The daily banner. (Cambridge, Md.) 1897-2008, 1921-01-27

l stumbled on, panic-stricken. daZed
The world was doomed. These mon
sters could - with Heat Rays be
yond the raM&of our biggest guns.
Not agaifF could we kill one of them
ny surprise. Terror stalked through
London. To the horror of Heat Rays
had been added the Black Smoke, a
cloud of poison that blighted all liv-
ing things. So LonGOn streamed '.in
flight, 100000 people roaring ou
along the highways until they were
rivers in food.
fell into a d0ze under a hedge and
there the curate joined me. He was
half-mad with fright and clung to me.
We plodded on to a suburb where we
sought refuge in a deserted house AT
midnight came a 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 was penned there,
50 | saw more of the monsters than
any other man now living. l watched
their intricate Smachines-the auto
matte digger, the sensitive handling
machine like q metallic spider,-so
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 all brain,
cold, remorseless intelligenCes TN
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 i did when the curate went ravtng
-mad.-I knew that his shouts would
warn the Martians Of our preSence
and l tried to silence him. He broke
away and 1 caught him in the kitchen
where l felled him with a meat-chOp-
per. He dropped stunned and then
saw two dark eyes at the window.
fed to the cOal-cellar and above me
heard a tapping, tapping, and then
the noise of a heavy body being drag
ged across the floor.
piled wood and coal over me when
heard that tapping at the cellar
door. Through crevices Iscould see
the terrible arm Of a handling-ma-
chine, waving, feeling, examining.
Once it ran across the heel Of my
boot and l nearly screamed. Then 1t
went away.
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. l pushed it
aside and gazed out. The garden was
deserted.
| crept into a desolate world. About
me was smashed village. l struggled
in through the outskirts of London and
not until l reached Wimbledon Com
mon did l meet a man. He had food
and drink and plans for the future,
visions of a people Ewing in the great
drains until they had science enough
to conquer their conquerors., l stayed
with him until l had regained my
strength and then walked into dead
London.
The metropolis was stilied of all Its
humming life. Here and there were
heaps of dead. withered by Black
Smoke; here and there were signs Of
destruction but 1t was little changed
except for the horrible quiet. l was
near South Kensington when / heard
tire mournful bowling, Julia, ulla "
Not until the next day did see the
hood of the giant that was making
this sobbing wall. He did not move
nor did three others that l saw, stand
ing strangely still. Driven by fear. l
resolved to end 1t all. l walked toward
the Thing nearest me and saw birds
crcling about the hood, tearing at
something within.
I scrambled hastily up a great ram
part and below me was the Marian
camp. They were all dead, nearly so
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
m0lly atSthe sunlit grass of the hill,
would presently be echoing with the
hammers of the restorers and ringing
with the tapping of the troweiS. At
the thought l extended my hands
toward the sky ard began thanking
God. J. . year, thought I-fr year
Copyris.-.. 1919. by the Post Pun ling Co.
(The Boston PosD. Printed by permits
eion of. and arrangement with, Harper
& Bros, authorized publishers.
Hits "Cost Plus" System.
Washington, Jan. pa move /.
abolish the ''cost plus" system in IT,
pur, base of supplies and the negotf
ticn of contracts for construction an
repair ~ vessels owned or CONTROL
by the shipping board was node /
Senator Walter f. Edge. Of Now Jc
$cy. TTc introduced & hill providfu
ids shall be asked for I'll such 0cI
ract$ involving an expenditure
HGp1 or more.