on the north side of the park, save a haze of smoke to the northwest.
Ulla, ulla, ulla, ulla, cried the voice, coming, as it seemed to me,
from the district about Regent s Park. The desolating cry worked upon
my mind. The mood that had sustained me passed. The wailing took
possession of me. I found I was intensely weary, footsore, and now
again hungry and thirsty.
It was already past noon. Why was I wandering alone in this city of the
dead? Why was I alone when all London was lying in state, and in its
black shroud? I felt intolerably lonely. My mind ran on old friends
that I had forgotten for years. I thought of the poisons in the
chemists shops, of the liquors the wine merchants stored; I recalled
the two sodden creatures of despair, who so far as I knew, shared the
city with myself. . . .
I came into Oxford Street by the Marble Arch, and here again were black
powder and several bodies, and an evil, ominous smell from the gratings
of the cellars of some of the houses. I grew very thirsty after the
heat of my long walk. With infinite trouble I managed to break into a
public-house and get food and drink. I was weary after eating, and went
into the parlour behind the bar, and slept on a black horsehair sofa I
found there.
I awoke to find that dismal howling still in my ears, Ulla, ulla,
ulla, ulla. It was now dusk, and after I had routed out some biscuits
and a cheese in the bar there was a meat safe, but it contained nothing
but maggots I wandered on through the silent residential squares to
Baker Street Portman Square is the only one I can name and so came out
at last upon Regent s Park. And as I emerged from the top of Baker
Street, I saw far away over the trees in the clearness of the sunset
the hood of the Martian giant from which this howling proceeded. I was
not terrified. I came upon him as if it were a matter of course. I
watched him for some time, but he did not move. He appeared to be
standing and yelling, for no reason that I could discover.
I tried to formulate a plan of action. That perpetual sound of Ulla,
ulla, ulla, ulla, confused my mind. Perhaps I was too tired to be very
fearful. Certainly I was more curious to know the reason of this
monotonous crying than afraid. I turned back away from the park and
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