from the face of Him that sitteth upon the throne!
I began to understand the position. I ceased my laboured reasoning,
struggled to my feet, and, standing over him, laid my hand on his
shoulder.
Be a man! said I. You are scared out of your wits! What good is
religion if it collapses under calamity? Think of what earthquakes and
floods, wars and volcanoes, have done before to men! Did you think God
had exempted Weybridge? He is not an insurance agent.
For a time he sat in blank silence.
But how can we escape? he asked, suddenly. They are invulnerable,
they are pitiless.
Neither the one nor, perhaps, the other, I answered. And the
mightier they are the more sane and wary should we be. One of them was
killed yonder not three hours ago.
Killed! he said, staring about him. How can God s ministers be
killed?
I saw it happen. I proceeded to tell him. We have chanced to come in
for the thick of it, said I, and that is all.
What is that flicker in the sky? he asked abruptly.
I told him it was the heliograph signalling that it was the sign of
human help and effort in the sky.
We are in the midst of it, I said, quiet as it is. That flicker in
the sky tells of the gathering storm. Yonder, I take it are the
Martians, and Londonward, where those hills rise about Richmond and
Kingston and the trees give cover, earthworks are being thrown up and
guns are being placed. Presently the Martians will be coming this way
again.
And even as I spoke he sprang to his feet and stopped me by a gesture.
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