be enormously thick, and it was possible that the `
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faint sounds we heard represented a noisy tumult in the interior. `
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I was very glad to do as he asked, and so become one of the `
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privileged spectators within the contemplated enclosure. I failed to `
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find Lord Hilton at his house, but I was told he was expected from `
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London by the six o'clock train from Waterloo; and as it was then `
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about a quarter past five, I went home, had some tea, and walked up to `
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the station to waylay him. `
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CHAPTER FOUR `
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THE CYLINDER OPENS `
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When I returned to the common the sun was setting. Scattered groups `
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were hurrying from the direction of Woking, and one or two persons `
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were returning. The crowd about the pit had increased, and stood out `
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black against the lemon yellow of the sky--a couple of hundred people, `
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perhaps. There were raised voices, and some sort of struggle appeared `
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to be going on about the pit. Strange imaginings passed through my `
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mind. As I drew nearer I heard Stent's voice: `
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"Keep back! Keep back!" `
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A boy came running towards me. `
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"It's a-movin'," he said to me as he passed; "a-screwin' and `
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a-screwin' out. I don't like it. I'm a-goin' 'ome, I am." `
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I went on to the crowd. There were really, I should think, two or `
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three hundred people elbowing and jostling one another, the one or two `
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ladies there being by no means the least active. `
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"He's fallen in the pit!" cried some one. `
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"Keep back!" said several. `
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The crowd swayed a little, and I elbowed my way through. Every one `
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seemed greatly excited. I heard a peculiar humming sound from the `
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pit. `
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"I say!" said Ogilvy; "help keep these idiots back. We don't know `
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what's in the confounded thing, you know!" `
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I saw a young man, a shop assistant in Woking I believe he was, `
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standing on the cylinder and trying to scramble out of the hole again. `
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The crowd had pushed him in. `
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The end of the cylinder was being screwed out from within. Nearly `
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two feet of shining screw projected. Somebody blundered against me, `
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and I narrowly missed being pitched onto the top of the screw. I `
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turned, and as I did so the screw must have come out, for the lid of `
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the cylinder fell upon the gravel with a ringing concussion. I stuck `
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my elbow into the person behind me, and turned my head towards the `
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Thing again. For a moment that circular cavity seemed perfectly black. `
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I had the sunset in my eyes. `
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I think everyone expected to see a man emerge--possibly something a `
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little unlike us terrestrial men, but in all essentials a man. I know `
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I did. But, looking, I presently saw something stirring within the `
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shadow: greyish billowy movements, one above another, and then two `
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luminous disks--like eyes. Then something resembling a little grey `
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snake, about the thickness of a walking stick, coiled up out of the `
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writhing middle, and wriggled in the air towards me--and then another. `
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A sudden chill came over me. There was a loud shriek from a woman `
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behind. I half turned, keeping my eyes fixed upon the cylinder still, `
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from which other tentacles were now projecting, and began pushing my `
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way back from the edge of the pit. I saw astonishment giving place to `
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horror on the faces of the people about me. I heard inarticulate `
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exclamations on all sides. There was a general movement backwards. `
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I saw the shopman struggling still on the edge of the pit. I found `
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myself alone, and saw the people on the other side of the pit running `
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off, Stent among them. I looked again at the cylinder, and `
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ungovernable terror gripped me. I stood petrified and staring. `
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A big greyish rounded bulk, the size, perhaps, of a bear, was `
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rising slowly and painfully out of the cylinder. As it bulged up and `
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caught the light, it glistened like wet leather. `
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Two large dark-coloured eyes were regarding me steadfastly. The `
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mass that framed them, the head of the thing, was rounded, and had, `
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one might say, a face. There was a mouth under the eyes, the lipless `
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brim of which quivered and panted, and dropped saliva. The whole `
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creature heaved and pulsated convulsively. A lank tentacular `
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appendage gripped the edge of the cylinder, another swayed in the air. `
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Those who have never seen a living Martian can scarcely imagine the `
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strange horror of its appearance. The peculiar V-shaped mouth with `
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its pointed upper lip, the absence of brow ridges, the absence of a `
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chin beneath the wedgelike lower lip, the incessant quivering of this `
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mouth, the Gorgon groups of tentacles, the tumultuous breathing of the `
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lungs in a strange atmosphere, the evident heaviness and painfulness `
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of movement due to the greater gravitational energy of the earth--above `
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all, the extraordinary intensity of the immense eyes--were at `
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once vital, intense, inhuman, crippled and monstrous. There was `
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something fungoid in the oily brown skin, something in the clumsy `
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deliberation of the tedious movements unspeakably nasty. Even at this `
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first encounter, this first glimpse, I was overcome with disgust and `
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dread. `
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Suddenly the monster vanished. It had toppled over the brim of the `
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cylinder and fallen into the pit, with a thud like the fall of a great `
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mass of leather. I heard it give a peculiar thick cry, and forthwith `
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another of these creatures appeared darkly in the deep shadow of the `
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aperture. `
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I turned and, running madly, made for the first group of trees, `
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