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“ Be a man ! ” said I . “ You are scared out of your wits ! What good is religion if it collapses under calamity ? Think of what earthquakes and floods , wars and volcanoes , have done before to men ! Did you think God had exempted Weybridge ? He is not an insurance agent . ” For a time he sat in blank silence . “ But how can we escape ? ” he asked , suddenly . “ They are invulnerable , they are pitiless . ” “ Neither the one nor , perhaps , the other , ” I answered . “ And the mightier they are the more sane and wary should we be . One of them was killed yonder not three hours ago . ” “ Killed ! ” he said , staring about him . “ How can God’s ministers be killed ? ” “ I saw it happen . ” I proceeded to tell him . “ We have chanced to come in for the thick of it , ” said I , “ and that is all . ” “ What is that flicker in the sky ? ” he asked abruptly . I told him it was the heliograph signalling — that it was the sign of human help and effort in the sky . “ We are in the midst of it , ” I said , “ quiet as it is . That flicker in the sky tells of the gathering storm . Yonder , I take it are the Martians , and Londonward , where those hills rise about Richmond and Kingston and the trees give cover , earthworks are being thrown up and guns are being placed . Presently the Martians will be coming this way again . ” And even as I spoke he sprang to his feet and stopped me by a gesture . “ Listen ! ” he said . From beyond the low hills across the water came the dull resonance of distant guns and a remote weird crying . Then everything was still . A cockchafer came droning over the hedge and past us . High in the west the crescent moon hung faint and pale above the smoke of Weybridge and Shepperton and the hot , still splendour of the sunset . “ We had better follow this path , ” I said , “ northward . ” XIV . IN LONDON . My younger brother was in London when the Martians fell at Woking . He was a medical student working for an imminent examination , and he heard nothing of the arrival until Saturday morning . The morning papers on Saturday contained , in addition to lengthy special articles on the planet Mars , on life in the planets , and so forth , a brief and vaguely worded telegram , all the more striking for its brevity . The Martians , alarmed by the approach of a crowd , had killed a number of people with a quick - firing gun , so the story ran . The telegram concluded with the words : “ Formidable as they seem to be , the Martians have not moved from the pit into which they have fallen , and , indeed , seem incapable of doing so . Probably this is due to the relative strength of the earth’s gravitational energy . ” On that last text their leader - writer expanded very comfortingly .
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