I startled my wife at the doorway, so haggard was I. I went into the
dining room, sat down, drank some wine, and so soon as I could collect
myself sufficiently I told her the things I had seen. The dinner, which
was a cold one, had already been served, and remained neglected on the
table while I told my story.
There is one thing, I said, to allay the fears I had aroused; they
are the most sluggish things I ever saw crawl. They may keep the pit
and kill people who come near them, but they cannot get out of it. . .
. But the horror of them!
Don t, dear! said my wife, knitting her brows and putting her hand on
mine.
Poor Ogilvy! I said. To think he may be lying dead there!
My wife at least did not find my experience incredible. When I saw how
deadly white her face was, I ceased abruptly.
They may come here, she said again and again.
I pressed her to take wine, and tried to reassure her.
They can scarcely move, I said.
I began to comfort her and myself by repeating all that Ogilvy had told
me of the impossibility of the Martians establishing themselves on the
earth. In particular I laid stress on the gravitational difficulty. On
the surface of the earth the force of gravity is three times what it is
on the surface of Mars. A Martian, therefore, would weigh three times
more than on Mars, albeit his muscular strength would be the same. His
own body would be a cope of lead to him, therefore. That, indeed, was
the general opinion. Both _The Times_ and the _Daily Telegraph_, for
instance, insisted on it the next morning, and both overlooked, just as
I did, two obvious modifying influences.
The atmosphere of the earth, we now know, contains far more oxygen or
far less argon (whichever way one likes to put it) than does Mars . The
invigorating influences of this excess of oxygen upon the Martians
26