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VII . A Sudden Shock “ As I stood there musing over this too perfect triumph of man , the full moon , yellow and gibbous , came up out of an overflow of silver light in the north - east . The bright little figures ceased to move about below , a noiseless owl flitted by , and I shivered with the chill of the night . I determined to descend and find where I could sleep . “ I looked for the building I knew . Then my eye travelled along to the figure of the White Sphinx upon the pedestal of bronze , growing distinct as the light of the rising moon grew brighter . I could see the silver birch against it . There was the tangle of rhododendron bushes , black in the pale light , and there was the little lawn . I looked at the lawn again . A queer doubt chilled my complacency . ‘ No , ’ said I stoutly to myself , ‘ that was not the lawn . ’ “ But it was the lawn . For the white leprous face of the sphinx was towards it . Can you imagine what I felt as this conviction came home to me ? But you cannot . The Time Machine was gone ! “ At once , like a lash across the face , came the possibility of losing my own age , of being left helpless in this strange new world . The bare thought of it was an actual physical sensation . I could feel it grip me at the throat and stop my breathing . In another moment I was in a passion of fear and running with great leaping strides down the slope . Once I fell headlong and cut my face ; I lost no time in stanching the blood , but jumped up and ran on , with a warm trickle down my cheek and chin . All the time I ran I was saying to myself : ‘ They have moved it a little , pushed it under the bushes out of the way . ’ Nevertheless , I ran with all my might . All the time , with the certainty that sometimes comes with excessive dread , I knew that such assurance was folly , knew instinctively that the machine was removed out of my reach . My breath came with pain . I suppose I covered the whole distance from the hill crest to the little lawn , two miles perhaps , in ten minutes . And I am not a young man . I cursed aloud , as I ran , at my confident folly in leaving the machine , wasting good breath thereby . I cried aloud , and none answered . Not a creature seemed to be stirring in that moonlit world . “ When I reached the lawn my worst fears were realised . Not a trace of the thing was to be seen . I felt faint and cold when I faced the empty space among the black tangle of bushes . I ran round it furiously , as if the thing might be hidden in a corner , and then stopped abruptly , with my hands clutching my hair . Above me towered the sphinx , upon the bronze pedestal , white , shining , leprous , in the light of the rising moon . It seemed to smile in mockery of my dismay .
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