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It was on the third day , if my memory serves me right , that I saw the lad killed . It was the only occasion on which I actually saw the Martians feed . After that experience I avoided the hole in the wall for the better part of a day . I went into the scullery , removed the door , and spent some hours digging with my hatchet as silently as possible ; but when I had made a hole about a couple of feet deep the loose earth collapsed noisily , and I did not dare continue . I lost heart , and lay down on the scullery floor for a long time , having no spirit even to move . And after that I abandoned altogether the idea of escaping by excavation . It says much for the impression the Martians had made upon me that at first I entertained little or no hope of our escape being brought about by their overthrow through any human effort . But on the fourth or fifth night I heard a sound like heavy guns . It was very late in the night , and the moon was shining brightly . The Martians had taken away the excavating - machine , and , save for a fighting - machine that stood in the remoter bank of the pit and a handling - machine that was buried out of my sight in a corner of the pit immediately beneath my peephole , the place was deserted by them . Except for the pale glow from the handling - machine and the bars and patches of white moonlight the pit was in darkness , and , except for the clinking of the handling - machine , quite still . That night was a beautiful serenity ; save for one planet , the moon seemed to have the sky to herself . I heard a dog howling , and that familiar sound it was that made me listen . Then I heard quite distinctly a booming exactly like the sound of great guns . Six distinct reports I counted , and after a long interval six again . And that was all . IV . THE DEATH OF THE CURATE . It was on the sixth day of our imprisonment that I peeped for the last time , and presently found myself alone . Instead of keeping close to me and trying to oust me from the slit , the curate had gone back into the scullery . I was struck by a sudden thought . I went back quickly and quietly into the scullery . In the darkness I heard the curate drinking . I snatched in the darkness , and my fingers caught a bottle of burgundy . For a few minutes there was a tussle . The bottle struck the floor and broke , and I desisted and rose . We stood panting and threatening each other . In the end I planted myself between him and the food , and told him of my determination to begin a discipline . I divided the food in the pantry , into rations to last us ten days . I would not let him eat any more that day . In the afternoon he made a feeble effort to get at the food . I had been dozing , but in an instant I was awake . All day and all night we sat face to face , I weary but resolute , and he weeping and complaining of his immediate hunger . It was , I know , a night and a day , but to me it seemed — it seems now — an interminable length of time .
Назад Сторінка 89 з 121 Сторінка 89 з 121 Вперед Читайте далі з перекладом Створіть безкоштовний акаунт: 7 днів Pro, далі 20 перекладів слів на день або платний тариф.
