Only the heap of sand saved the other crowd of people. They saw the flashes and the invisible hand that lit the bushes. Then, with a whistling note, the beam swung over their heads. Sparks and burning twigs began to fall into the road. Then came a crying. There were shrieks and shouts.
Everyone was trying to clear the way to Woking again. Where the road is narrow, the crowd jammed. Three persons at least, two women and a little boy, were crushed and trampled there. The crowd left them to die amid the terror and the darkness.
Chapter 7
How I Reached Home
I came into the road between the crossroads and Horsell, and ran along this to the crossroads. There I fell and remained still for some time.
Then I sat up, strangely perplexed. I did not clearly understand how I came there. A few minutes before, there were only three real things before me – the immensity of the night and space and nature, my own feebleness and anguish, and the near approach of death. Now something altered abruptly. The cylinder and the flames became a dream. Did these things indeed happen?
I rose and walked unsteadily up the bridge. My muscles and nerves lost their strength.
I startled my wife at the doorway. I went into the dining room. I sat down and told her everything.
“There is one thing,” I said; “they are very sluggish creatures. They may kill people who come near them!”
My wife put her hand on mine.
“Poor Ogilvy!” I said. “He is dead there!”
“They may come for us,” my wife said.
I tried to reassure her.
“They can scarcely move,” I said.
The Martians can’t establish themselves on the earth. I talked about the gravitational difficulty. On the surface of the earth the force of gravity is three times more what it is on the surface of Mars. A Martian, therefore, will weigh three times more than on Mars, albeit his muscular strength will be the same. The atmosphere of the earth contains far more oxygen or far less argon than does Mars’. I was reassuring my wife, and I was courageous.
“They have done a foolish thing,” said I. “They are dangerous because, no doubt, they are mad with terror. A shell in the pit[12] will kill them all.”
Chapter 8
Friday Night
In London, poor Henderson’s telegram that was describing the gradual unscrewing of the shot was judged to be a canard[13]. The newspaper wired for authentication from him and received no reply – the man was killed – so they decided not to print a special edition.
Even within the five-mile circle the people were inert. All over the district people were dining and supping. Working men were gardening after the labours of the day. Children were going to bed. Young people were wandering through the lanes. Students sat over their books.
Maybe there was a murmur in the village streets, and somebody caused a whirl of excitement; but for the most part the daily routine of working, eating, drinking, sleeping, went on – as though no planet Mars existed in the sky. Even at Woking station and Horsell and Chobham nothing changed.
In Woking junction, trains were stopping and going on. Passengers were waiting, and everything was proceeding in the most ordinary way. A boy from the town was selling papers with the afternoon’s news, “Men from Mars!” Excited men came into the station about nine o’clock with incredible tidings. But they caused no more disturbance than drunkards.
A curious crowd lingered restlessly. The crowd remained on the Chobham and Horsell bridges. One or two adventurous souls went into the darkness and crawled quite near the Martians. But they never returned. That big area was silent and desolate. The charred bodies lay threr all night under the stars, and all the next day. Many people heard some noise from the pit.
It was Friday night. Here and there was a burning bush or a tree. Beyond was a fringe of excitement. In the rest of the world, life was going on.
All night long the Martians were hammering and stirring at work upon the machines. Sometimes a puff of greenish-white smoke whirled up to the sky.
About eleven some soldiers came through Horsell, and formed a cordon. Later the soldiers marched through Chobham to cover the north side of the pit. Several officers from the Inkerman barracks arrived. Major Eden was missing.
The colonel of the regiment came to the Chobham bridge. He questioned the crowd at midnight. The military authorities understood the seriousness of the business. About eleven, a squadron of hussars and about four hundred men of the Cardigan regiment started from Aldershot.
A few seconds after midnight the crowd near Woking saw a star. That star fell from heaven into the pine woods to the northwest. It had a greenish colour, and caused a silent brightness like summer lightning. This was the second cylinder.
Chapter 9
The Fighting Begins
Saturday was a day of suspense. It was a day of lassitude too, hot and close[14]. I slept little, and I rose early. I went into my garden before breakfast and stood there.
The milkman came as usual. I heard the rattle of his chariot and I went to him to ask the latest news. He told me that during the night the Martians were surrounded by troops. Then I heard a train.
“They won’t kill the Martians,” said the milkman, “they want to avoid it.”
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