into the road by the wheels of subsequent carts. We crossed Richmond
Bridge about half past eight. We hurried across the exposed bridge, of
course, but I noticed floating down the stream a number of red masses,
some many feet across. I did not know what these were there was no time
for scrutiny and I put a more horrible interpretation on them than they
deserved. Here again on the Surrey side were black dust that had once
been smoke, and dead bodies a heap near the approach to the station;
but we had no glimpse of the Martians until we were some way towards
Barnes.
We saw in the blackened distance a group of three people running down a
side street towards the river, but otherwise it seemed deserted. Up the
hill Richmond town was burning briskly; outside the town of Richmond
there was no trace of the Black Smoke.
Then suddenly, as we approached Kew, came a number of people running,
and the upperworks of a Martian fighting-machine loomed in sight over
the housetops, not a hundred yards away from us. We stood aghast at our
danger, and had the Martian looked down we must immediately have
perished. We were so terrified that we dared not go on, but turned
aside and hid in a shed in a garden. There the curate crouched, weeping
silently, and refusing to stir again.
But my fixed idea of reaching Leatherhead would not let me rest, and in
the twilight I ventured out again. I went through a shrubbery, and
along a passage beside a big house standing in its own grounds, and so
emerged upon the road towards Kew. The curate I left in the shed, but
he came hurrying after me.
That second start was the most foolhardy thing I ever did. For it was
manifest the Martians were about us. No sooner had the curate overtaken
me than we saw either the fighting-machine we had seen before or
another, far away across the meadows in the direction of Kew Lodge.
Four or five little black figures hurried before it across the
green-grey of the field, and in a moment it was evident this Martian
pursued them. In three strides he was among them, and they ran
radiating from his feet in all directions. He used no Heat-Ray to
destroy them, but picked them up one by one. Apparently he tossed them
into the great metallic carrier which projected behind him, much as a
workman s basket hangs over his shoulder.
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