The Pioche record. [volume] (Pioche, Nev.) 1908-1925, 1920-04-30

santic legs Ike an exaggerated nv
ped driving on with an express-trains
speed. smashing everything in their
path. AT the tops. crouched In metal
hoodz. lay the Nartians.
Looking out from my windows at
dawn, beheld an abominable desola- 1
ton. a blackened world that had been |
green and fair. I struck out for Lon
don and for miles saw not living be-
ing. l had reached the Thames when
I saw the Things coming. 1--WE Of them.
I ran for the water. Straight toward
me sped one. but might have been
an ant In q mans path II strobe
through the river and lowered above
Shepperton. Then six hidden guns
belched together. One shell struck
the hood and there was q horrible
confusion Of flesh and blood and me-
tai. Something drove the uncontrolled
machine on. crashing through the VII
LACE, topping over the church-tower.
collapsing In the river. The others
rushed to the spot and the air was
filled with Kissing Of Heat Rays and
cracking of fires. Shepperton leaped
into flame. I staggered to the shore
and when I 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 liv-
. ing things. SO London streamed In
flight, 100000 people roaring out
along the highways until they were
, rivers In flood.
I fell into q doze under hedge and
there the curate joined me. He wal
: half-mad with fright and chung to me
: We plodded on to a suburb where W.
I sought refuge in a deserted house. A
n midnight came q binding fash. Whei
: day broke, we peered through q peep
n hole and in the garden was Marian
= Embedded in the earth was anothe
: glowing cylinder.
y For fifteen days I was penned thert
so saw more Of the monsters ina
a any other man now living. l watche
,e their intricate machines-the auto
le matte digger, the sensitive handling
% machine like q metallic SPIDER
ID flexible and 80 swiftly sure that the
IN seemed centuries in advance OF OF
:. rigid machinery. I could study to
as the Marian habits. learned thi
n evolution had made them all brai
% cold. remorseless intelligences u
swayed by emotion. They neith
slept nor ate; they were sexless ar
their young were budded OF, like Il
young of corals. Most horrible to q
rs was the fact that they injected men
blood into their veins for nourishmeI
~ 1t was this that drove me to a
" as l did when the curate went ravil
mad. l knew that his shouts won
% warn the Martians Of our presen
~ and 1 tried to silence him. He bro
az away and I caught him IN the kitch
~ where felled him with a meat-chc
- per. He dropped stunned and tn
saw two dark eyes at the windo
'o fed to the coal-cellar and above !
=. heard tapping, tapping, and tn
the noise of heavy body being dr.
ged across the floor.
Ipiled wood and coal over me VIII
heard that tapping at the cell
. door. Through crevices I could
the terrible arm Of handling-n
. chine, waving, feeling. examini
~ Once it ran across the heel Of
boot and l nearly screamed. Then
IN went away.
A week passed before dared Il
out. About the peep-hole was mas
quantities Of the red weed that
o Martians had brought-evidently We
10, tation on Mars is red. pushed
aside and gazed out. The garden
:. deserted.
a., I crept into desolate world. Alb
me was smashed village. struge
-. in through the outskirts Of London
!, not until I reached Wimbledon c
90, mon did l meet man. He had I
-. and drink and plans for the fut
to- visions of people living in the g
.,a, drains until they had science emo
to conquer their conquerors. I sta
90. with him until I had regained
strength and then walked into {
London.
it,, The metropolis was stilled Of al
h,'t humming life. Here and there '
heaps of dead, withered by B
Smoke; here and there were sign
: destruction but it was little chal