The Idaho Republican. [volume] (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1904-1932, 1920-05-14

nlleQ with Missing OF neat nays anu
cracking of fires. Shepperton leaped
into fame. staggered to the shore
and when ! looked up, the Things
were bearing away the smashed ma
chine.
I stumbled on, panic-stricken, dazed.
The world was doomed. These mon
sters could slay with Heat Rays be-
yond the range. Of our biggest guns.
Not again could we kill one Of them
by surprise. Terror stalked through
London. To the horror Of Heat Rays
had been added the Black Smoke. q
cloud Of poison that blighted all nv.
ing things. So London streamed in
flight, 100000 people roaring out
along the highways until they were
rivers In food.
fell into doze under hedge and
there the curate Joined me. He was
half-mad with fright and chung to me.
We plodded on to a suburb where we
sought refuge in deserted house. At
midnight came binding flash. When
day broke, we peered through a.peep-
hole and in the garden was Marian.
Embedded in the earth was another
glowing cylinder.
For fifteen days I was penned there,
SO l saw more Of the monsters than
any other man now living. watched
their intricate machines--the auto
matte digger, the sensitive handling
machine like a metallic spider, 80
flexible and so swiftly sure that they
seemed centuries In advance Of our
rigid machinery. / could study too
the Marian habits. learned that
evolution had made them d BRAIN,
cold, remorseless intelligences I'M
swayed by emotion. They neither
slept nor ate; they were sexless and
their young were budded off, like the
young Of corals. Most horrible to me
was the fact that they injected mems
blood into their veins for nourishment.
It was this that drove me to act
as did when the curate went raving
mad. / knew that his shouts would
warn the Martians Of our presence
and tried to silence him. He broke
away and I caught him in the kitchen
where / felled him with meat-chop-
per. He dropped stunned and then
I saw two dark eyes at the window.
/ fled to the coal-cellar and above me
i heard tapping, tapping, and then
the noise Of heavy body being drag
ged across the floor.
! piled wood and coal over me when
j heard that tapping at the cellar
door. Through crevices I could see
the terrible arm Of handling-ma-
chine, waving, feeling examining. |
Once it ran across the heel Of my
boot and ] nearly screamed. Then It
went away. 'S''s asfssss2at-,'@-
A week passed before I dared look |
out. About the peep-hole was massed
quantities of the red weed that the !
Martians had brought-evidently vege-
tation on Mars is red. I pushed 1t |
aside and gazed out. The garden was
deserted.
/ crept into desolate' world. About |
me was smashed village. struggled
in through the outskirts Of London and
not until / reached Wimbledon Com
mon did I meet man. He had food
and drink and plans for the future,
visions Of people living in the great
drains until they had science enough
to conquer their conQuerors ! stayed
with him until I had regained my
strength and then walked into dead
London.
The metropolis was stilled of all its
humming life. Here and there were
heaps Of dead, withered by Black
Smoke; here and there were signs Of
destruction but it was little changed
except for the horrible quiet. was
near South Kensington when I heard
the mournful bowling, Julia, ulla !"
Not until-the next day did I see the
hood Of the giant that was making
this sobbing wall. He did not move
nor did three others that I saw, stand. |
Ing strangely still. Driven by fear, !
resolved to end 1t all. I walked toward
the Thing nearest me and saw birds |
circling about the hood, tearing at
something within.
I scrambled hastily up great ram
part and below me was the Marian
camp. They were all dead, nearly 30
Of them, some In their machines and
others prone upon the ground. They
could conquer man but they had fallen |
before mans most relentless foe, the
disease bacteria Of earth.
Whatever destruction was done,
the hand Of the destroyer was stayed.
All the gaunt wrecks, the blackened
skeletons Of houses that stared so dis
mally at the sunlit grass Of the hill, !
would presently be echoing with the
hammers Of the restorers and ringing
with the tapping of the trowels. At
the thought ! extended my hands
toward the sky and began thanking
God. In year, thought lin year
CnpvriObf TOTO by .l,e Doc& r,,,hy,ulsx~ NJ, |