TH E TI M E M A C H IN E

A N I N VE N TI ON

BY

W EL LS

F o ol ! A ll t h a t is a t all

L ast s ever p ast reca ll

Bro w m ng
.

NE W Y OR K

H E N R Y H OL T A N D C OM P A N Y

3 v

H E N R Y H OL T

ov

P R I N TE D

emb e r

I N

TH E

1 92 2

8.

A U T H OR S N OT E

T /ze T i me T ra v eler s S to ry

th e i ntro duc to ry
e i

s r al

ti ve

pp e

th e N

in

p ass g e
a

ew

onv e rsatio n
R

e view

i n th e

p art

and a
a

pp e

ed

ar

pre

tory h ad

v o usly

ci ples

of

T i me T rav e li ng g i v e n i n

i s i nse rt ed fro m t h e latter

to mak e th e

p ri n

th is b o ok

p p er
a

desire

edg me nts

usual ac k n w l

H G
.

a tiona l

ar

as a

S e v e ral d escrip

ed in di alog u e f o rm i n th e N
Observ er and th e e xplanati o n o f th e

of

C ON T E N T S

P A GE

CH A P T E R

I
II

T H E I N V E N T OR
T H E T I M E T R AV EL E R R E
TU RN S
T H E S TOR Y BE GIN S
T H E G O L D E N A GE
S U N S ET
T H E M AC H IN E I s L O S T
T H E S T R AN GE A NI M AL
T II E M O R L O C K S
W H E N T H E N I GH T C A M E
T H E P AL AC E OF GR E E N P O R
,

III

IV

VI

VI I

V III

I X
X

CE L A I N

XI

XII

III

XI V

H E D A R KN E SS O F T H E
F OR E S T
T H E T RAP O F T H E W H I T E
S P H IN X
T H E F U RT H E R V I S I O N
A F TE R T H E T I M E T R A V E L
E R S S T OR Y
I

51

1 68

85

1 92

20

T H E T I M E M A CH IN E

CH A P TE R I

(th e nvcnt or
.

man who m a d e the

T ime M achine the m an I
shall call the T ime T raveler
was well known in scientic circles
a few years since an d the fact o f hi s
disappearance is also well known
H e was a mathematician of peculiar
subtlety and one of our most con
sp ic u o u s investigators in molecular
physics H e did no t conne himself
to abstract science S everal ing eni
o us and on e or two protable patents
were his : ve ry protable they were
these last as his ha ndsome house at
R ichmond testied
T o t h ose who
HE

THE

TIME MA CHIN E

w e re h is intim ates however h is

scientic investigation s were as not h
in g to his gift of speech I n th e
after d inner ho u rs he was ever a
vi v id an d variegated talker and at
times his fantastic often paradoxical
conception s came so thick an d close
as to form one con tinuo u s disco u rse
A t these times h e was as u nlike t h e
popular conception o f a scienti c i n
H is
v estig at o r as a man coul d be
cheeks would u sh his eyes gro w
bright ; and t h e stran ger the i d eas
that spran g an d crowded in hi s
brain the h appier an d th e m ore
animated wo u ld be hi s exposition
U p to the las t there was h eld at
h is ho u se a kin d o f inform al gather
ing which it was my privilege to at
tend and where at one tim e o r
another I h ave me t most of o u r dis
t ing u ish ed literary an d scientic men
T here was a plain dinner at seven
A fte r t h at we w o u ld ad j ourn to a
room of easy chairs an d little tables
an d there w it h libations o f alco h ol
,

TH E

I N VE N T OR

an d ree k in g pipes we w oul d invoke

th e god A t rst the conversation
was mere fragmentary chatter wit h
some local lacunae o f digestive
silen ce but toward nine or half past
nin e if the god was favorable som e
p articular topic would triumph by a
kind of n atural selection and would
b ecom e the common interest S o i t
was I remember on the last T h u rs
d ay bu t on e of all the T hursday
w h en I rst h eard of the T im e
M ac h ine
I h ad been j amme d in a corner
w ith a gen tleman who sh all be dis
gu ised as Filby H e had been run
nin g down M ilton the public n e g
lects poor F ilb y s little verses shock
ing ly ; and as I could think of
nothing but the relative status of
Filby and the man h e criticised an d
was m u ch too timi d to discuss that
t h e arrival of that moment of fusion
when o u r several conversation s w ere
s u ddenly merged into a general dis
c ussio n w as a great relief to m e
,

THE TIME MA CHIN E

Wh at s t h at is non se nse
sai d a
w ell known M edical M an spea k in g
across Filby to the P sychologist
H e thinks
said the P syc h olo

that T ime s only a k in d O f

g ist

S pace
'
I t s not t h in k in g sai d the T im e
'
T raveler ; it s knowle d ge

Foppish a ffectation said Filby

still harping u pon his wrongs ; but
I feigned a great interest in this
question of S pace and T ime
Kant
began th e P syc h olo
gist
C onfoun d K ant
sai d t h e T ime
T raveler
I tell you I m right
'
I ve got experimental p roof O f it
I m n ot a metaphysician
H e ad
dressed the M edical M an across the
room and so brough t th e whole
company into h is own circle
It s
the most promising depart u re in ex
p eriment al work that has ever been
made I t will simply revol u tioni z e
life H eaven knows what life will be
w hen I ve carrie d the thin g thro u gh

"

"

"

"

THE

!N VE N T OR

As

lon g as it s not t h e water o f

immortality I d on t mind sai d the
Wh at
distin gu is h e d M e d ical M an

is it !

O nly a para d ox
sai d t h e P sy

"

c h o lo g i st

T he T ime T raveler sai d not h in g

in reply but smile d and began tap
ping his pipe upon the fender c u rb
T his was the invariable presage of
a d issertation
Y o u have to a d mit that time is a

spatial dimension sai d th e P sychol

o g ist embol d ene d by immunity and

addressing the M edical M an and

then all sorts o f remarkable con
sequences are found inevitable
A mon g others that it becomes pos
sible to travel about in time
T h e T ime T raveler ch u ckle d
Y o u forget that I m goin g to prove

it experimentally

L et s have yo u r experiment sai d

the P sychologist
I thin k we d like the argu men t

rst
sai d Filby
,

TIME

TH E

CHINE

M A

I t s this sai d t h e T ime T raveler

Y o u m u st follow me caref u lly I

s h all h ave to controvert one or two
ideas that are almost u niversally ac
T he geometry for instance
c ep ted
they ta u ght yo u at school is fo u n d e d
o n a misconception

I s not t h at rather a large thin g

to expect u s to begin upon ! said

Filby

I d o not mean to ask yo u to

accep t anything wit h out reason able
groun d for it Y ou will soon admit
as m u ch as I want from yo u Y ou
k no w Of co u rse that a mathematical
line a line o f thickness 72 27 has no
real existence T hey taugh t you
that ! N either has a mathematical
plane T hese things are mere ab

st rac t io ns

T hat is all rig h t

sai d th e
P sychologist
N or havin g only lengt h breadth
an d thickness can a cube have a real
existence

T h ere I ob j ect
sai d Filby
,

"

"

TH E

INVEN T OR

co u rse a soli d bo d y may exi st

A ll real things

B u t w ait
S O most people t h in k
a m omen t
C an an instantaneo u s
cube exist !

D on t follow yo u said Filby

C an a cube that d oes not last

for any time at all have a r e al
existen ce
Filby became pensive

C learly
t h e P hilosophical I n

any real body

vent o r proceede d
must have extension in f our direc
tions it m u st have L en gth Breadth
T hickness and
D uration
But
throug h a natural inrmity of t h e
flesh which I will explain to yo u in
a moment w e incline to overlook
th e fact T here are really fo u r
dimensions three wh ich we call the
three plane s of S pace and a fo u rth
T ime T here is how ever a ten d
ency to draw an u nreal distinction
b etween the former three dimen
sion s an d the latter beca u se it hap
pens that o u r conscio u sn ess moves
Of

TH E

TIME

M A CHINE

intermittently in one direction along

the latter from t h e beginnin g to the

en d of o u r lives

T hat said a V ery Y o u n g M an

makin g spasmodic efforts to relight

h is cigar over the lamp :

that
very clear indeed

N o w it is very remark able that

this is so extensively overlooked
contin u ed the P hilosophical I nven
tor w ith a slig h t accession o f cheer

f u lness
R eally this is what i s
mean t by the Fourth D imension
tho u gh some people who talk abo u t
the Fo u rt h D imension d o not kno w
they mean it I t is only another
way o f lookin g at T ime T ere i s
no ai erenee betw een T i me a na a ny of
M e tnree di mensi ons of S pa ce except
.

"

t/za t

'

ou r consci ousness

moves

a long

it

But some foolish people have got

hol d of t h e wrong sid e o f that idea
Y o u have all heard what they have to

say abo u t this Fourth D imension !

I h ave not sai d t h e P rovincial

M ayor
.

"

THE

NVEN T0 R

I t is S imply this T hat space as

o u r mathematicians have it is spoken
o f as havin g three dimension s which
on e may call L ength Breadth and
T hic k ness and is alway s d enable
by reference to these planes each at
right angle to the others But som e
philosophical people have been ask
ing why tlzree dimen sions particularly
why not another direction at right
an gles to the other three an d have
even tried to constr u ct a Four D imen
P rofessor S imon
sio nal geometry
N ew c o mb was expoundin g this to
the N ew Y ork M athematical S ociety
only a m onth or so ago Y ou know
h ow on a at surface which has only
two dimensions we can represent a
gu re of a T hree D imensional solid
and similarly they think that by
models of three dimension s they
co u ld represent one of four i f they
c o u ld master t h e perspective of the
thing S ee !

I th ink so m u rmured the P ro

vi nc ial M ayor
an d knitting h is
,

THE TIME MA CHINE

10

bro w s he lapse d into an in trospective

state h is lip s movin g as one who t e

peats mystic words

Y es I thin k

I see it now he said afte r som e

time brightening in a quite transi
tory manner
W ell I d o not min d telling yo u I
have been at w ork u pon this geom
et ry of Fo u r D imension s for some
time S ome of my results are curi
ous : for in stance here i s a portrait
O f a man at eight years old anoth er
at fteen another at seven teen an
other at twent y three an d so on A ll
these are evi d en tly sections as it
w ere T hree D ime n sional represen ta
tions of his Fo u r D imensional bein g
w h ich is a x e d and u nalterable
thing
S cien tic people procee d ed the
P h ilosopher after the pa u se require d
for the proper assimilation o f this

kno w very well that T ime is only

a kind of S pace H ere is a popular
scientic diagram a weather record
T his line I trace wit h my nger s h ows
,

"

THE TIME MA CHINE

12

exactly said t h e M e d ica l

M an
T here are balloons
B u t before th e b alloon s save for
spasmodic j umping and the inequali
ties of the surface man had no free

dom o f vertical movemen t

S till they could move a little up

an d down said the M edical M an
E asier far easier do w n than

up

A nd you cannot move at all in

T ime
Y ou canno t get a w ay from
the p resent moment

M y d ear sir that is j u st where

yo u are wrong T hat i s j ust where
the whole worl d has gone wrong
W e are always gettin g away from
the presen t momen t O u r mental
existences which are immaterial
and h ave no dimen sions are passing
alon g t h e T ime D imension with a
u niform velocity from th e cradle to
the grave J ust as we should travel
dow n i f we began our existence fty

miles above the earth s surface

B ut the great di f culty is t h is

No t

"

"

THE INVEN TOR

13

interru pte d the P sychologist

Yo u
ca n move abo u t in all direction s of
S pace but yo u cannot move abo u t
in T ime
T hat is the germ of my great dis
B ut you are wrong to say
c o v ery
that we cannot move abo u t in T ime
For instance if I am recallin g an in
e ident very vividly I go back to the
instant of its occurren ce ; I becom e
absent minded as you say
I j um p
back for a moment
O f course we
have n o means of staying back for any
length of time any more than a sav
age or an animal has of stayin g six
feet above the ground
B ut a civil
iz ed man is better Off than the sa vage
in this respect H e can go up against
gravitation in a balloon and why
should we not hope that ultimately
he may be able to stop or accelerate
his drift alo n g the T ime D imension
or even to turn about and travel the
other w ay !

0 h
lzs
began Filby
is
all
,

"

THE TIME MA CHINE

14

Why not
said the P hilosoph
ical I nventor

I t s against reason said Filby

What reason ! said the P hilo

sophical I nventor

Y ou can S how black is white by

argument said Filby but yo u will

never convince me
P ossibly not said the P h ilo so ph i

cal I nventor
But now yo u begin
t o see the obj ect O f my investigation s
into the geometry of Four B imen
sions L on g ago I had a vague ink
ling o i a machine
T o travel throug h T ime
sai d
t h e V ery Y oun g M an
T hat shall travel in d ifferently in
any direction of S pace and T ime as
the driver determines
Filby conten ted himself wit h la u gh
ter
I t would be remarkably con
venien t the P syc h ologist suggested
O ne might travel back and witness
t h e battle of H astings
D on t yo u thin k yo u would at
.

"

"

"

TH E

INVEN TOR

tract attention
said the M e d ical

M an
O ur ancestors had no great

tolerance for anachronism s

O ne might get one s G reek from

t h e very lips O f H omer and P lato

the V ery Y oung M an thought

I n which case they would cer

t ainly plow you for the little g o
T he G erman scholars have improved

G reek so m uch

T hen there is the fut u re said

th e V ery Y oun g M an
J ust think
O ne might invest all one s money
leave it t o accumulate at in terest
and h u rry on ahead

T o d iscover a society, sai d I

erected on a stri ctly comm u nistic

basis
O f all
the wild extravagan t
theories
began the P sychologist

Y es so it seemed to me an d so I
never talked of it u ntil
E xperimental verication I crie d
I
Y ou are goin g to verify t/za t !
T he experiment
cried Filby
w ho w as gettin g brain weary
.

"

THE TIME MA CHINE

16

L et

s see your experiment any

h ow said the P sychologist

though

it s all humbug yo u know

T he T ime T raveler smile d round
at us
T hen still smilin g faintly
and with his hands deep in his
tro u sers pockets he walked slowly
out of the room and we hear d his
slippers sh ui ing down the lon g pas
sage to his laboratory
T he P sy chologist looke d at u s

I wonder what he s got !

S ome sleight o f h and tric k or

other said the M edical M an and

Filby tried to tell us abo u t a con j uror
he had seen at Burslem but before he
had nished his preface t h e T ime
T raveler came back an d F ilb y s
anecdote collapsed
T he thing the T ime T raveler h eld
in his h an d was a glitterin g metalli c
frame w ork scarcely larger t h an a
small clock and very d elicately m ade
T here was ivory in i t and some
transparent crystalline s u bstance
A nd now I must be explicit for

THE INVEN TOR

t h is t h at follows u nless his explan

ation is to be accepted i s an ab so
l a tely un acco u n table thin g H e took
of the small octagonal tables
o ne
that were scattered about the room
and set it in front of the re with
two legs on the hearthru g O n thi s
table he placed the mechanism
T hen he drew up a chair and sat
down T he o nly other Ob j ect on the
table was a small shaded lamp the
bright light of which fell full upon
the model T here were also perhaps
a do z en candles about two in brass
candlesticks upon the mantel an d
several in sconces so t h at the room
was brilliantly illuminated I sat in
a low armchair n earest the re and I
drew this forward so as to be al most
between the T ime T raveler and th e
replace
Filby sat behind him
looking over h is shoulder
Th e
M edical M an and th e R ector
watched him in prole from the
right the P sychologist from the left
We were all on the alert I t ap
.

18

TH E

T IME

MA CHINE

pears incredible to me that any k in d

of trick however subtly conceived
and however adroitly done could
have been played upon us under
these condition s
T h e T ime T raveler looked at u s
and then at the mechanism
Well ! said the P sychologist
T his li ttle affair said the T ime
T raveler resting his elbows upon the
table and pressing his hands together

above the apparatus

is o nly a
model I t is my plan for a machine
to travel through T ime
Y ou will
notice that it looks sin gularly askew
and that there is an O dd twinklin g
appearan ce about this bar as though
i t was in some way unreal
He
p ointed to the part with his nger

A lso here is one little white lever

and h ere is another
T he M edical M an go t u p o u t of
his chair and peered into the thing
I t s beautifully made he said

I t took two years to make re

t o rted the T ime T raveler
T hen
,

"

"

THE TIME MA CHINE

20

the Psychologist himself w ho sent

forth the model T ime M achine on
its interminable voyage We all saw
the lever turn I am absolutely cer
tain there was n o trickery T here
was a breath O f wind and the lamp
ame j u mped O n e of the candles
on the mantel was blown out and
the little machi n e suddenly swun g
round becam e indistinct was seen as
a ghost for a secon d perhaps as an
eddy of faintly glitterin g brass and
ivory ; and i t was gone vanished !
S a v e for the lamp the table was bare
E veryon e was silent for a minute
T hen Filby said he was (1
d
T he P sychologist recovered from
h is stupor
and s u ddenly looked
u nder the table
A t that the
T ime T raveler laughed cheerfully

Well ! he said with a reminis

cence of the P sychologist T hen
gettin g u p he went to the tobacco
j ar on the mantel and with his bac k
to us began to ll his pipe
We stare d at each other
.

THE INVEN TOR

2 1

L oo k

here
said the M e d ical

M an are you in earnest about this

D o you seriously believe that that
machine has traveled in to T ime
C ertainly said the T im e T rav
eler stoopin g to light a spill at the
re T hen he turn ed ligh tin g his
pipe to look at the P sychologist s
face (T he P sychologist to S how
that he was not unhinged helped
himself to a cigar and tried to lig h t

it u ncut )
What is more I have a

big machine nearly nished in t h ere

h e indicated the laboratory
and
when that is put together I m ean to
have a j ourney on my own acco u n t

Y ou mean to say that that ma

c h ine has traveled in to the future
said Filby

I nto the future or the p ast I

don t for cer t ain know which
A fter an interval the P sychologist
h ad an in spiration

I t mu st have gone into the past

if it has gone anywhere he sai d

W h y ! said the T ime T raveler
,

"

"

"

THE TIME MA CHIN E

2 2

Because I pres u me that it h as

not moved in space and if it traveled
into the future it woul d still be here
all this time S ince it must h ave

traveled through this time

B ut said I if it travele d in to
the past it would have been visible
w h en we came rst into this room ;
and last T hurs d ay when we were
here and the T h u rsday before t h at
and so forth

S erious Obj ections

remarke d
the R ector with an air of impartiality
turnin g toward the T ime T raveler
N ot a bit
said the T im e
T raveler and to the P sychologist :

Y ou think
Y ou can explain that
I t s presentation belo w the threshol d
you know diluted presen tation
O f course
said the P sychologist

and reassured u s
T hat s a simple
point in psychology I should have
thought of it I t s plain enough and
helps the paradox delightfully We
cannot see it nor can we appreciate
t h is machine any more than w e can
,

"

I N VE N T OR

TH E

t h e spo k e of a w h eel spinnin g or a

b u llet yin g through the air I f it is
travelin g through time fty times or
a hundred times faster than we are
if it gets through a minute while we
get through a second t h e impression
it creates will o f course be only o ne
f t iet h or on e hundredth O f what it
would make if it were not traveling
in time T hat s plain enough
He
passed his hand through the space in
which the machine had been
Yo u
see
he said laughin g
We sat and stared at t h e vacant
table for a m inute or so T hen the
T ime T raveler asked us w hat we
thought o f it all

I t sounds plausible enough to

night said the M edical M an ; but
wait u ntil to morrow W ait for the

common sense of the mornin g

Would you like to see the T ime

M achin e itself
asked the T ime
T raveler A n d therewith taking th e
lamp in his hand he led th e way
down the lon g dra u ghty corridor to
,

"

THE TIME MA CHINE

24

laboratory I remember vividly

the ickering light h is queer broa d
h ead in silhouette the dance of the
shadows how we all followed him
p uzz led but incredulous and how
there in the laboratory w e beheld a
larger edition of the li ttle mechanism
which we had seen vanish from b e
fore our eyes P arts were of nickel
parts of ivory parts h ad certai nly
been led or sawn out of rock crystal
T he thing was generally complete
bu t the twisted crystalline bars lay
unnis h e d upon th e bench beside
some sheets o f d rawi n gs and I took
one u p for a better look at it
! u art z it seeme d to be

L ook h ere
said the M e d ical

M an
ar e yo u perfectly serious !
O r is t h i s a tric k like that ghos t
yo u sh owed u s last C hristmas

said the
U pon that mac h ine
T ime T raveler holdin g the lamp
aloft I intend to explore T ime I s
t h at plain
I was never more serio u s
in my life
h is

"

"

C H A P TE R

II

(t rave le r R e turns

(t h e 6 t

T H I N K that at that time

none Of u s quite believed
in the T ime M achine
T he fact is th e T ime T raveler was
on e o f those men who are to o
clever to be believed ; you never
felt that you saw all round him you
always suspected some subtle re
serve some i n gen uity in ambus h b e
hind his lucid frankness H ad Filb y
shown the model and explained the
matter in the T ime T ra eler s wor d s
we sho uld have shown ni ni far less
skepticism T he point is we should
have seen his motives a por k
butcher could understan d Filby
But the T im e T raveler had more
than a touch of whim amon g his
elements and we distrusted him
T hings that would have made the
fame of a clever man seemed tricks
.

26

MA CHINE

T IME

TH E

in his h an d s I t is a mistak e to do
things too easily T h e serious peo
ple w ho took him seriously never felt
quite sure o f his deportment ; they
w ere somehow aware that trusting
their rep u tation s for j udgment with
him was like fu rnishing a nursery
with eggshell ch ina S o I don t
t h ink any of u s said very much about
time travelin g in the interval between
that T hursday and the next tho u gh
i ts odd potentialities ran no doubt
in most of our minds its plausibility
that is its practical incredibleness
the curious possibilities of anac h ro
nism and of u tter con fusion it sug
gested For m y own part I was
particularly preoccupied wit h the
trick O f the model T hat I remem
ber disc u ssing with the M edical M an
w hom I met on Friday at the L in
n man
H e said he had seen a similar
t h ing at T ubingen and laid con si d er
able stress on the blowi ng out of the
candle But h ow the trick was d one
h e co u l d not e xplain
.

,
,

TH E

T IME

MA CHINE

attended the previo u s d in

ner T he other men were Blank t h e
E ditor afore mentioned a certain
j ournalist and another a qui et shy
man with a beard w hom I didn t
know and who as far as my O bserva
tio n went never O pened his mouth
all the evening T here was some
S pec u lation at the dinner table about
the T ime T raveler s absen ce and I
s u ggested time traveling in a half
j ocular S pirit T he E ditor wanted
that explained to him and the P sy
c h olo g i st volunteered a wooden a c

count o i the ingenious paradox an d

trick we had wi t nessed that day
week H e was in the midst O f his
exposition when the d oor from the
corridor opened slowly a n d without
noise I was facin g the door and
saw it rst

H allo
I said
A t last I
A nd the door opened wider and
the T ime T raveler stood before us
I gave a cry of surprise
G ood H eavens man what s t h e
wh o h ad
.

THE TIME TRA VEL ER

RE TU RNS

matter ! cried the M edical M an

who sa w him next A nd the whole
tableful turned toward th e doo r
H e was in an ama z in g plight
H is
coat was dusty and dirty an d smeare d
with green down the sleeves ; his
hair disordered and as it seemed to
me grayer either with dust and dirt
or because its color had actually
fade d H is face was ghastly pale ;
hi s chin had a brown cut on it a
cut half healed ; his expression was
haggard and drawn as by in tense
For a moment he hesitated
su erin g
in the doorway as if h e had been
da zz led by the light T hen h e cam e
i n to th e room H e walked with j ust
su ch a limp as I have seen in foot
sore tramps We stared at him in
silence expecting him to speak
H e said not a word b u
t came pain
fully to the table an d made a motion
toward the win e T h e E ditor lled
a glass o f champagn e and pushed it
toward him H e drained i t and it
seemed to do him good for he looked
,

THE TIME MA CHINE

30

roun d th e table and the ghost of his

old smile ickered acro ss his face
What on earth have you been up
to man
said the D octor
T he T ime T raveler did no t seem to
h ear
D on t let me disturb you h e
sai d with a certain faltering arti cula

tion
I m all right
H e stopped
hel d o u t his glass for more and took i t
o ff at a draught
T hat s good h e
said H is eyes grew brighter and a
faint color came into his cheeks H is
glan ce ickered over our faces with
a certain dull approval and then wen t
ro u n d the warm and comfortable
room T hen he spoke again still as
it were feelin g his way among his
words
I m going to wash an d
dress an d then I ll come down an d
explain things S ave me some of
that m u tton I m starving for a bit

o f meat
H e loo k ed across at the E ditor
w ho was a rare visitor and hoped he
was all right
T he E ditor began a
question
,

"

THE TIME TRA VEL ER

RE TU RNS

3I

T ell yo u presently said the T im e

T raveler
Im
funny ! Be all
right in a minute
H e put down his glass and walke d
toward the staircase door A gain I
remarked his lameness and the soft
paddi n g sound O f his footfall and
standi n g up in my place I saw his
feet as he went out H e had nothing
on them but a pair O f tattered blood
stained socks T he n the door closed
u pon him I had half a mind to fol
low till I remembered how he de
tested any fuss about himself For a
min ute perhaps my mind was wool
gatherin g T he n R emarkable Be
havior of an E minen t S cientist I
heard the E ditor say thinking (after
his w ont ) in headlines
A nd this
bro u ght my attention back to the
bright dinner table

What s the game

said th e
J o u rnalist
H as he been doin g the
A mateur C adger ! I don t follow
I met the eye Of the P sychologist
an d read my o w n interpretation in
,

32

TH E

IME MA CHINE

his face I thought o f the T ime

T raveler limping painfully upstairs
I don t think anyone else had noticed
h is lamen ess
T he rst to recover completely
from this surprise was the M edical
M an who ra n g the bell the T ime
T raveler hated to have servants wait
ing at di n ner for a ho t plate A t
that the E ditor turned to his knife
and fork with a grunt and the S ilent
M an followed suit T he dinner w a s
resumed C onversation was excla m
a to ry for a little while with gaps of
wo n derment and then the E ditor
got fervent in his curiosity
D oes our friend eke ou t his mod
est income with a crossing or has he
his N ebuchadne zz ar phases ! he
inquired
I feel assured i t s this b u siness of

the T ime M achine I said and took

up the P sychologist s account O f o u r
previous meetin g
T he new guests were frankly inc red
nlo us
T he E ditor raised ob j ections
.

'

THE TIME TRA VEL

ER RE TU RNS

33

What w as this time traveling !

A man c o u ldn t c o v erhimself with dust
by rolling in a paradox could h e
A nd then as the idea came home to
him he resorted to caricature H adn t
they any clothes brushes in the Future !
T he J ournalist too would no t b e
lieve at any price an d j oined the
E ditor in the easy work of heapin g
ridicule on the whole thin g T hey
were both the n ew kind of J ournalist
very j oyous irreverent youn g men
O ur S pecial C orresponden t in the
D ay A fter T o M orrow reports the
J our n alist was saying o r rather
shoutin g when the T ime T raveler
came back H e was dressed in ordi
n ary evening clothes and n othin g
save his haggard look remained of
the change that had startl ed me

I say said the E ditor hilariously

these chaps here say you have
been traveling into the middle o f
next week ! T ell u s all about little
R osebery will you ! What will y o u
take for the lot

34

I E MA CHINE

TH E

T M

T he T ime T raveler came to the

place reserved for him without a
word H e smiled q u ietly in his O ld
w ay

Where s my mutton
he said

What a treat it is to stick a for k

i nto meat again

S tory cried the E ditor

S tory be (1
d I said the T ime

T raveler
I want something to ea t
I won t say a word u ntil I get some
peptone into my arteries T hanks !
A nd the salt

O ne word
said I
H ave you
b een time traveling

Y es
said the T ime T raveler
w ith his mouth full nodding his head
I d give a shillin g a line for a
verbatim note said the E ditor T he
T ime T raveler p u shed his glass
toward the S ilen t M an and ra ng it
with h is nger nail ; at w h ich the
S ilent M an who had been staring
at his face started convulsively an d
poured him wine T he rest o f the
d inner w as u ncomfortable For my
,

'

36

TH E

Yo u

T IME

MA CHINE

h ave

told Blank an d D ash

and C hose about the machine
he
said to m e leanin g back in his easy
chair and na ming the three new
guests
B ut th e thing s a mere paradox
said the E ditor

I can t argue t o night I don t

mind telling you the story but I can t

argue I will h e went on

tell
you the story O f what has happened
to me if you like but yo u must re
frain from interruptions I wan t to
tell it
Badly
M ost of it will
so u nd like lying
S o be i t ! I t s
true every word of it all the same
I was in my laboratory at four
o clock and since then
I ve
lived eight days such days as n o
human bein g ever lived before !
I m n early worn out bu t I shan t
sleep till I ve told this thing over to
yo u T hen I shall go to bed B ut
no interruptions ! I s i t agreed

A greed ! said the E ditor and

t h e rest o f u s echoed A greed !

,

'

THE TIME TRA VEL ER

RE TU RNS

37

with that the T ime T raveler

began his story as I have set it forth
H e sat back in his chair at rst and
spoke like a weary man A fterward
he got more animated I n writin g it
down I feel with only too much keen
n ess the inadequacy of pen an d ink
and above all my own inadequacy
to express its quality Y ou read I
will suppose attentively enough ; b u t
you cannot see the speaker s white
sincere face in the bright circle of the
little lamp nor hear the into nation
of his voice Yo u cannot know how
his expression followed the turns o f
his story ! M ost o f u s hearers were
in shadow for th e candles in the
smoki n g room had not been lighted
and only the face of the J ournalist
and the legs of the S ilent M an from
the knees downward were illumin
ated A t rst we glan ced now and
again at each other A fter a time w e
ceased to do that and looke d only
at the T ime T raveler s face
A nd

CH A P TE R I I I

(th e S tory :IBeg tns

T OL D some of yo u last
T hursday of th e pri nciple s
of the T ime M achine an d
showed you the actual thin g itself
in complete in the workshop T her e
I t i s now a little travel worn truly ;
and on e of the ivory bars is cracked
but the rest of
and a brass rail ben t
it i s so u nd enough I expected to
nish i t on Friday ; but on Fri d ay
w hen the puttin g together was nearly
d on e I found that one O f the nickel
b ars was exactly one inch too short
an d th i s I had to get re made ; so
that t h e t h in g was not complete un til
this morning I t was at ten o clock
to day that the rst of all T ime M a
chin es began its career I gave it
a last tap trie d all t h e screws again
,

38

THE

TOR Y

E GINS

39

put one more drop of oil on the

quart z rod and sat myself in the
saddle I suppose a s u ici d e w h o
holds a pistol to his s k ull feels much
the sam e wonder at what will come
next as I felt th en I took the start
ing lever in one hand and the stop
ping one in the other pressed the
rst and almost immediately the
second I seemed to reel ; I felt a
nightmare sensation of falling ; and
lookin g roun d I sa w the laboratory
exactly as before H ad anythin g
happened ! For a moment I sus
p ec t ed that my intellect had tricked
me T hen I noted the clock A
moment before as it seemed it had
stood at a minute or so past ten ;
now it was nearly half past three !

I drew a breath set my teeth

gripped the starting lever with both
my h ands and went off with a thud
T he laboratory got ha z y and went
d ark M rs Watchett came in and
w al k e d
apparently without seeing
me, t o w ard the garden d oor I s u p
,

THE TIME MA CHIN E

pose i t took her a min u te or so to

but to me sh e
t rav erse th e place
seemed to shoot across th e room like
a rocket I pressed the lever over
to its extreme position T he night
came like the turning out O f a lamp
and in another momen t cam e to
morro w T he laboratory grew faint
and ha z y then fainter and ever
fainter
T o morrow
nigh t cam e
black then day again night again
day again faster an d faster still A n
eddyin g murmur lled my ears and
a strange dumb conf u sedness de
scended on my mind
I am afraid I cannot convey the
peculiar sensations o f time travelin g
T hey are excessively u npleasant
T here i s a feeling e xactly like th at
one has upon a switchback o f a
helpless headlong m otion
I felt the
same horrible anticipation too of
an imminen t smash A S I pu t on
pace day followed night like t h e
ap ap ap of some rotating body
T he dim suggestion O f the laboratory
.

'

THE

E GINS

TOR Y

4I

seeme d presen tly to fall away from

m e and I saw the sun hoppin g swiftly
across the sky leapin g it every
min u te and every minute markin g a
day I supposed the laboratory had
been destroyed and I had come into
the open air I had a dim impression
o f sca ffolding but I was already g o
in g too fast to be conscious o f any
moving things T he slowest snail
that ever crawled dashed by too fast
for m e T he twinklin g succession O f
darkness and light was excessively
painful to the eye T hen in the
intermit t en t darkness I saw the
moon spin ning swiftly through her
q u arters from n ew to full and had a
faint glimpse of the circling stars
P resently as I went on still gainin g
velocity the palpitation of night and
day merged into one conti nuous
grayness the sky took on a wonder
ful deepness o f blue a splendid lumi
nous color like that O i early twilight
the j erk i ng sun becam e a streak of
re a brillian t arch in space the
,

THE TIME MA

42

HINE

m oon a fainter uctuatin g band and

I could see no thing of the stars save
now and then a brighter circle ic k er
ing in the blue

T h e landscape w as misty and

vag u e I was still on the hillside
u pon which t h is house now stands
and the shoulder rose above m e gray
and dim I saw trees growin g an d
chan ging like pu ffs of vapor no w
brown n o w green ; they gre w
spread uctuated and passed away
I saw huge buildin gs rise up faint
and fair an d pass like dreams T he
whole surface Of the earth seeme d
chan gi n g melting and owing under
my eyes T he little hands upon the
dials that registered my speed raced
round faster and fas t er P resently I
noted that the sun belt swayed up and
down from solstice to solstice in a
minute or less and that c o nse
quen tly my pace was over a year
a min u te ; and minute by minute
the white snow ashed across the
w orld and vanishe d and was fol
,

THE TIME MA CHIN E

44

an d splendid architect u res risin g

about m e m ore massive than any
buildings of our own time an d yet
as i t seemed built o f glimmer and
mist I saw a richer green ow up
th e h illside and remain t h ere with
out any wintry intermission E ven
through the veil O f my confusion the
earth seemed very fair A nd so m y
mind came round to t h e b u siness o f
stopping
T he p ec u liar risk lay in th e p os
sib ility of my ndin g some substan ce
in the sp ace which I or the machine
occupied 8 0 lon g as I traveled at
a high velocity thro u gh tim e this
scarcely mattered : I w as so to
speak attenuated was slippin g like
a vapor through the interstices O f
intervening substances !
But to
come to a stop involved the j amming
o f myself molecule by molecule into
whatever lay in my way mean t
bringing my atoms into such in
timate con tact with those O f the
obstacle that a profound chemical
,

TH E

TOR Y

EGINS

4S

reaction possibly a far reaching

explosion would result and blow
myself and my apparat u s out o f the
R igid U niverse out of all p ossible
dimensio n s into t h e U nk no w n T his
possibility had occurred to me again
an d again while I was making the
machine ; but then I had cheerfully
accepted it as an u navoidable risk
one of the risks a man has got to
take ! N ow the risk was inevitable
I no longer saw it in the same cheer
ful light T he fact is that insen
sibly
th e absolute strangeness Of
everything the sickly j arrin g and
swayin g of the machine above all
the feelin g of prolonged falling h ad
absolutely upset my nerve I told
myself that I could never stop and
with a gust o f petulance I resolved
to stop forthwith L ike an impatient
fool I lugged over the lever a nd
incon tinently the thing wen t reelin g
over and I was u ng headlong
through the air

T here was t h e so u n d of a clap

-

46

TH E

MA CHINE

TIME

of th u n d er in my ears I may h ave

been stunned for a moment A pit
iless hail was hissing round me and
I was sitting on soft t u rf in fron t
of the overset machine
E verythi n g
still seemed gray but presently I
remarked that the confusion in my
ears was gone I looked round me
I was on what seemed to b e a little
lawn in a gar d en surrounded by
rho d oden dron b u shes and I noticed
that their ma u ve and p u rple blos
soms were dropping in a S hower nu
der the b eatin g of the hailstones
T he rebounding dancing hail hung
in a little clou d over the machine
and drove along t h e gro u nd like
smo k e I n a moment I was wet to
the skin
Fin e hospitality said I
to a man wh o has traveled innumer
able years to see yo u I
P resently I tho u gh t w h at a fool
I was to get wet I stood up an d
looke d roun d m e A colossal gure
carved apparently in some white
stone loome d indistinctly beyond
.

THE S TOR Y BE GINS

47

th e rhododen drons throu gh th e h a z y

downp our B ut all els e o f the world
.

was in visible

M y s en sations would b e h ard t o

describ e
As th e columns of b ail
grew thinner I saw th e white g
ure more distinctly
It was very
large for a silver birch tree touch ed
its shoulder It was of white marble
in sh ape something like a winge d
sphinx but the W ings instead of
bein g carried vertically at the sides
were spread so that it seemed to
h over Th e p edestal it appeared t o
m e was of bronz e and was thick
with verdigris It ch anced tha t the
face was toward m e ; th e sightless
eyes seemed to watch m e th ere was
th e faint sh adow of a smile on th e
lips
It was greatly weatherworn
and that imparted an unpleasant su g
gestion of disease I stood lookin g
at it for a little space h alf a minute
perhaps or h alf an hour I t seemed
to advance and to recede as th e h ail
d rov e before it den s e r or thinne r
.

THE TIME

48

MA CHINE

At las t I tore my eye s from i t fo r a

m oment and saw that th e h ail cu r
tain had worn th readbare and that
th e sky was lightenin g with the prom
ise of th e sun
I looked up again at th e crouch
in g white sh ap e and th e full te
merity of my voyage c ame suddenly
upon m e What might appear w h en
th at hazy curtain was altogether
with drawn ! Wh at might not h ave
happened to m en
What if cru elty
h ad grown into a common passion !
What if in this interval th e race had
lost its m anlin ess and had developed
in t o som ething inhum an u nsympa
th etic an d overwhelmin gly po w erful
I might s eem som e old world savage
anim al only th e m ore dreadful an d
d isgu sting for our common likeness
a foul c reature to be incon tinently
slain
Already I saw oth er vast sh apes
hu ge buildings with intricate para
pets and tall columns with a wooded
hillsid e dimly creeping in upon m e
,

THE S TOR Y BE GINS

49

th r ough th e lessening storm I w as

seized with a panic fear I turned
frantically to the Time M achine an d
strove hard to readj ust it As I did
s o the shafts of th e sun smote through
the thunderstorm The gray down
pou r was swep t aside and vanish ed
like the t railin g garments of a ghost
Ab o ve m e in the intens e blue of
the summ er sky som e faint brown
shreds of clou ds whirled into n oth
The great buildings about
ing ness
m e stood out clear and distinct sh in
in g with th e wet of th e thunderstorm
an d picked out in white by the nu
m elted hailstones piled alon g their
courses I felt naked in a stran ge
world I felt as perhaps a bird may
feel in th e clear air knowin g th e
hawk wings above an d will swoop M y
fear grew to frenzy I took a breath
in g space set my teeth and agai n
grapple d ercely wrist and knee with
the m achine I t gave under my des
perate onset and turn ed over
It
struck my chin violently One h and
.

THE TIME MA CHINE

50

on the s addle th e oth e r on t h e leve r

I stood panting heavily in attitude to
m ount again
B ut with this recovery of a
prompt retreat my courage recovered
I l o oked m ore curiously and less fear
fully at this world of th e rem ote
future I n a circular openin g high
u p in t h e wall of th e n earer house I
saw a group of gures clad i n rich
soft rob es They had seen m e an d
t h e i r faces were directed toward m e

Then I h eard voices approachin g

m e C oming through th e b ush es by
th e white sphin x were th e heads and
sh oulders o f m en runnin g O ne of
these em erged in a pathway leadin g
s traigh t to th e little lawn upon which
I s to o d with my machin e H e was
a sligh t creature perh aps four feet
high clad in a p urple tunic girdled
a t the waist with a l eather b elt San
dals o r b uskins I could not cl early
distinguish which wh ere on his feet
his legs were b are to th e kn ees an d
his h e ad was bare N oticing th at I
,

C H A PT E R

IV

(th e (Bowen 3 96

anoth er m o ment we w e re
standing face to face I an d
this fragile thin g ou t of
futurity H e cam e straight up to
m e an d laughed into my eyes Th e
absence of any sign of fear from hi s
bearing st r uck m e a t once Then
he turned t o th e two others w h o
were followin g him and spoke to
them i n a strange an d very sweet
an d liquid ton gue

There were others com in g an d

presently a little group of perhaps
eight or t en of th es e exquisite c rea
t ures were abou t m e On e of th em
addressed m e I t cam e into m y
head oddly en ough that my voice
was too harsh and deep for them S o
I shook my he ad and pointing to my
N

52

THE GOL DEN A GE

53

e ars shook it again

,

H e cam e a s t ep

fo rward h esitated and then touched

m y han d Then I felt oth er soft
little tentacles upon my back an d
shoulders They wanted to m ake
sure I was real There was nothing
i n thi s at all alarmin g
Indeed
th er e was something in these pretty
little peopl e that inspi re d c ond
ence a graceful gentleness a cer t ain
childlik e eas e
And besides they
looked so frail t h at I could fancy my
self ingin g the whole dozen of them
abou t like ninepin s
But I m ade
a sudden motion to warn them when
I saw th eir littl e pink hands feelin g
at the Tim e M achin e H appily then
when i t was not too late I though t
of a danger I had hitherto forgotten
and reachin g over th e bars of th e
machine I un screwed th e little levers
that would s et it i n m otion and pu t
th ese in m y pocket Then I turned
again to see what I could d o in the
w ay of commu nication

And then lo o king more n e a rly

,

THE T IME

54

MA CHINE

i n to t he ir features I saw som e fu r th er

p eculiarities i n th eir D resden china
,

type of prettiness Their h air which

was uniformly cu rly came to a sh arp
end a t th e n eck an d ch eek ; there
was n ot th e fain te st suggestion of
it o n t h e face an d t h e i r ears wer e
sin gu larly minu te
Th e m ouths
w e re small with brigh t red rather
th in lips an d th e little chin s ran to
a p o int The eyes we r e l arge an d

m ild ; and this m ay seem egotism

o n my p art I fan cied even th en that
ther e was a c e rtain lack o f the inter
e st I might have expected in them

As they made n o effort t o com

muni c ate with m e but simply stood
round m e smiling and speakin g in
soft c o oin g n ote s to each oth er I
began the c onversation I pointed
to t h e Tim e M achin e an d to myself
Th e n h esitating for a m oment how
t o expr e ss Tim e I pointed to th e
sun At onc e a quaintly pretty littl e
gure in checkered pu rple and whit e
followed my g e stu re and then ast o n
,

THE G OL DEN A GE

55

ish ed

m e by imitatin g th e sound o f

t h unden

For th e moment I was s t aggered

thou gh th e import of his gesture
was plain enou gh Th e qu estion
had com e into my mind abru ptly
Were th ese creatures fools ! Y ou m ay
h ardly un derstand how it took m e
Y ou see I had always an ticipated
th at th e p eople of th e year E igh t
H undred Thousand odd would b e
incredibly in front of u s in knowl
edge art everything Then one of
them suddenly asked m e a question
that showed him to be on th e intel
lectu al level of on e of our v e year
old children asked m e in fact if
I had com e from the sun in a thun
It let loose the j udgmen t
d erst o rm
I h ad suspended upon t heir clothes
th ei r frail light limbs and fragile
features A flow of disappointment
rush ed across my mind
For a mo
m ent I felt that I had built th e Time
M achin e in vain

I n o dded po i nted to t h e sun,

,

THE TIME

56

M A

CHINE

an d gav e them such a vivid rend e r

ing of a thunderclap as startled th em
They all withdre w a pace or s o and
b o wed Th e n cam e one laughing
toward m e carryin g a chain o f
b eautiful owers altogether n ew to
m e and pu t i t abou t my n eck The
idea was received with m elodiou s
applause ; and p resently they were
all ru nnin g to and fro for owers
an d laughi ngly ingin g them upon
m e u ntil I was almost smothered
wit h blossom Y ou who h ave n eve r
seen th e like can scarcely imagine
w hat delicat e and wonderful owers
coun tless years of culture h ad
created Then someon e suggested
that their playthin g should be ex
h ib ited in th e n earest building and
so I was led past th e sphinx o f white
m arble which h ad seemed to watch
m e all the while with a smile at my
astonishm ent toward a vast gray
edice of fretted ston e As I went
w ith them th e m em ory o f my c o n
dent anticipa t i o ns o f a pr o foundly
.

THE G OL DEN A GE

57

grave an d intell ectual posterity cam e

w ith irresistible merrim ent to m y
m ind
Th e buildin g had a large entry
and was altogether of col ossal d imen
sions I was n aturally most oc e n
pied with th e growing crowd o f littl e
people an d with th e big open portals
that yawned before m e sh adowy and
mysteriou s M y general impression
of th e world I saw over their h eads
was of a tangled waste of beautiful
bush es and owers a long n eglected
and yet weedless garden
I saw
a numbe r of tall spikes of strange
w hite owers m easuring a foot per
haps across th e spread of th e waxen
petals They grew scattered as if
w ild amon g th e variegated shrubs
but as I say I did not examin e them
closely at this time Th e Time
M achin e was left deserted on th e
t urf am ong th e rhododendron s

The arch of th e doorway was

richly carv ed but naturally I did
no t obs er ve the carvin g very nar
,

THE TIME

58

M A

CHINE

though I fancied I sa w sug g es

tions of ol d P hoenician decoration s
as I passed through and it struck m e
that they were very badly broken and
w eather worn Several more brightly
clad people m et m e in th e doorway
and s o we entered I dressed in dingy
nineteenth century garments lookin g
grotesqu e en o ugh garlande d with
owers and surrounded by an ed
dying m ass o f brigh t soft colored
robes an d shinin g white limbs i n
a m elodious whirl o f laugh t er and
laughin g speech

Th e big doorway opened in to a

proportion ately great h all hung wit h
brown The roof was i n shadow an d
th e win dows p artially glazed with
colored glass an d partially un glaz ed
admitted a tempered light
Th e
oor was m ade up of huge block s o f
som e very h ard white m etal n ot
plates nor slab s blocks and i t was
s o much worn as I j udged by th e
goin g to an d fro of past gen erations
as to b e deeply ch anneled along th e
ro w ly ,

THE TIME MA CHINE

60

lo we r

end were th ick with dus t

And it caugh t m y eye th at the
c o rn e r o f th e m arbl e table near m e
w as fractured
N everth eless
th e
general effec t was e x tremely rich an d
pictu resqu e There were p erh aps a
couple of hundred people dinin g in
t h e hall an d m os t of them seated as
near to me as they c ould come were
w atc h ing m e with in t ere st their little
eyes shinin g over th e fruit th ey w ere
e a ti n g All w ere clad in th e s am e
s o ft and ye t s t ron g silky m aterial

Fruit by th e bye was all their

die t T h es e p eople of th e re mote
f u t ur e w e r e strict vegetarians an d
wh il e I w as wi th t h e m in spit e of
s o m e c arnal cravings I h ad t o b e
frugivorou s also
Indeed I f o un d
aft erw ard that horses c attle sheep
d o gs h ad f ollowed the ichthyosaurus
into ex tinction B ut t h e fruits were
v e ry d e ligh tful ; on e in particular
t h a t se e med t o be in season all th e
t i m e I was t h e re a o ury thing i n
a three sided h usk was especially
.

THE G OL DEN

A GE

6!

good an d I made it my staple At

rs t I was puzzled by all these
strange fruits and by t he s t range
owers I saw but later I began t o
perceive th eir impor t
H owever I am tellin g you of my
fruit dinner in th e distant future now
So soon as my appetite was a little
checked I determin ed to m ake a
resolute attempt to learn th e speech
of these new m en of mine C learly
that was the next thin g to do Th e
fruits seemed a convenient thing to
begin upon and holding on e of thes e
up I began a series of in t errogative
sounds an d gestures I had som e
considerable d ii c ulty in conveyin g
my meanin g At rst my e fforts met
with a stare of surprise or i next in
g uish ab le laughter b ut presently a
fair haired little creature seem ed to
grasp my intention and repeated a
n am e
They had to chatter and
explain their busin ess at great length
to each other and my rst attempts
to make t heir exquisite lit t le sounds
.

THE TIME

62

M A

CHINE

o f t h e l anguage cause d an imm e ns e

am oun t of genuine if uncivil amuse
ment H owever I felt like a school
master amid children an d p er
sisted an d presen tly I h ad a score
o f noun substantives at leas t, at my
com mand an d then I got to demon
st rat iv e pr o nouns an d even th e v erb
to eat
Bu t it was slow work an d
th e li tt l e p e o pl e s o on tire d and
w an t ed t o get away from my inter
rogation s s o I determin ed rath er of
n ecessity t o let them gi ve th eir
l ess o ns in little doses when th ey fel t
inclined
An d very little doses I
foun d they were before long fo r I
n ever m et people more indolent or
more easily fatigu e d
,

C H A PTE R V

S uns et

~
thing
I
s
oo
n
dis
!
covered about my littl e
hosts and that was their
lack of interest Th ey would com e
to m e with eager cries of astonish
ment like children but like children
they would soon stop examining m e
an d wander away after som e oth er
toy Th e dinner an d my conversa
t io nal beginni ngs ended I noted for
th e rst time that alm ost all those
wh o had surroun ded m e at rst were
gon e It is odd too h ow speedily
I came to disregard these little
people I went ou t through th e
p ortal into th e sunlit world again as
s oon as my hunger was satised I
was continually meetin g more of the se
m en of the future who would follow

U E E R

,
,

63

THE TIME

64

M A

CHINE

m e a little distanc e cha t t er an d

l au gh abou t m e and having smiled
and gesticulated in a friendly way
leave me again t o my own devises
Th e calm of evening was upon
the worl d as I em erged from th e
great hall and th e scene was lit by the
warm glow of the setting sun At rst
things were very confusin g E very
thing was so entirely di fferent from
th e world I h ad known even th e
owers The big building I h ad left
was situated on th e slope of a broad
river valley bu t th e Thames had
shifted p erhaps a mile from its
present position I resolved t o
m ount to the summit of a crest pos
a mile an d a h alf away from
sib ly
which I could ge t a wider view o f
this ou r plan et in th e year
A
D
For th at I should explain
was th e date th e little dials of m y
machin e recorded

As I walked I was watchful of

every impression that could possibly
h elp to explain the condition of
,

S UNSE T

65

ruinou s splendor in which I fo und

the world for ruinous it was A
little way up th e hill for instance
was a great h eap of granite boun d
together by masses of aluminum a
vast labyrinth of precipitous walls
and crumbl ed heaps ami d which
were thick h eaps of very beautiful
pagoda like plants nettles possibly
but wonderfully tin ted with brown
about th e leaves an d incapable of
stinging I t was evidently th e dere
lic t remains of som e vast structure
built to what end I could not deter
mine It was here th at I was des
tined at a later date to have a very
strange experience th e rst intim a
tion o f a still stran ger discovery
but of th at I will speak in its proper
place

L ooking round with a sudden

t h o u g h t f ro m a terrace on which I h ad
rested for a while I realized that there
were n o small houses to be seen
Apparently the single house an d
possibly even the household had
.

THE TIME MA CHINE

66

vanis h ed H ere and there am o ng

th e green ery were palace like bu ild
in gs bu t th e h ous e an d th e c ottage
whic h fo rm su ch ch arac t eristic fea
tures of ou r own E nglish landscap e
had disappear e d
C omm unism s a i d I t o mys elf

And on the h eels of th at cam e

an o ther though t I looked a t th e
half d o z en li tt le gures that were
f o ll o wing m e Th en in a ash I
p erceived t hat all had the sam e form
of costum e th e sam e soft hairles s
visage an d the sam e girlish rotundity
of limb I t m ay s eem strange per
haps that I had n ot noticed this
before
Bu t ev e rythin g was s o
s trange N o w I s aw th e fac t plainly
enough In costum e and in all th e
di fference s of texture an d bearing
th at n ow m ark off th e sex fr o m each
o ther these peopl e of th e future were
alike An d the children seemed to
m y eyes to b e but the miniatu r e s of
th eir parents I j udged then that
c h ildr e n of t hat t im e were ex trem ely
.

THE TIME

68

MA CHINE

at e r I was t o appreciate h ow fa r it
fell sh ort of the reality

While I was musing upon t h ese

t hings my atten tion was attracted by
a pretty little stru cture like a well
under a cupola I though t in a tran
si t o ry way of t h e oddness of well s
s till existing an d th en resumed th e
t hread of my speculations Th ere
were n o large buildings toward t h e
top of th e hill and as m y walkin g
powers were evidently miraculous I
was presently left alone for the rs t
time With a strange sense of free
dom and adventure I pushe d up to
t h e crest

There I f oun d a s eat of s o m e

yellow metal that I did not recognize
cor r oded in places with a kind of
pinkish ru st and h alf smothered i n
soft m oss , th e arm rests cast and
'
led into the resemblanc e of g rifns
h eads I sat down o n it an d I su r
broad view of o ur old
vey ed th e
world u nder th e sunset of that lon g
day I t was as sweet and fair a view
L

S UN SE T

69

as I have ever seen The sun had

already gone below t h e hori z on and
th e west was aming gold touch ed
with some horizontal b ars of purpl e
and crimson
Below was t he valley
of the Tham e s in which th e river
lay like a band of burnished steel
I have ready spoken of th e great
p alaces dotted about among th e
variegated greenery some in ruins
and som e still occupied H ere and
there rose a white or silv ery gure in
th e waste garden of the earth here
and there cam e th e s ha rp vertical
lin e of s o m e cupola or obelisk
There were n o hedges n o signs of
proprietary rights no evidences o f
agriculture ; the whol e earth h ad
become a garden
So watching I began to put my
i nterpretation upon th e things I had
seen and as it shaped itself to me th at
evenin g my i nterpretation was some
thing in this way (afterward I foun d
I had got only a half truth or only
a glimpse of on e fac e t of th e tru t h ) :
.

THE TIME

70

MA CHINE

se e m ed to me t h at I h ad h ap
p e ne d up o n hu mani t y upon the wan e
Th e r uddy sunset set m e thinking o f
t he sunset of m ankin d For th e rs t
tim e I began to realiz e an odd con
sequenc e of t he so cial effort in whic h
we are at pr e sen t e n gaged An d ye t
c o me t o th ink i t i s a logical c o nse
S trength i s th e
q uenc e en o ugh
o utcom e of n e ed ; security sets a
p remium on feebleness Th e work
amelioratin g th e con ditions of
of
life th e true civilizin g process that
m akes life m ore an d more secure
had gone steadily on to a clim a x
O ne triumph of a un ited humanity
o ve r N atur e had followed another
Thin gs tha t are now mere dreams
had become proj ects d eliberately p ut
in hand and carried forwa r d
And
t he harvest was wh at I saw !
After all t h e sanita t ion an d th e
agr i culture of t o day are still in th e
rudimen t ary stage Th e scienc e of
our tim e h as at tacked but a little de
p artment of t h e e ld of hum an dis
It

S UNSE T

7r

e as e but ev e n so it sp re ads its

opera t ions very s t eadily and p ersis t
e ntly Our agricultur e an d h o rtic ul
ture destroy j ust here and th ere a
weed an d cultivate perh aps a score
o r s o o f wholesom e plants l eaving
the greater number to ght ou t a
balance as they can We improve
our favorite pl ants and animals and
h ow few th ey are gradually by
selective breedin g ; no w a n ew an d
b etter peach n ow a seedless grape
n o w a sweete r and larger ower now
a m ore convenient breed of cattl e
We improve th em gradually because
ou r ideals are vagu e and tentative
and our knowledge is very limited ;
because N ature too is shy and slow
in o u r clumsy hands Som e day all
this w ill b e better organiz ed an d sti ll
better That is th e drift o f th e cur
ren t i n spite of the eddies Th e
whole w orld will b e intelligen t edu
c at ed
and c o operating ; thin gs will
m ove faster an d faster toward th e
subj ugation of N a t ure In t h e end
,

THE TIME

72

M A

CHINE

wisely and carefully we shall read

j ust the balance of animal and v eg e
table life to suit ou r h uman n eeds
This adj ustment I say m us t h ave
been d o ne and don e well d on e in
d eed for all tim e in th e space Of
Tim e across which my m achin e h ad
leaped The air was free from gnats
th e earth from weeds or fun gi every
where were fruits and sweet and
delightful owers ; brilliant butter
ies ew hith er an d thith er Th e
ideal of preven tive medicin e was
attain ed D iseases had been stamp ed
ou t I saw no evid ence of any con
t ag io us diseases d urin g all m y stay
An d I shall h ave to tell you late r that
e ven th e processes of pu trefaction
and decay h ad be e n profoundly
affected by th ese ch an ges

Social triumphs too h ad b een

e ff ec ted I sa w mankin d h ou sed i n
s plendid sh elters gloriously clo th ed
an d as yet I had foun d them engaged
in n o toil Th ere were n o signs of
s truggle , n either s o cial nor econom i
!

S UNSE T

73

s t ruggle The sh op th e adver

t i sement tra fc all t hat commerc e
which constitutes the body of our
w orld was gon e It was natu ral on
that golden evening that I should
j ump at th e idea of a social paradise
The di f culty of increasing p o p u
lation had been met I guessed and
population h ad ceased t o increase
But with this chan ge in condition
comes inevitably adaptations to th e
change
What unless biological
s cience is a m ass of errors is th e
cause of human intelligence and
vigor ! H ardship and freedom :
conditions under which th e active
strong and subtle survive an d th e
w eaker go to the wall ; conditions
that put a premium upon th e loyal
alliance of capable men up on sel f
restraint patien ce and d ecision And
the institution of th e family and the
emotions that arise therein th e erc e
j ealou sy th e ten derness for offsprin g
parental self devotion all found their
j ustication and sup p o rt in th e immi
c al

THE TIME

74

MA CHINE

n e n t dangers of th e youn g N ow
w here are th ose imminen t dangers !
There is a sentiment arising and i t
w ill grow against connubial j ealousy,
agains t erc e m a t ernity again st p as
sion of all s orts unnecessary things
n ow an d thin gs t h at m ake us unc om
f o rt ab le savage survivals d iscord s i n
a rene d and pleasant life
I thoug h t of t h e physical slig ht
n e ss of t h e p e opl e their lack o f in
t ellig enc e
and t h ose big abundan t
r uins and it str e ngthene d m y belief
in a p erf e c t c o nqu est of N atu re
F o r after th e battl e comes ! uiet
H um anity had been stron g en ergetic
and i ntelligent an d had used all its
abundant vitality t o alter th e condi
tions u n der which it liv e d And
now cam e th e reac t i o n o f th e altere d
condition s
U nder the n e w c ondition s of p er
fe e t c o m fort an d s ecurity that rest
less en ergy t h at wit h u s is strength
w ould becom e w e akness E ven i n
ou r o wn tim e c e rtain t e nd e ncies and
.

76

MA CHINE

THE TIME

live d th e ourish of t ha t t r i ump h

which began th e last great peac e
This has ever been th e fat e o f energy
in security ; it takes to a rt and t o
ero t icism and th e n come lang uo r
and d ec ay
E ven this ar t is tic i mp e tus w ould

at las t die away had almos t died in

the Tim e I saw T o adorn them
selves with owers to dance to sin g
i n the sunlight ; so much was lef t
of t h e artistic spi ri t and n o more
E ven th at w ou l d fade in th e en d
into a contented inactivity We are
kep t keen on th e gri ndston e of pai n
and necessi t y, and i t seem ed to m e
that here was that h a t eful grindston e
broken at last
As I stood there i n th e ga t h e ring
dark I t h ough t that in t h is simple e x
planation I had mastered the problem
o f th e world m astered the whole
s ecret of these delicious p eople
P ossibly th e checks they h ad devised
for th e increase of popul ation h ad
succeeded too well an d their num
.

S UNSE T

77

bers had rath er diminished than kep t

station ary That would account for
th e abandoned ruins V e ry simple
was my explanation and plausibl e
en ough as m ost wron g th eories are
As I stood there musing over this
too perfec t triumph of m an th e full
m oon yellow an d gibbou s came u p
out of an overow of silver ligh t in
the n ortheast The brigh t little g
u re ceased to m ove ab ou t b elow a
n oiseles s owl it t ed by and I shiv
ered with th e chill of the nigh t I
d etermined to descend and n d where
I could sleep
I looked for the b uilding I kn ew
Then my eye traveled along to the
gure of the white sphinx upon th e
p edestal of bronze growing distinc t
as th e light of the risin g m oon grew
brighter I could see th e silver bir c h
against it Th ere was th e tan gle of
rhododendron bushes black in th e
pale ligh t an d there was th e littl e
lawn I looked at th e lawn again
A queer doubt chilled my com
.

THE TIME

78

MA CHINE

said I stou t ly to
myself th a t was n o t the lawn

Bu t it w a s th e lawn For th e
white leprou s fac e of th e sphinx was
toward it C an you imagin e wha t I
felt as th is conviction cam e hom e to
me
B ut you can n o t Th e Tim e
M achin e was gon e

At on c e like a las h across t h e

face cam e th e possibility of losin g
my o w n age of being left h elpless
in this strange n ew world Th e bare
thought of it was an actu al physical
sen sation I could feel it grip m e at
th e throat and s t op my b r eath i ng

plac enc y

o,

C H A PT E R Vi

(th e (Inacbtue i s l os t.

another m o ment I w as
i n a passion of fear and
running with great, leap
ing strides down th e slop e O nce
I fell h eadlong and cu t my fac e
I
lost n o tim e in stanching th e blood
but j umped up and ran on with a
warm trickle down my cheek and
chin All the tim e I ran I was say
ing to myself
They have m oved it
a li t tle pushed it under the bushe s

out of th e way
N evertheles s I ran
w ith all my might All the time
w ith th e certainty that som etime s
com es with excessive dread I kne w
that such assurance was folly kne w
instinctively that th e m achin e w as
r emoved out of my reach

M y breath cam e w ith pain

I
N

79

THE TIME

80

M A

CHINE

suppose I covered th e wh o l e d i s
t ance from the hill crest to th e littl e
lawn two miles p erhaps in ten min
u tes And I am not a y o ung m an
I cursed aloud as I ran at my c o n
den t folly in leavin g t he machine
wasting good breath thereby
I
cried aloud an d n one an swered
N ot a creatur e seemed to be stirring
in that moonlit world

W h en I reache d th e lawn my
wors t fears were realized
N ot a
trac e of t h e thing was to b e see n
I fel t fain t and cold when I face d
t h e empty space amon g t h e black
tangle of b ushes I ran round i t
furiously as if th e thing migh t b e
hidden in a c orn er, and then stopped
abruptly with my h ands clutchin g
my hair
Above m e towered th e
sphin x upon th e bronz e p edestal
whit e shining lepr o us in the ligh t
of the rising moon I t seem ed to
smile in mockery of my dismay
I m ight h ave consoled myself by
imaginin g the li t tle pe o ple h ad pu t
,

THE MA CHINE

I S

L OS T

8!

th e mechanism in som e sh elte r for

m e had not I felt assured of their
physical and intellectual inadequacy
That i s what dismayed m e the sense
of some hitherto unsuspected p ower
through whose intervention my in
Y et of on e
v ent io n had vanished
thing I felt assured : unless som e
other age had produced its exact
duplicate th e machin e could n ot
h ave moved in Time The attach
m en t of the levers I will show you
th e m ethod later prevented anyone
from tampering with it in that way
when they were removed I t had been
m oved and was hid only in Space
B ut then wh ere could it be
I think I must have had a kind
of frenzy I remember running vio
lently in and out amon g the moonli t
bush es all round th e sphinx an d
startling some white animal that in
the dim ligh t I took for a small deer
I reme mber too late that night beat
ing the bu shes with my clenched
sts until my knuckles were gashed
,

THE TIME MA CHINE

82

an d ble e ding fr o m th e b r o k e n
t wigs
Then s o bbin g and r aving i n my
anguish of m ind I wen t down t o th e
great buildin g of ston e Th e big
h all was dark silent and deserte d
I slippe d on the uneven oor an d fell
over one of th e malachite tables
almost breakin g m y shin I li t a
m atch and went o n past th e dusty
curtains of which I h ave told you
Th ere I foun d a secon d great h all
covered with cushions upon which
p e rhap s a score or s o of the lit t le p eo
ple were sle e ping I h ave no doub t
th ey foun d my second app earance
stran ge en o ugh coming su dd enly ou t
of th e qu iet darkness with inarticulate
noise s an d th e splutte r an d are of
a m atch F o r t hey h ad forgotten
ab o ut m atches
Where i s my Tim e
M achine ! I b egan b awling like an
angry child laying h ands upon th em
an d sh aking them up together It
mus t h ave b een very queer to th em
Som e laughed most of them looked
.

THE TIME

84

MA CHINE

despair wore away, of look ing i n t hi s

impossible place an d that , of grop
in g amon g moonlit ruins and touch
in g strange creatures in the black
sh adows ; at last of lying on the
gro un d n ear th e sphinx and weeping
with absolute wretch edness even
anger at th e folly of leavin g th e
m achin e h aving leaked away with
my stre ngth I had nothing lef t but
misery

The n I slept and when I woke

again i t was full day an d a couple
of sparrows were hoppin g around
m e upon th e turf within r each of
my arm

I sa t up in th e freshnes s of th e
mornin g tryin g to remember h o w
I had got there an d why I h ad such
a profoun d s en se of d esertion an d
desp air Then things came clear in
my mind With th e plain reasonable
dayligh t I could look my circum
stances fairly in th e face I s aw the
wil d folly of my frenzy overnigh t
and I could reason wi th myself
,

THE

MA CHINE IS

OS T

8s

Suppose the worst said I sup

pose th e machin e altogeth er lost
perhaps destroyed I t behooves m e
to b e calm an d patient to learn the
way of the people to get a clear idea
of th e method of my loss and th e
means of getting materials and tool s
so that in the end p erhap s I may
make another That would be my
only hope a poor hope perhaps but
better than despair And after all
it was a beautiful an d curious world
But probably th e machin e had
o nly been taken away Still I must
b e calm and patient nd its hiding
place and recover it by forc e or
cunning And with that I scrambled
to my feet and looked about m e
wondering where I could b ath e I
felt weary, stiff and travel soiled
The freshness of the morning made
m e desire an equal freshn ess I h ad
exhausted my emotion In deed as
I went abou t my busin ess I found
myself wonderin g at my inten s e e x
c it ement overnigh t
,

THE T IME

86

MA CHINE

T h at m ornin g I m ade a ca r eful

e x amination of th e ground ab ou t th e
little lawn I wasted som e tim e in
futile qu estionings conveyed as well
as I w as able to such o f th e little
p e o ple as cam e by They all failed

t o u nd erstan d my ges t ures som e

w e re simply st o li d som e thought i t
was a j est an d laugh e d at m e I
had th e h ardest task in the world t o
keep my ha nds o ff their pret t y laugh
ing faces I t was a f o olish impulse
bu t th e devil b ego t ten o f fear an d
blind anger w as ill cu rbed an d still
eager to take advantage of my per
Th e turf gave better coun
plexity
s el I foun d a groove ripped in it
abou t m idway between the pedestal
of the sphi nx and th e m arks o f my
feet wh ere on arrival I h ad stru ggle d
with th e overturned m achin e There
were o ther signs o f th e removal of
a h eavy body about of queer n arrow
fo o tprin t s like th o se I c o uld imagin e
mad e by a sloth This directed my
close r at te ntion to th e p e d e s t al I t
.

THE

MA CHINE IS

L OS T

87

w as as I think I have said o f b ro n z e

,

It was n ot a mere block but highly

decorated with deep frame d p an els
on eith er side I wen t and rapped
at these Th e pedestal was h ollow
E xaminin g th e panels with care I
foun d them discontin uous with th e
frames There were n o h an dles n o r
keyholes but possibly the panels if
they were d oors as I supposed opened
from within
One thin g was clear
enough to my mind It took n o very
great mental eff ort to infer th at my
Time M achine was inside th at ped
estal But h ow it g o t th ere was a
diff e ren t problem

I saw the h eads of two o range clad

peopl e c omin g thr o ugh th e bushes
an d under some blossom covered
apple trees toward m e I turned
smiling to th em and beckoned them
to m e They came an d then p oint
ing t o th e bronz e pedestal I tried t o
intimate my wish t o ope n it B u t at
my rst gesture toward this they b e
h aved very oddly I don t kn o w ho w
,

THE TIME

88

MA CHINE

t o convey t heir expressio n to y o u

Supp o se you were to us e a grossly
improper gesture to a delicate minded
woman i t is how she would look
They went o ff as if they h ad received
the last possible insult
H owever I wanted access t o t h e
Time M achine ; so I tried a sweet
looking little chap in w hite n ext wi th
exactly th e sam e resul t Someh o w
his manner mad e m e ash am ed of
myself But as I say I want ed th e
Tim e M achin e
I tried on e m ore
As h e turn ed off like the oth ers , my
t emper got th e better of m e In
three strides I was after him h ad h im
by th e loos e part of his rob e round
th e n eck an d began dragging h im
toward the sphinx Then I sa w t h e
h orror and repugnan ce o f his face,
and all of a sudde n I let him go

But I was n ot beaten yet I

banged with m y st at th e b ron z e
panels I thought I heard someth i ng
stir insid e to be e x plicit I t hough t

I h eard a soun d lik e a chuckl e bu t

.

L OS T

THE MA CHINE IS

89

I mus t h ave b een mis t aken Then I

go t a big pebble from th e river and
cam e an d h amm ered till I had at
t ened a coil i n th e decorations an d
t h e v erdeg ris cam e off in powdery
akes The delicate little p eople
m ust have h eard me h ammering in
gusty outbre aks a mile away on either
h and but nothing cam e of i t
I saw
a crowd of th em upon th e slopes
looking furtively at m e At last hot
an d tired I s at down to watch th e
place But I was too res tless to
watch lon g and b esides I am too
Occidental for a long vigil I could
w ork at a problem for years bu t t o
wait inactive for twenty four hours
that is another m atter
I got up after a tim e an d began
walkin g aimlessly through th e bu shes
t oward the h ill again
P atience s aid I to myself
If
you w apt your machine again you
m ust leave that sphinx alone
If
they mean to take your m achin e
aw ay, i t s littl e good your wreckin g
.

THE

90

IME

MA CHINE

t h eir br o n z e panels and if t h ey d o n t

y o u w i ll get it back s o s o on as you

can ask for it To sit among all

thos e unkno wn t hings before a puzzl e
lik e t ha t is hopeless Th at w ay lies
m o n o mania Face this world L earn
i ts ways wa t ch it b e c areful of to o
h asty gu esses at i ts m eaning I n th e
en d you will n d clews t o it all
Th en su dd e nly the humor of th e
situ ation c am e into m y m in d : th e
th ough t of th e years I had spent in
study an d toil to get in to th e futur e
age an d n ow my passion of anxie t y
t o get ou t of it I h ad m ad e myself
t h e m ost complicated an d th e m ost
h opel ess trap that ever a man devised
Alth o ugh it was at my o wn e xpense
I could n o t help mys e lf I laugh e d
aloud

G oing thr o u g h t h e big pal a ce i t

seeme d to me th at th e litt le p eopl e
avoid ed m e
I t m ay h av
been
m y fancy or it m ay h ave had
somethin g to do with my h amm e r i n g
a t th e ga te s of br o n z e Y l I fel t
.

C H A PT E R

Vll

(th e S t rang e a nimal

M A D E what progress

could in th e lan gu age and

in additi o n I push ed my e x
E ither I
p lo rat io ns here and th ere
misse d som e subtle point or t hei r
lan gu age was excessively simple al
m o s t exclu siv e ly c o mposed of con
c r e t e substantiv e s an d verbs Th e re
seem e d to b e few if any abs t rac t
terms o r little u s e of gurative lan
guage Their sentences were u sually
simple an d o f two words and I failed
t o conv e y or understan d any but the
simplest prop o sitions I determin e d
to put th e th o ugh t of my Tim e M a
chine an d th e mystery of the bronze
doors un d e r th e sphin x as m uch as
possible in a co rn er of my m emo ry
u n t il my gr ow ing kn owl e dge wo uld
,

92

THE S TRA N GE

NIMA L

93

lead m e b ack to them in a n atural

way Y et a certain feeling y o u m ay
understan d tethered m e in a circle of
a few miles round the point of my
arrival
S o far as I could se e all th e world
displayed th e same exuberant rich
n ess as th e Thames valley Fr o m
eve ry hill I climbed I saw the sam e
abundance of splen did buildings
e ndlessly varied in m aterial and style
th e s am e clustering thickets of ever
J
green s th e sam e blossom laden trees
an d tree ferns
H ere and th e re
water sh on e like silver and beyon d
th e land rose in t o blue undulating
hills and so faded into the serenity of
the sky

A peculiar feature that p r esently

attracted my attention was certain
circular wells that appeared to sink
to a profound depth One lay by th e
path up th e hill which I had fol
lowed during my rst walk These
wells were rimmed with bronz e cur i
o u sly w r o ught
and oft en pr o tec te d
.

,
,

94

TH E

IME

MA CHINE

by sm all cupolas from th e rain S i t

tin g by th e sid e of th ese and p eerin g
down I failed to s ee any gleam
of wa t er and could ca t ch no re ec
tion from a ligh ted m atch
I
heard a peculiar dull sound ; thud
thud thud like th e beating of som e
big engine an d I discovered from th e
aring of the match th at a steady
cu rren t of air set down the shaft

M oreover I c arelessly t h rew a

scrap of paper into th e throat of th e
well an d instead of flutterin g slowly
down it was at once sucked swiftly
ou t of sigh t
Afte r a time too I
cam e to connect with these wells c er
tain tall towers that stood here an d
there upon th e hill slopes Above
these there was often apparen t a p e
c uliar icker of th e air much as on e
sees it on a ho t day above a sun
scorched beach

P uttin g th es e things together th ere

c ertainly seemed to m e a stron g sug
gestion of an exten sive system of
subterraneous ven tilation though its
.

THE TIME

96

t elegraph wires

MA CHINE

th e parcels d cl i v
e ry company and postal orders !
And yet we at least would be willing
enough to explain these thin gs And
eve n of wh at he knew how much
could h e m ake his untraveled frien d
believe ! The n think how little is
th e gap between a negro and a m an
of our times and how wide th e inter
val between myself an d th e G olden
Age people I was sensible of m uch
that was unseen and which con
t ribu ted t o my comfort but s ave for
a gen eral impression of au tomatic
organization I fear I can convey very
little of th e di fference to your m i nds

In th e m atter of sepulcher for

instanc e I could see n o traces of
crematoria or anything s u ggestive o f
tombs B ut it occu rred to m e th at
possibly cem eteries or crematori a
existed at some spot beyond th e
rang e o f my explorations
This
again was a question I d elibera t ely
put t o myself and up on which my
curi o sity was a t rst entirely d e
,

of

THE S TRANGE A NIMA L

97

fea te d N either were there any old

or inrm among them

I m ust confess tha t my satis

faction with my rst theories at an
automatic civilization and a d ecaden t
humanity did not endure Y e t I
could think of none other L et me
put my di f culties The several big
palaces I had explored were me re
living places great dining halls and
sleepin g apartmen ts I could nd
no m achinery no appliances of any
kind Y et these people were clothe d
in pleasant fabrics that must at time s
need renewal their sandals th o ugh
withou t ornament were fairly c o m
plex specim ens of metal work
Somehow such things m u st b e m ade
A nd th e little peopl e displayed n o
vestige of th e creative t endencies of
our tim e There were n o shops no
workshops no indication s of impor
t at io ns from any other p art of th e
earth Th ey spent all their tim e in
playing gently in bathing in t h l
river in makin g love in a half play
.

THE TIME

98

MA CHINE

ful fash i on in eating fru i t an d sl eep

ing
I could not se e h ow things
were kep t going

Th en again abou t t h e Tim e

M achin e Something I knew n ot
what h ad taken i t int o th e h ollow
pedestal of the sphinx W h y ! For
the life of m e I could no t ima g in e

,Th e n there were t hose wells w i t h

ou t water those ickering pillars I
fe lt I missed a clew somewhere I
fel t h ow shall I s ay it ! Suppose
you found an in scrip t ion with sen
ten oe s here and th ere in e x c ellent
plain E nglish and interpola t ed
ther e wit h o th ers m ade u p of w o rds
even of ilet ters absolutely unknow n
to you That was how th e world of
p r esented itself to m e on t h e
third d ay of my stay
O n tha t day too I made a frien d
o f a sort
I t happened that as I
w as wa t chin g some o f the littl e people
bathing in a sh allow of th e river
o ne of them was seized with cramp
and b e gan drif t ing d o wn th e s t re am
,

THE TIME MA CHINE

10 0

an d s h e r eceived m e w i t h c ri es o f
deligh t an d present ed m e with a big
garlan d of o w ers evid e n tly pr e
p ared for m e
Th e ac t ion took my i maginati o n
V ery possibly I h ad b een feeling
desolate At any rate I did m y bes t
t o display my apprecia t io n of t he
gift

We wer e s o on sea t ed togeth e r in

a little ston e arb or engaged in a
conversat ion that was chiey smiles

The littl e creature s friendliness

'
a ffected m e e x actly as a ch il d s
migh t W e passed
each other
owers an d sh e kissed m y hands I
did th e s am e to h ers Then I tri e d
convers ation and foun d ou t her nam e
w as Weena w h ich though I don t
kn ow w h a t it m ean t
somehow
s e em ed appropriate enough Tha t
w as th e beginn in g of a queer friend
ship th at lasted altogether a week
an d ended as I will tell you
She was exactly like a child Sh e
wan t ed t o b e with m e al w ays She
.

THE S TRA NGE ANIMA L

I O!

t r ie d to follo w m e e v ery whe r e and it

w e n t t o my h ea r t t o tir e h e r ou t upon
my n e x t e x pl o rati o n and l e ave he r
behind a t last e x haus t ed and callin g
,

after m e rath er plaintively But th e

problems of th e world h ad to b e
mastered I had n o t I said to my
self com e into th e future to ca rry on
a minia tu re irtation
Y et h er dis
tress when I left h er was very gr e a t
her expostulations at the partin g
sometimes fran tic and I think alt o
geth e r I had as much t rouble as
c omfort from her a ffecti o n
And
yet sh e w as someho w a very great
comf o rt

I thou ght it was m ere c h ildish

a ffection that made h e r cling to m e
U ntil it was too late I did not
clearly know wha t I had in icted
upon her wh en I left h er N or un til
it was too late did I clearly under
stand what she was to m e For th e
little doll of a creature by merely
seeming fond of me and sh owin g in
h er weak futile way t ha t she cared
.

THE TIME

10 2

M A

CHINE

fo r m e, p r es e ntly gave my retu r n to

th e neighborhood of th e w hite
sphin x alm ost th e feelin g of comin g
h o me I would wa t ch for h er little
gu r e of white and gold s o soon as I
cam e over th e hill
I t was from h er too that I lea r ned
t ha t fear h ad no t altogethe r left th e
w orld Sh e was fearles s enou gh i n
t h e dayligh t and sh e had th e oddest
con dence in m e for once in a fool
ish m omen t I m ade threatening
grimaces a t h er an d sh e simply
la ugh e d at th em B ut s h e dreade d
th e dark dreaded sh adows d readed
black t hings D arkn ess to h er was
th e on e fearful thin g
It was a
singularly p assion ate dread an d i t
se t m e thinking an d observin g
I
disc o vere d th en among other things ,
th a t t h es e little p e o pl e gat h ered into
t h e great houses aft er d ark an d slept
T o enter up on
a nu mb er togeth er
them without a light w as to put them
i nt o a tumult of app r ehension
I
n ev e r found o n e o ut of doors o r on e
,

10

THE TIME

MA CHINE

w as t h at dim gray hour wh e n th ings

are j u st creeping out of th e darkness
w hen everything is colorless an d
clear c u t an d yet unreal I got up
an d w ent d o wn into th e great hall
an d o ut upon th e ag sto nes in fron t
of th e palac e I thought I would
m ake a v irtue o f n e c e ssi t y and se e
t he sunrise

Th e m oon was settin g an d the

dyin g m oonligh t and rst pallor o f
dawn mingled togeth e r in a ghastly
,

h alf light
T h e bushes were inky
black th e g roun d a somber gray th e
sky colorless and cheerless An d u p
th e hill slope I thought I sa w ghosts
Three s everal times as I s cann e d th e
slope I saw white g ures Twic e I
fancie d I s aw a solitary w hite ape
like c reature r unning rath er quickly
u p th e hill and once near t he ruins I
saw a group of two carryin g som e
d a rk body Th ey m oved hastily I
did not se e what becam e of them
I t seemed t h a t th e y vanish ed among
t h e bush e s
-

S TRA NGE A NIMA L

THE

10

Th e dawn was still indistinct you

must und e rstan d I was feelin g that
chill, uncertain ea rly m orning feel
ing you m ay hav e exp er i enced
I
doub t ed my eyes As th e eastern
sky gre w brighter, and th e ligh t of
th e day in creased a nd vivid colorin g
cam e back to th e world once mo r e I
s ca nned th e view keenly bu t I saw
no co nrmation of my white gu res
They w e r e m ere creatures of the half
ligh t
T h ey must have b een ghosts

said I ;
I wonder wh ence they
dated

For a quee r notion of G ran t

Allen s cam e into my head and
amused m e If each generation dies
an d leaves ghosts h e argu es th e
w o rld at last will get overcrowded
w ith them On that theory they
would h ave becom e very thick in
eight hundred th ousand years from
now an d it was no great wonder t o
see four all at once But th e j est
was u nsatisfactory and I was think
,

10

THE TIME

M A

CHINE

i n g of t hese gures all t h e m orn i ng

u ntil th e rescu e of W eena drove th e
sub j ect out of my head I assoc i ated
t h em in some indenite way w i th t h e
w h i te animal I had startled i n my
rst passionate s e arc h for th e Time
M achin e But We ena was a pleasan t
substitute for such a topic
Th ese g h ostly shapes were s oo n
destined t o t ake p o ssession o f my
mind in a far m ore vivid fashion I
t hink I have said h ow m uch hotter
than our own was th e weather of t h is
future age I canno t account fo r it
I t m ay b e th e su n was hotter or els e
the earth was nearer the sun I t is
u sual to assume th at the su n will go
on cooling steadily in th e future but
p eople unfamiliar with su ch sp ecula
tions as those of t h e youn ger D arwin
forget that the planets m ust ult i
m ately on e by on e fall back into th e
paren t body As these c at astro ph ies
occur th e su n will blaz e out again
w ith ren ewed energy It may b e
t hat some inner plan et had suff ered
.

10

THE TIME

MA CHINE

t h e glar i n g eyeb alls I feare d to

turn T h en t h e th o ugh t o f t h e ab
s olut e secur i ty in w hich h um an ity
appea r ed to b e livin g cam e to my
min d Th en I rememb ere d t ha t
strange dread o f th e dark

Overcoming m y fear t o s o m e
ext ent I advanced a s t e p an d
.

spoke I will admit that my voic e

was hoarse and ill controlled
I pu t
o ut my hand , an d touch ed som e
thing soft

At o n ce t he ey es darted sid ew ays

an d som ethin g white ran past m e I
turned with my h eart in my m outh
and saw a qu eer li t tle ape like gu r e
with t h e h ead held down in a p ec u
liar m anner running across the su n
lit spac e behind m e It blundered
against a block o f granite, s taggered
aside and in a m o m ent was hidd e n
in a black shadow b e n eath another
pile o f ruin ed mas onry
M y impression of it was of cou rs e
v ery imperfect It was of a dull
w hite color and h ad strange large
.

THE S TRA NGE A NIMA L

I 0

grayish re d eyes
There was some
flaxen hair on its h ead and down i ts
back Bu t as I say it went too
fast for m e to see distinctly I can
n ot eve n say whether it ran on all
fours or only with its fo r e arm s held
very low

After a momentary h esitati o n I

followed th e creature into the secon d
h eap of ruins I could n ot nd it
there at rst bu t after a time in th e
profound obscurity I cam e upon one
of those round well like openin gs
of which I h ave told you half closed
by a fallen pillar A sudden th o ught
came to m e C ould the thing h ave
vanished down the sh aft ! I lit a
match and looking down saw a
small white m o ving gure with large
bright eyes that regarded m e st e ad
fastly as it retreated
Th e thin g m ade m e sh udder It
was s o like a human spider It was
clamberin g down th e wall of th e
shaft an d now I noticed for the rst
tim e a numbe r of m etal pro j ec t ions
-

THE TIME MA CHINE

1 10

f o r f o o t an d h and forming a kind of

ladder down
S uddenly th e light burn ed my
ngers an d fell ou t of my hand
goin g out as it dropped ; and w hen
I h ad lit an o ther th e li t tle m onst er
h ad disapp eared

I d o n ot kn o w h ow long I sa t
peering down th e p o rtentou s well
V ery slowly could I persuade mysel f
that the thing I h ad seen was a m an
Bu t gradually t h e real trut h dawn ed
upon m e that man h ad not remained
o n e speci es bu t h ad differentiated
in t o two di stinct animals ; th at my
graceful children of th e upp erw o rld
were not th e only d escendants of th e
m en of my generation bu t that this
bleach ed n octurnal thing t hat h ad
ashed bef o re m e , was also heir t o
ou r age
I though t of t he ickering pillars
and of my theory of an underground
I began to suspec t th eir
ventilation
true import
B u t w ha t w as t his c re ature d o ing
,

THE TIME MA CHINE

1 12

m atch es an d I s t ruck sev e ral to

amuse them
H owever all m y att e mp t s t o w o o
them toward th e sub j ec t I wan t ed
failed ; an d presently I lef t th em
I resolved t o go back to We e na an d
see what I coul d get from her
But my min d was already in revo
lutio n my guesses and impressions
slippin g an d slidin g t o a n ew a dj ust
m en t I had no w th e cl ew t o thes e
wells to the ven tilatin g t owers to
the problem of th e gho sts and a
h int indeed of th e m eanin g of t he
bron z e gates and th e fate of th e Time
M achin e
V agu ely indeed th er e
cam e a suggestion toward th e eco
n omic problem tha t h ad pu z zled m e

H ere was th e new view : E vi

dently this secon d speci es of m an
was subterranean There w ere t hree
circumstances in particular t ha t
m ad e m e think its rare em ergence
up on th e surface was th e ou tcome
of lon g subterraneou s h abit
In th e
rst place t h e bleach ed appea r ance
,

THE S TRANGE ANIMA L

1 3

common in m ost animals t h a t live

largely in th e dark th e w hite sh

of th e K entucky caves for instance
Then th e large eyes and their c a

a
i
for
r
e
ecting
th
e
ligh
t
a
c
t
y
p
common feature o f n o cturn al eyes
witness t h e owl and th e cat And
nally th e evident confusion in the
sunlight th e hasty ight toward dark
sh adow and t h e carriage of the head
whil e in th e ligh t re enforced th e
idea of an ex t remely sen sitive retina
B en eath my feet then th e earth
mu st be tunn ele d out t o an enor
mous extent and in th ese caverns
th e n ew race lived The presence of
ventilatin g sh afts an d wells all along
th e hill slopes everyw here in fact

excep t along the river valley s h owed

how u niversally the ramications of
th e u n derworld exten ded
An d it was natu ral to assume that
it was in the underworld that th e
necessary work of the overworld was
perform ed This was s o plausible
that I accepted it un h esita t ingly
.

THE TIME

M A

CHINE

From that I w e n t on t o assum e how

th e splitt in g of t h e human species
c ame ab o ut I d are say you will an
t ic ip at e what shape my theory took
though I soon fel t i t was s t ill short
o f th e tru t h o f t h e cas e

Bu t at rst sta r ting fro m th e

problem s of our own age it s eem e d
as clea r as d ayligh t to me that th e
gradual widening o f th e presen t
m erely t emporary and social differ
e nc e o f t h e capi t al i s t f r om th e
labor er was t h e key t o t h e explan a
tion N o doubt i t will seem gro
t esq ue enou gh t o you and wildly i n
credible and yet even n ow th ere are
circu m stan ces that p oin t i n th e way
things h ave gon e The r e i s a ten
d enc y plainly en o u g h to utiliz e
u nderground spac e for t h e l ess orna
m ental purposes of civiliz a t ion ;
t here is th e M etropoli tan R ailway in
L ond on for instance and all these
n ew elec tric railways there are sub
ways an d underground workrooms
res t a ur ants and s o forth E vidently
.

1 16

TIME MA CHINE

TH E

t i on tow ard forming rened h a bi t s

amon g th e rich will mak e that fre
quent exch an ge b e tween class and
class tha t p rom otion an d inter
m arriag e which at presen t ret ard s th e
splittin g of our species alon g the
lines o f s o cial s t rati cation , less an d
l ess frequent

So , in the end , you would h ave

abov e ground th e H aves , pursuing
h ealth , comfort an d beau ty an d
bel ow groun d the H ave nots ; th e
workers getting continu ally adapted
t o t h eir lab or N o doub t on c e th ey
were bel o w groun d c onside r abl e
rents would b e charged for th e v e n
Workers
t ila t io n of the i r caverns
wh o stru ck w o rk woul d starve or b e
suffocated for arrears of ventila t or
r ent ; workers wh o were s o con sti
t u t ed as to b e miserabl e an d rebel
lious would di e In t h e end if th e
balance was h eld permanent th e
survivors would becom e a s well
adapte d to th e c on di t ions of their
subterranean lif e as th e overworld
,

THE S TRA NGE ANIMA L

I I

people were to theirs and as happy

in th eir way It seem ed to m e th at
the rened beauty of th e ove r world
and th e etiolated pallor of the lower
followed naturally enough
The great triumph of hum anity I
had dreamed of now took a di ff erent
shap e in m y mind It h ad been no
triumph of universal education and
general c o operation such as I h ad
imagined at the rst Instead I saw
a real aristo cracy armed with a p er
f ec ted science and workin g out t o a
logical conclusion t h e industrial sys
t em of to -day The triumph of th e
overworld humanity had not b een
simply a triumph over nature but a
t riumph over n ature and t heir fellow
men
I mu st warn you this was my
theory at th e time I had n o con
v enient C icerone on the pattern of
the U topian books M y explanation
m ay be absolutely wron g I still
think it th e most plausible on e B u t
even o n this supposition th e balanced
,

1 18

TH E

TIME

CHINE

M A

c i vili z ation that was at last a tt ained

m ust have lon g sinc e passed its
z enith and was now far gone i n de
cay
Th e too perfect sec urity of
th e overworl d had led th es e to a
slow m o vem en t of degen eration a t
last t o a general dwindling of s i z e
stren gth a nd intelligenc e
That I
already saw clearly enough b ut wh at
h ad happened to t he lower world I
did not yet su spect Y et from wh at
I had seen o f th e M o rlo c k s that by
th e bye was the n am e by which th ese

creatures were called I c ould im

agin e th e m odicat i o n o f th e hum an
type was far more profound in th e
und e rworld th an amon g th e E loi the
beautiful races that I already knew

Th en came som e t roublesom e

doubts
Why h ad th e M o rloc k s
taken my Tim e M achin e ! For I
felt sure th ese underpeople had taken
it
Why too if th e E loi were
m asters c o uld they no t restor e the
thin g to m e ! And why wer e th e
E loi so afrai d of the dark !
,

C H A PT E R Vlll

(th e w or locks

T m ay seem odd t o you bu t

i t was two days before I
could follo w up th e clew of
these M orlo c k s in what was m ani
f est ly th e proper way and descend
into th e we ll I felt a p eculiar shrink
i ng fro m the i r pallid bodies Th ey
were j ust th e half bl eached color o f
t h e worm s an d things one sees pre
served in sp i ri t in a z o olog i cal
museum And th ey were cold to t h e
touc h Pr obably my shrinkin g w as
largely du e t o th e sympathetic in u
enc e of th e E loi whose disgus t o f th e
M o rlo c k s I now began to appreciate
Th e n ext night I did n ot sleep very
well P ossibly my health was a little
disordered
I was oppressed with
doub t and pe rpl ex ity Once or twic e
,

1 20

THE

M OR L O CK S

12 !

I h ad a feeling of intens e fear fo r

w hich I c ould p erceive no denite
reason I rem ember creeping noise
lessly into the grea t h all wh ere t h e
little peopl e were sleeping in th e
m oonlight that night it was that
W eena was among them and feel
in g reassured by their presence It
occurred to m e even th en th at wh en
i n th e course of a few days the moon
passed through its last qu arter an d
th e nights became dark th e appear
ance of th ese unpleasant creatu re s
from below these whiten ed L emurs
these new vermin that had replaced
the old migh t b e more abundant

On both these days I had the rest

less feeling of on e wh o shirks an in
evitable duty I felt assured that th e
Time M achin e was only t o b e re
covered by boldly penetrating thes e
sub terranean mysteries Y et I could
not face it If I had only had a
companion it would h ave b een dif
f erent
But I was so horribly alon e
an d even to clamber down in to
.

12 2

TH E

TIME MA CHINE

the darkn e ss o f the w ell appall e d

me

I d o n t kn ow i f you w ill un d er
s tand my feeling b u t I n ever fel t
qui t e s af e a t my back

I t w as th is re stl e ss fe e lin g p er
h ap s th at d ro ve m e further than I had
h it h ert o gon e in my e x ploring expedi
t ions G o in g to t h e southwestward
toward t h e risin g cou n t ry th at is n o w
called C o mbe Wo o d I o bs e rved far
in th e directi o n o f nineteenth
o ff
cen t ury Bans t ead a v ast green pile
of a di ffe r en t charac t er from any I
h ad h it h erto seen
I t was larger
th an even th e largest of th e p alac e s
or ruins I knew an d th e fa cade ap
p eared to m e Oriental i n its charac t er
Th e fac e of i t h ad th e luster as well
as th e pale green tin t a k ind o f bluish
g r een o f a c ertain type of C hines e
p o rcelain Th e di ffe r ence i n appear
ance in t he buildin g suggest ed a dif
f er enc e in i t s u s e I was minde d to
pus h o n and ex pl o r e it Bu t th e day
w as g ro wing la te and I h ad c o me
.

THE TIME MA CHINE

12 4

f or the climbin g ho oks rathe r h as

t ily for I f e ared my courage mig ht
l eak away

At rs t W eena wa t ched m e in
amazemen t an d t hen sh e gave a mo st
piteous cry and runnin g to m e b e
gan to pull at m e with h er littl e
h ands I think h e r o pposition n erv e d
m e r ath er to proc eed I shook h e r
o ff perhap s a littl e roughly an d in
an o ther m oment I w as in th e th r oat
o f th e w ell
I saw her agoni z ed face ove r t he
parapet an d smiled t o r e assure her
Th e n I h ad t o look down a t th e un
stable hooks by which I h un g
I h ad to clamber down a shaft o f
p erhap s two hundred yards Th e
descent was e ffected by m ean s o f me
t allic bars proj ectin g fr o m th e sides
of th e well an d since t hey were
adap t ed to t h e needs o f a crea t ure much
smaller and ligh te r t h an myself I
w as speedily c r amp e d and fatigued
by th e de sc e n t And n ot sim ply
fa tigu ed M y weight su ddenly b en t
,

M OR L OCK S

TH E

I Z

o n e o f the h o oks an d alm o st swung

m e o ff it down into th e blackness
beneath
F o r a m omen t I hun g by on e h and
an d afte r that expe ri enc e I did n ot
dare to rest again an d th ough my
arms and b ack were presently acu t ely
p ainful I continued to clamber with
as quick a m otion as possible down
th e sheer descent G lan cin g upward
I saw th e aperture a m ere small blue
disk above m e in which a star was
'
visibl e and little W eena s h ead ap
p eared as a round black proj ection
The thuddin g sound of some m achine
below m e grew louder an d m ore
oppressive E verythin g save th a t
rninut e circle above was profoundly
dark Wh en I looked up agai n
Weena h ad disappeared
I was in an agony o f discomfort
I had som e th ought of tryin g t o go
u p th e sh aft again an d leave th e
u nderworld alon e But while I
turn ed this over in my mind I con
t in ned to descend
.

12

THE TIME MA CHINE

I t w as wit h intens e r e lief t hat I

saw dimly comin g up a foot to th e
rig h t of m e, a slender loophole in th e
wall o f t h e shaft and swinging myself
i n found it was th e aperture of a
n ar r ow horizontal tunnel in which I
c o uld lie down and rest

It was n o t too soon M y arms

ach ed m y back was cramp ed an d I
was t r emblin g with the prolon ged
fear of fallin g Besides this th e u n
broken darkness h ad h ad a distress
ing e ffect upon my eyes Th e air was
full of th e throbbin g and h um of th e
machinery t ha t pumpe d t h e air do w n
t h e s h aft
,

I do n o t know h ow lon g I lay in

th at tunnel I was rou sed by a soft
h and touchin g my f ace S t artin g up
i n th e darkn ess I sn a t ched at my
m atc h es an d hastily strikin g o n e saw
three g r o t esque white creatures simi
lar to th e one I h ad seen ab ove
ground in t h e ruin h astily retreatin g
b e fore th e light L ivin g as they did
.

12

THE TIME

M A

CHINE

of min e th e confused n oi s e of
m achinery grew louder and pres e ntly
th e walls fell away from m e an d I
c am e to a large Open space and s t rik
ing another m atch sa w I h ad en
t ered a vast arch ed cavern e x tending
into darkness at last bey o n d th e
range of my light
The view I had of this caver n was
as muc h as on e could see in th e burn
ing of a m atch
N e cessarily my
m em ory o f it is very vague G reat
shape s like big machines rose ou t of
th e dim an d threw grotesqu e black
shad o ws in which t he spectral M or
locks sheltered from th e glare The
place by th e bye was very stu ffy an d
oppressive and the faint a lztus of
freshly sh ed blo o d was in the air
Some way down th e central vista
was a little table of white m etal upon
which a m eal see med to be spread
The M o rlo c k s at any rat e were car
n iv o ro u s
E ven at the tim e I re
member thi nkin g w h at large animal
could h ave survived to furnish t h e
,

THE

r ed j oint I s aw

M OR L OCK S

12

I t was all very in

distinct th e heavy smell th e big un
meaning shapes the whit e gures
lurking in the shadows an d only
w ai ting f o r th e darkn e ss to com e at
m e again Th en the match burned
down an d stung my ngers and fell
a wrigglin g red spot in th e black

I have th ough t since h ow p artic u

When I
larly ill equipped I was
h ad started with the Tim e M achine I
had started with the absurd assump
tion that th e m en of the future would
c ertainly be innitely in front of u s
in all their appliances I h ad com e
withou t arms without m edicine with
o ut anything to smoke at times I
missed tob acco frightfully even
without enou gh matches If I had
only th ou ght of a k o d ak ! I could
have ash ed that glimpse o f the u n
d erw o rld in a second and examin ed
it at leisure But as it was I stood
th ere with only the weapons an d
powers that N ature had endowed me
w ith h ands feet and teeth e x cept
.

THE TIME

1 30

M A

CHINE

four safe t y m atches t ha t s t ill re

mained to m e
I was afraid t o push my way in
am o n g all this machinery in th e dark
an d it was only with my last glimpse
of ligh t I discovered th at my sto r e of
matches h ad run l o w I t had never
occurre d t o m e u ntil that m o ment
th at t h e r e was any n eed to econ o miz e
them an d I h ad wasted almost half
of th e b o x in astonishin g th e above
grou n d p eople to whom re w as a
novel t y As I say I had f o u r l eft
Then while I s t oo d in th e dark a
h and touc h ed mine then som e lank
ngers c am e feelin g o ve r my fac e
I was sensible of a dull unpleasan t
odor
I fancy I det e cted th e
breathing of a numbe r of th ose little
bein gs about m e I felt th e bo x of
matches in my hand bein g gently dis
engaged an d oth er h ands behind m e
pluckin g at my clothing

Th e s e nse of these unseen cr e a

tures e xamining m e was indescribably
unpleasant Th e sudden realization
.

THE TIME

1 32

MA CHINE

everal h ands again and th ere w as

n o mist ake n ow th at t h ey were tryin g
to draw me back I stru ck another
ligh t an d waved it in th eir daz zled
faces Y ou can scarcely imagin e
h ow nauseatingly inhuman those pale
chinless faces and great lidless
pinkish gray eyes seemed as they
stared stupidly evidently blinded by
th e ligh t

So I gain ed tim e a nd retreated

again an d when my seco nd match
had end ed stru ck my third That
h ad alm ost burned th rou gh as I
r each ed t h e openi ng of the tunnel
upon th e well I lay d own on the
edge for t h e throbbing whirl of the
air pumping machine below m ade m e
giddy and felt sid eways for the pro
i
s
h
ooks
As
I
did
c
n
o my feet
e
t
g
j
were grasped from b ehind and I was
violently tugged backward I lit my
last m atch and it incontinently
went out But I had my h and on
th e climbing bars now and kicking
violently disengaged myself from th e

TH E

MORL OCK S

1 33

clutch e s o f the M o rlo c k s, and was

speedily clambering up t h e s h aft
again
They remained peerin g and blink
ing up the shaft excep t on e little
wretch w h o follo w ed m e for som e
way an d i ndeed well nigh captured
my boot as a trophy
That upward climb seemed unend
ing While I still had the last t wenty
o r thirty feet of it above m e a deadly
nausea came upon m e I h ad th e
greatest difculty in keepin g my hold
Th e last few yards was a frightful
struggle against this faintness
Several times my head swam an d I
felt all th e s ensation s of falling

At last I got over the well mouth

s omehow an d staggere d out of th e
r uin into th e blinding sunlight I fell
u pon my face
E ven the soil seemed
sweet and clean
Then I remember Ween a kissing
my hands and ears an d th e voices of
others of th e E loi Th en probably I
w as insensible for a t im e
.

C H A P T E R lx
.

W h en t h e

mig h t

Game

OW indeed I seemed t o b e
in a worse cas e th an before
H itherto excep t durin g my
night s an guish at th e l oss o f th e
Time M achine I h ad fel t a sustai n
ing h ope of ultim ate escap e but my
hope was staggered by thes e n ew
discoveries H itherto I h ad m erely
thought myself impeded by th e child
ish simplicity of the little people and
by som e unknown forces which I had
only to understand in order t o ov e r
c ome But t here was an altogether
new e lemen t i n th e sickening quality
of th e M o rlo c k s s omethin g inhuman
and m align Instinctively I loa th ed
t hem B efo re I had felt as a m an
migh t feel wh o had fallen into a pit
my c o ncer n w as w it h the p it and
,

3 34

THE TIME

r3 6

MA CHINE

th eir m echanical servants bu t t h a t

state of a ffairs had p assed away lon g
since The two species tha t had re
sult ed from th e evolution of m an were
slidin g down toward o r had already
arrived at an altogeth er new relation
ship Th e E loi like the C arlov i ng i an
kings h ad decayed to a mere beau t i
ful futility Th ey still possessed th e
earth on sufferan ce since the M or
l o cks subterran ean for innum erable
gen eration s h ad come at last to nd
t he dayli t surface unendurabl e And
the M o rlo c k s mad e th eir garments
I inferred an d main taine d th em i n
t h eir habitu al n eed p erhaps through
the survival of an o ld h abit o f ser
vic e Th ey did it as a standing
ho rse paws with his fo o t o r as a m an
en j oys killin g animals in sport b e
cause ancien t and d eparted nec essi
ties had impressed it on the organism
But clearly th e old order was already
in part reversed Th e N em esis of
t he delicate ones was creepin g on
Ag e s ago thou sands o f
apac e
,

WHEN

THE NIGH T

CA ME

137

generations ago man h ad thrust h is

brother m an out of the ease and sun
ligh t of life And now that b roth er

was comin g back chan ged Already

the E loi h ad begun to learn on e old
lesson anew Th ey were becomin g
acquainted again with Fear

Then suddenly c am e in to my
h ead th e m em ory of th e m eat I h ad
seen in the underworld It s eemed
odd how this memory oated in to my
m ind not stirred up as it were by
the current of my meditations but
c oming in almost like a qu estion
from outside I tried to recall th e
form of i t I h ad a vagu e s ense of
som ething familiar but at th at time
I could not tell what it was
S till h owever helpless th e little
peopl e migh t b e in th e presence of
th eir mysterious Fear I was di ffer
ently con stituted I cam e out of
t his age of ou rs this rip e prim e of
th e human race wh en fear does no t
p aralyz e and mystery has lo st its
t errors
I at least would d efen d
,

THE TIME

138

mys e lf

MA CHINE

W it hout further delay I de

t ermined t o m ak e myself arms and
a fastness wh e re I migh t sleep with
s o m e s ecurity From t h at refug e as
a b ase I could face the stran ge w o rld
w ith som e c ond e nce again a c o n
d ence I had los t n ow th at I realized
to w h a t uncanny creatures I ni ghtly
lay e x posed I felt I could neve r
sl e ep again u ntil my bed was secure
fr o m them I shuddered with h orror
to think h ow they m ust already h ave
examin ed m e d uring my sleep

I wan dered during th e afterno o n

al o n g t he valley of the Th ame s bu t
found n othin g that comm ended i tself
t o my min d as a su fciently inac c es
sible retiring place A ll th e bu ild
i ngs and t r ees s eemed easily p rac t i
cabl e t o such d e x terous climbers as

r
t h e M o lo c k s to j udge by th eir
w ells mu st b e Then th e tall pin
nac les o f t h e P alace of G reen P o rc e
lain and th e polish ed gleam of its
w alls cam e back to my memory and
i n t h e evenin g taking Ween a lik e a
o

THE TIME MA CHINE

1 40

leas t s h e u t il i zed th e m for th a t pur

p ose

An d that r e min ds m e ! As I
c h anged my j acke t I fou nd
.

(T ire

T i me T ra veler pa used, p a t I zzs

I za nd i nto M

'

tw o w zt/zered

la rg e
table

'

w /I zle

pocket,

a nd S ilentl
y

ow ers
Ti m/!0 20 5

T ea b e

placed

not unlike 21e

t/ze li ttle
p
resumed t s na rra
,

u on

li ve )
.

As t h e h ush of evening crep t o ver

th e wo rld and we proceeded over th e
hill cres t toward Wimbledon W e en a
b ecam e tired an d wan t ed t o return
t o th e h ous e of gray s tone But I
p ointed ou t th e distant pinnacles of
th e P alac e of G reen P orcelain to her
and c on t rived t o m ake h e r under
stan d th a t we w ere se e k i ng a refuge
the re fr om h e r Fear

Y ou kn o w that great paus e tha t

c omes up o n th ings b efore t h e dusk
E ven t he breeze stops in th e trees
Th e r e i s to m e always an air of e x
p ec t at io n abou t th at evening stillness
Th e sky was clear, rem o te and empty
-

WHEN THE NIGH T CA ME

141

sav e for a few horizon t al bars fa r

dow n in th e sunset

Tha t nigh t the expectation t ook

the color of my fears In th e dark
ling calm my senses seem ed preter
n aturally sharpened
I fancied I
could even feel the h ollown ess of the
ground beneath my feet could ind eed
almost see through it th e M o rlo c k s in
their ant hill going hither and thithe r
an d w aiting for th e dark In this
excited st ate I fancied th at they
would take m y invasion of their bur
rows as a declaration of war An d
why had th ey t aken my Tim e M a
chine

S o we went on in the quie t and

th e twiligh t deepened into nigh t
The clear blue of th e distance faded
and on e star after another came o ut
The ground grew dim and th e trees
black W eena s fears and her fatigue
grew upon h er I took h er in my
arms and talked to her and caressed
her Th en as the darkness grew
profounder sh e pu t h e r arms roun d
.

THE TIME

1 42

M A

CHINE

my n eck and closing her eyes tightly

p ressed her fac e against my shoulder
We went down a long slop e into
a valley an d there i n th e dimn ess I
almost walked into a li ttle river This
I waded an d wen t up t he opposite
side o f the valley pas t a number of
sleeping houses an d by a statue tha t
appeared t o m e in t h e indist i nc t light
to represent a faun o r som e such g
ure minus th e h ead H ere too were
acacias S o far I h ad seen nothing
of th e M o rlo c k s but i t was ye t early
in the nigh t and th e darker h ours
before th e ol d mo o n r o se were still
to com e
From the bro w of th e n e xt h ill I
s aw a thick wood spreadin g wide and
blac k before m e At this I h esitated
I could s ee no end to i t either to t he
right or t o th e left Feeling tired
m y feet in particular were very s ore
I carefully lowered Weena from
my shoulder as I h alted and sat
down upon th e turf I could n o
longer see th e P al a ce of G reen P o r
,

THE TIME

1 44

MA CHINE

sense of frien dly comfort in t h e i r

twinkling All th e old constell ations
h ad gon e from th e sky h owever for
that slow m ovement th at is imper
c ep t ib le in a dozen hum an lifetimes
had lon g ago rearranged th em in u n
familiar groupings But th e M ilky
Way i t seemed to m e was still th e
sam e tattered streamer of star dust
as of yore S outhward as I j udged
i t was a very brigh t red star tha t
was new to m e It was even m ore
sp le ndid than our own green Sirius
Ami d all th ese scin tillatin g poi n t s of
light on e pl anet shone kin dly an d
steadily like the face o f an old
friend
L ooking at t h es e stars suddenly
dwarfed my own troubles an d all the
gravities of terrestrial life I though t
of th eir u nfathomable distance an d
th e slow inevitable drift of their
m ovements out of th e u nknown pas t
into th e unkn own fu ture I though t
o f th e great precessional cycle that
th e pol e of th e earth d escrib e s in th e
.

WHEN THE NIGH T

CA ME

145

h e avens Only forty times h ad t h at

silen t revolution occurred during all
th e years I had traversed An d dur
ing those few revolutions all the
activity all the traditions th e c are
fully planned organizations t he n a
tions languages literature aspira
tions even the m ere memory of m an
as I knew man h ad been swept out
of existence Instead were thes e
frail creatures who h ad forgotten
their high ancestry and th e white
animals of which I wen t in fear
Then I thou gh t of th e great fear
there was between these two species
and for th e rst time with a sudden
shiver came th e clear kn owledge of
what the m eat I had seen migh t b e
Y et it was too horrible
I looked a t
littl e Ween a sleepin g beside m e h er
face white an d starlike under th e
stars an d forthwith dismissed th e
though t from my mind
Through th at long night I kep t
my mind off th e M o rlo c k s as well as
I could and whiled away th e time by
.

THE TIME

1 46

MA CHINE

trying t o fancy I coul d n d t races o f

the ol d constellations among th e new
confusion Th e sky kept very clear
except a h azy cloud or so N o doub t
I dozed at times Th en as my vigil
wore on cam e a faintness in th e east
ward sky like th e r eection o f some
colorles s re an d th e old moon rose
thin and peaked and white An d
close b ehind and overtakin g it and
overflowing i t th e dawn cam e pale
a t rs t and then growing pink and
warm
N o M o rlo c k s h ad approached u s
I ndeed I had seen n on e upon t h e
hill that night And in th e c o n
den ce of renewed d ay it almost
seemed to m e that my fe ar had been
unreasonable I stood up and found
my foot with th e loose heel swolle n
at th e ankle an d painful under th e
h eel I sat down again took off my
shoes and ung them away
I awaken ed Weena and forthwith
we went down into th e wood now
green and pleasant instead of black
.

THE TIME

1 48

MA CHINE

m o t e than ou r c annibal ancestors

of three or fou r th ousand ye ars ago
And the minds that would have made
t his s tate torment were gone
Why
should I trouble ! The E loi were
m ere fatted cattle which th e an t like
M o rlo c k s preserved and preyed u pon
probably saw to t h e breeding of
An d there was We e na dancing by
m y side V

Then I trie d to p r ese rv e myself

fr o m the horror th at was comin g
upon m e by regardin g it as a rigor
ous punishm ent of human selsh
ness m an h ad been conten t to live
i n ease and delight upon the labors
o f his fellow men h ad taken N ec es
and excus e
sity as his watchword
and in fullness of time N ecessity had
com e home to him I tri ed even a
C arlyle like scorn of these wretched
aristocrats in decline
But this attitud e of min d was i m
possible H owever great th eir intel
lectual degradation th e E loi had
kep t too m uch o f th e hum an form
.

WHEN THE NIGH T

CA ME

1 49

n ot to claim my sympathy and to

make m e perforce a participan t in
their degradation and th eir Fear

I h ad at this time very vagu e

ideas o f what course I should pu rsu e
M y rst idea was to secure som e
safe place of refuge for Ween a and
myself an d to make mys elf su ch
arms of metal or ston e as I could
contrive
Th at n ecessity was im
mediate In th e next place I hop ed
to procu re som e mean s of re s o
th at I sh ould h ave the weapon of a
torch at hand for nothing I kn ew
would be more e fcient agains t t h ese
Then I wanted to ar
M o rlo c k s
range som e contri vance to b reak
open th e doors of bronze u n d er t h e
white sphinx I had in mind a bat
tering ram I had a p ersuasion th a t
if I could enter these d oors an d carry
a blaz e of ligh t b efore m e I should
dis cover th e Time M ach ine and
escape I could not imagine th e
M o rlo c k s were powerful en ough to
remove it far Ween a I had re
,

THE TIME

r5 0

MA CHINE

solved to bring with m e t o o u r own

Tim e

Tu rning such schemes over in

my min d I pursued our way toward
the buildin g which my fancy had
ch o sen as ou r d w elling plac e
.

THE TIME

r5 2

MA CHINE

Th e m aterial of t h e P alac e
proved on examination to b e in
deed porcelain and above th e fac e
of it I saw an inscription in som e
u nknown ch aracters
I thou gh t
rather fo o lishly that Ween a migh t
h elp m e to interpret this bu t I only
learn ed t hat th e bare idea of w ritin g
h ad n ever entered her h ead
She
always seem ed t o m e I fancy m ore
h uman than sh e was perhaps b e
cause h er a ffection was so human

Within th e big valve s of th e

door which were op en and broken
w e found instead of th e cust o mary
h all , a lon g gallery lit by many sid e
w indows E ven at th e rs t glanc e I
was reminded o f a mu seum
The
tiled oor was thick with dust an d a
r emarkabl e array of miscellan eo us
obj ects were sh rouded in t h e sam e
gray covering
C learly t h e place
h ad b een derelict for a very c o nsid
c rable time
Th e n I perceived , s t anding strange
and g uant i n th e c en t e r o f the h all,
,

A LA CE

GREEN PORCEL A IN

OF

S3

wh a t w as clearly t he lower part of t he

skelet o n of som e huge anim al As I
.

approached this I recognized by th e

o bliqu e feet that i t was som e extinct
c r eature after th e fashion of th e me
a
e
m
r
t

a
Th e skull and th e upper
i
g
bones lay b eside i t in t h e t hick dust
an d in on e place wh ere rain water
h ad dripped through som e leak i n
t h e roof th e skeleton had decayed
away Further alo ng th e gallery was
th e h uge skeleton barrel of a Oranlo
sa a rus
M y mus e um h ypoth esis was
c o nrm e d G oin g toward th e side of
th e gallery I found what appeared to
b e slopin g sh elves an d clearing away
t h e th ick dust I found the old famil
iar glass cases of our own time But
t h e se must have been air tight to j udge
fr o m the fair preservation of some of
t h eir contents
C learly we stood amon g th e ruins
of som e latter day South K ensington
H ere apparently was th e P alaeo nto
logic al S e ction and a very splendid
arr ay o f fo ssils it mu st h ave been
.

THE T IME

r5 4

MA CHINE

tho ug h t h e i n e v it abl e p r o cess o f

decay that had been warded o ff for a
tim e an d had through t h e ex t in ction
of bac t eria and fungi los t ninety
nine h und reth s of its forc e was
n e ver t heless with extreme sureness
if wit h ex t rem e slowness at w o rk
again up o n all its treasures H ere
an d t h ere I foun d traces of th e littl e
p e o pl e in t he sh ap e o f ra r e fossils
br o ken to pieces or threade d i n
st ri n gs upon r eeds And th e cases
h ad in som e i nstances b een bodily
r e moved b y the M o rlo c k s as I
j udg e d

Th e plac e w as very sil e n t T he

t hick d ust dead e n e d o ur foo t s t eps
W e e na who h ad been rolling a s e a
urc h in d o wn t h e slop i ng glass o f a
case presently cam e as I stared abo u t
m e and v er y quietly to ok my h and
an d st oo d beside m e
A t rst I was s o m u ch surp ri s e d
by t h is anci en t m o numen t o f an ln
t ellec tual age th a t I gave n o thought
to the possib il it ies i t p r es e n te d m e
,

THE T IME

r5 6

MA CHINE

c o n te n t s of th a t plac e , t houg h o n th e
who le they were the b est preserved
o f all I saw I h ad little in t erest I
am n o sp e cial i s t in mineralogy and I
s o o n w ent on d own a very ruinou s
aisle running parallel to th e rs t hal l
I h ad entered
Apparently this sec t ion h ad b een
devoted t o N atural H istory b ut h ere
every thing had l o n g sinc e passed ou t
o f recogni t i o n
A few shriveled
ves t iges of wha t had on ce been
s t u ffed anim als dried up mummies
in j ars th at h ad o nce held spirit a
brown du st of d eparted plants that
w as all I w as sorry for th is b ecause
I sh ould have been glad to trace th e
patien t r e ad j ustments by which t h e
conquest of animat e d n at ur e h ad
b een at t ain ed
From thi s w e com e t o a gallery of
simply colossal proportions b ut sin g u
larly ill lit and w ith its oor ru nning
do w nward at a slight an gle from th e
e n d at which I entered i t At inter
vals t h e re h ung white gl o b e s from
.

A L A CE

GREEN P OR

OF

CE L A I I V

157

th e ceiling many of them cracked

and smashed which suggested that
o rigin ally the place had been artic i
ally lit H ere I was m ore in my ele
m ent for I found rising on either
side of me th e huge bulks of big m a
chines all greatly corroded and many
broken down but som e still fairly
complete in all th ei r parts Y ou
know I have a c e rt ain weakness f or
m ech anism an d I was inclined to
lin ger among th ese th e more s o sinc e
for the most part they had th e inter
est o f puzzles and I coul d make
only th e vaguest guesses of wh a t
they were for I fan cied if I could
solve th ese puzzles I should n d
myself in th e possession o f powers
th at migh t be o f use agains t t he M or
lo cks
S udd enly Weena came very cl o se
t o my side s o suddenly that s h e
startled m e

H ad it not been fo r h e r I d o
n o t think I should h ave n oticed tha t
th e oor of the gallery slop e d a t
,

158

TIME MA CHINE

TH E

all The en d I h ad en tered was qu i t e

above ground an d was lit by rare
slit like win dows As one went d own
th e length o f th e place th e groun d
c ame u p against these windows un
til there was at last a pit like th e
area of a L ondon h ouse b e for e
each an d only a n arrow line of day
light at th e top I wen t slowly al o ng
puzzling about th e m achines an d had
b een too intent u pon them to notic e
th e gradual diminution of th e light
until W eena s increasing appreh en
si o n at tracted my atten tion
Then I saw that th e gallery ran
down at las t int o a thick d arkness
I h esitated abou t proce eding an d
then as I looked aroun d m e I s aw
that t h e d ust was h ere less abundan t
an d its surface less even Further
away toward th e dim it appeared t o
be broken by a number of small n ar
r ow footprints At t hat my sens e of
!

It
S lo p e,

may be

b ut th at t h e

th e side

of

th at th e oo rd id not
museu m w as b uilt upo n

o f cour
se ,

t h e h uh E di tor

THE TIME

6O

MA CHINE

I j udged for any M orl o c k s k ull

,

migh t encounter

An d I lon ged very mu c h to kill

a M orlock or s o
V ery inhuman
you m ay think t o wan t to go killin g
on e s own descen dants but i t was
impossibl e s omehow to feel any
hum anity i n th e things
Only m y
disinclination to leave Weena an d a
persu asion that if I began t o slake
my thirst for murd e r my T i m e M a
chin e might suffer res t rained m e f r om
goin g straigh t down th e gallery and
killing th e brutes I h eard there
M ace in on e hand an d Ween a in
t h e oth er we wen t ou t of that gall ery
an d into another still larger which at
th e rst glanc e reminde d m e of a
m ilitary chapel h un g with tat t ered
ags Th e brow n an d ch a r red rags
that hun g from th e side s of i t I
presently recogni z ed as th e d ecaying
vestiges of b ooks
They had long
since dropp ed to pieces an d every
semblanc e of print had left t h em
But here and th ere were warped an d
.

PA L A CE

OF GREEN P OR

C E L A I ZV

161

cracked b oards and metallic clasp s

t h at told th e tale well enough
H ad I been a literary man I migh t
p e rh aps h ave m oralized upon th e
futility of all ambition bu t as it was
th e th o ught that struck me with
keen est forc e was the enormou s
waste o f labor rath er than of hope to
which this somber gallery of rottin g
paper testied At th e tim e I will
confess though it s eem s a p etty
t rait now th at I though t chiey of
th e P hilosophical Transaction s and
my own seven teen papers upon
physical optics
Then goin g up a broad staircase
w e cam e to what may once have been
a gallery of technical ch emistry
And here I h ad not a little hop e of
discovering somethin g to h elp m e
E xcept at on e end where th e roof
h ad collapsed this galle ry was well
preserved I went eagerly t o every
unbroken case And at last in on e
of th e really air tight cases I found a
b ox of m atches
V ery eagerly I
.

THE TIME

1 62

t rie d t hem

MA CHINE

They were p erfectly

good They were not ev e n d amp

A t th at discovery I suddenly
t urned t o Weena
D ance
I cried
t o he r in h e r o wn tongue Fo r now
I h ad a weapon indeed agains t t h e
h orribl e c r eatures we feared An d
s o in tha t derelict mu seum upon th e
t hi ck s o ft coating of dust , to W eena s
h uge d e ligh t I solemnly p e rform ed
a sor t of composite dance whistlin g
Th e L and of the L eal as ch eer
f ully as I could In part i t was a
modes t cancan in part a step dance
i n part a skirt dance so far as my
t ail coa t permit t ed and in part
original For n a t urally I am inven
t ive as y o u know
N o w I still t h in k t h at f o r this bo x
of matches t o h ave escap e d th e wear
of tim e for imm em orial years was a
strange and for m e a mo st fortun ate
thin g Y e t oddly en o ugh I found
he re a far m ore unlikely substance
and that was camph o r I found it in
a sealed j ar that by c h anc e I sup
.

THE TIME

1 64

MA CHINE

I cannot t ell you th e wh ole s to ry

of my exploration through th at long
afternoon I t would requ ire a gre at
e ffort of memory to recall i t at all in
th e proper order I rememb er a long
gallery containing th e rusting stands
o f arms of all ages an d th at I hesi
t a ted between my crowbar and a
hatchet or a sword
I could n o t
carry both however and m y bar of
iron after all promise d bes t agains t
t h e b ronz e gate s There were ru sty
gun s pistols an d ries here m ost of
them were masses of rust but many
of aluminum and still fairly s o un d
But any cartridges or powder t h er e
m ay h ave been had rotted into du st
One corn er I saw was charred an d
sh atte r ed perhaps I though t by an
ex plosi o n among th e specimens
t h ere In another place was a vast
array of idols P olynesian M exican
G recian P h oenician every country
on e arth I should think An d here
yieldin g to an irresistible impuls e I
w rote my n am e upon the n ose of a
.

PA L A

CE

0 F

GREEN P OR CEL AIN

1 65

steatite monste r from South Am eri ca

that particularly took my fancy
As the eveni ng drew on my inter
est waned I w e nt t h rough gallery
after gallery dusty silent often ruin
ous the exhibits s o me t imes mere heaps
of rust and lignite sometimes fresher
In on e place I suddenly found my
self n ear a m odel of a tin min e and
then by th e m erest accident I dis
covered in an air tight case two dyna
mit e cartridges ; I shouted E ureka
and smashed th e case j oyfully Then
cam e a doubt I h esitated and then
selecting a little side gallery I m ad e
my essay I never felt such a bitter
disappointmen t as I did then wait
in g ve ten fteen minu tes for th e
explosio n that never came O f
course th e things were dummies as I
migh t h ave guessed fr o m t h eir pres
ence there I really beli e ve had they
n ot been so I should h ave ru shed o ff
incontinently th ere and then an d
blown sphinx bronze doors and as
it proved my ch ances of nding th e
.

THE T IME

66

MA CHINE

Tim e M ach i ne all to g e t h er i n t o n o n

existence

It w as after th a t I th i nk th a t we
came to a li t tle open c ourt within
the palace turfed and with th re e
fruit t rees There i t was we rested
and r efreshed ourselves

T o wa r d sunse t I b egan to con

sider our position N igh t was n o w
c reeping up o n u s and my inaccessi
bl e hiding plac e was still to be found
Bu t th at troubled m e very littl e now
I had in my possession a thing that
was perhaps th e best of all defenses
against th e M o rlo c k s I had matches
again I also had th e camph or in m y
p ocket if a blaze were required It
seemed to m e th at t h e best t hing we
could do w ould be t o pass the nigh t
in t he O pen again p rotected by a re
In th e morning there was th e
T i me M achin e to ob tain Toward
that as yet I h ad only my i ron m ace
Bu t now with my growing knowledge
I felt very di fferently toward the
br o n z e doors t han I h ad don e
.

C H A P TE R

Xl

I n th e D ar kness of t h e f ores t

E em erged from th e

P alace of

G reen P orcelain

while the
su n was still in part above
th e h ori z on
I was determin ed t o
reach th e white sphinx early th e
ne xt m ornin g and I proposed before
th e dusk cam e to pu sh through t h e
woods th at had stopped m e on th e
previou s j ourney
M y plan was t o
go as far as p ossibl e that n igh t and
then buildin g a re ab out u s to
sleep under t h e protecti o n of its
glare Accordin gly as we wen t along
I gathered any sticks or dried grass I
s aw an d presen tly h ad my arm s full
of such litter
S o loaded ou r prog
ress was slower than I had antici
pated and b esides Weena was tired
I , too b egan to su er from sleepi
.

68

IN THE DA RKNESS OF THE FOR ES T

69

ness and it was fully nigh t before we

reached t he wood

N ow upon the shrubby hill upon

the edge of this Weena would h ave
stopped , fearing t h e darkness before
us But a singular s en se of impend
in g calamity that should indeed have
s e rved m e as a warnin g drove m e
on w ard I had b een withou t sleep
for the length of a night and two
days and I was feverish and irritable
I felt sleep comin g u p o n m e and
w ith it th e M o rlo c k s

While w e h esitated I saw am on g

th e bushes up th e slop e behind us
and dim against the sky three
crouching gures Th ere was scrub
and long grass all abou t us an d I
did no t feel safe from their insidious
approach The f o rest I calculated
w as rath er less than a mile in
breadth
I f we could ge t th rough
i t the hillside beyond was bare and
t o m e it seem e d an altogeth er safer
resting place
I thought t ha t with
m y m at ch e s and t h e campho r I c o uld
,

'

THE T IME MA CHINE

1 70

con t r i ve t o keep m y p ath illum i na t ed

through th e woods Y et it was evi
d e nt that if I was t o our i sh m atches
with m y hands I should h ave t o
abandon my rewood
S o ra t her
reluc t antly I pu t t his down

Then i t cam e i n t o m y h ead th a t I

would amaze our friends b ehind by
lightin g i t U ltim ately I was to dis
cover t he atrocious folly of this pr o
c eeding bu t j ust then it cam e t o my
min d as an ingenious m ov e for cov e r
i ng ou r re t reat

I don t kn o w i f y o u hav e eve r

t ho ugh t w h at a rar e t h ing in th e
absenc e o f man an d in a temperate
clima t e , am e s mu st b e Th e su n s
h ea t is rarely strong enough to burn
even wh e n fo cussed by dewd rops as
is s o met i m e s th e case in m ore t ropical
dist r icts L igh t ning may blas t and
blacken , bu t i t rarely gives rise t o
wi despread r e
D ecaying vege t a
ti on m ay occasionally smoulder with
t h e h ea t o f its fermen t ation bu t this
aga i n r a r ely r e sults i n am es N o w ,
.

THE TIME

r7 2

MA CHINE

dering agains t th e stem s

O ver h ead
i t was simply black e x c e p t wh e n
h ere an d th ere a gap of rem ot e blu e
sky sh on e d own upon m e
I lit
n one o f my m atch es because I h ad
n o hand free
U pon m y lef t arm I
carried my little on e in m y right h and
I h ad th e iron b ar I h ad wrenc he d
fr om th e m achin e

For som e way I h eard n o thing

b ut th e crackling t w igs under my feet
the fain t rustle of t he b ree z e above
and my b rea t hin g and th e t hrob of
th e blood vessels in my ears
Then I
seem ed to h ear a p a t terin g abou t m e
I pus h ed on grim ly The p atter
ing becam e m ore distinct and then
I heard th e sam e qu eer s ounds and
voices I had heard b ef o re in th e
u nderworld Th ere were eviden t ly
seve r al o f th e M o rloc k s an d t h ey
w ere closing in upon m e
In anothe r m inute I fel t a t ug a t
m y c o at th e n som ething at my arm
Ween a shivered violently an d b ecam e
quite still
.

,
,

IN THE D A

R K N E S S OF

THE FORES T

r7 3

It w as tim e fo r a mat c h
Bu t t o
ge t at t hat I must pu t h er d own
I
did s o and imm ediately as I fumbled
with my p ocket a struggle began in
th e darkn ess about m y kn ees p er
f ec t ly silent on h er part an d with th e
sam e p eculiar cooin g sou nds on the
part of th e M o rlo c k s S oft little
hands t o o w ere creeping over my c o a t
and back t ouchin g even m y neck

The m atch scratched an d z z ed

I held it aring and imm ediately th e
white b acks of th e M o rlo c k s becam e
vi sible as they ed amid th e trees
I hastily t ook a lump of camph or
from my pocke t an d prepared to
light i t as soon as th e match w aned

Then I looked at Weena

Sh e
was lying clutchin g my feet an d
quite m otionl ess with he r face to th e
groun d With a sudden fright I
stooped to her She seem ed scarcely
t o breathe I lit th e block of cam
ph or and un g it to the groun d and
as it spi t and ared u p an d drove
back th e M o rlo c k s and th e shadows

THE TIME MA CHINE

1 74

I knel t d own an d lifted u p Ween a

The wood behin d seem ed full o f

th e s tir and m urm ur of a great com
pany of c reatu re s

Apparently sh e h ad fainte d
I
put h er c arefully upon my shoulder
and r ose to push on an d t h en cam e
a horrible realiz ation

While m an euvering with m y

m atc h es an d Weena I had turned
myself ab ou t s everal tim es an d now
I had not th e faintest idea in what
direction m y p ath lay F or all I
kn ew I migh t b e facing back toward
t h e P alace of G reen P orce lain

I fou nd myself in a cold p erspira

t ion I h ad to think rapidly what t o
do
I determined to build a re and
encamp where we were
I pu t th e
m otionless Ween a down upon a t urfy
bole V ery h astily as m y rst lum p
of camphor waned I began collectin g
sticks and l eaves

H ere and there ou t of th e d a rk

ness roun d m e th e eyes of th e M or
locks shone like carbuncles
.

THE TIME MA CHINE

1 76

o ne dead
I could n ot even sa t isfy
m yself whether or not sh e breathed

N ow th e sm oke of th e re beat
over toward m e and it mus t have
m ade m e suddenly heavy
M ore
over t h e vapor of camphor was in
the air M y re would no t w an t
replenishing for an hour or so I
felt very weary after m y exertion an d
sat down
The wood too was full
of a slumberou s murmu r t h a t I did
not u nderstan d
.

I s eem ed m erely to n od and open

m y eyes Then i t was all dark
aroun d m e an d t h e M o rloc k s h ad
their hands up o n m e
Flingin g o ff
their clingin g n gers I hastily fel t i n
m y pocket for the m atch box and
it had gone ! Then th ey gripped
an d cl o sed with m e again

In a m om ent I knew wha t h ad

happened
I h ad slept , and m y re
h ad gone ou t an d the bittern es s of
death cam e over my soul
Th e
fores t seem ed full of th e sm ell of
.

IN THE D A

R KN E S S OF

THE FORES T

77

burning wood I was caught by th e

neck by the hair by t h e arm s an d
pulled down
It was indescribably
h orrible in th e darkn ess t o feel all
these s o ft creatures h eaped upon m e
I felt as if I was in a m onstrou s
spider s web
I was o verpo w ered
D own I went

I felt som e little teeth nipping

at my neck Abruptly I rolled over
and as I did so my h and c am e again st
my iron lever Som ehow this gave
m e strength for another eff ort
I
stru ggled up shakin g off these human
rats from m e and then holding the
bar short I thru st wh e re I j udged
their faces might be I could feel
t he succulent giving of esh and bone
un der m y blows an d for a mom en t
I was free

Th e strange e x ultation that so

often seem s to accompany gh ting
cam e upon m e I kn ew that both I
and Weena were lost but I deter
mined to m ake th e M o rlo c k s pay for
t h eir m ea t
I stood with my back to
.

THE TIME

78

MA CHINE

a tr ee swinging the iron bar before

m e Th e whole wood was full of t h e
s ti r and cries of them

A minu te p assed Their voices

seemed to ris e to a high e r pitch of
e x citem en t and th eir m ovem ents b e
cam e fas ter Y e t non e cam e wi t h i n
r each of m e I stood glaring at th e
blackness
Then suddenly cam e
h op e

Wha t if the M o rlo c k s h ad n o

c o u rage !

An d close o n th e heels of t ha t
c am e a s t ran ge thing Th e darkn ess
s eem ed to grow luminous
V ery
dimly I b egan t o see the M o rlo c k s
abou t m e three , battered a t my feet
an d then I p erceived with inc red
ulo u s surpris e th at t h e others we r e
ru nning in an incessan t stream as
i t seem ed to m e from behind m e
and away throu gh th e wood in front
of m e And their backs seem ed n o
l o nger w h ite bu t reddish

Then as I st o od agape I saw

ac ro ss a gap of starligh t be t w e en
.

THE TIME

1 80

MA CHINE

c am e blun dering t oward m e an d

passed m e and wen t on straight
into th e re

An d n ow I was t o se e the m os t
weird and h orrible sc ene I think
of all th at I beheld i n tha t fu tu re
age

Th i s wh ol e space was as brigh t as

d ay with th e reection of the re
In t he center was a sm all hillock or
tumulus s u rm ounted by a scorch ed
h awth orn
Beyond this h ill was
anoth er arm of th e burning forest
from which yellow to ngues were
al ready writhing and completely
encircling th e space with a fe nce of
re
U pon the hillside were per
hap s thirty or forty M o rlo c k s dazzled
by th e ligh t an d heat of the re
which was n ow very bright an d h ot
blundering h ither and thither against
each oth er i n their bewilderm en t
At rst I did not realiz e th eir blind
n ess and stru ck furiously at them
with my bar in a frenzy of fear as
th ey approac h ed m e killing on e and
,

IN THE DA RK NESS OF THE FOR ES T

81

crippli n g several others Bu t wh en

I had watched the gestures of on e of
them groping u nder th e hawthorn
against th e re d sky an d h eard th e
m oans to which they all gave vent I
was assured of their absolu te h elp
lessness an d refrained from striking
any of them again Y et every now
and then on e woul d com e straight
toward m e setting loose a qui verin g
horror that m ade m e quick to elu de
him At on e tim e the am es die d
down somewhat and I feared these
foul creatures woul d presently be
able t o see m e and I was even think
ing o f begi n ning th e gh t by kill
i ng som e of them before this should
happ en bu t the re burst out again
brightly an d I stayed my hand I
walked abou t the hill among them
and avoiding them lookin g for som e
trace of Weena bu t I found nothin g

At last I sat down upon the sum

mit of the hillock and watched this
strange incredible company of th e
blind , groping t o an d fro an d mak
.

THE TIME MA CHINE

1 82

ing uncanny n oises t o one an o ther

as the glare of the re b eat upon
them The coiling upru sh of smoke
streamed across the sky and t hrough
t he rare tatters of that red canopy
rem ote as though they b elonged t o
another universe shon e th e littl e
stars Two or three M o rlo c k s cam e
blunde r ing into m e an d I drove them
o ff , t remblin g my self as I did so
w it h blows of my sts
For th e m os t
of th a t nigh t I was persuaded i t
was a n ightmare I bit myself and
scream ed alou d i n a passionate d e
sire to awake
I b eat o n th e groun d
with my h ands and got u p and sat
down again , and wandered here an d
there an d agai n s at down on th e
crest of th e hill Then I would fall
to rubbing my eyes and calling upo n
G o d to let m e awake
Thrice I saw
M o rlo c k s pu t their heads down in a
kind of agony and rush in to th e
ames
Bu t at last above th e sub
siding red of th e re ab ove the
st r eaming m asses of black smoke
,

THE TIME

1 84

MA CHINE

I tied som e grass abou t m y fee t an d

limped on across sm okin g ashes and
am on g black stem s that still pulsated
internally with re toward th e hid
ing place of the Tim e M achin e

I walked slowly for I was alm os t

ex h au sted as well as lam e an d I felt
th e m os t intense wretch edness on
accoun t of the horrible death of little
Weena which then seem ed an over
whelmin g calamity Y et even now
as I tell you of i t in this ol d familiar
room i t seem s m ore like th e sorrow
of a dream th an an actu al loss
Bu t
i t left m e absolu tely lonely again that
m orning terribly alon e
I began t o
think of this house of m in e of this
reside of som e of you and with
such t h oughts cam e a longing t hat
was pain

As I walked o ver th e sm okin g

ashes under th e bright m orning sky
I m ade a discovery In my trou ser
pocket were still som e l oose match es
The box mu s t have leak e d b e fore it
was los t !
,

X ll

C H A P TE R
(th e (tr ap

of t h e

W h i te

S p h inx
.

bout eight or nin e in th e

m ornin g I cam e t o th e sam e
seat of yellow metal from
which I had viewed th e worl d upon
th e evenin g of my arrival I though t
of my hasty conclusions u pon that
ev e ning and coul d not refrain from
laughing bitterly at my condence
H ere was th e same beau tiful scene th e
same abundant foliage th e sam e splen
did palaces and magnicent ruins th e
sam e silver river run ning between its
fertile banks The gay robes of th e
beautiful people moved hithe r and
thither am on g the trees Som e were
b athing i n exactly th e place where I
h ad saved Weena and that suddenly
gave m e a keen stab of pain And
like bl ot s up o n th e landscap e r ose
a

1 85

THE TIME

1 86

MA CHINE

t h e cup o las above t he w ays t o th e

u nderworld I und e rstood n o w w h at
all t h e
beau ty of th e overworld
p eopl e c o vered V ery pleasant was
th e ir day as pleasant as th e day of
th e cattle in t h e eld L ike th e cattle
.

th ey kne w of n o enemies and p ro

v i ded agains t n o n eed s
And th eir
end was t h e sam e
I grieved t o think h ow brief th e
dream of th e hum an intellec t h ad
b een I t had commit t ed suic i d e I t
h ad set itself steadfastly t oward com
fort and ease a balanced socie ty wi th
secu rity an d permanence as its watch
w o rds it h ad attained i ts h op es to
com e to this at last O nce life an d
proper t y must h ave reached almost
absolute safety Th e rich had been
assured of his wealth an d comfort
t h e toiler assured of his life an d work
N o doub t i n that perfec t world there
had b een n o u nemployed problem
n o social question lef t u nsolved
And a great quiet h ad followed

It i s a la w of n a t ure we overlo o k
,

THE TIME

1 88

MA CHINE

howe v e r p erfect still n e eds som e l i t t l e

t h o ugh t outside of habit had prob
ably r etained p erforce rather more
,

initiative if less of every oth er hum an

c h aracter th an the upper And when
o t her m eat failed them they tu rned
to wh at old h abit had hither t o for
b i dden So I say I saw it in my last
vi e w o f th e w orld of
I t m ay
b e as wr o ng an e x planati o n as m o rtal
w i t could inven t I t is h o w th e
t hin g s h aped its elf to m e , an d as
t h at I give it to you

Af t er t h e fa t igues e xc ite men t s

and t e r rors of t h e pas t d ays and in
spit e of my grief this seat an d t he
t ranquil view and t h e warm sunligh t
we r e v ery pl e asan t I was very tired
and sleepy and s oo n m y th eori z ing
p assed in t o d o z ing C a t ching my
self at t h a t I t ook my own h int an d
spreading mys e lf out upon th e turf
I h ad a long and refr e shin g sleep

I awoke a l i ttle before suns et

ti ng I n o w fel t s afe against being
c augh t napping by t h e M o rlo c k s and
,

THE TRA P OP THE WHI TE SPHINX

1 89

stretching myself I cam e on down t h e

hill toward the white sphinx I had
my crowbar in one hand and th e
other played w i t h th e matches in my
pocke t

And n ow cam e a mos t unex

ec
t
As I approached the
ed thing
p
pedestal of the sphin x I f o und th e
bronz e p an els w ere open They had
slid down into grooves

At that I stopped short b efor e

t h em h esitating to en ter

Wit h in was a small apar t m en t

an d o n a raised place in the corner
of this was th e Tim e M achine I
h ad th e small l evers in my pocket
S o here after all my elaborate prep
a rat io ns for th e
siege of the white
sphin x was a meek surrender
I
threw my iron bar away almost sorry
n ot t o use it

A s udden thought came into my

head as I stoope d toward the portal
F o r once a t least I grasped th e men
t al operation s of the M o rlo c k s Sup
pressing a s t rong inclination t o laugh,
.

THE

1 90

MA CHINE

T I A /I E

I stepped through th e bronz e fram e

and up to th e Tim e M achin e I was
surprised to nd i t had b een c are
fully oiled an d clean ed I h ave sus
p ec ted since that th e M o rlo c k s had
even partially taken it to pieces while
tryin g in th ei r dim w ay t o grasp i ts
p urpose

N ow as I stood an d examine d
it nding a pleasure in the m ere
tou ch of th e contrivanc e th e thin g
I had expected h appened Th e
bronz e panels suddenly slid up an d
struck the fram e wi t h a clan g I
was in th e dark trapp ed S o th e
thou ght
A t that I
M o rlo c k s
ch uckled gleefully

I c ould already h e ar th eir mu r

muring laughter as th ey cam e to
ward m e V ery calmly I tried to
s t rike th e m atch I had only to x
on th e levers an d depart th en like a
ghost Bu t I had o verlooked on e
little t h ing Th e matches w ere of
t ha t abominable k i n d t ha t lig ht o nly
o n th e b ox
.

C H A P TE R

X lll

(th e f ur t h er h tston

H AV E already t o ld y o u

of

the sickness and confusion

th at c om es with tim e travel
in g An d this tim e I was not seat e d
p roperly in th e saddle bu t sideways
and in an un stable fashion
Fo r an
indenite tim e I clun g to th e m achine
as i t swayed and vibrated quite
u nh eeding h o w I went and wh e n I
brou gh t myself to look at the dial s
again I was am az ed to nd wh ere I
h ad arrived
O ne dial records days
an other thou sands of days another
m illion s of days an d another thou
san ds o f millions
N ow instead of
reversin g th e levers I h ad pull ed
th em over so as to go forward with
th em an d when I cam e to look at
thes e indica t ors I found t h at th e
.

1 92

THE

FUR

VISION

THER

t 93

th ou sand s hand was s w eeping round

as fast as th e seconds hand of a
watch into futurity

V ery cautiou sly , for I rem em

be r ed my former headlong fall I b e
gan to reverse my m otion
Slowe r
an d slower went th e circling hands
u ntil th e thousands on e seemed mo
t io nless and th e daily on e was no
longer a mere mis t upon its scale
S till slower until th e gray haz e
arou nd m e becam e distincter and dim
outlines of a low hill and a sea b e
came visible

But as my motion becam e slower

th ere was I found n o blinkin g
change of day and night A steady
twilight brooded over th e earth
And th e band of light that had in di
c at ed the sun had
I now noticed
becom e fai nter had faded indeed to
invisibility in the east an d in th e
wes t was increasingly broader and
redder Th e circling of th e stars
growin g slower an d slower had given
place t o creepin g poin ts of light At
.

THE T IME

1 94

M A

CHINE

las t som e tim e before I stopp ed th e

sun , re d and very l arge h alted
m otionless upon the horizon a vas t
dom e glowin g with a dull heat Th e
work of the tidal drag was ac c o m
Th e earth had com e to rest
plish ed
with on e face to the su n even as in
ou r own tim e the m o on faces th e
e arth

I stopped very gen t ly an d sa t upon

th e Tim e M achin e lookin g round m e

The sky was n o longer blue

N or t h eastward it was inky black an d
ou t of th e blackn ess shone brightly
and s teadily the pale white stars
Over h ead it was a deep I ndian red
an d starless an d south eastward it
grew br ighter to where cu t b y th e
horizon lay th e m o tionl e ss hull of
the hu ge red sun

The rocks ab o u t m e were of a

h arsh reddish c olor , and all th e trace
of life that I could see at rst was
th e intensely green vegetation th at
c o vered eve ry proj e c ti ng point on its
southeas t ern sid e I t w as the sam e
,

THE TIME

1 96

MA CHINE

he a r d a h arsh scream and saw a

,

thin g like a hu ge white buttery go

slantin g and utterin g u p into th e
sky and circling disappear over som e
low hillocks beyon d

Th e soun d of its voice w as s o

dism al that I sh i vered and seated
myself m ore rmly upon th e M a
chine

L ookin g roun d m e I saw tha t

qu ite n ear to m e wh at I had taken t o
b e a reddish m as s of r ock was m ov
ing slowly toward m e
Then I saw
the thin g was really a mons t rou s
crab like cre ature
C an y ou im agin e
a crab as large as yonder table with
i ts num erou s legs m ovin g slowly an d
u ncertainly its big claws swaying its
lon g an tenn ae like c arters whip s
waving and feeling and i ts stalked
eyes gleamin g at you o n either side
of its m etallic fron t ! Its back was
corrugated and orn amented with u n
gainly bosses and a greenish i nc ru s
t atio n blotch ed it here an d there s I
could see th e numerou s palps o f its
,

THE

VISION

F D R TH E R

97

c omplicated m outh ickerin g and

feeling as it approached
As I stared at this sinister appari
tion crawlin g toward m e I felt a
t ickling on my che e ks as thou gh a y
had alighted there
I tried to b rush it away with m y
hand but in a m om en t it returned
an d almost imm ediately after another
cam e near my ear I struck at this
and caught something threadlike It
was drawn swiftly ou t of my hand
With a frightful qualm I turned an d
saw I had grasp ed th e antenn ae of
a n oth er m onster crab that stood im
m ediately behind m e Its evil eyes
were wrigglin g on their stalks its
m ou th was all alive with appetite
an d its vast u ngainly claws smeared
with green slim e were descendin g
upon m e

In a mo ment my hand was on th e

lever of th e Tim e M achin e and I
had plac e a m onth between myself
and these monsters Bu t I fou nd I
was s t ill on th e same b each and I sa w
.

"

1 98

TH E

TIME M l CHINE

the m d i s t inctly now as soon as I

s t opped
Do z ens o f th em seem ed to
b e c rawlin g h ere an d th ere i n th e
s o mber ligh t amon g t h e folia t ed
sh ee t s o f inten se green

I c anno t convey th e s en s e of
ab o m i nabl e desol ation that hun g over
th e world
Th e red eastern sky the
n o r t hward blackn ess the salt D ead
.

S ea th e s tony beach crawling with

these foul slow stirrin g m onsters th e
u niform poison ou s l ookin g gree n of
th e lichen o u s plants th e thin air that
h urt one s lungs ; all con t ributed t o
an appallin g e ffect

I m o ved o n a h u ndred years an d

t h ere was th e sam e red sun th e sam e
dyin g sea th e sam e chill air an d
t he sam e crowd of e arthly c ru s tacea
cre e ping i n an d ou t am ong th e green
weed an d th e red r o cks

8 0 I traveled stopp i ng e ver an d

aga i n in grea t st rides of a thousan d
years or m o re d rawn o n by the m ys
t ery of th e earth s fate tracin g with
a s t range fasc i na ti on h o w t he su n w as
,

THE

30 0

IME

M A

CHINE

t rac e s of animals rem ain ed A c e r

t ain indenab le apprehension still
kept m e i n th e saddle of the M achin e
I saw nothi n g m oving on earth o r
.

sky or sea The green slim e on th e

r ocks alone testied th at life w as no t
extinct
A shallow sandbank h ad
appeared in the sea an d the water
h ad receded from the beach
I
fancied I saw som e black ob j ect o p
ping ab ou t up on this bank bu t it
b ecam e m otionless as I looked a t i t
an d I j udged my eye h ad b een de
c eived and tha t th e o b j ec t w as m erely
a rock
T h e stars in th e sky we re
intens ely brigh t and s e em e d t o m e t o
twinkle very littl e

Suddenly I noticed th a t th e c irc u

lar ou tline westward of t h e su n h ad
ch anged t h at a con cavi t y , a bay had
appeared in th e cu rve I saw this
gro w larger
For a m inu te p erhaps
I stared aghas t at this blackness th a t
was creep i n g over th e d ay , and then I
realized t h at an e cl i p se was b egi n
nin g N o doubt n o w t ha t t h e m oon
.

THE FUR THER

20 1

VI S I OM

was creep i ng ever nearer to th e earth

and th e earth to the sun eclipses
were of frequ ent occurrence

Th e darkness grew apace a cold

w ind b egan to blow in freshening
gusts from th e east and then th e
white akes that were falling out of
th e air i ncrease d
Th e tide was
c r eepin g in with a ripp le and a
whisper
Beyond these lifeless
soun ds th e world was silent silent !
I t would b e h ard to convey to you
t h e stillness of it All th e sounds of
m an the bleating of sheep th e cries
of b irds th e hum of in sects th e sti r
t hat m akes th e backgrou nd of ou r
lives , were over As the darkness
thickened th e eddyin g akes becam e
m or e ab undant dancin g before m y
eyes ; and th e cold of th e air m ore
intense At last swiftly one after
th e o th er the white p eaks of the dis
t an t h ills vanished into blackness
Th e breez e grew to a m oanin g wind
I saw the black central sh adow o f
t he e clipse sweeping t ow ard me I n
,

THE TIM E MA CHINE

20 2

ano th er m om ent t h e pale stars alon e

were visibl e All else was rayless o b
The sky was absolu tely black
sc urit y

A h orro r of this grea t d arkness

cam e up on m e The cold t hat sm o t e
t o my m arro w , an d t h e pain I f el t in
breathing overcam e m e
I shivered
and a deadly nau sea seize d m e
Then like a red h ot bow i n t he sky
appeared th e edge of t h e su n

I go t o ff th e M ac h ine to rec o v er
myself
I f elt gi ddy an d incap abl e
of facin g t h e r e turn j ourney As I
sto o d s i c k an d confuse d I saw again
t h e m o ving t h in g upon th e s h oal
t here w as n o m istake now th at it was
a m ovin g thin g agains t th e red
water of th e sea
I t was a rou nd
thing of th e siz e o f a football p er
h aps or bigger ; i t seem ed bl ack
agains t t he weltering blood red water ,
and it was ho pping t f ully about
T h en I felt I w as fainting A ter
r ible dread o f lying h elpless in that
re mot e twilight su s t ained m e w hile I
clamb ered upon t h e saddle
.

THE TIME

204

th a t

MA CHINE

h en I set out before my velo c

i ty becam e very h igh M rs W a t c h ett
w

had walked across th e room travel

i n g as it seem ed to m e like a rock e t
As I retu rned I p assed again across
th at m inu te w h en she t ravers e d th e
lab o ratory Bu t n ow every m otion
appeared t o b e th e exact inversion of
h er previou s o ne Th e d oo r at th e
lower end open ed an d sh e glid ed
quietly u p t h e laboratory b ack fore
m ost and disappeared be h ind th e
d oor by w hich sh e had pr e v i ously
en tered

Then I stopp e d the M achine , an d

saw ab ou t m e again t h e old familiar
l aboratory m y tools m y appliances
j u st as I h ad lef t th em I got o ff
th e t hing very s h akily and sat down
upon m y b ench
For s everal minutes
I t r e mbl ed viol en tly
Then I b e
cam e calm er Arou nd m e was m y
old w o rkshop again exactly as it had
been
I might h ave slept th ere and
th e wh ole thin g h ave been a dream

An d ye t n ot e x actly Th e t h ing
,

THE FUR THER VISION

20

had started from the s outheast co rn er

of th e laboratory I t h ad com e to
rest again i n the northwest against
the wall where you will nd it That
gives you th e exact distance from
m y little lawn t o th e pedestal of th e
white sphinx

For a tim e my brain b ecam e stag

n ant P resently I got up an d cam e
through th e passage h ere limpin g
b ecause my heel was still painful an d
feelin g sorely begrimed I saw th e
P a ll M a ll Ga z elle on th e table by
th e door I fou nd th e date was in
deed to day and lookin g at the time
piec e s aw th e hour was almost eigh t
o clock
I heard your voices and
the cla tter of plates I h esitated
I fel t so sick an d weak
Then I
sniffed good wholesom e m eat and
opened th e door Y ou k now th e
rest
I washed an d din ed and n ow
I am telling you the story
.

I know he said after a while

that all t his will b e absolu t ely in

,

20

THE TIME MA CHINE

credible t o you but to m e th e on e

i ncredibl e thing is that I am here to
night in this old familiar room look
ing into your wh olesom e faces and
telling you all t hes e s t range adven
t ures
H e lo o ked a t th e M edical M an

N o ; I cann ot expect you t o

believe i t
Take i t as a lie or a
prop h ecy
S ay I dream ed it in th e
worksh op
C on sider I h ave b een
sp eculating upon th e destinies of our
race , u ntil I h ave h atch ed this c t ion
Treat my as sertion of its tru th as a
mere s t roke of ar t t o enh ance its in
An d takin g it as a s t ory
t erest

wh at do you think of i t !
H e took up his pipe and began in
his old accu stom ed m an ner to tap
u pon th e bars o f t h e g r at e
,

"

20

THE TIME

MA CHINE

his hand o n t h e T im e T r av e l er s
sh oulder

Y ou don t beli e v e i t !

Well

I t hough t not
T h e T i m e T r av

eler turned rou nd t o u s

Where

are th e m atch es ! h e said

H e li t
one and spoke over his pipe pu fng

To tell you all the t ru th I h ardly

believe it myself an d yet
H is eyes fell w i th a mu te in qui ry
upon th e withered w hi te owers up on
the little table
T h en h e turned over
the hand h oldin g his pip e and I s aw
h e was lookin g at som e h alf h ealed
scar s on hi s knuckles
The M edical M an rose cam e
t o th e lamp and examined t h e

owe r s
Th e gyn oecium s odd
h e said
Th e P sy ch o logis t l ean ed fo rward
t o see holdin g ou t his h an d for a
specime n

I m h anged if it is n t a quarter

t o one s aid th e Journalist

H ow

shall we ge t h om e !

A FT ER THE S TOR Y

20

P len t y of cabs a t th e s t ati on

said th e P sych ologis t

It s a curious thing
said th e
M edical M an ; but I certainly don t
know th e natural order o f th ese

owers
M ay I h ave them !
Th e Time Traveler h e si t ated

Then suddenly C ertainly not

W h ere did you really get t h em !

said th e M edical M an
Th e Tim e Travele r pu t hi s han d
to h i s h ead
H e spoke like one wh o
w as trying to keep h old of an idea

that eluded him

They were pu t
into my p ocke t by We e na w h en I

trav e led in t o Tim e

H e stared

round th e room
Im d
d if it
isn t all goin g This room and you
and the atm osphere of everyday is
t oo much for my m em ory D id I
ever m ake a Tim e M achine o r a
m odel of a Time M achine or i s it
all only a dream ! They say life i s
a dream a precious p oor dream at
t im es but I can t stand another
th at wo n t t I t s m adness A n d
,

"

"

THE TIME

2 10

A CHINE

w he r e did t h e d r eam com e f rom ! I

mu s t look a t th at M ach in e I f th ere

i s on e
H e c augh t u p t he lamp sw i ftly an d
carried it aring redly th roug h t h e
d oor into th e corridor
We followed h im
Th e re i n th e icke r in g l i gh t o f th e
lamp was th e M achin e sure en ough
squa t , ugly an d askew a thin g of
b rass ebony ivory an d translucen t
glimmerin g qu art z
S olid to th e
touc h f or I p ut ou t my han d an d
felt th e rail of it and with brown
spots and sm ears upon th e ivory
an d bi t s of grass and m oss u pon
th e lower parts an d one rail bent
awry
Th e Tim e Traveler pu t th e lamp
d o wn on th e b ench and ran h is h an d
along th e broken rail

I t s all right now

h e said

Th e s tory I told you was true

I m sorry to h ave brought you ou t

h ere i n the cold

H e took up t he lamp , and i n an
.

,
.

THE TIME MA CHINE

2 12

pu t o u t my h and and touc he d a

lever At that th e squ at substantial
lookin g m ass swayed like a b ou gh
shaken by th e win d
Its i nstability
s t artled m e ex t rem ely and I had a
que e r reminiscence o f ch ildish days
when I used to b e forbidden to
m eddle
I cam e back through t h e
corridor Th e Tim e Traveler m et
m e in th e smoking room
H e was
com in g from th e h ou se
H e had a
small cam era u nder on e arm and a
H e
knapsack u nder th e other
laughed w h en h e saw m e an d gave
m e an elb ow t o sh ake

I m frigh tfully bu sy
he said ;

w ith th a t thing in th ere

Bu t is i t not som e h oax ! said

D o you really travel t h roug h

I

Tim e !

An d h e
R eally and truly I do
loo ked fr ankly in t o my eyes
H is eye wan dere d
H e hesitated

I only want hal f

ro un d t h e room

an h our , h e said
I kn ow why
you cam e , and it s aw f ully good o f
,

"

"

"

A F TER THE S T OR Y

2 13

y o u The r e s som e magazin e s h ere

I f you ll stop to lu nch I ll prove this
tim e travelin g to you up to th e hilt
Specim en s and all If you ll forgiv e

my leavin g you now !

I consented h ardly c omp reh end
ing then th e full i mpor t of h is
words and h e nodded an d wen t on
down t h e corridor I h eard th e
door of th e laboratory slam seated
myself in a chair an d took up the
N ew R ew ezv
What was h e goin g to
d o before lunch tim e ! Then sud
d enly I was reminded by an a dv er
t isement that I h ad promised to mee t
R ichardson th e publisher a t two
I looked at my watch an d saw I
could barely s ave that engagem e n t
I got up an d went down the passage
t o t ell th e Tim e T ravel er
As I to o k h old of t h e h andle o f
th e door I h eard an e x clam ati o n
oddly tru nca t ed at the e nd , and a
click an d a thu d A gust o f ai r
w hirled rou nd m e as I opened th e
d oo r , and fr o m wi t h i n came the

'

THE TIME

2 14

MA CHINE

o und of b r oke n glas s falling on the

oor Th e Tim e Travel e r was n o t

there
I s eemed to see a gh ostly
indi s t inct gure sittin g in a whirlin g
m as s of black and b rass for a
m om ent a gure s o transparent t h a t
th e b ench b ehind w ith its sh eets o f
draw ings w as absolu t ely distinc t ;
but this phantasm I imm e diately
perceived was illusory Th e Tim e
M achine had gone Save for a sub
siding stir of du s t t h e central space
of the lab oratory was empty A
pan e of th e skyligh t h ad apparently
j ust b een blow n in
I felt an unreasonabl e am a z em e nt
I knew that som eth i n g strange had
h app ened an d for a m om ent could
n ot distinguis h wh at th e strange thin g
might b e As I stood starin g th e
door into th e garden open ed and
th e m an servant appeared
We looked at eac h other T h en
i deas began to com e

gon e ou t th a t
H as M r

w ay ! said I
.

2 16

TH E

TIME

MA CHINE

c omple t ely o u t of e x istenc e as if the y ,

t o o h ad tr avel e d o ff upon som e sim i
lar anachronism s
An d s o , en ding
i n a kin d of dead wall , the s t o r y of
th e Tim e M achin e mu s t re m a in fo r
the p re s e n t a t leas t
,

TH E