White Pine news weekly mining review. [volume] (East Ely, Nev.) 1910-1920, 1920-04-18

speed, smashing e'ery'hine -,
natb At the tops. crouched In me'a'
hoods. lay the Martians.
Looking out from my windows II
dawn. l beheld an abominable desoia-
lion. a blackened world that had Deeh
preen and fair. l struck out for Lon
! don and for miles saw not q living De-
ing. l had reached the Thames lei
7 saw the Things coming, five of them.
I ran for the water. Straight toward
me- sped one, but l might have been
an ant In a mans path. II stroue
Trough the river and lowered above
Shepperton. Then six hidden guns
belched together. One shell STRUCK
the hood and there was a horrible
| confusion of flesh and blood and me-
tai. Something drove the uncontrolled
machine on, crashing through the VII
lage, topping over the church-tower'
collapsing In the river. The others
rushed to the spot and the air was
filed with kissing of Heat Rays and
cracking of fires. Shepperton leaped
into flame. l staggered to the shore
and when I looked up, the Things
we're bearing away the smashed ma
chine.
l stumbled on, panic-stricken, dazed'
! The world was doomed. These mon
sters could STAY with Heat Rays be-
yond the range. of our biggest guns.
Nor 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. a
cloud Of poison that blighted all Nv
ing things. So London streamed In
flight, 6,OOO,O 900 people roaring out
along the highways until they were
| rivers In food.
fell into a doze under a 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 a deserted house. Al
midnight came a binding fash. When
day broke, we peered through a.peep'
hole and In the garden was a Marian
III VIC cuAth Wao
glowing cylinder.
For fifteen days I was penned there
so l saw more II the monsters thar
any other man now living. l watched
their intricate machines-the auto
matte digger, the sensitive handling
machine like q metallic spider,-sc
flexible and 90 swiftly III that they
seemed centuries in advance OF ouI
rigid machinery. l could study toe
the Marian habits. / learned that
evolution had made them all brain
cold. remorseless intelligences un
swayed by emotion. They neither
slept nor ate, they were sexless and
their young were budded on. like the
young OF corals. Most horrible to me
was the fact that they injected mems
blood into their veins for n~ourishment.
II was this that drove me to act
a. I did when the curate went ravina
mad. I knew that his shouts would
warn the Martfans Of our presence
and / tried 10 silence him. He broke
away and I caught him In the kitchen
where I felled him with a meat-chop-
sper. He dropped stunned and then
II NV two DARK eyes at the window
I fed % tie eoalceIlar and soove ~
I heard a tapping. tapping. and tneu
the noise Of q heavy body being drag
red across TIE Aooe.
piled wood and coal svss - whsu
heard that tapping st the cellar.
door. Through crevices I could see
the terrible arm of q handling-ma.
chine. waving. feeling. examining
Once Il ran across the heel Of my
boot and I nearly screamed. Then II
went away.
A week passed before ! dared look
out. About the peep-hole was massed
quantities Of the red weed that the
Martians had brought-evidentiy vege-
tation on Mars Is red. I pushed II
aside and gazed out. The garden wal
deserted.
l crept into a desolate world. About
me was a smashed village. I struggled
In through the outskirts Of London and
not until I reached Wimbledon Com
mon did l meet a man. He had food
and drink and plans for the future.
visions OF a people living In the great
drains until they had science enough
TO conquer their conquerors. I stayed
with him until I had regained my
strength and then walked into dead
London.
The metropolis was stilled of all fits
hun.mlng life. Here and there were
heaps Of dead, withered by Black
Smoke: here and there we're signs OF
destruction but It was little changed
except for the horrible quiet. l was
near South K~ensington when I heard
the m%ournful bowling. Julia. ulla T.
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 II all. I walked toward
the Thing nearest mo and saw birds
circling about the hood, tearing q,
something within.