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So you have the state of things on Friday night . In the centre , sticking into the skin of our old planet Earth like a poisoned dart , was this cylinder . But the poison was scarcely working yet . Around it was a patch of silent common , smouldering in places , and with a few dark , dimly seen objects lying in contorted attitudes here and there . Here and there was a burning bush or tree . Beyond was a fringe of excitement , and farther than that fringe the inflammation had not crept as yet . In the rest of the world the stream of life still flowed as it had flowed for immemorial years . The fever of war that would presently clog vein and artery , deaden nerve and destroy brain , had still to develop . All night long the Martians were hammering and stirring , sleepless , indefatigable , at work upon the machines they were making ready , and ever and again a puff of greenish - white smoke whirled up to the starlit sky . About eleven a company of soldiers came through Horsell , and deployed along the edge of the common to form a cordon . Later a second company marched through Chobham to deploy on the north side of the common . Several officers from the Inkerman barracks had been on the common earlier in the day , and one , Major Eden , was reported to be missing . The colonel of the regiment came to the Chobham bridge and was busy questioning the crowd at midnight . The military authorities were certainly alive to the seriousness of the business . About eleven , the next morning’s papers were able to say , a squadron of hussars , two Maxims , and about four hundred men of the Cardigan regiment started from Aldershot . A few seconds after midnight the crowd in the Chertsey road , Woking , saw a star fall 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 . IX . THE FIGHTING BEGINS . Saturday lives in my memory as a day of suspense . It was a day of lassitude too , hot and close , with , I am told , a rapidly fluctuating barometer . I had slept but little , though my wife had succeeded in sleeping , and I rose early . I went into my garden before breakfast and stood listening , but towards the common there was nothing stirring but a lark . The milkman came as usual . I heard the rattle of his chariot and I went round to the side gate to ask the latest news . He told me that during the night the Martians had been surrounded by troops , and that guns were expected . Then — a familiar , reassuring note — I heard a train running towards Woking . “ They aren’t to be killed , ” said the milkman , “ if that can possibly be avoided . ” I saw my neighbour gardening , chatted with him for a time , and then strolled in to breakfast . It was a most unexceptional morning . My neighbour was of opinion that the troops would be able to capture or to destroy the Martians during the day .
Назад Сторінка 21 з 121 Сторінка 21 з 121 Вперед Читайте далі з перекладом Створіть безкоштовний акаунт: 7 днів Pro, далі 20 перекладів слів на день або платний тариф.
