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XV . WHAT HAD HAPPENED IN SURREY . It was while the curate had sat and talked so wildly to me under the hedge in the flat meadows near Halliford , and while my brother was watching the fugitives stream over Westminster Bridge , that the Martians had resumed the offensive . So far as one can ascertain from the conflicting accounts that have been put forth , the majority of them remained busied with preparations in the Horsell pit until nine that night , hurrying on some operation that disengaged huge volumes of green smoke . But three certainly came out about eight o’clock and , advancing slowly and cautiously , made their way through Byfleet and Pyrford towards Ripley and Weybridge , and so came in sight of the expectant batteries against the setting sun . These Martians did not advance in a body , but in a line , each perhaps a mile and a half from his nearest fellow . They communicated with one another by means of sirenlike howls , running up and down the scale from one note to another . It was this howling and firing of the guns at Ripley and St . George’s Hill that we had heard at Upper Halliford . The Ripley gunners , unseasoned artillery volunteers who ought never to have been placed in such a position , fired one wild , premature , ineffectual volley , and bolted on horse and foot through the deserted village , while the Martian , without using his Heat - Ray , walked serenely over their guns , stepped gingerly among them , passed in front of them , and so came unexpectedly upon the guns in Painshill Park , which he destroyed . The St . George’s Hill men , however , were better led or of a better mettle . Hidden by a pine wood as they were , they seem to have been quite unsuspected by the Martian nearest to them . They laid their guns as deliberately as if they had been on parade , and fired at about a thousand yards ’ range . The shells flashed all round him , and he was seen to advance a few paces , stagger , and go down . Everybody yelled together , and the guns were reloaded in frantic haste . The overthrown Martian set up a prolonged ululation , and immediately a second glittering giant , answering him , appeared over the trees to the south . It would seem that a leg of the tripod had been smashed by one of the shells . The whole of the second volley flew wide of the Martian on the ground , and , simultaneously , both his companions brought their Heat - Rays to bear on the battery . The ammunition blew up , the pine trees all about the guns flashed into fire , and only one or two of the men who were already running over the crest of the hill escaped .
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