this way, and I turned right back. I went for the Martians like a
sparrow goes for man. All round he waved a hand to the
horizon they re starving in heaps, bolting, treading on each other. .
. .
He saw my face, and halted awkwardly.
No doubt lots who had money have gone away to France, he said. He
seemed to hesitate whether to apologise, met my eyes, and went on:
There s food all about here. Canned things in shops; wines, spirits,
mineral waters; and the water mains and drains are empty. Well, I was
telling you what I was thinking. Here s intelligent things, I said,
and it seems they want us for food. First, they ll smash us up ships,
machines, guns, cities, all the order and organisation. All that will
go. If we were the size of ants we might pull through. But we re not.
It s all too bulky to stop. That s the first certainty. Eh?
I assented.
It is; I ve thought it out. Very well, then next; at present we re
caught as we re wanted. A Martian has only to go a few miles to get a
crowd on the run. And I saw one, one day, out by Wandsworth, picking
houses to pieces and routing among the wreckage. But they won t keep on
doing that. So soon as they ve settled all our guns and ships, and
smashed our railways, and done all the things they are doing over
there, they will begin catching us systematic, picking the best and
storing us in cages and things. That s what they will start doing in a
bit. Lord! They haven t begun on us yet. Don t you see that?
Not begun! I exclaimed.
Not begun. All that s happened so far is through our not having the
sense to keep quiet worrying them with guns and such foolery. And
losing our heads, and rushing off in crowds to where there wasn t any
more safety than where we were. They don t want to bother us yet.
They re making their things making all the things they couldn t bring
with them, getting things ready for the rest of their people. Very
likely that s why the cylinders have stopped for a bit, for fear of
hitting those who are here. And instead of our rushing about blind, on
the howl, or getting dynamite on the chance of busting them up, we ve
136