The War of the Worlds
by H. G. Wells
But who shall dwell in these worlds if they be
inhabited? . . . Are we or they Lords of the World? . .
. And how are all things made for man?--
KEPLER (quoted in The Anatomy of Melancholy)
BOOK ONE
THE COMING OF THE MARTIANS
CHAPTER ONE
THE EVE OF THE WAR
No one would have believed in the last years of the
nineteenth century that this world was being watched
keenly and closely by intelligences greater than man's
and yet as mortal as his own; that as men busied
themselves about their various concerns they were
scrutinised and studied, perhaps almost as narrowly as
a man with a microscope might scrutinise the transient
creatures that swarm and multiply in a drop of water.
With infinite complacency men went to and fro over
this globe about their little affairs, serene in their
assurance of their empire over matter. It is possible that
the infusoria under the microscope do the same. No one
gave a thought to the older worlds of space as sources
of human danger, or thought of them only to dismiss
the idea of life upon them as impossible or improbable.
It is curious to recall some of the mental habits of those
departed days. At most terrestrial men fancied there
might be other men upon Mars, perhaps inferior to
themselves and ready to welcome a missionary
enterprise. Yet across the gulf of space, minds that are
to our minds as ours are to those of the beasts that
perish, intellects vast and cool and unsympathetic,
regarded this earth with envious eyes, and slowly and
surely drew their plans against us. And early in the
twentieth century came the great disillusionment.
The planet Mars, I scarcely need remind the reader,
revolves about the sun at a mean distance of
140,000,000 miles, and the light and heat it receives
from the sun is barely half of that received by this
world. It must be, if the nebular hypothesis has any
truth, older than our world; and long before this earth
ceased to be molten, life upon its surface must have
begun its course. The fact that it is scarcely one seventh
RAT SVJETOVA
H. G. Wells
NO TKO BI TREBAO NASTAVATI TE SVJETOVE, AKO
SU NASELJENI? ... JESMO LI MI GOSPODARI SVIJETA
ILI SU TO ONI? ... I KAKO TO DA JE SVE STVORENO
ZA ČOVJEKA?
KEPLER CITIRAN U ANATOMIJI MELANKOLIJE
KNJIGA PRVA
MARSIJANCI DOLAZE
GLAVA 1.
PREDVEČERJE RATA
U posljednjim godinama devetnaestog stoljeća nitko ne bi
mogao povjerovati da naš svijet prodorno i pomno
promatra razum veći od čovjekova, iako smrtan kao i
njegov; da su ljudi, dok hitaju za svojim raznovrsnim
poslovima, podvrgnuti promatranju i izloženi proučavanju, i
to možda isto onako oštrom kakvom su izložena i
kratkovječna stvorenja što plivaju i množe se u kapljici
vode pod mikroskopom. Nošeni beskrajnom
samodopadljivošću ljudi su se gibali na sve strane po
čitavom ovom globusu, obavljajući svoje sitne posliće,
spokojni u uvjerenju da su stekli svevlast nad materijom.
Sasvim je moguće da isto čine i već spomenute infuzorije
pod mikroskopom. Nitko nije ni pomišljao da bi stariji
svjetovi u svemiru mogli biti izvor opasnosti za ljudski rod,
jer ako bi tko na njih i pomislio, smjesta bi misao o
mogućem životu na njima odbacio kao nemoguću ili bar
nevjerojatnu. Zanimljivo je spomenuti se nekih duševnih
navika iz tih već davno prohujalih dana. Zemaljski su ljudi
zamišljali da bi u krajnjem slučaju na Marsu mogli živjeti
neki drugi ljudi, no vjerojatno čovjeku inferiorni i spremni
svaki misionarski pothvat dočekati dobrodošlicom. Pa ipak,
preko svemirskog bezdana, umovi koji prema našima stoje
kao naši prema umovima životinja što izumiru, intelekti
koliko silni toliko hladni i nemilosrdni, promatrali su našu
Zemlju zavidljivim okom, pa polako i sigurno protiv nas
kovali planove. I onda se početkom dvadesetog stoljeća
dogodio velik lom iluzija.
Planet Mars, na što teško da i moram podsjećati čitatelja,
kruži oko Sunca na srednjoj udaljenosti od 140 000 000
milja, a svjetlo i toplina što ih od njega prima, otprilike su
jednaki polovici onoga što prima ovaj svijet. Ako u
magličnoj hipotezi ima imalo istine, onda je Mars stariji od
našega planeta; i mnogo prije nego što se Zemlja skrutnula
iz rastaljena stanja, na njemu je život već krenuo svojom
stazom. Sama činjenica da mu obujam čini jedvice sedminu
of the volume of the earth must have accelerated its
cooling to the temperature at which life could begin. It
has air and water and all that is necessary for the
support of animated existence.
Yet so vain is man, and so blinded by his vanity, that no
writer, up to the very end of the nineteenth century,
expressed any idea that intelligent life might have
developed there far, or indeed at all, beyond its earthly
level. Nor was it generally understood that since Mars
is older than our earth, with scarcely a quarter of the
superficial area and remoter from the sun, it necessarily
follows that it is not only more distant from time's
beginning but nearer its end.
The secular cooling that must someday overtake our
planet has already gone far indeed with our neighbour.
Its physical condition is still largely a mystery, but we
know now that even in its equatorial region the midday
temperature barely approaches that of our coldest
winter. Its air is much more attenuated than ours, its
oceans have shrunk until they cover but a third of its
surface, and as its slow seasons change huge snowcaps
gather and melt about either pole and periodically
inundate its temperate zones. That last stage of
exhaustion, which to us is still incredibly remote, has
become a present-day problem for the inhabitants of
Mars. The immediate pressure of necessity has
brightened their intellects, enlarged their powers, and
hardened their hearts. And looking across space with
instruments, and intelligences such as we have scarcely
dreamed of, they see, at its nearest distance only
35,000,000 of miles sunward of them, a morning star of
hope, our own warmer planet, green with vegetation
and grey with water, with a cloudy atmosphere
eloquent of fertility, with glimpses through its drifting
cloud wisps of broad stretches of populous country and
narrow, navy-crowded seas.
And we men, the creatures who inhabit this earth, must
be to them at least as alien and lowly as are the
monkeys and lemurs to us. The intellectual side of man
already admits that life is an incessant struggle for
existence, and it would seem that this too is the belief
of the minds upon Mars. Their world is far gone in its
cooling and this world is still crowded with life, but
crowded only with what they regard as inferior
animals. To carry warfare sunward is, indeed, their only
escape from the destruction that, generation after
generation, creeps upon them.
And before we judge of them too harshly we must
remember what ruthless and utter destruction our own
Zemljina obujma, nedvojbeno je ubrzala njegovo
hlađenje do temperature dovoljno niske za postanak života.
Mars je imao zrak i vodu i sve potrebno za održavanje živog
oblika postojanja.
Čovjek je, međutim, toliko ohol, i toliko zaslijepljen
vlastitom taštinom, da nijedan pisac, sve do samoga
kraja devetnaestog stoljeća, nije iskazao misao da bi
se na njemu mogao razviti život uvelike, ili bar
donekle, napredniji od razine što ju je dosegao onaj
na Zemlji. Također se uglavnom nije shvaćalo da je na
Marsu, s obzirom na to da je stariji od naše Zemlje, da
mu je oplošje jedva ravno četvrtini njezina oplošja,
kao i na to da je udaljeniji od Sunca, život ne samo
udaljeniji od svojega početka, nego i bliži svojemu
svršetku.
Stoljetno hlađenje koje će jednoga dana zacijelo zahvatiti i
naš planet, na našem je susjedu doista uznapredovalo.
Fizički uvjeti koji na njemu vladaju i dalje su
uglavnom zagonetka, ali mi danas znamo da čak i u
njegovim ekvatorijalnim predjelima
podnevne temperature dosežu jedva temperature i
naše najmraznije zime. Njegov je zrak mnogo
razrjeđeniji od našega, oceani su mu se povukli te sad
prekrivaju tek trećinu njegove površine, a
pri polaganoj mijeni njegovih godišnjih doba goleme
se snježne kape na njegovim polovima skupljaju i
tale, što dovodi do periodičnog potapanja umjerenih
zona. Taj posljednji stupanj iscrpljenosti, za nas još
nevjerojatno dalek, za stanovnike je Marsa postao
problemom današnjega dana. Akutni pritisak nužde
razbistrio im je umove, uvećao im snagu i otvrdnuo
srca. A kad bi svojim instrumentima pogledali
preko svemirskih daljina, taj razum kakav bismo mi
teško mogli i zamisliti, pri najmanjoj bi udaljenosti od
samo 35 000 000 milja, negdje u smjeru Sunca,
ugledao danicu nade, što će reći naš mnogo topliji
planet, zelen od raslinja i siv od vode, s oblačnim
ozračjem što rječito govori o plodnosti, a kroz
pomično pramenje oblaka pogled bi im padao na
široka prostranstva naseljenih krajeva i tijesna,
brodovima prenapučena mora.
A mi ljudi, stvorenja što nastavaju Zemlju, njima smo
zacijelo isto tako i strani i niski kao što su to nama
majmuni i lemuri. Intelektualni dio čovjeka već je
prihvatio da je život neprestana borba za opstanak, a
čini se da su do tog uvjerenja došli i umovi na Marsu.
Njihov je svijet u svom hlađenju odmakao već
daleko, a ovaj svijet još buja životom, makar se to
bujanje i odnosilo samo na, po njihovu sudu,
inferiorne životinje. Zaratiti se u smjeru Sunca za njih
je zapravo jedini put bijega od propasti što im,
iz naraštaja u naraštaj, puzi sve bliže.
Pa ipak, prije nego što o njima donesemo i odveć oštar sud,
morali bismo se prisjetiti koliko je nemilosrdna bila naša
species has wrought, not only upon animals, such as
the vanished bison and the dodo, but upon its inferior
races. The Tasmanians, in spite of their human likeness,
were entirely swept out of existence in a war of
extermination waged by European immigrants, in the
space of fifty years. Are we such apostles of mercy as
to complain if the Martians warred in the same spirit?
The Martians seem to have calculated their descent
with amazing subtlety--their mathematical learning is
evidently far in excess of ours--and to have carried out
their preparations with a well-nigh perfect unanimity.
Had our instruments permitted it, we might have seen
the gathering trouble far back in the nineteenth century.
Men like Schiaparelli watched the red planet--it is odd,
by-the-bye, that for countless centuries Mars has been
the star of war--but failed to interpret the fluctuating
appearances of the markings they mapped so well. All
that time the Martians must have been getting ready.
During the opposition of 1894 a great light was seen on
the illuminated part of the disk, first at the Lick
Observatory, then by Perrotin of Nice, and then by
other observers. English readers heard of it first in the
issue of Nature dated August 2. I am inclined to think
that this blaze may have been the casting of the huge
gun, in the vast pit sunk into their planet, from which
their shots were fired at us. Peculiar markings, as yet
unexplained, were seen near the site of that outbreak
during the next two oppositions.
The storm burst upon us six years ago now. As Mars
approached opposition, Lavelle of Java set the wires of
the astronomical exchange palpitating with the amazing
intelligence of a huge outbreak of incandescent gas
upon the planet. It had occurred towards midnight of
the twelfth; and the spectroscope, to which he had at
once resorted, indicated a mass of flaming gas, chiefly
hydrogen, moving with an enormous velocity towards
this earth. This jet of fire had become invisible about a
quarter past twelve. He compared it to a colossal puff
of flame suddenly and violently squirted out of the
planet, "as flaming gases rushed out of a gun." A
singularly appropriate phrase it proved. Yet the next
day there was nothing of this in the papers except a
little note in the Daily Telegraph, and the world went in
ignorance of one of the gravest dangers that ever
threatened the human race. I might not have heard of
the eruption at all had I not met Ogilvy, the well-known
astronomer, at Ottershaw. He was immensely excited at
the news, and in the excess of his feelings invited me
up to take a turn with him that night in a scrutiny of the pridružim u pomnome promatranju crvenog planeta.
red planet.
In spite of all that has happened since, I still remember Usprkos svemu što se u međuvremenu dogodilo, tog se
vlastita vrsta, koliko sklona totalnom uništavanju, i to ne
samo kad je riječ o životinjama, od kojih spomenimo samo
iščezle bizone i pticu dodo, nego i kad je riječ o inferiornim
rasama. Tako su Tasmanci, unatoč svom ljudskom liku, bili
posve zbrisani s lica zemlje u ratu što su ga poveli evropski
doseljenici, i to za samo pedeset godina. A kad bi se
Marsijanci zaratili u istom duhu, zar bismo najednom
postali takvi apostoli milosrđa da se zbog toga
počnemo žaliti? Čini se da su Marsijanci svoj dolazak
izračunali zadivljujućom umješnošću - a njihovo
poznavanje matematike bjelodano daleko nadmašuje naše -
te da su sve pripreme obavili s gotovo savršenom
jednodušnošću. Da su nam to samo dopustili
naši instrumenti, polako smo primicanje nevolje mogli
opaziti još davno u devetnaestom stoljeću. Ljudi poput
Schiaparellija promatrali su crveni planet - neobična je
slučajnost, spomenimo usput, da je Mars u nebrojenim
stoljećima bio baš zvijezda rata - a da pritom ipak nisu
valjano protumačili fluktuacije izgleda detalja, premda su ih
tako valjano kartografirali. Marsijanci su se, naime, sve to
vrijeme zacijelo dobro pripremali.
Za vrijeme opozicije iz 1894. na osvijetljenom je dijelu
Marsove ploče opaženo silno svjetlo, i to najprije u
Lickovoj zvjezdarnici, da bi kasnije to opažanje potvrdili
Perrotin iz Nice i drugi promatrači. Engleski su čitatelji za
nj doznali iz časopisa Nature od 2. kolovoza. Ja sam sklon
tumačenju da je taj sjaj nastao pri lijevanju golemoga
topa, u silnoj jami iskopanoj u planetu, topa iz kojeg će na
nas kasnije biti ispaljeni hici. Neobični detalji, neobjašnjeni
do današnjeg dana, viđeni su kraj tog iskopa i za sljedeće
dvije opozicije.
Oluja se sručila na nas šest godina prije današnjega dana.
Kad se Mars približio opoziciji, Lavelle s Jave izazvao je
titranje svih astronomskih žica vijestima o silnom izljevu
usijanoga plina na tom planetu. Dogodilo se to negdje oko
ponoći dvanaestog u mjesecu; a onda je spektroskop, za
kojim je smjesta posegnuo, uputio na zaključak da je riječ o
silnoj masi ognjenoga plina, uglavnom vodika, koja se
fantastičnom brzinom giba prema našoj Zemlji. Taj je mlaz
ognja, međutim, već oko dvanaest i četvrt postao nevidljiv.
On ga je usporedio s kolosalnim plamenim jezikom, te
naveo da je iz planeta briznuo iznebuha i divlje, “kao kad iz
topa izlijeću zapaljeni plinovi”. Kasnije će se pokazati da
je ta rečenica bila jedinstveno primjerena. Sutradan,
međutim, o tome u novinama nije bilo ničega, izuzmemo li
samo sitnu bilješku u Daily Telegraphu; i tako je svijet
nastavio živjeti u neznanju što se tiče jedne od najvećih
pogibelji što je ikad ugrozila ljudski rod. Za tu erupciju
možda ne bih čuo ni sam da slučajno u Ottershawu nisam
sreo poznatog astronoma Ogilvyja. Njega su te vijesti silno
uzbudile, i ti su me izljevi osjećaja natjerali da mu se te noći
that vigil very distinctly: the black and silent
observatory, the shadowed lantern throwing a feeble
glow upon the floor in the corner, the steady ticking of
the clockwork of the telescope, the little slit in the
roof--an oblong profundity with the stardust streaked
across it. Ogilvy moved about, invisible but audible.
Looking through the telescope, one saw a circle of deep
blue and the little round planet swimming in the field.
It seemed such a little thing, so bright and small and
still, faintly marked with transverse stripes, and slightly
flattened from the perfect round. But so little it was, so
silvery warm--a pin's-head of light! It was as if it
quivered, but really this was the telescope vibrating
with the activity of the clockwork that kept the planet
in view.
As I watched, the planet seemed to grow larger and
smaller and to advance and recede, but that was simply
that my eye was tired. Forty millions of miles it was
from us--more than forty millions of miles of void. Few
people realise the immensity of vacancy in which the
dust of the material universe swims.
Near it in the field, I remember, were three faint points
of light, three telescopic stars infinitely remote, and all
around it was the unfathomable darkness of empty
space. You know how that blackness looks on a frosty
starlight night. In a telescope it seems far profounder.
And invisible to me because it was so remote and
small, flying swiftly and steadily towards me across
that incredible distance, drawing nearer every minute
by so many thousands of miles, came the Thing they
were sending us, the Thing that was to bring so much
struggle and calamity and death to the earth. I never
dreamed of it then as I watched; no one on earth
dreamed of that unerring missile.
That night, too, there was another jetting out of gas
from the distant planet. I saw it. A reddish flash at the
edge, the slightest projection of the outline just as the
chronometer struck midnight; and at that I told Ogilvy
and he took my place. The night was warm and I was
thirsty, and I went stretching my legs clumsily and
feeling my way in the darkness, to the little table where
the siphon stood, while Ogilvy exclaimed at the
streamer of gas that came out towards us.
That night another invisible missile started on its way
to the earth from Mars, just a second or so under
twenty-four hours after the first one. I remember how I
sat on the table there in the blackness, with patches of
green and crimson swimming before my eyes. I wished
bdijenja ipak sjećam sasvim jasno: crne i zamukle
zvjezdarnice, zasjenjene lanterne što je u kutu na
pod bacala slabašan odsjaj, jednoličnog kucanja
satnog mehanizma za polako pomicanje teleskopa,
malog proreza u krovu i pravokutnog, izduženog
bezdana premoštena prugom zvjezdane prašine. Pod
kupolom je šetkao Ogilvy, nevidljiv, ali čujan. Kad
bismo pogledali kroz teleskop, ugledali bismo krug
tamne modrine i u njemu sitan okrugao planet što
je plivao u vidnom polju. Doimao se tako sićušno,
bio je tako sjajan i malen i miran, tek slabašno
obilježen poprečnim prugama i, u odnosu na
savršeno okruglo tijelo, tek za malenkost spljošten.
No bio je tako sitan, tako srebreno topao - tek sitna
piknjica svjetlosti! I činilo se da podrhtava, no to je
zapravo vibrirao teleskop od rada satnog mehanizma
koji se brinuo da planet ostane stalno u vidnom
polju.
Dok sam ga tako promatrao, činilo mi se kao da se planet
smanjuje i povećava, kao da se primiče i povlači, no
to je bila tek posljedica zamorenosti oka. Jer on je
bio četrdeset milijuna milja daleko - odijeljen od nas
s preko četrdeset milijuna milja praznine. Tek
malobrojni shvaćaju koliko je golema praznina u
kojoj pliva prašina materijalnog univerzuma.
A kraj njega u vidnom polju, toga se dobro sjećam, bile su
tri slabašne svijetle točke, tri teleskopske zvijezde
beskonačno daleke, a izvan toga samo bezdana
svemirska tmina. Znate i sami kakva je ta crnina u
mraznoj noći bez zvijezda. A kroz teleskop se činila
još i mnogo dubljom. A mom oku nevidljiva, zato
što je bila tako sitna i daleka, letjela je prema meni,
hitro i uporno i preko svih tih nevjerojatnih
udaljenosti, primicala se svake minute za
tolike tisuće milja, dolazila je ta Stvar koju su nam
poslali, ta Stvar što će Zemlji namrijeti tolike borbe i
nevolje i umiranja. No dok sam ja tada promatrao
Mars, ni na trenutak nisam pomislio na tako nešto;
nitko na svijetu nije ni sanjao o tom projektilu što ni
na trenutak nije skrenuo sa svoje putanje.
A te je noći, osim toga, s dalekog planeta još jednom
suknuo plin. Svojim sam ga očima vidio. Crvenkasti bljesak
na rubu diska, najnježnija izbočina na obrisu, baš u trenutku
kad je kronometar otkucao ponoć; na to sam rekao Ogilvyju
što se dogodilo, pa je on preuzeo moje mjesto. Noć je bila
topla pa sam ožednio, zbog čega sam i pošao, nezgrapno
protežući noge i pipanjem tražeći put kroz tamu, prema
stoliću gdje je stajao sifon, i baš je tada Ogilvy uskliknuo,
ugledavši plamenac plina što je izletio prema nama.
Te je noći s Marsa prema Zemlji krenuo još jedan nevidljivi
projektil, i to točno dvadeset i četiri sata, možda samo
sekundu-dvije manje od toga, poslije onog prvog. Sjećam se
kako sam u toj tmini sjeo na stolicu, dok su mi pred očima
plivale zelene i grimizne mrlje. Poželio sam da imam vatre
I had a light to smoke by, little suspecting the meaning
of the minute gleam I had seen and all that it would
presently bring me. Ogilvy watched till one, and then
gave it up; and we lit the lantern and walked over to his
house. Down below in the darkness were Ottershaw
and Chertsey and all their hundreds of people, sleeping
in peace.
He was full of speculation that night about the
condition of Mars, and scoffed at the vulgar idea of its
having inhabitants who were signalling us. His idea
was that meteorites might be falling in a heavy shower
upon the planet, or that a huge volcanic explosion was
in progress. He pointed out to me how unlikely it was
that organic evolution had taken the same direction in
the two adjacent planets.
"The chances against anything manlike on Mars are a
million to one," he said.
Hundreds of observers saw the flame that night and the
night after about midnight, and again the night after;
and so for ten nights, a flame each night. Why the shots
ceased after the tenth no one on earth has attempted to
explain. It may be the gases of the firing caused the
Martians inconvenience. Dense clouds of smoke or
dust, visible through a powerful telescope on earth as
little grey, fluctuating patches, spread through the
clearness of the planet's atmosphere and obscured its
more familiar features.
Even the daily papers woke up to the disturbances at
last, and popular notes appeared here, there, and
everywhere concerning the volcanoes upon Mars. The
seriocomic periodical Punch, I remember, made a
happy use of it in the political cartoon. And, all
unsuspected, those missiles the Martians had fired at us
drew earthward, rushing now at a pace of many miles a
second through the empty gulf of space, hour by hour
and day by day, nearer and nearer. It seems to me now
almost incredibly wonderful that, with that swift fate
hanging over us, men could go about their petty
concerns as they did. I remember how jubilant
Markham was at securing a new photograph of the
planet for the illustrated paper he edited in those days.
People in these latter times scarcely realise the
abundance and enterprise of our nineteenth-century
papers. For my own part, I was much occupied in
learning to ride the bicycle, and busy upon a series of
papers discussing the probable developments of moral
ideas as civilisation progressed.
One night (the first missile then could scarcely have
been 10,000,000 miles away) I went for a walk with
my wife. It was starlight and I explained the Signs of
the Zodiac to her, and pointed out Mars, a bright dot of
light creeping zenithward, towards which so many
telescopes were pointed. It was a warm night. Coming
pa da zapalim, malo sluteći smisao tog sitnog svjetlucanja
što sam ga vidio i svega onog što će mi ono uskoro donijeti.
Ogilvy je promatrao sve do jedan, pa odustao; potom smo
zapalili fenjer i krenuli k njegovoj kući. Dolje pod nama, u
tmini, bili su Ottershaw i Chertsey, i sve one stotine ljudi u
njima, i spavali mirnim snom.
A on je te noći bio pun spekulacija o uvjetima što vladaju na
Marsu, podsmjehujući se na vulgarnu misao da nam se to s
njega javljaju njegovi stanovnici. On je vjerovao da bi to
mogao biti gusti pljusak meteorita što padaju na planet,
ili nekakva golema vulkanska eksplozija koja ne prestaje.
Ukazao mi je na to koliko je nevjerojatno da bi organska
evolucija na dva susjedna planeta pošla istim putom.
“Izgledi da na Marsu postoji išta čovjekoliko manji su od
jedan naprema milijun”, rekao je tada.
Te su noći taj plamen vidjele stotine promatrača, baš kao i
sutrašnje noći malo poslije ponoći, i onda opet sljedeće
noći; i tako deset noći za redom, svake noći po plamen.
Zašto su se ti izboji prekinuli poslije desetog nitko na
svijetu nije mogao objasniti. Moguće da su plinovi, nastali
pri ispaljivanju, Marsijancima zbog nečeg bili neugodni.
Gusti oblaci dima i prašine, vidljivi sa Zemlje jakim
teleskopima kao sive, promjenjive krpice, širili su se
bistrinom planetove atmosfere, zaklanjajući poznatije
površinske detalje.
Napokon su ti poremećaji razbudili čak i dnevne novine, pa
su se tu i tamo, a onda i posvuda, počeli pojavljivati
popularni članci o vulkanima na Marsu. Sjećam se i kako se
ozbiljno-šaljivi časopis Punch tom pojavom sretno poslužio
u političkoj karikaturi. A za sve to vrijeme, sasvim
neslućeni, ti projektili što su ih Marsijanci ispalili na nas,
primicali su se Zemlji, jureći kroz prazan bezdan svemira
brzinom od mnogo milja u sekundi, i tako iz sata u sat i iz
dana u dan, bivali sve bliži i bliži. Danas mi se čini gotovo
nevjerojatno čudesnim da su se ljudi, dok nam je svima nad
glavama visio taj hitri usud, mogli baviti svojim sitnim
brigama. Sjećam se Markhamove slavodobitnosti kad je
uspio osigurati novu fotografiju planeta za ilustrirane
novine što ih je tada uređivao. Ljudi u današnje, kasnije
dane, teško da mogu i shvatiti bujnost i poduzetnost naših
novina u devetnaestom stoljeću. Što se pak mene tiče, ja
sam bio silno zauzet, jer sam učio voziti bicikl, a bio sam i
zaokupljen radom na nizu znanstvenih radova koji
su raspravljali o mogućem razvoju moralnih ideja usporedo
s napretkom civilizacije.
Jedne noći (kad je prvi projektil mogao biti još jedva 10 000
000 milja daleko) krenuo sam sa ženom u šetnju. Noć je bila
zvjezdana, pa sam joj objašnjavao znakove zodijaka,
a pokazao sam joj i Mars, tu sjajnu točku svjetla što je
puzila prema zenitu, a u koju je u tom trenutku bilo upereno
toliko teleskopa. Noć je bila topla. Kad smo se vraćali kući,
home, a party of excursionists from Chertsey or
Isleworth passed us singing and playing music. There
were lights in the upper windows of the houses as the
people went to bed. From the railway station in the
distance came the sound of shunting trains, ringing and
rumbling, softened almost into melody by the distance.
My wife pointed out to me the brightness of the red,
green, and yellow signal lights hanging in a framework
against the sky. It seemed so safe and tranquil.
CHAPTER TWO
THE FALLING STAR
Then came the night of the first falling star. It was seen
early in the morning, rushing over Winchester
eastward, a line of flame high in the atmosphere.
Hundreds must have seen it, and taken it for an
ordinary falling star. Albin described it as leaving a
greenish streak behind it that glowed for some seconds.
Denning, our greatest authority on meteorites, stated
that the height of its first appearance was about ninety
or one hundred miles. It seemed to him that it fell to
earth about one hundred miles east of him.
I was at home at that hour and writing in my study; and
although my French windows face towards Ottershaw
and the blind was up (for I loved in those days to look
up at the night sky), I saw nothing of it. Yet this
strangest of all things that ever came to earth from
outer space must have fallen while I was sitting there,
visible to me had I only looked up as it passed. Some
of those who saw its flight say it travelled with a
hissing sound. I myself heard nothing of that. Many
people in Berkshire, Surrey, and Middlesex must have
seen the fall of it, and, at most, have thought that
another meteorite had descended. No one seems to
have troubled to look for the fallen mass that night.
But very early in the morning poor Ogilvy, who had
seen the shooting star and who was persuaded that a
meteorite lay somewhere on the common between
Horsell, Ottershaw, and Woking, rose early with the
idea of finding it. Find it he did, soon after dawn, and
not far from the sand pits. An enormous hole had been
made by the impact of the projectile, and the sand and
gravel had been flung violently in every direction over
the heath, forming heaps visible a mile and a half away.
The heather was on fire eastward, and a thin blue
smoke rose against the dawn. The Thing itself lay
almost entirely buried in sand, amidst the scattered
splinters of a fir tree it had shivered to fragments in its
descent. The uncovered part had the appearance of a
huge cylinder, caked over and its outline softened by a
thick scaly dun-coloured incrustation. It had a diameter
of about thirty yards. He approached the mass,
kraj nas je uz pjesmu i svirku prošla družina izletnika iz
Chertseyja. U gornjim su prozorima kuća još bila upaljena
svjetla jer su se ljudi spremali u postelju. S kolodvora u
daljini dopirala je buka ranžiranja vlakova, odzvanjanja i
zveketa vagona, udaljenošću omekšana gotovo do melodije.
Žena mi je skrenula pažnju na blistavost crvenog, zelenog i
žutog svjetla semafora koji je visio na rešetki i s nebom
u pozadini. Sve je izgledalo tako sigurno i mirno.
GLAVA 2.
ZVIJEZDA PADALICA
A onda je došla noć prve padalice. Ugledali su je rano
ujutro, kako juri preko Winchestera na istok, kao plamenu
crtu, visoko u atmosferi. Vidjele su je zacijelo na stotine
ljudi, i doživjele kao sasvim običnu padalicu. Albin je
opisao zelenkasti potez što ga je ostavljala za sobom, potez
koji se žario još nekoliko sekundi. Denning, naš najveći
autoritet za meteorite, izjavio je da je do te prve pojave
došlo na visini od otprilike devedeset do stotinu milja.
Procijenio je da je tijelo palo stotinjak milja istočno.
Ja sam u to doba bio kod kuće i pisao u kabinetu; i makar su
moji francuski prozori gledali na Ottershaw, a rolete
bile podignute (jer sam još volio promatrati noćno nebo), ja
od toga nisam vidio baš ništa. Pa ipak je, dok sam ja tako
sjedio, palo nešto zacijelo najneobičnije od svega što je ikad
stiglo na Zemlju, nešto što bih jamačno i sam bio opazio da
sam samo podigao pogled. Neki od onih koji su to nešto
vidjeli u letu rekli su kasnije da mu je gibanje bilo
popraćeno nekakvim piskavim zvukom. Ja pak od svega
toga nisam čuo ništa. Zacijelo su još mnogi u
Berkshireu, Surreyju i Middlesexu vidjeli to nešto kako
pada, i pritom, u najboljem slučaju, pomislili da se to na
Zemlju spustio još jedan meteorit. Čini se da se te noći nitko
nije potrudio potražiti tu masu što je pala.
Ipak je siroti Ogilvy, koji je opazio zvijezdu padalicu te
stekao uvjerenje da sad taj meteor leži negdje na općinskom
pašnjaku između Horsella, Ottershawa i Wokinga, tog jutra
uranio, u nakani da je potraži. Pa ju je tako i otkrio, i to čim
je svanula zora, baš nedaleko od šljunčare. Udarac je
projektila naime iskopao silnu rupetinu, pa su pijesak i
šljunak poletjeli preko vrištine divlje i na sve strane, te tako
stvorili hrpe što su se vidjele i na milju i pol daleko.
Vrištinom se prema istoku širio požar, a na pozadini se zore
u nebo dizao končić modroga dima. Ta Stvar je pak
ležala gotovo sasvim zakopana u pijesku, sred razbacana
triješća jele koju je padom skrhala u komadiće. Nepokriveni
je dio izgledao kao golemi valjak, posut zapečenom
zemljom, a obrisi su mu bili omekšani debelom ljušturom
sivkastosmeđih inkrustacija. Promjer mu je bio oko trideset
jardi. Ogilvy je prišao masi, iznenađen njezinom veličinom,
a još više oblikom, jer je većina meteorita manje-više
surprised at the size and more so at the shape, since
most meteorites are rounded more or less completely. It
was, however, still so hot from its flight through the air
as to forbid his near approach. A stirring noise within
its cylinder he ascribed to the unequal cooling of its
surface; for at that time it had not occurred to him that
it might be hollow.
He remained standing at the edge of the pit that the
Thing had made for itself, staring at its strange
appearance, astonished chiefly at its unusual shape and
colour, and dimly perceiving even then some evidence
of design in its arrival. The early morning was
wonderfully still, and the sun, just clearing the pine
trees towards Weybridge, was already warm. He did
not remember hearing any birds that morning, there
was certainly no breeze stirring, and the only sounds
were the faint movements from within the cindery
cylinder. He was all alone on the common.
Then suddenly he noticed with a start that some of the
grey clinker, the ashy incrustation that covered the
meteorite, was falling off the circular edge of the end.
It was dropping off in flakes and raining down upon the
sand. A large piece suddenly came off and fell with a
sharp noise that brought his heart into his mouth.
For a minute he scarcely realised what this meant, and,
although the heat was excessive, he clambered down
into the pit close to the bulk to see the Thing more
clearly. He fancied even then that the cooling of the
body might account for this, but what disturbed that
idea was the fact that the ash was falling only from the
end of the cylinder.
And then he perceived that, very slowly, the circular
top of the cylinder was rotating on its body. It was such
a gradual movement that he discovered it only through
noticing that a black mark that had been near him five
minutes ago was now at the other side of the
circumference. Even then he scarcely understood what
this indicated, until he heard a muffled grating sound
and saw the black mark jerk forward an inch or so.
Then the thing came upon him in a flash. The cylinder
was artificial--hollow--with an end that screwed out!
Something within the cylinder was unscrewing the top!
"Good heavens!" said Ogilvy. "There's a man in it--
men in it! Half roasted to death! Trying to escape!" At
once, with a quick mental leap, he linked the Thing
with the flash upon Mars.
The thought of the confined creature was so dreadful to
him that he forgot the heat and went forward to the
cylinder to help turn. But luckily the dull radiation
arrested him before he could burn his hands on the still-
glowing metal. At that he stood irresolute for a
moment, then turned, scrambled out of the pit, and set
off running wildly into Woking. The time then must
have been somewhere about six o'clock. He met a
kuglasta. Ta Stvar je, međutim, još bila toliko vruća od leta
kroza zrak da joj od silne jare nije mogao prići. Zvuk
komešanja što je dopirao iz valjka Ogilvy je pripisao
nejednoličnom hlađenju njegove površine; u tom mu
trenutku, naime, još nije ni palo na um da bi valjak mogao
biti šupalj.
Ostao je stajati na rubu jame što ju je ta Stvar bila iskopala,
zapiljen u tu čudnu pojavu, zapanjen poglavito njezinim
neobičnim oblikom i bojama, i pritom već tada, makar i
mutno, u njezinu dolasku opazio neku slutnju namisli. Rana
je zora bila čudesno mirna, a Sunce, koje se tek diglo iznad
borova prema Weybridgeu, već je zatoplilo dan. Ogilvy se
ne sjeća da je tog jutra čuo cvrkut ijedne ptice, sasvim
izvjesno nije bilo ni ćuha vjetra, a jedini su zvukovi dolazili
od sitnoga gibanja u šljakom pokrivenom valjku. Ogilvy je
na pašnjaku bio sasvim sam.
A onda je najednom opazio, i pritom se prenuo, kako dio
sivoga klinkera, pepelne inkrustacije što je prekrivala
meteorit, pada s kružnoga ruba na njegovu kraju. Opadala je
ta kora u ljuskicama, i pljuštala po pijesku. Najednom se
odlomio i povelik komad te pao uz oštar prasak koji mu je
zatjerao srce u grlo.
On je nekoliko trenutaka jedva i shvaćao što sve to znači, pa
se, usprkos silnoj jari, smandrljao u jamu da priđe trupini i
jasnije promotri tu Stvar. Čak je u tom času i zamišljao da bi
se to dalo objasniti hlađenjem tijela, ali mu je tu misao
poremetila činjenica da pepeo otpada samo s jednoga kraja
valjka.
A onda je opazio kako se kružni vrh valjka vrlo polako
okreće oko njegova tijela. To je gibanje bilo toliko postupno
da ga je otkrio samo prema crnoj oznaci koja je prije pet
minuta stajala nasuprot njemu, a sad se našla na drugoj
strani oboda. Pa ipak je on, čak i tada, jedva i shvaćao na što
sve to upućuje, i tako je to potrajalo sve dok nije začuo
prigušeno grebanje i opazio kako je crna oznaka, za možda
jedan palac, poskočila prema naprijed. I onda mu je
najednom bljesnulo u glavi. Valjak je umjetan - i šupalj, i
jedan mu se kraj mogao odvrnuti! I nešto je u njemu
okretalo poklopac!
“Milostivi Bože!” rekao je Ogilvy. “Unutra je čovjek - ili
ljudi! Gotovo nasmrt ispečeni! I sad žele pobjeći!” I onda je
najednom, hitrim mentalnim skokom, tu Stvar povezao s
onim bljeskom na Marsu.
Pomisao da je unutra zarobljen živi stvor toliko ga je
užasnula da je zaboravio na jaru i krenuo prema valjku,
stvoru u pomoć. Na sreću ga je, međutim, prije nego što je
mogao opeći ruke na još usijanom metalu, zaustavilo tupo
zračenje. Tada je na trenutak neodlučno zastao, pa se
okrenuo, iskobeljao iz jame i kao bez duše potrčao prema
Wokingu. Moglo je biti oko šest sati. Susreo je nekog
kiridžiju i pokušao mu objasniti što se zbiva, ali priča
waggoner and tried to make him understand, but the
tale he told and his appearance were so wild--his hat
had fallen off in the pit--that the man simply drove on.
He was equally unsuccessful with the potman who was
just unlocking the doors of the public-house by Horsell
Bridge. The fellow thought he was a lunatic at large
and made an unsuccessful attempt to shut him into the
taproom. That sobered him a little; and when he saw
Henderson, the London journalist, in his garden, he
called over the palings and made himself understood.
"Henderson," he called, "you saw that shooting star last
night?"
"Well?" said Henderson.
"It's out on Horsell Common now."
"Good Lord!" said Henderson. "Fallen meteorite!
That's good."
"But it's something more than a meteorite. It's a
cylinder--an artificial cylinder, man! And there's
something inside." Henderson stood up with his spade
in his hand.
"What's that?" he said. He was deaf in one ear.
Ogilvy told him all that he had seen. Henderson was a
minute or so taking it in. Then he dropped his spade,
snatched up his jacket, and came out into the road. The
two men hurried back at once to the common, and
found the cylinder still lying in the same position. But
now the sounds inside had ceased, and a thin circle of
bright metal showed between the top and the body of
the cylinder. Air was either entering or escaping at the
rim with a thin, sizzling sound.
They listened, rapped on the scaly burnt metal with a
stick, and, meeting with no response, they both
concluded the man or men inside must be insensible or
dead.
Of course the two were quite unable to do anything.
They shouted consolation and promises, and went off
back to the town again to get help. One can imagine
them, covered with sand, excited and disordered,
running up the little street in the bright sunlight just as
the shop folks were taking down their shutters and
people were opening their bedroom windows.
Henderson went into the railway station at once, in
order to telegraph the news to London. The newspaper
articles had prepared men's minds for the reception of
the idea.
By eight o'clock a number of boys and unemployed
men had already started for the common to see the
"dead men from Mars." That was the form the story
took. I heard of it first from my newspaper boy about a
quarter to nine when I went out to get my Daily
Chronicle. I was naturally startled, and lost no time in
going out and across the Ottershaw bridge to the sand
pits.
koju je ispričao, kao i njegov izgled, bili su tako sumanuti -
šešir mu je bio u jami pao s glave - da je kočijaš samo
produžio. Jednak je neuspjeh doživio i pred krčmarevim
momkom koji je upravo otključavao vrata gostionice kraj
mosta Horsell. Momak je pomislio da ima posla s odbjeglim
luđakom, pa ga je bezuspješno pokušao zaključati u
točionicu. To ga je malo rastrijeznilo; pa kad je ugledao
londonskog novinara Hendersona u njegovu vrtu, zazvao ga
je preko plota i potrudio se da bude što određeniji.
“Hendersone,” doviknuo je, “jeste li sinoć vidjeli onu
padalicu?”
“Da, i?” odgovorio je Henderson.
“Sada je na pašnjaku u Horsellu.”
“Blagi Bože!” uskliknuo je Henderson. “Pali meteorit! To je
dobro.”
“Ali to je i nešto više od meteorita. To je valjak - umjetni
valjak, čovječe! I u njemu je nešto.” Henderson se uspravio
s lopatom u ruci.
“A što to?” upitao je. On je na jedno uho bio gluh.
Ogilvy mu je ispričao sve što je bio vidio. Hendersonu je
trebala možda minuta da sve to probavi. A onda je
bacio lopatu, pa dograbio sako i izišao na ulicu. Sad
su obojica požurila prema pašnjaku, gdje su valjak
zatekla u nepromijenjenu položaju. Sad, međutim,
onih zvukova iz njega više nije bilo, a između vrha i
tijela ukazao se krug svijetloga metala. Kroz taj je
obod zrak ulazio i izlazio, jer se čuo tanki,
šištavi zvuk.
Oni su poslušali, tucnuli štapom o skorenu, nagorjelu
kovinu, pa kad nisu dobili odgovor, zaključili da su
čovjek ili ljudi unutra zacijelo u nesvijesti ili mrtvi.
Razumije se da pritom nisu mogli učiniti baš ništa.
Doviknuli su riječi utjehe i obećanja, pa krenuli put
grada po pomoć. Možete ih zamisliti kako, posuti
pijeskom, uzbuđeni i uneređeni, trče uličicom na
jarkome suncu baš u doba kad trgovci počinju
dizati roloe, a ljudi otvarati prozore spavaćih soba.
Henderson je smjesta ušao u kolodvor da brzojavom
obavijesti London. Baš su ti novinski članci većinu
ljudi duševno pripremili za prihvaćanje te nove
misli.
Do osam sati već su mnogi dječaci i nezaposleni muškarci
krenuli prema pašnjaku da pogledaju “mrtvaca s Marsa”. U
to se, naime, pretvorila priča. Za nju sam prvi put čuo od
svog raznosača novina i to oko četvrt do devet, kad sam
izišao po Daily Chronicle. Naravno da me to osupnulo, pa
sam stoga, ne časeći časa, izišao iz kuće i preko mosta
Ottershaw krenuo prema šljunčari.
 CHAPTER THREE
ON HORSELL COMMON
I found a little crowd of perhaps twenty people
surrounding the huge hole in which the cylinder lay. I
have already described the appearance of that colossal
bulk, embedded in the ground. The turf and gravel
about it seemed charred as if by a sudden explosion.
No doubt its impact had caused a flash of fire.
Henderson and Ogilvy were not there. I think they
perceived that nothing was to be done for the present,
and had gone away to breakfast at Henderson's house.
There were four or five boys sitting on the edge of the
Pit, with their feet dangling, and amusing themselves--
until I stopped them--by throwing stones at the giant
mass. After I had spoken to them about it, they began
playing at "touch" in and out of the group of
bystanders.
Among these were a couple of cyclists, a jobbing
gardener I employed sometimes, a girl carrying a baby,
Gregg the butcher and his little boy, and two or three
loafers and golf caddies who were accustomed to hang
about the railway station. There was very little talking.
Few of the common people in England had anything
but the vaguest astronomical ideas in those days. Most
of them were staring quietly at the big table like end of
the cylinder, which was still as Ogilvy and Henderson
had left it. I fancy the popular expectation of a heap of
charred corpses was disappointed at this inanimate
bulk. Some went away while I was there, and other
people came. I clambered into the pit and fancied I
heard a faint movement under my feet. The top had
certainly ceased to rotate.
It was only when I got thus close to it that the
strangeness of this object was at all evident to me. At
the first glance it was really no more exciting than an
overturned carriage or a tree blown across the road. Not
so much so, indeed. It looked like a rusty gas float. It
required a certain amount of scientific education to
perceive that the grey scale of the Thing was no
common oxide, that the yellowish-white metal that
gleamed in the crack between the lid and the cylinder
had an unfamiliar hue. "Extra-terrestrial" had no
meaning for most of the onlookers.
At that time it was quite clear in my own mind that the
Thing had come from the planet Mars, but I judged it
GLAVA 3.
NA PAŠNJAKU HORSELL
Na njoj sam zatekao maleno mnoštvo od možda dvadesetak
ljudi, skupljenih oko rupetine u kojoj je ležao valjak. Već
sam opisao izgled te kolosalne trupine, usađene u zemlju.
Zemlja i šljunak oko njega bili su nagorjeli, kao da ih je
zahvatila nenadana eksplozija. Nema dvojbe da je udarac
stvorio bljesak vatre. Hendersona i Ogilvyja nije bilo.
Mislim da su shvatili da se tu za sada više ništa ne da
učiniti, pa su otišli kod Hendersona na doručak.
Na rubu je jame sjedilo četvero-petoro dječaka, zibajući
nogama, pa se zabavljalo - dok ih nisam ukorio - bacanjem
kamenja na divovsku masu. Kad sam s njima o tome
porazgovarao, počeli su igrati lovice kroz gomilu
promatrača.
Među njima je bio i par biciklista, povremeni vrtlar koji je
zgodimice radio kod mene, djevojka s djetetom na rukama,
mesar Gregg i njegov mali, kao i dva-tri zgubidana i potrčka
za golf-lopticama koji su se obično motali oko kolodvora.
Malo se govorilo. U to je doba među pukom bilo malo ljudi
koji su o astronomiji znali išta više od najmaglovitijih
pojmova. Većina je samo nijemo zurila u veliki kraj valjka,
nalik na ploču stola, a koji je još bio baš onakav kakvim su
ga Ogilvy i Henderson bili ostavili. Vjerujem da se ta troma
masa silno razočarala što nije zatekla hrpu pougljenjenih
trupala, a što se u puku očekivalo. Dok sam bio tu, neki su i
otišli, ali su zato došli drugi. Zabazao sam u jamu, i tad mi
se učinilo da pod nogama čujem nekakvo tiho gibanje. A
vrh se valjka sasvim nedvojbeno prestao okretati.
Neobičnost sam tog tijela shvatio tek kad sam mu sasvim
prišao. Na prvi pogled ono doista nije bilo ništa uzbudljivije
od prevrnutih kočija ili stabla što ga je vjetar oborio preko
ceste. A zapravo ni toliko. Izgledalo je zapravo kao zahrđali
gazometar. Tražila se bar izvjesna doza znanstvene
naobrazbe eda bi se opazilo da siva okujina na Stvari nije
nikakav uobičajeni oksid, te da je žućkastobijela kovina što
blista u pukotini između valjka i njegova poklopca obojena
neobičnom nijansom. Riječ “izvanzemaljski” za većinu
je okupljenih bila riječ lišena svakog smisla.
U tom sam trenutku u sebi već bio sasvim načisto da je ta
Stvar došla s planeta Marsa, ali sam cijenio nevjerojatnim
improbable that it contained any living creature. I
thought the unscrewing might be automatic. In spite of
Ogilvy, I still believed that there were men in Mars. My
mind ran fancifully on the possibilities of its containing
manuscript, on the difficulties in translation that might
arise, whether we should find coins and models in it,
and so forth. Yet it was a little too large for assurance
on this idea. I felt an impatience to see it opened. About
eleven, as nothing seemed happening, I walked back,
full of such thought, to my home in Maybury. But I
found it difficult to get to work upon my abstract
investigations.
In the afternoon the appearance of the common had
altered very much. The early editions of the evening
papers had startled London with enormous headlines:
"A MESSAGE RECEIVED FROM MARS."
"REMARKABLE STORY FROM WOKING," and so
forth. In addition, Ogilvy's wire to the Astronomical
Exchange had roused every observatory in the three
kingdoms.
There were half a dozen flies or more from the Woking
station standing in the road by the sand pits, a basket-
chaise from Chobham, and a rather lordly carriage.
Besides that, there was quite a heap of bicycles. In
addition, a large number of people must have walked,
in spite of the heat of the day, from Woking and
Chertsey, so that there was altogether quite a
considerable crowd--one or two gaily dressed ladies
among the others.
It was glaringly hot, not a cloud in the sky nor a breath
of wind, and the only shadow was that of the few
scattered pine trees. The burning heather had been
extinguished, but the level ground towards Ottershaw
was blackened as far as one could see, and still giving
off vertical streamers of smoke. An enterprising sweet-
stuff dealer in the Chobham Road had sent up his son
with a barrow-load of green apples and ginger beer.
Going to the edge of the pit, I found it occupied by a
group of about half a dozen men--Henderson, Ogilvy,
and a tall, fair-haired man that I afterwards learned was
Stent, the Astronomer Royal, with several workmen
wielding spades and pickaxes. Stent was giving
directions in a clear, high-pitched voice. He was
standing on the cylinder, which was now evidently
much cooler; his face was crimson and streaming with
perspiration, and something seemed to have irritated
him.
A large portion of the cylinder had been uncovered,
though its lower end was still embedded. As soon as
Ogilvy saw me among the staring crowd on the edge of
the pit he called to me to come down, and asked me if I
would mind going over to see Lord Hilton, the lord of
the manor.
The growing crowd, he said, was becoming a serious
da bi u njoj moglo biti i živih stvorova. Pomislio sam kako
bi to odvrtanje moglo biti djelo automatike. Usprkos
Ogilvyju, ja sam i dalje vjerovao da na Marsu ima ljudi.
Misli su mi divlje prevrtale mogućnost da se u njoj nalazi
nekakav rukopis, i bavile se teškoćama koje bi mogle nastati
pri njegovu prevođenju, kao i mogućnošću da u njoj
pronađemo kovani novac i modele, i tako dalje. Bio
sam nestrpljiv da je napokon ugledam otvorenu. Negdje oko
jedanaest, kad se očito i dalje ništa nije događalo, vratio sam
se pješice, pun takvih misli, svome domu u Mayburyju. Ipak
sam otkrio da ću se teško moći vratiti svom poslu
apstraktnog istraživanja.
Do popodneva se izgled pašnjaka silno promijenio. Rana su
izdanja večernjih novina prepala London golemim
naslovima:
“PRIMLJENA PORUKA S MARSA”, “NEOBIČNA
REPORTAŽA IZ WOKINGA”, i tako dalje. Osim toga je
Ogilvyjev brzojav Astronomskoj burzi napravio uzbunu na
svim zvjezdarnicama tri kraljevine.
Na cesti je kraj šljunčare stajalo pola tuceta, a možda i više
jednoprežnih fijakera s kolodvora Woring, kao i lagane
karuce iz Chobhama, ali i jedna vrlo gospodska kočija. Uz
to se stvorila i čitava hrpa bicikala. Osim toga su mnogi
zacijelo došli i pješice, i to unatoč sparnome danu, što iz
Wokinga, što iz Chertseyja, tako da se sve u svemu skupilo
pozamašno mnoštvo - u kojem su, uz ostale, bile i dvije
veselo odjevene dame.
Vrućina je bila pasja, jer na nebu nije bilo ni oblačka, a ni
od kud ni daška vjetra, dok je jedinu hladovinu bacalo ono
nekoliko raštrkanih borova. Požar su u vrištini već bili
ugasili, ali je ravnica prema Ottershawu bila pocrnjela dokle
je sezalo oko, i iz nje su se još dizali okomiti plamenci
dima. Neki poduzetni slastičar iz Chobham Roada već je
ovamo bio poslao sina s punim kolima zelenih jabuka i
đumbirovim pivom.
Prišao sam rubu jame i otkrio da ju je već zaposjela družina
od možda pola tuceta ljudi - bili su tu Henderson, Ogilvy i
visoki, plavokosi muškarac za kojeg sam kasnije doznao da
se zove Stent, i da je kraljevski astronom, kao i nekoliko
radnika koji su zamahivali pijucima i lopatama. Stent im je
izdavao zapovijedi jasnim i povišenim glasom. Stajao je na
valjku, koji se u međuvremenu očito bio ohladio; lice mu je
bila grimizno i obliveno znojem, pa se činilo kao da ga
nešto ljuti.
Iskopan je već bio velik dio valjka, iako mu je donji kraj i
dalje bio ukopan. Čim me je Ogilvy ugledao u zapiljenome
mnoštvu na rubu jame, doviknuo mi je da siđem, pa me
zapitao da li bih izvolio otići do lorda Hiltona, mjesnog
zemljoposjednika.
Sve veće mnoštvo, rekao mi je, počelo je već ozbiljno
impediment to their excavations, especially the boys.
They wanted a light railing put up, and help to keep the
people back. He told me that a faint stirring was
occasionally still audible within the case, but that the
workmen had failed to unscrew the top, as it afforded
no grip to them. The case appeared to be enormously
thick, and it was possible that the faint sounds we heard
represented a noisy tumult in the interior.
I was very glad to do as he asked, and so become one
of the privileged spectators within the contemplated
enclosure. I failed to find Lord Hilton at his house, but
I was told he was expected from London by the six
o'clock train from Waterloo; and as it was then about a
quarter past five, I went home, had some tea, and
walked up to the station to waylay him.
CHAPTER FOUR
THE CYLINDER OPENS
When I returned to the common the sun was setting.
Scattered groups were hurrying from the direction of
Woking, and one or two persons were returning. The
crowd about the pit had increased, and stood out black
against the lemon yellow of the sky--a couple of
hundred people, perhaps. There were raised voices, and
some sort of struggle appeared to be going on about the
pit. Strange imaginings passed through my mind. As I
drew nearer I heard Stent's voice:
"Keep back! Keep back!" A boy came running towards
me.
"It's a-movin'," he said to me as he passed; "a-screwin'
and a-screwin' out. I don't like it. I'm a-goin' 'ome, I
am." I went on to the crowd. There were really, I
should think, two or three hundred people elbowing
and jostling one another, the one or two ladies there
being by no means the least active.
"He's fallen in the pit!" cried some one.
"Keep back!" said several.
The crowd swayed a little, and I elbowed my way
through. Every one seemed greatly excited. I heard a
peculiar humming sound from the pit.
"I say!" said Ogilvy; "help keep these idiots back. We
don't know what's in the confounded thing, you know!"
I saw a young man, a shop assistant in Woking I
believe he was, standing on the cylinder and trying to
scramble out of the hole again. The crowd had pushed
him in.
The end of the cylinder was being screwed out from
within. Nearly two feet of shining screw projected.
Somebody blundered against me, and I narrowly
missed being pitched onto the top of the screw. I
turned, and as I did so the screw must have come out,
for the lid of the cylinder fell upon the gravel with a
ometati iskopavanja, što se napose odnosilo na djecu. Želio
je postaviti laganu ogradu kao prepreku za ljude. Rekao mi
je da se povremeno iz čahure čuje tiho komešanje, no da
radnici nisu uspjeli odvrnuti vrh, jer ga nisu imali za što
uhvatiti. Činilo se da je čahura silno debela, te je bilo
sasvim moguće da su ti slabašni zvuci što smo ih čuli
potjecali od bučne gungule u njezinoj unutrašnjosti.
Na to sam zaista rado pristao, jer je to značilo da ću i sam
postati jedan od povlaštenih promatrača unutar zamišljenog
zabrana. Lorda Hiltona, međutim, nisam zatekao kod kuće,
ali su mi rekli kako očekuju da će se iz Waterlooa vratiti
londonskim vlakom u šest; no kako je već bilo oko pet i
četvrt, vratio sam se kući, popio čaj, pa krenuo na kolodvor
da ga presretnem na putu.
GLAVA 4.
VALJAK SE OTVARA
Kad sam se vratio na pašnjak, Sunce je već zalazilo. Iz
smjera su Wokinga žurno pristizale razbacane grupice ljudi,
a poneko se i vraćao. Mnoštvo se oko jame umnožilo, i sad
je, crno na pozadini limunskožutog neba, stajalo možda
dvije stotine ljudi. Začuli su se povišeni glasovi, a oko jame
je došlo do nekakve gužve. Kroz glavu su mi prošle čudne
slike. Kad sam prišao bliže, začuo sam Stentov glas:
“Odbij! Odbij!” Do mene je dotrčao dječak.
“Miče se”, rekao mi je u prolazu. “Odvrće se odvrtaljka. Ne
sluti na dobro. Idem kući, da.” Produžio sam do mnoštva. U
njemu je, reklo bi se, bilo dvije do tri stotine ljudi, i svi su
se oni gurali i udarali laktovima, a dvije-tri prisutne dame u
svemu tome nisu nipošto bile najneaktivnije.
“Pao je u jamu!” kriknuo je netko.
“Odbij!” reklo ih je nekoliko.
Mnoštvo se malo zanijelo, i ja sam si laktovima prokrčio
put. Svi su bili silno uzbuđeni. Iz jame sam začuo neobičano
brujanje.
“Čekaj malo!” kazao je Ogilvy. “Dajte da odbijemo te
kretene. Mi još ne znamo, znate, što je u toj vražjoj spravi!”
Ugledao sam mladića, mislim da je to bio trgovački
pomoćnik u Wokingu, kako stoji na valjku i pokušava se
izvući iz jame u koju ga je bila gurnula gomila.
Vrh se valjka odvrtao iznutra. Sad su iz njega virile već
gotovo dvije stope sjajnog navoja. Netko je na mene
naletio, pa me gotovo odbacio na sam vrh tog
navoja. Okrenuo sam se, i zacijelo je navoj istekao
baš u tom trenutku, jer je baš tada, uz zvonki
prasak, poklopac valjka pao na šljunak. Zabio sam
ringing concussion. I stuck my elbow into the person lakat u čovjeka iza sebe i opet okrenuo glavu prema
behind me, and turned my head towards the Thing Stvari. Kružna je šupljina valjka na trenutak bila
again. For a moment that circular cavity seemed savršeno crna. U oči mi je tuklo zalazeće Sunce.
perfectly black. I had the sunset in my eyes.
I think everyone expected to see a man emerge-- Vjerujem da su svi očekivali da će iz valjka izniknuti čovjek
possibly something a little unlike us terrestrial men, but - možda nešto malo drukčiji od nas zemaljskih ljudi,
in all essentials a man. I know I did. But, looking, I ali u biti ipak samo čovjek. Sudim, naime, po sebi.
presently saw something stirring within the shadow: Ali kad sam pogledao, smjesta sam opazio kako se u
greyish billowy movements, one above another, and sjeni nešto miče: bili su to sivi, valoviti pokreti,
then two luminous disks--like eyes. Then something jedan za drugim, u slijedu, a zatim su se pojavila i
resembling a little grey snake, about the thickness of a dva luminozna tanjura od očiju. A onda se nešto
walking stick, coiled up out of the writhing middle, and nalik sitnoj sivoj zmiji, debelo kao štap za šetnju,
wriggled in the air towards me--and then another. razmotalo iz klupka i podiglo iz migoljave sredine
valjka, pa zamigoljilo uvis i prema meni - poslije
čega se pojavilo još jedno.
A sudden chill came over me. There was a loud shriek Najednom me preplavila studen. Iza mene je neka žena
from a woman behind. I half turned, keeping my eyes glasno vrisnula. Napola sam se okrenuo, pogleda i
fixed upon the cylinder still, from which other tentacles dalje prikovana za valjak, iz kojeg su sad virili i
were now projecting, and began pushing my way back drugi pipci, i počeo se odgurivati od ruba
from the edge of the pit. I saw astonishment giving jame. Opazio sam kako se na licima ljudi oko mene
place to horror on the faces of the people about me. I zaprepaštenje počelo povlačiti pred užasom. Sa svih
heard inarticulate exclamations on all sides. There was su se strana začuli neartikulirani povici. Čitava se
a general movement backwards. I saw the shopman gomila počela povlačiti. Vidio sam trgovačkog kalfu
struggling still on the edge of the pit. I found myself kako se i dalje pokušava izvući na rub jame. Otkrio
alone, and saw the people on the other side of the pit sam da sam sâm, i na drugoj strani jame ugledao
running off, Stent among them. I looked again at the ljude u bijegu, među njima i Stenta. Još sam jednom
cylinder, and ungovernable terror gripped me. I stood pogledao valjak i onda me ščepao nesavladiv strah.
petrified and staring. Stajao sam skamenjen i buljio.
A big greyish rounded bulk, the size, perhaps, of a bear, Krupna sivkasta zaobljena masa, velika možda kao
was rising slowly and painfully out of the cylinder. As medvjed, polako se i s naporom dizala iz valjka. Dok je tako
it bulged up and caught the light, it glistened like wet bubrila u visinu, uhvatila je tračak svjetla i zablistala kao
leather. mokra koža.
Two large dark-coloured eyes were regarding me Dva velika tamna oka gledala su me netremice. Masa koja
steadfastly. The mass that framed them, the head of the ih je okruživala, glava tog stvorenja, bila je okrugla i imala
thing, was rounded, and had, one might say, a face. nešto što bismo možda mogli nazvati licem. Ispod očiju su
There was a mouth under the eyes, the lipless brim of bila usta, prorez bez usana koji je podrhtavao i dahtao, i iz
which quivered and panted, and dropped saliva. The koga je kapala slina. Čitavo se stvorenje nadimalo
whole creature heaved and pulsated convulsively. A i pulsiralo u grčevima. Tanka se krakolika priraslica uhvatila
lank tentacular appendage gripped the edge of the za rub valjka, a druga zazibala kroza zrak.
cylinder, another swayed in the air.
Those who have never seen a living Martian can Ljudi koji nisu nikad vidjeli živog Marsijanca teško da
scarcely imagine the strange horror of its appearance. mogu i zamisliti nezemaljsku grozotu njegova izgleda. Ta
The peculiar V-shaped mouth with its pointed upper neobična usta u obliku slova V s ušiljenim dijelom iznad
lip, the absence of brow ridges, the absence of a chin usta, to lice bez arkada, to lice bez brade ispod klinastoga
beneath the wedgelike lower lip, the incessant donjeg dijela usta, to stalno drhturenje usana, ti gorgonski
quivering of this mouth, the Gorgon groups of spletovi pipaka, to bučno nadimanje pluća u tuđoj atmosferi,
tentacles, the tumultuous breathing of the lungs in a ta očita otežalost i bolnost gibanja zbog veće gravitacijske
strange atmosphere, the evident heaviness and energije Zemlje i, više od svega, ta neobična prodornost
painfulness of movement due to the greater golemih očiju - sve je to bilo istodobno i nabijeno životom, i
gravitational energy of the earth--above all, the žestoko, i neljudsko, i obogaljeno i čudovišno. U toj
extraordinary intensity of the immense eyes--were at nauljenoj smeđoj koži bilo je nešto gljivasto, a u
once vital, intense, inhuman, crippled and monstrous. nespretnoj neodlučnosti razvučenih pokreta nešto neizrecivo
There was something fungoid in the oily brown skin, gnusno. Već su me u tom prvom susretu, pri tom prvom
something in the clumsy deliberation of the tedious pogledu, preplavili gađenje i strah. A onda je čudovište
movements unspeakably nasty. Even at this first
encounter, this first glimpse, I was overcome with
disgust and dread. Suddenly the monster vanished. It
had toppled over the brim of the cylinder and fallen
into the pit, with a thud like the fall of a great mass of
leather. I heard it give a peculiar thick cry, and
forthwith another of these creatures appeared darkly in
the deep shadow of the aperture.
I turned and, running madly, made for the first group of
trees, perhaps a hundred yards away; but I ran
slantingly and stumbling, for I could not avert my face
from these things.
There, among some young pine trees and furze bushes,
I stopped, panting, and waited further developments.
The common round the sand pits was dotted with
people, standing like myself in a half-fascinated terror,
staring at these creatures, or rather at the heaped gravel
at the edge of the pit in which they lay. And then, with
a renewed horror, I saw a round, black object bobbing
up and down on the edge of the pit. It was the head of
the shopman who had fallen in, but showing as a little
black object against the hot western sun. Now he got
his shoulder and knee up, and again he seemed to slip
back until only his head was visible. Suddenly he
vanished, and I could have fancied a faint shriek had
reached me. I had a momentary impulse to go back and
help him that my fears overruled.
Everything was then quite invisible, hidden by the deep
pit and the heap of sand that the fall of the cylinder had
made. Anyone coming along the road from Chobham
or Woking would have been amazed at the sight--a
dwindling multitude of perhaps a hundred people or
more standing in a great irregular circle, in ditches,
behind bushes, behind gates and hedges, saying little to
one another and that in short, excited shouts, and
staring, staring hard at a few heaps of sand. The barrow
of ginger beer stood, a queer derelict, black against the
burning sky, and in the sand pits was a row of deserted
vehicles with their horses feeding out of nosebags or
pawing the ground.
CHAPTER FIVE
THE HEAT-RAY
After the glimpse I had had of the Martians emerging
from the cylinder in which they had come to the earth
from their planet, a kind of fascination paralysed my
actions. I remained standing knee-deep in the heather,
staring at the mound that hid them. I was a
battleground of fear and curiosity.
I did not dare to go back towards the pit, but I felt a
passionate longing to peer into it. I began walking,
therefore, in a big curve, seeking some point of vantage
najednom nestalo. Prevalilo se preko ruba valjka i palo u
jamu, uz tresak kao da je pala velika masa kože. Čuo sam ga
kako je ispustilo neobičan zgusnuti krik, a onda se smjesta,
u dubokoj sjeni otvora, pojavila još jedna od tih kreatura.
Okrenuo sam se, potrčao kao lud, i udario prema prvoj
skupini stabala, možda stotinjak metara dalje; ipak sam
trčao zakrenute glave i spotičući se, jer s tih stvorenja nisam
mogao svrnuti oči.
A onda sam, među mladim borovima i grmljem žutilovke
zastao, onako zadihan, i pričekao što će dalje biti. Pašnjak
oko šljunčara bio je posijan ljudima koji su stajali, kao i ja,
u strahu napola ispunjenom divljenjem, i zurili u ta
stvorenja ili točnije u hrpe šljunka na rubu jame u kojoj su
ležala. I onda sam, s ponovno nadošlim strahom, ugledao
okrugli, crni predmet kako se na rubu jame ljuljuška gore-
dolje. Bila je to glava onog trgovca koji je upao u jamu, ali
je sad na vrućem zapadnom nebu izgledala samo
kao nekakva sitna crna stvarčica. Uspio je nekako izdići
rame i koljeno, no onda je očito opet kliznuo, tako da mu se
sad vidjela još samo glava. Najednom je nestao, i možda mi
se pričinilo da je do mene dopro slabašan krik. Osjetio sam
trenutan poriv da se vratim i pomognem mu, ali je taj poriv
poništio strah.
I tada je sve postalo sasvim nevidljivo, skriveno dubokom
jamom i hrpom pijeska što ga je valjak stvorio padom.
Svakoga tko bi u tom trenutku naišao cestom iz Chobhama
ili Wokinga zacijelo bi silno začudio pogled na mnoštvo što
se počelo osipati, mnoštvo od možda stotinu i nešto malo
više ljudi što je stajalo u velikom nepravilnom krugu, u
jarcima, iza grmlja, iza vrtnih vrata i živica, na ljude koji su
govorili malo, i to kratkim, uzbuđenim povicima i zurili,
oštro zurili u tih nekoliko hrpa pijeska. Kolica
s đumbirovim pivom, onako crna na zapaljenom nebu,
stajala su kao čudna olupina, a u pješčanim je jamama ostao
red napuštenih vozila čiji su se konji hranili iz zobnica ili
kopitom kopali tlo.
GLAVA 5.
TOPLINSKA ZRAKA
Nakon onog pogleda na Marsijance što su iznikli iz valjka u
kojem su sa svojega planeta prispjeli na Zemlju, sve mi je
pokrete oduzela nekakva čudna zadivljenost. Ostao sam
stajati u vrijesku do koljena, zapiljen u humak koji ih je
skrivao. U meni je bilo bojište straha i radoznalosti.
Nisam se usudio pogledati prema jami, iako sam osjećao
strastvenu želju da u nju povirim. Krenuo sam stoga, u
širokom luku, u potragu za nekim motrištem i stalno
and continually looking at the sand heaps that hid these
new-comers to our earth. Once a leash of thin black
whips, like the arms of an octopus, flashed across the
sunset and was immediately withdrawn, and afterwards
a thin rod rose up, joint by joint, bearing at its apex a
circular disk that spun with a wobbling motion. What
could be going on there? Most of the spectators had
gathered in one or two groups--one a little crowd
towards Woking, the other a knot of people in the
direction of Chobham. Evidently they shared my
mental conflict. There were few near me. One man I
approached--he was, I perceived, a neighbour of mine,
though I did not know his name--and accosted. But it
was scarcely a time for articulate conversation.
"What ugly brutes!" he said. "Good God! What ugly
brutes!" He repeated this over and over again.
"Did you see a man in the pit?" I said; but he made no
answer to that. We became silent, and stood watching
for a time side by side, deriving, I fancy, a certain
comfort in one another's company. Then I shifted my
position to a little knoll that gave me the advantage of a
yard or more of elevation and when I looked for him
presently he was walking towards Woking.
The sunset faded to twilight before anything further
happened. The crowd far away on the left, towards
Woking, seemed to grow, and I heard now a faint
murmur from it. The little knot of people towards
Chobham dispersed. There was scarcely an intimation
of movement from the pit.
It was this, as much as anything, that gave people
courage, and I suppose the new arrivals from Woking
also helped to restore confidence. At any rate, as the
dusk came on a slow, intermittent movement upon the
sand pits began, a movement that seemed to gather
force as the stillness of the evening about the cylinder
remained unbroken. Vertical black figures in twos and
threes would advance, stop, watch, and advance again,
spreading out as they did so in a thin irregular crescent
that promised to enclose the pit in its attenuated horns.
I, too, on my side began to move towards the pit.
Then I saw some cabmen and others had walked boldly
into the sand pits, and heard the clatter of hoofs and the
gride of wheels. I saw a lad trundling off the barrow of
apples. And then, within thirty yards of the pit,
advancing from the direction of Horsell, I noted a little
black knot of men, the foremost of whom was waving a
white flag.
This was the Deputation. There had been a hasty
consultation, and since the Martians were evidently, in
spite of their repulsive forms, intelligent creatures, it
had been resolved to show them, by approaching them
with signals, that we too were intelligent.
pogledavao u hrpe pijeska što su skrivale te pridošlice na
našu Zemlju. Njihovi su tanki crni bičevi, nalik krakovima
hobotnice, još jednom pucnuli i bljesnuli preko zalaska, pa
se smjesta povukli, a onda se podigao tanak štap, zglob po
zglob, a na vrhu mu je bio kružni disk koji se klimavo
zavrtio. Što se to tamo zbivalo? Većina se promatrača
skupila u dvije družine - jedna je bila sitna gomila prema
Wokingu, a druga grozd ljudi u smjeru Chobhama. Očito je
i njih mučio isti unutrašnji sukob. Nekoliko ih je bilo i kraj
mene. Jednom sam od njih prišao - bio je to, kako sam
opazio, moj susjed, iako nisam znao kako se zove - i obratio
mu se. Ipak je jedvice i bilo vremena za suvisao razgovor.
“Gnusnih li zvijeri!” rekao je. “Blagi Bože! Da, gnusnih li
zvijeri!” I ponovio to još mnogo puta.
“Jeste li vidjeli čovjeka u jami?” upitao sam, ali on mi na to
pitanje nije odgovorio. Potom smo ušutjeli, i tako neko
vrijeme nastavili gledati bok uz bok, nalazeći,
pretpostavljam, u tom zajedništvu izvjesno smirenje. Onda
sam se, međutim, preselio na humčić koji mi je donio
prednost od možda jard visine, a kad sam smjesta
potom pogledao prema njemu, on je već koračao prema
Wokingu.
Prije nego što se išta dogodilo zalaz je Sunca već izblijedio
u sumrak. Mnoštvo daleko nalijevo, prema Wokingu, kao da
je naraslo, i od njega je dopro tihi mrmor. Grozd se ljudi
prema Chobhamu već raspršio. Iz jame je doprla jedva i
slutnja gibanja.
I baš je to, više no išta, obodrilo ljude, a vjerujem da su
obnovi samopouzdanja doprinijeli i novoprispjeli iz
Wokinga. U svakom slučaju, kad se počeo spuštati mrak,
počelo je i polagano, isprekidano gibanje prema rupama u
pijesku, gibanje kojemu, kad je večernji mir oko valjka
ostao neporemećen, kao da je počela rasti snaga. Okomiti
crni likovi, u dvočlanim-tročlanim grupicama, napravili bi
nekoliko koraka, pa stali, osvrnuli se, pa napravili
još nekoliko koraka, i pritom se širili u tanak nepravilan srp
koji kao da je obećavao da će svojim stanjenim rogovima
obuhvatiti jamu. I ja sam se, sa svoje strane, počeo primicati
jami.
Onda sam opazio kako je nekoliko fijakerista i još nekih
ljudi hrabro ušlo u pješčane jame, i začuo topot kopita i
škripu kotača. Vidio sam i dječarca kako gura kolica s
jabukama. A onda sam, na niti trideset jardi od jame, opazio
crni mali grozd ljudi što su napredovali od Horsella, a prvi
je među njima mahao bijelom zastavom.
Bila je to deputacija. Očito je tome prethodilo brzo
savjetovanje, pa kako su Marsijanci, usprkos svom
odbojnom obličju, zacijelo bili razumna bića, na tom je
savjetovanju zaključeno da im valja pokazati, tim
prilaženjem s jasnim znakovima, da smo i mi inteligentni

Flutter, flutter, went the flag, first to the right, then to
the left. It was too far for me to recognise anyone there,
but afterwards I learned that Ogilvy, Stent, and
Henderson were with others in this attempt at
communication. This little group had in its advance
dragged inward, so to speak, the circumference of the
now almost complete circle of people, and a number of
dim black figures followed it at discreet distances.
Suddenly there was a flash of light, and a quantity of
luminous greenish smoke came out of the pit in three
distinct puffs, which drove up, one after the other,
straight into the still air.
This smoke (or flame, perhaps, would be the better
word for it) was so bright that the deep blue sky
overhead and the hazy stretches of brown common
towards Chertsey, set with black pine trees, seemed to
darken abruptly as these puffs arose, and to remain the
darker after their dispersal. At the same time a faint
hissing sound became audible.
Beyond the pit stood the little wedge of people with the
white flag at its apex, arrested by these phenomena, a
little knot of small vertical black shapes upon the black
ground. As the green smoke arose, their faces flashed
out pallid green, and faded again as it vanished. Then
slowly the hissing passed into a humming, into a long,
loud, droning noise. Slowly a humped shape rose out of
the pit, and the ghost of a beam of light seemed to
flicker out from it.
Forthwith flashes of actual flame, a bright glare leaping
from one to another, sprang from the scattered group of
men. It was as if some invisible jet impinged upon
them and flashed into white flame. It was as if each
man were suddenly and momentarily turned to fire.
Then, by the light of their own destruction, I saw them
staggering and falling, and their supporters turning to
run.
I stood staring, not as yet realising that this was death
leaping from man to man in that little distant crowd.
All I felt was that it was something very strange. An
almost noiseless and blinding flash of light, and a man
fell headlong and lay still; and as the unseen shaft of
heat passed over them, pine trees burst into fire, and
every dry furze bush became with one dull thud a mass
of flames. And far away towards Knaphill I saw the
flashes of trees and hedges and wooden buildings
suddenly set alight.
It was sweeping round swiftly and steadily, this flaming
death, this invisible, inevitable sword of heat. I
perceived it coming towards me by the flashing bushes
it touched, and was too astounded and stupefied to stir.
I heard the crackle of fire in the sand pits and the
sudden squeal of a horse that was as suddenly stilled.
stvorovi.
Lepršavo je zalupetala zastava, prvo desno, pa lijevo.
Družina je bila predaleko od mene da bih u njoj prepoznao
ikoga, ali sam kasnije doznao da su se tom pokušaju
komuniciranja ostalima pridružili i Ogilvy, Stent i
Henderson. Ta se sitna družina u svom napredovanju
povukla takoreći prema unutra, u sad gotovo već sasvim
zatvorenu kružnicu ljudi, pa su za njom, na
diskretnoj udaljenosti, krenule mnogobrojne mračne crne
spodobe.
Najednom je bljesnulo svjetlo, i iz jame se digla masa
luminoznog zelenkastog dima, u tri jasno odvojena
ispuha, i produžila, sve oblačić za oblačićem, ravno
uvis kroz miran zrak.
Taj dim (ili bi ga možda bilo bolje nazvati plamenom) bio je
tako blistav da su tamnomodro nebo nad nama i
magličasta prostranstva smeđeg pašnjaka prema
Chertseyju, posijana crnim borovima, najednom kraj
tih oblačića potamnila, i tako tamnija ostala čak i
nakon što su se oblačići razišli. Istodobno se začulo
i slabašno šištanje.
S druge strane jame stajao je mali klin ljudi s bijelom
zastavom na vrhu, zaustavljen tim pojavama, mali
grozd sitnih crnih okomitih likova na crnom tlu. Kad
se digao zeleni dim, na njihovim je licima bljesnulo
blijedo zelenilo, i onda, s njegovim nestankom, opet
izblijedilo. Onda je piska polako prešla u bruj, u dug
i glasan zujavi šum. Iz jame se polako uzdigla
zgrbljena forma, a iz nje je zapalucala slutnja
svjetlosne zrake.
Na što su iz raspršene družine iskočili bljeskovi stvarnog
plamena, u blistavome sjaju što je skakao od jednog do
drugog. Bilo je to kao da se u njih zabio nekakav nevidljivi
mlaz i zabljesnuo ih bijelim plamenom. I kao da su se svi
ljudi najednom i u trenutku pretvorili u oganj.
I onda, u svjetlu što ih je stvaralo njihovo vlastito uništenje,
vidio sam ih kako posrću i padaju, i kako se njihovi
pratioci okreću i udaraju u bijeg.
Stajao sam tako i piljio, još ne shvaćajući da to, u toj
dalekoj gomilici, s čovjeka na čovjeka skače smrt. Osjećao
sam samo da je to nešto jako neobično. Gotovo nečujan i
zasljepljujuć bljesak svjetla, i čovjek pada nauznak i ostaje
nepomično ležati; a kad je nevidljiva zraka topline prešla
preko njega, borovi su buknuli u plamen, a sve se
suho grmlje žutilovke uz tup tresak pretvorilo u masu
plamenova. A daleko prema Knaphillu ugledao sam
bljeskove stabala i živica i drvenih zgrada što su se
najednom zapalili.
A ona je mela i brzo i uporno, ta plamena smrt, taj
nevidljivi, neizbježni mač topline. Prema bljeskovima
grmlja koje bi dotakao, vidio sam da dolazi i prema meni,
ali sam bio tako zapanjen i zabezeknut da se nisam ni
pomakao. Začuo sam pucketanje vatre u šljunčanoj jami i
najednom konjsko cviljenje, podjednako brzo ušutkano.
Then it was as if an invisible yet intensely heated finger
were drawn through the heather between me and the
Martians, and all along a curving line beyond the sand
pits the dark ground smoked and crackled. Something
fell with a crash far away to the left where the road
from Woking station opens out on the common. Forth-
with the hissing and humming ceased, and the black,
dome-like object sank slowly out of sight into the pit.
All this had happened with such swiftness that I had
stood motionless, dumbfounded and dazzled by the
flashes of light. Had that death swept through a full
circle, it must inevitably have slain me in my surprise.
But it passed and spared me, and left the night about
me suddenly dark and unfamiliar.
The undulating common seemed now dark almost to
blackness, except where its roadways lay grey and pale
under the deep blue sky of the early night. It was dark,
and suddenly void of men. Overhead the stars were
mustering, and in the west the sky was still a pale,
bright, almost greenish blue. The tops of the pine trees
and the roofs of Horsell came out sharp and black
against the western afterglow. The Martians and their
appliances were altogether invisible, save for that thin
mast upon which their restless mirror wobbled. Patches
of bush and isolated trees here and there smoked and
glowed still, and the houses towards Woking station
were sending up spires of flame into the stillness of the
evening air. Nothing was changed save for that and a
terrible astonishment. The little group of black specks
with the flag of white had been swept out of existence,
and the stillness of the evening, so it seemed to me, had
scarcely been broken.
It came to me that I was upon this dark common,
helpless, unprotected, and alone. Suddenly, like a thing
falling upon me from without, came--fear.
With an effort I turned and began a stumbling run
through the heather.
The fear I felt was no rational fear, but a panic terror
not only of the Martians, but of the dusk and stillness
all about me. Such an extraordinary effect in
unmanning me it had that I ran weeping silently as a
child might do. Once I had turned, I did not dare to
look back.
I remember I felt an extraordinary persuasion that I was
being played with, that presently, when I was upon the
very verge of safety, this mysterious death--as swift as
the passage of light--would leap after me from the pit
about the cylinder and strike me down.
Bilo je to kao da je kroz vrištinu između mene i Marsijanaca
netko povukao nevidljiv, no ipak silno zagrijan prst, a
čitavom krivudavom crtom iza pješčanih jama tamna se
zemlja dimila i pucala. Daleko lijevo, na mjestu gdje se
željeznička postaja Woking otvara prema pašnjaku, nešto se
s treskom srušilo. Našto je prestalo i brujanje i pištanje i
crni je, kupolasti predmet polako potonuo u jamu i nestao iz
vida.
Sve se to dogodilo tako brzo da sam ostao nepomičan,
zanijemio i ošamućen bljeskovima svjetla. Da je ta smrt
pomela čitav krug, neizbježno bi me, onako zaprepaštena,
bila ubila. Ali je prošla i poštedjela me, i ostavila me u noći,
najednom i mračnoj i nepoznatoj.
Valoviti pašnjak sad je već bio potamnio gotovo do crnine,
osim na mjestima gdje su se, pod tamnomodrim nebom
početka noći, sivile blijede ceste. Bilo je mračno, i
najednom sve ispražnjeno od ljudi. Nada mnom su se već
počele rojiti zvijezde, a na zapadu je nebo još bilo
prekriveno blijedom, sjajnom, gotovo
zelenkastom modrinom. Krošnje borova i krovovi Horsella
iskakati su oštri i crni na zaostalom zapadnom sjaju.
Marsijanci i njihove sprave sad su već bili sasvim nevidljivi,
osim onog tankoga jarbola na kojem se kolebalo neumorno
zrcalo. Krpice grmlja i izoliranih stabala tu i tamo još su se
dimile i žarile, a kuće prema stanici Woking bacale su
tornjeve plamena uvis, u mir večernjeg zraka. Ništa se nije
promijenilo - nov je bio sam taj plamen i to užasno
zaprepaštenje. Mala skupina crnih točkica sa zastavom
bjeline bila je naprosto pometena iz života, i sad mi se činilo
da je mir večeri jedva išta i narušilo.
I onda sam shvatio da se nalazim na tome mračnom
pašnjaku, da sam bespomoćan, nezaštićen i sam. I onda kao
da se najednom nešto na mene srušilo iznutra - bio je to
strah.
Prisilio sam se da se okrenem i posrćući potrčao kroz
vrištinu.
Strah što sam ga osjećao nije bio racionalan; bila je to
panična užasnutost ne samo pred Marsijancima, nego i pred
sumrakom i mirom posvud oko mene. I to je na mene
djelovalo tako neobično, i tako mi neobično oduzelo
muževnost, da sam u trku zaplakao kao malo dijete. I kad
sam se jednom od svega toga okrenuo, nisam se više usudio
osvrnuti.
Sjećam se kako me obuzelo krajnje neobično uvjerenje da
se sa mnom netko poigrava, i da će istoga časa kad se
nađem na samom rubu sigurnosti, ta misteriozna smrt - brza
kao širenje svjetlosti -iskočiti za mnom iz jame oko valjka i
srušiti me na tlo.
 CHAPTER SIX
THE HEAT-RAY IN THE CHOBHAM ROAD
It is still a matter of wonder how the Martians are able
to slay men so swiftly and so silently. Many think that
in some way they are able to generate an intense heat in
a chamber of practically absolute non-conductivity.
This intense heat they project in a parallel beam against
any object they choose, by means of a polished
parabolic mirror of unknown composition, much as the
parabolic mirror of a lighthouse projects a beam of
light. But no one has absolutely proved these details.
However it is done, it is certain that a beam of heat is
the essence of the matter. Heat, and invisible, instead of
visible, light. Whatever is combustible flashes into
flame at its touch, lead runs like water, it softens iron,
cracks and melts glass, and when it falls upon water,
incontinently that explodes into steam.
That night nearly forty people lay under the starlight
about the pit, charred and distorted beyond recognition,
and all night long the common from Horsell to
Maybury was deserted and brightly ablaze. The news
of the massacre probably reached Chobham, Woking,
and Ottershaw about the same time. In Woking the
shops had closed when the tragedy happened, and a
number of people, shop people and so forth, attracted
by the stories they had heard, were walking over the
Horsell Bridge and along the road between the hedges
that runs out at last upon the common. You may
imagine the young people brushed up after the labours
of the day, and making this novelty, as they would
make any novelty, the excuse for walking together and
enjoying a trivial flirtation. You may figure to yourself
the hum of voices along the road in the gloaming. . . .
As yet, of course, few people in Woking even knew
that the cylinder had opened, though poor Henderson
had sent a messenger on a bicycle to the post office
with a special wire to an evening paper. As these folks
came out by twos and threes upon the open, they found
little knots of people talking excitedly and peering at
the spinning mirror over the sand pits, and the
newcomers were, no doubt, soon infected by the
excitement of the occasion.
By half past eight, when the Deputation was destroyed,
there may have been a crowd of three hundred people
GLAVA 6.
TOPLINSKA ZRAKA NA CHOBHAM ROADU
Ljudi se i danas čude što Marsijanci mogu ubijati ljude tako
brzo i nečujno. Mnogi misle da oni na neki način stvaraju
silnu toplinu u praktički apsolutno nevodljivoj komori. Tu
silnu toplinu potom paralelnom zrakom usmjeruju prema
izabranom predmetu, i to s pomoću uglačanog paraboličnog
zrcala nepoznatog sastava, baš onako kako se s pomoću
paraboličnog zrcala u svjetionicima projiciraju svjetlosne
zrake. Ipak, još nitko sve te detalje nije i apsolutno dokazao.
No bez obzira kako to činili, izvjesno jest da je okosnica
svega zraka topline. Topline i nevidljivog, a ne vidljivog,
svjetla. Sve zapaljivo na njezin dodir plane u bljesku, dok
olovo teče kao voda, željezo mekša, staklo puca i tali se, a
kad zraka padne na vodu, ona se smjesta eksplozivno
pretvara u paru.
Te je noći u odsjaju zvijezda oko jame ležalo gotovo
četrdesetero ljudi, nagorjelih i iznakaženih do
neprepoznatljivosti, a pašnjak je od Horsella do Mayburyja
svu noć bio pust i blistav od požara. Novosti o pokolju
vjerojatno su baš nekako istodobno stigle i do Chobhama,
Wokinga i Ottershawa. U Wokingu su se, kad se dogodila
tragedija, zatvorili dućani, i sad su mnogi ljudi, trgovci
i tako dalje, privučeni pričama, krenuli preko Horsell
Bridgea i cestom, između živica, koja na kraju stiže do
pašnjaka. Možete zamisliti mladi svijet, uredno iščetkan
nakon dnevnih napora, kako u toj novosti, kao što bi to
učinio i sa svakom drugom, nalazi povod za zajedničke
šetnje pa uživa u trivijalnom očijukanju. Možete i sami
zamisliti brujanje glasova duž ceste u povečerje ...
Pa ipak su, dakako, u Wokingu tek malobrojni znali čak i
samo to da se valjak otvorio, iako je ubogi Henderson na
poštu bio poslao teklića na biciklu da preda poseban brzojav
za večernje novine. A kad su ti ljudi u dvoje i u troje izašli
na otvoreno, vani su već zatekli malene grozdove ljudi u
uzbuđenom razgovoru, zagledane u zrcalo što se vrtjelo
iznad pješčanih jama, pa su se i novopridošli nedvojbeno
već vrlo brzo zarazili ushitom zgode.
U osam i pol, kad je bila uništena deputacija, na tom se
mjestu već bilo zateklo mnoštvo od možda tri stotine pa i
or more at this place, besides those who had left the
road to approach the Martians nearer. There were three
policemen too, one of whom was mounted, doing their
best, under instructions from Stent, to keep the people
back and deter them from approaching the cylinder.
There was some booing from those more thoughtless
and excitable souls to whom a crowd is always an
occasion for noise and horse-play.
Stent and Ogilvy, anticipating some possibilities of a
collision, had telegraphed from Horsell to the barracks
as soon as the Martians emerged, for the help of a
company of soldiers to protect these strange creatures
from violence. After that they returned to lead that ill-
fated advance. The description of their death, as it was
seen by the crowd, tallies very closely with my own
impressions: the three puffs of green smoke, the deep
humming note, and the flashes of flame.
But that crowd of people had a far narrower escape
than mine. Only the fact that a hummock of heathery
sand intercepted the lower part of the Heat-Ray saved
them. Had the elevation of the parabolic mirror been a
few yards higher, none could have lived to tell the tale.
They saw the flashes and the men falling and an
invisible hand, as it were, lit the bushes as it hurried
towards them through the twilight. Then, with a
whistling note that rose above the droning of the pit,
the beam swung close over their heads, lighting the
tops of the beech trees that line the road, and splitting
the bricks, smashing the windows, firing the window
frames, and bringing down in crumbling ruin a portion
of the gable of the house nearest the corner.
In the sudden thud, hiss, and glare of the igniting trees,
the panic-stricken crowd seems to have swayed
hesitatingly for some moments. Sparks and burning
twigs began to fall into the road, and single leaves like
puffs of flame. Hats and dresses caught fire. Then came
a crying from the common. There were shrieks and
shouts, and suddenly a mounted policeman came
galloping through the confusion with his hands clasped
over his head, screaming.
"They're coming!" a woman shrieked, and
incontinently everyone was turning and pushing at
those behind, in order to clear their way to Woking
again. They must have bolted as blindly as a flock of
sheep. Where the road grows narrow and black
between the high banks the crowd jammed, and a
desperate struggle occurred. All that crowd did not
escape; three persons at least, two women and a little
boy, were crushed and trampled there, and left to die
amid the terror and the darkness.
više ljudi, dakako bez onih koji su sišli s ceste da se još više
primaknu Marsijancu. A bila su tu i tri policajca, od kojih
jedan na konju, i oni su davali sve od sebe, a prema
Stentovim uputama, da odbiju ljude i spriječe ih da priđu
valjku. Pritom se čulo i nezadovoljno hukanje onih
nepromišljenijih i lako uzbudljivih duša za kakve su
takva okupljanja uvijek prilika za bučenje i ludiranje.
Stent i Ogilvy, predviđajući da bi moglo doći i do sukoba,
čim su se pojavili Marsijanci, brzojavom su se iz Horsella
javili u vojarnu i zatražili četu vojnika da ta čudna stvorenja
zaštite od nasilja. 'Nakon toga su se vratili da povedu onaj
svoj zlosretni juriš. Opis njihove pogibije, a prema onom što
je vidjelo mnoštvo, dobro se slaže s mojim dojmovima: tri
oblačića zelenoga dima, duboko brujanje i bljeskovi ognja.
Ipak se to mnoštvo izvuklo za mnogo tanju dlaku. Njih je od
toplinske zrake spasila samo činjenica da je donji dio
toplinske zrake zaustavio humak vrištinom obraslog pijeska.
Da se parabolično zrcalo nalazilo samo nekoliko jardi više,
nitko ne bi preživio da ispriča što se dogodilo. Oni su vidjeli
bljeskove i ljude kako padaju i nevidljivu ruku kako pali
grmlje hitajući kroz sumrak prema njima. I tada, uz dugi ton
zvižduka što je nadglasao brujanje iz jame, zraka im je
zamahnula tik iznad glava i zapalila krošnje bukava kojima
je bila obrubljena cesta, pa raskolila opeke, porazbijala
prozore, zapalila prozorske okvire i u hrpu ruševina srušila
dio zabata kuće na uglu.
U iznenadnom tresku, pisku i bljesku zapaljenih stabala,
panikom obuzeto mnoštvo kao da se na nekoliko
trenutaka pokolebalo. Po cesti su padale iskre i zapaljene
grančice, pa i pojedini zapaljeni listovi kao sitni plamičci.
Šešire i haljine uhvatio je plamen. A onda su se s pašnjaka
začuli krikovi. Bili su to vriskovi i povici, i onda je kroz sav
taj metež progalopirao onaj policajac na konju, ruku
sklopljenih iznad glave, i zakričao.
“Dolaze!” kreštavo je vrisnula neka žena, i najednom su se
svi okrenuli i natisnuli na one iza sebe, probijajući si put do
Wokinga. Zacijelo su pojurili slijepo, kao stado ovaca. Na
mjestu gdje se cesta suzila i pocrnila između visokih nasipa,
gomila se zaglavila, i tu je došlo do očajničke borbe. Svi u
mnoštvu nisu pobjegli: najmanje troje ljudi, dvije žene i
jedan dječak, tu su bili zgnječeni i zgaženi, prepušteni smrti
sred užasa i mraka.
 CHAPTER SEVEN
HOW I REACHED HOME
For my own part, I remember nothing of my flight
except the stress of blundering against trees and
stumbling through the heather. All about me gathered
the invisible terrors of the Martians; that pitiless sword
of heat seemed whirling to and fro, flourishing
overhead before it descended and smote me out of life.
I came into the road between the crossroads and
Horsell, and ran along this to the crossroads.
At last I could go no further; I was exhausted with the
violence of my emotion and of my flight, and I
staggered and fell by the wayside. That was near the
bridge that crosses the canal by the gasworks. I fell and
lay still.
I must have remained there some time.
I sat up, strangely perplexed. For a moment, perhaps, I
could not clearly understand how I came there. My
terror had fallen from me like a garment. My hat had
gone, and my collar had burst away from its fastener. A
few minutes before, there had only been three real
things before me--the immensity of the night and space
and nature, my own feebleness and anguish, and the
near approach of death. Now it was as if something
turned over, and the point of view altered abruptly.
There was no sensible transition from one state of mind
to the other. I was immediately the self of every day
again--a decent, ordinary citizen. The silent common,
the impulse of my flight, the starting flames, were as if
they had been in a dream. I asked myself had these
latter things indeed happened? I could not credit it.
I rose and walked unsteadily up the steep incline of the
bridge. My mind was blank wonder. My muscles and
nerves seemed drained of their strength. I dare say I
staggered drunkenly. A head rose over the arch, and the
figure of a workman carrying a basket appeared.
Beside him ran a little boy. He passed me, wishing me
good night. I was minded to speak to him, but did not. I
answered his greeting with a meaningless mumble and
went on over the bridge.
Over the Maybury arch a train, a billowing tumult of
white, firelit smoke, and a long caterpillar of lighted
windows, went flying south--clatter, clatter, clap, rap,
and it had gone. A dim group of people talked in the
GLAVA 7.
KAKO SAM STIGAO KUĆI
Što se pak mene tiče, ja se od sveg tog bijega sjećam samo
neugode od sudaranja sa stablima i posrtanja kroz vrištinu.
Posvuda oko mene skupljao se nevidljivi užas Marsijanaca;
onaj nemilosrdni mač topline kao da je vitlao amo-tamo,
izvodio mi iznad glave piruete, nakon kojih će se stuštiti i
zdruzgati me u smrt. Na cestu sam izbio između Horsella i
križanja, pa otrčao do njega.
Napokon nisam mogao dalje; iscrpila me divljina mojih
osjećaja i bježanja, pa sam zateturao i strovalio se kraj puta.
Dogodilo se to kraj mosta, preko kanala, kod plinare. Pao
sam i ostao nepomično ležati.
Zacijelo sam tako ostao neko vrijeme.
Uspravio sam se, čudno smeten. Na trenutak vjerojatno
nisam mogao jasno shvatiti kako sam se tamo našao.
Strah je s mene spao kao odjeća. Šešir je nestao, a
ovratnik se otkinuo. Prije nekoliko minuta preda
mnom su bile samo tri realnosti - beskrajnost noći i
svemira i naravi, vlastita slabost i tjeskoba, i
napokon tako tijesna blizina smrti. Sad kao da se
nešto preokrenulo, i moj se način gledanja na svijet
naglo promijenio. Nije bilo nikakvog
razumnog prijelaza iz jednog u drugo duševno
stanje. Ponovno sam postao onaj svakodnevni ja -
pristojan i sasvim običan građanin. Utihli pašnjak,
silovit bijeg, plamen koji je najednom buknuo - sve
je to bilo kao san. Pitao sam se zar se sve to zaista
dogodilo. No za to ne bih mogao jamčiti.
Ustao sam i nesigurno pošao uz oštru strminu mosta. Misli
su mi bile prazno čuđenje. Iz mišića i živaca kao da
se istočila sva snaga. Valjda sam i pijano teturao.
Nad lûk se izdigla glava i pojavila se prilika, radnik
s košarom. Kraj njega je trčao dječačić. Prošao je
kraj mene i poželio mi dobru večer. Pomislio sam da
mu se obratim, ali nisam. Odzdravio sam mu
besmislenim mumljanjem i produžio preko mosta.
Preko luka mosta kod Mayburyja proletio je na jug vlak -
klapa, klapa, klap, rat, tap - kao duga gusjenica
osvijetljenih prozora, rigajući kovitlac bijelog,
vatrom obasjanog dima, pa se izgubio iz vida.
gate of one of the houses in the pretty little row of
gables that was called Oriental Terrace. It was all so
real and so familiar. And that behind me! It was frantic,
fantastic! Such things, I told myself, could not be.
Perhaps I am a man of exceptional moods. I do not
know how far my experience is common. At times I
suffer from the strangest sense of detachment from
myself and the world about me; I seem to watch it all
from the outside, from somewhere inconceivably
remote, out of time, out of space, out of the stress and
tragedy of it all. This feeling was very strong upon me
that night. Here was another side to my dream.
But the trouble was the blank incongruity of this
serenity and the swift death flying yonder, not two
miles away. There was a noise of business from the
gasworks, and the electric lamps were all alight. I
stopped at the group of people.
"What news from the common?" said I.
There were two men and a woman at the gate.
"Eh?" said one of the men, turning.
"What news from the common?" I said.
"'Ain't yer just been there?" asked the men.
"People seem fair silly about the common," said the
woman over the gate. "What's it all abart?"
"Haven't you heard of the men from Mars?" said I; "the
creatures from Mars?"
"Quite enough," said the woman over the gate.
"Thenks"; and all three of them laughed.
I felt foolish and angry. I tried and found I could not
tell them what I had seen. They laughed again at my
broken sentences.
"You'll hear more yet," I said, and went on to my home.
I startled my wife at the doorway, so haggard was I. I
went into the dining room, sat down, drank some wine,
and so soon as I could collect myself sufficiently I told
her the things I had seen. The dinner, which was a cold
one, had already been served, and remained neglected
on the table while I told my story.
"There is one thing," I said, to allay the fears I had
aroused; "they are the most sluggish things I ever saw
crawl. They may keep the pit and kill people who come
near them, but they cannot get out of it. . . . But the
horror of them!"
"Don't, dear!" said my wife, knitting her brows and
putting her hand on mine.
"Poor Ogilvy!" I said. "To think he may be lying dead
there!" My wife at least did not find my experience
incredible. When I saw how deadly white her face was,
I ceased abruptly.
"They may come here," she said again and again.
I pressed her to take wine, and tried to reassure her.
"They can scarcely move," I said.
I began to comfort her and myself by repeating all that
Mračno je društvance razgovaralo na vratima kuće u
lijepom malom redu zabata zvanom Oriental
Terrace. Sve je bilo tako i stvarno i poznato. A ono
iza mene! Bilo je fantastično, fantastično! Tako
nešto, govorio sam sebi, ne može se dogoditi.
Možda sam ja čovjek iznimnih raspoloženja. I ne znam
koliko su moji doživljaji zajednički svim ljudima. Ponekad
patim od krajnje čudnog osjećaja odvojenosti i od sebe i
svijeta oko sebe; tad mi se čini da sve to promatram
odnekud izvana, iz neke nezamislive daljine, izvan
vremena, izvan prostora, izvan muke i tragedije svega toga.
A taj je osjećaj te večeri u meni bio vrlo jak. Ali taj je san
imao i drugu stranu.
Nevolja je bila u čistoj nesukladnosti tog spokojstva i hitre
smrti što je letjela iza mene, ni dvije milje daleko. Iz plinare
se čula djelatna buka, i sve su električne svjetiljke bile
upaljene. Zastao sam kraj skupine ljudi.
“Kakve su vijesti s pašnjaka?” upitah.
Na vratima su bila dvojica muškaraca i jedna žena.
“Ha?” rekao je jedan od muških i okrenuo se.
“Kakve su vijesti s pašnjaka?” ponovih.
“Pa što niste sad bili tamo?” upitali su me muškarci.
“Ljudi su čisto poludjeli zbog toga”, rekla je žena preko
vrata. “Kakva je to frka?”
“Zar niste čuli za ljude s Marsa?” rekoh ja. “Za stvorenja s
Marsa?”
“Čuli smo i previše”, odgovorila je žena preko vrtnih vrata.
“I, hvala, ne.” Sad su se svi troje nasmijali.
Osjetio sam se glupo i naljutio se. Pokušao sam im ispričati
što sam sve vidio i shvatio da neću moći. Opet su se
nasmijali mojim iskidanim rečenicama.
“Još ćete čuti”, rekao sam i produžio prema svome domu.
Na vratima sam preplašio vlastitu ženu, tako sam izmožden
bio. Ušao sam u blagovaonicu, sjeo, popio gutljaj vina, i
čim sam se uspio sabrati, ispričao joj o svemu što sam bio
vidio. Večera, u ovom slučaju hladna, već je bila poslužena,
no dok sam pričao svoju priču, ostala je zanemarena na
stolu.
“Ipak tu ima i još nešto,” rekao sam da smirim strahove što
sam ih bio pobudio, “a to je da su to najtromija stvorenja što
sam ih ikad vidio kako pužu svijetom. Možda i mogu držati
jamu i ubijati ljude koji se približe, ali ne mogu iz nje ... Ali
strahote!”
“Nemoj više!” rekla je moja žena, pa podigla obrve i
poklopila mi ruku dlanom.
“Siroti Ogilvy!” rekoh. “Kad pomislim da sad tamo leži
mrtav!” Moja žena bar nije moj doživljaj smatrala
nevjerojatnim. Ali kad sam vidio kako je smrtno
problijedjela u licu, smjesta sam prestao.
“Mogli bi doći i ovamo”, ponovila je ona mnogo puta.
Nagovorio sam je da popije vina i pokušao je smiriti.
“Jedva se mogu i pomaknuti”, rekoh.
Počeo sam tješiti i nju i sebe ponavljajući joj sve što mi je
Ogilvy had told me of the impossibility of the Martians
establishing themselves on the earth. In particular I laid
stress on the gravitational difficulty. On the surface of
the earth the force of gravity is three times what it is on
the surface of Mars. A Martian, therefore, would weigh
three times more than on Mars, albeit his muscular
strength would be the same. His own body would be a
cope of lead to him. That, indeed, was the general
opinion. Both The Times and the Daily Telegraph, for
instance, insisted on it the next morning, and both
overlooked, just as I did, two obvious modifying
influences.
The atmosphere of the earth, we now know, contains
far more oxygen or far less argon (whichever way one
likes to put it) than does Mars. The invigorating
influences of this excess of oxygen upon the Martians
indisputably did much to counterbalance the increased
weight of their bodies. And, in the second place, we all
overlooked the fact that such mechanical intelligence as
the Martian possessed was quite able to dispense with
muscular exertion at a pinch.
But I did not consider these points at the time, and so
my reasoning was dead against the chances of the
invaders. With wine and food, the confidence of my
own table, and the necessity of reassuring my wife, I
grew by insensible degrees courageous and secure.
"They have done a foolish thing," said I, fingering my
wineglass. "They are dangerous because, no doubt,
they are mad with terror. Perhaps they expected to find
no living things--certainly no intelligent living things."
"A shell in the pit" said I, "if the worst comes to the
worst will kill them all." The intense excitement of the
events had no doubt left my perceptive powers in a
state of erethism. I remember that dinner table with
extraordinary vividness even now. My dear wife's
sweet anxious face peering at me from under the pink
lamp shade, the white cloth with its silver and glass
table furniture--for in those days even philosophical
writers had many little luxuries--the crimson-purple
wine in my glass, are photographically distinct. At the
end of it I sat, tempering nuts with a cigarette,
regretting Ogilvy's rashness, and denouncing the
shortsighted timidity of the Martians.
So some respectable dodo in the Mauritius might have
lorded it in his nest, and discussed the arrival of that
shipful of pitiless sailors in want of animal food. "We
will peck them to death tomorrow, my dear."
I did not know it, but that was the last civilised dinner I
was to eat for very many strange and terrible days.
Ogilvy ispričao o tome kako je nemoguće da se Marsijanci
utvrde na Zemlji. Napose sam isticao nevolje s
gravitacijom. Na Zemljinoj površini gravitacija je triput
veća nego na Marsovoj. Zbog toga bi Marsijanac ovdje
težio triput više nego na Marsu, unatoč tome što bi mu
mišićna snaga ostala ista. Vlastito bi mu se tijelo
pretvorilo u olovni pokrov. I takvo je doista bilo opće
uvjerenje. Njega su se, primjerice, sutradan ujutro čvrsto
držali i The Times i Daily Telegraph, i pritom su oba lista,
baš kao i ja, previdjela dva očita modificirajuća utjecaja.
Atmosfera na Zemlji, kako nam je danas poznato, sadrži
mnogo više kisika ili (ako vam je tako draže) mnogo manje
argona.{4} Okrepljujući utjecaj tog viška kisika na
Marsijance nedvojbeno poprilično kompenzira povećanu
težinu njihovih tijela. A kao drugo, svi smo mi bili sasvim
previdjeli činjenicu da je mehanička inteligencija kakvom
raspolažu Marsijanci sasvim sposobna bez pol muke
nadomjestiti svaki mišićni napor.
U tom trenutku ja, međutim, nisam razmišljao o tome, tako
da moje rezoniranje zavojevačima nije ostavljalo baš
nikakve izglede. Uz jelo i vino, kraj sigurnosti vlastitoga
stola, kao i zbog potrebe da umirim ženu, postajao sam sve
nerazboritije i hrabar i u sebe siguran.
“Učinili su veliku glupost”, rekao sam opipavajući čašu s
vinom. “Oni su opasni zato što su nedvojbeno poludjeli od
straha. Možda nisu očekivali da će ovdje zateći živa
stvorenja - a kamoli razumna.
Jedna granata u jamu,” rekoh, “i to samo u najgorem od
najgorih slučajeva; ona će ih sve pobiti.” Silna uzbuđenost
događajima zacijelo mi je perceptivne sposobnosti dovela u
stanje krajnje nadraženosti. Čak se i danas tako neobično
živo sjećam tog stola s večerom. I milog zabrinutog lica
moje drage žene kako me gleda ispod ružičastog abažura,
bijelog stolnjaka sa srebrnim i staklenim priborom - jer su u
to doba čak i filozofski nastrojeni pisci uživali u mnoštvu
sitnih raskoši - kao i grimiznog vina u čaši, i sve je to ostalo
zapamćeno upravo fotografski bistro. I na kraju sam tog
stola sjedio, umirujući moždane vijuge cigaretom, i tugovao
zbog Ogilvyjeve nepromišljenosti, i osuđivao kratkovidnu
bojažljivost Marsijanaca.
Tako je i neki uvaženi dodo na Mauriciusu mogao gazdovati
po svome gnijezdu, i raspravljati o dolasku punog broda
bezdušnih mornara gladnih hrane životinjskog porijekla.
“Sutra ćemo ih, dušo, iskljucati do smrti.” Tada to još nisam
mogao znati, no bila je to posljednja civilizirana večera što
ću je pojesti za vrlo mnogih i čudnih i strašnih dana.
 CHAPTER EIGHT
FRIDAY NIGHT
The most extraordinary thing to my mind, of all the
strange and wonderful things that happened upon that
Friday, was the dovetailing of the commonplace habits
of our social order with the first beginnings of the
series of events that was to topple that social order
headlong. If on Friday night you had taken a pair of
compasses and drawn a circle with a radius of five
miles round the Woking sand pits, I doubt if you would
have had one human being outside it, unless it were
some relation of Stent or of the three or four cyclists or
London people lying dead on the common, whose
emotions or habits were at all affected by the new-
comers. Many people had heard of the cylinder, of
course, and talked about it in their leisure, but it
certainly did not make the sensation that an ultimatum
to Germany would have done.
In London that night poor Henderson's telegram
describing the gradual unscrewing of the shot was
judged to be a canard, and his evening paper, after
wiring for authentication from him and receiving no
reply--the man was killed--decided not to print a
special edition.
Even within the five-mile circle the great majority of
people were inert. I have already described the
behaviour of the men and women to whom I spoke. All
over the district people were dining and supping;
working men were gardening after the labours of the
day, children were being put to bed, young people were
wandering through the lanes love-making, students sat
over their books. Maybe there was a murmur in the
village streets, a novel and dominant topic in the
public-houses, and here and there a messenger, or even
an eye-witness of the later occurrences, caused a whirl
of excitement, a shouting, and a running to and fro; but
for the most part the daily routine of working, eating,
drinking, sleeping, went on as it had done for countless
years--as though no planet Mars existed in the sky.
Even at Woking station and Horsell and Chobham that
was the case.
In Woking junction, until a late hour, trains were
stopping and going on, others were shunting on the
GLAVA 8.
PETAK UVEČER
Najneobičnije je, bar za moj pojam, od svega toga čudnog i
čudesnog što se tog petka dogodilo, bilo to što su se
svakodnevne navike našeg društvenog reda tako skladno
spojile s prvim počecima niza događaja pod kojima će se taj
društveni red srušiti kao kula od karata. Da ste u petak
navečer uzeli šestar i oko wokinške šljunčare opisali krug s
radijusom od pet milja, dvojim da biste izvan njega našli
ijedno ljudsko biće - izuzmemo li pokojeg Stentova rođaka
ili pak srodnika ona tri-četiri biciklista ili onih Londonaca
što su sad ležali mrtvi na pašnjaku - na čijim su
osjećajima ili navikama te pridošlice ostavile ikakva traga.
Za taj su valjak, naravno, čuli već mnogi, pa o njemu u
dokolici i pričali, ali on zacijelo nije izazvao senzaciju
kakvu bi izazvao, recimo, ultimatum Njemačkoj.
Te je večeri brzojav sirotog Hendersona, a u kojem je bilo
opisano postupno odvrtanje projektila, bio ocijenjen
novinskom patkom, a njegov je večernji dnevnik,
nakon što je brzojavom zatražio potvrdu, na koju,
međutim, nije stigao odgovor - jer je Henderson
u međuvremenu poginuo - odlučio odustati od
posebnog izdanja.
Ali čak i unutar tog kruga od pet milja velika je većina ljudi
ostala inertna. Već sam opisao ponašanje muškaraca
i žena kojima sam se obraćao. U čitavom tom kraju
ljudi su uživali svoje rane i kasne večere; radni su
ljudi poslije dnevnih napora obrađivali svoj
vrt, djecu su pak spremali u krevet, dok je mlađarija
lunjala puteljcima i ljubovala, a đaci se grbili nad
knjigama. Možda se po seoskim ulicama nešto i
šuškalo, možda je to u krčmama i bila nova i glavna
tema razgovora, a tu bi i tamo kakav glasonoša, ili
čak i očevidac nedavnih zbivanja, izazvao vrtlog
uzbuđenja, viku, pa i kratku strku; ipak se za većinu
ljudi svakodnevna rutina rada, jedenja, pijenja,
spavanja, nastavljala kao i već tolike bezbrojne
godine - baš kao da na nebu i ne postoji nikakav
planet Mars. Tako je to bilo čak i na wokinškoj
postaji, u Horsellu i Chobhamu.
Na čvorištu Woking, sve do u kasne sate, vlakovi su se
zaustavljali pa nastavljali put; druge su pak skretali
sidings, passengers were alighting and waiting, and
everything was proceeding in the most ordinary way. A
boy from the town, trenching on Smith's monopoly,
was selling papers with the afternoon's news. The
ringing impact of trucks, the sharp whistle of the
engines from the junction, mingled with their shouts of
"Men from Mars!" Excited men came into the station
about nine o'clock with incredible tidings, and caused
no more disturbance than drunkards might have done.
People rattling Londonwards peered into the darkness
outside the carriage windows, and saw only a rare,
flickering, vanishing spark dance up from the direction
of Horsell, a red glow and a thin veil of smoke driving
across the stars, and thought that nothing more serious
than a heath fire was happening. It was only round the
edge of the common that any disturbance was
perceptible. There were half a dozen villas burning on
the Woking border. There were lights in all the houses
on the common side of the three villages, and the
people there kept awake till dawn.
A curious crowd lingered restlessly, people coming and
going but the crowd remaining, both on the Chobham
and Horsell bridges. One or two adventurous souls, it
was afterwards found, went into the darkness and
crawled quite near the Martians; but they never
returned, for now and again a light-ray, like the beam
of a warship's searchlight swept the common, and the
Heat-Ray was ready to follow. Save for such, that big
area of common was silent and desolate, and the
charred bodies lay about on it all night under the stars,
and all the next day. A noise of hammering from the pit
was heard by many people.
So you have the state of things on Friday night. In the
centre, sticking into the skin of our old planet Earth
like a poisoned dart, was this cylinder. But the poison
was scarcely working yet. Around it was a patch of
silent common, smouldering in places, and with a few
dark, dimly seen objects lying in contorted attitudes
here and there. Here and there was a burning bush or
tree. Beyond was a fringe of excitement, and farther
than that fringe the inflammation had not crept as yet.
In the rest of the world the stream of life still flowed as
it had flowed for immemorial years. The fever of war
that would presently clog vein and artery, deaden nerve
and destroy brain, had still to develop.
All night long the Martians were hammering and
stirring, sleepless, indefatigable, at work upon the
machines they were making ready, and ever and again a
puff of greenish-white smoke whirled up to the starlit
sky.
About eleven a company of soldiers came through
Horsell, and deployed along the edge of the common to
form a cordon. Later a second company marched
through Chobham to deploy on the north side of the
na sporedan kolosijek, pa su putnici silazili i čekali, i
sve se nastavljalo na najuredniji način. Dječak iz
grada, zadirući u Smithov monopol, prodavao je
novine s popodnevnim vijestima. Zvonki sudari
vagona, oštar zvižduk pištaljke lokomotiva na
skretnici, miješali su se s povicima “Ljudi s Marsa!”.
Oko devet sati uvečer na kolodvor su došli uzbuđeni
ljudi s nevjerojatnim vijestima; time nisu izazvali
ništa veću pometnju od one što bi je izazvali pijanci.
Ljudi koji su se truckali prema Londonu zurili su
kroz prozore u tamu, i opažali samo kako bi iz
smjera Horsella znala zaplesati rijetka i
žmirkava iskra, i onda nestati; znali bi ugledati samo
crven odsjaj i tanku koprenu dima kako se vuku
preko zvijezda, i pritom pomislili kako se nije
dogodilo ništa ozbiljnije od požara vrištine. Jedini
se poremećaj vidio samo oko ruba pašnjaka. Na rubu
je Wokinga gorjelo pola tuceta vila. Na svim kućama
iz tri sela, bočno okrenutim pašnjaku, gorjela su
svjetla, i ljudi su u njima bdjeli sve do zore.
Radoznalo je mnoštvo nervozno zastajkivalo, ljudi su
dolazili i odlazili, ali je mnoštvo ostajalo, i to kako na
chobhamskom, tako i na horsellskom mostu. Kasnije se
otkrilo da su dva poduzetna duha otišla u mrak i dopuzala
sasvim do Marsijanaca; nikad se, međutim, nisu i vratili, jer
bi svjetlosna zraka, nalik na reflektorski snop ratnoga broda,
povremeno prebrisala pašnjak, a toplinska je zraka bila
stalno spremna da pođe za njom. Izuzmemo li ovo, veliko je
područje pašnjaka bilo tiho i pusto, i nagorjela su tijela na
njemu ležala pod zvijezdama čitavu noć i čitav sutrašnji
dan. Mnogi su iz jame čuli lupu čekića.
ba:l.ka,nd,ovv:nlo:ad
Baš tako su stajale stvari tog petka uvečer. U sredini je bio
valjak, te iz kože našega staroga planeta Zemlje virio poput
otrovne strelice. Otrov je, međutim, jedva još i počeo
djelovati. Oko valjka je bila krpica nijemog pašnjaka, i
mjestimice se dimila, i na njemu je tu i tamo u zgrčenom
položaju ležalo nekoliko mračnih, jedva vidljivih predmeta.
Ponegdje bi gorio grm ili stablo. A izvan toga je bio obrub
uzbuđenja, jer se izvan tog ruba upala još nije proširila. U
ostatku svijeta struja je života i dalje tekla kao
već bezbrojne godine. Groznica rata koja će u najskorijoj
budućnosti začepiti i vene i arterije, umrtviti živce i uništiti
mozak, tek se trebala razviti.
Marsijanci su čitavu noć lupali čekićima i micali se, ne
spavajući, neumorni, radeći na strojevima i pripremajući ih,
i svako malo prema nebu osutu zvijezdama opet bi se
zakovitlao oblačić zelenkastobijelog dima.
Oko jedanaest je sati kroz Horsell prošla četa vojnika, pa se
duž ruba pašnjaka razvila u kordon. Kasnije je kroz
Chobham promarširala druga četa i razvila se na sjevernoj
strani pašnjaka. Na pašnjaku se jučer već bilo našlo
common. Several officers from the Inkerman barracks
had been on the common earlier in the day, and one,
Major Eden, was reported to be missing. The colonel of
the regiment came to the Chobham bridge and was
busy questioning the crowd at midnight. The military
authorities were certainly alive to the seriousness of the
business. About eleven, the next morning's papers were
able to say, a squadron of hussars, two Maxims, and
about four hundred men of the Cardigan regiment
started from Aldershot.
A few seconds after midnight the crowd in the Chertsey
road, Woking, saw a star fall from heaven into the pine
woods to the northwest. It had a greenish colour, and
caused a silent brightness like summer lightning. This
was the second cylinder.
CHAPTER NINE
THE FIGHTING BEGINS
Saturday lives in my memory as a day of suspense. It
was a day of lassitude too, hot and close, with, I am
told, a rapidly fluctuating barometer. I had slept but
little, though my wife had succeeded in sleeping, and I
rose early. I went into my garden before breakfast and
stood listening, but towards the common there was
nothing stirring but a lark.
The milkman came as usual. I heard the rattle of his
chariot and I went round to the side gate to ask the
latest news. He told me that during the night the
Martians had been surrounded by troops, and that guns
were expected. Then--a familiar, reassuring note--I
heard a train running towards Woking.
"They aren't to be killed," said the milkman, "if that can
possibly be avoided." I saw my neighbour gardening,
chatted with him for a time, and then strolled in to
breakfast. It was a most unexceptional morning. My
neighbour was of opinion that the troops would be able
to capture or to destroy the Martians during the day.
"It's a pity they make themselves so unapproachable,"
he said. "It would be curious to know how they live on
another planet; we might learn a thing or two."
He came up to the fence and extended a handful of
strawberries, for his gardening was as generous as it
was enthusiastic. At the same time he told me of the
burning of the pine woods about the Byfleet Golf
Links.
"They say," said he, "that there's another of those
blessed things fallen there--number two. But one's
enough, surely. This lot'll cost the insurance people a
pretty penny before everything's settled." He laughed
with an air of the greatest good humour as he said this.
The woods, he said, were still burning, and pointed out
a haze of smoke to me. "They will be hot under foot for
nekoliko časnika iz vojarne Inkerman, a onda je prijavljen
nestanak jednoga od njih, majora Edena. Pukovnik je
regimente stigao na chobhamski most pa mnoštvo podvrgao
marljivom ponoćnom ispitivanju. Vojne su vlasti zacijelo
vrlo živo shvaćale ozbiljnost čitave te priče. Oko jedanaest,
kako su mogle izvijestiti sutrašnje jutarnje novine, iz
Aldershota su krenuli eskadron husara, dva Maxima i oko
četiri stotine momaka iz Cardiganske regimente.
Nekoliko sekundi poslije ponoći mnoštvo je na cesti za
Chertsey, u Workingu, opazilo kako s neba pada zvijezda i
nestaje u borovim šumama na sjeverozapadu. Bila je
zelenkaste boje, i samo je kao ljetni grom nečujno osvijetlila
krajolik. Bio je to drugi valjak.
GLAVA 9.
BORBA JE POČELA
Subota u mom sjećanju živi kao dan napetosti. Bio je to i
dan klonuća, vruć i sparan, u kojem je, vele, brzo fluktuirao
barometar. Spavao sam samo malo - moja je žena u tome
imala više uspjeha - i rano ustao. Prije doručka sam otišao u
vrt i zastao osluškujući, ali u smjeru pašnjaka nije se micalo
ništa osim ševe.
Mljekar je došao kao i obično. Začuo sam tandrkanje
njegovih kola, pa sam otišao oko kuće do bočnih vrtnih
vrata i upitao ga za posljednje vijesti. On mi je rekao da je
Marsijance noćas okružila vojska te da se očekuje dolazak
topova. I onda sam - bio je to onaj poznati, umirujući zvuk -
začuo vlak kako juri prema Wokingu.
“Ne bi ih trebalo ubijati,” rekao je mljekar, “ako se to ikako
može izbjeći.” Opazio sam susjeda kako kopa po vrtu, s
njim malo popričao, pa ušao na doručak. Bilo je to zaista
krajnje obično jutro. Moj je susjed smatrao da će vojska još
danas uspjeti zarobiti ili bar uništiti Marsijance.
“Prava je šteta što su tako nepristupačni”, rekao je. “Bilo bi
zanimljivo doznati kako se živi na tom drugom planetu; od
njih bi se dalo koješta naučiti.”
Prišao je ogradi i pružio mi šaku jagoda, zato što je u svom
vrtlarenju bio darežljiv koliko i predan poslu. Istodobno mi
je ispričao i o požaru borove šume kod Byfleet Golf Linksa.
“Priča se”, rekao je, “da je palo još jedno od tih blaženih
čuda - čudo broj dva. Ali je i jedno previše, to
sigurno. Ta će priča one iz osiguranja koštati lijepu
hrpicu dok se sve ne sredi.” Kad je to izrekao,
nasmijao se u najljepšem dobrom raspoloženju.
Šuma još gori, rekao mi je i pokazao na sumaglicu
dima. “Ovima će još danima gorjeti pod nogama,
days, on account of the thick soil of pine needles and
turf," he said, and then grew serious over "poor
Ogilvy." After breakfast, instead of working, I decided
to walk down towards the common. Under the railway
bridge I found a group of soldiers--sappers, I think,
men in small round caps, dirty red jackets unbuttoned,
and showing their blue shirts, dark trousers, and boots
coming to the calf. They told me no one was allowed
over the canal, and, looking along the road towards the
bridge, I saw one of the Cardigan men standing sentinel
there. I talked with these soldiers for a time; I told them
of my sight of the Martians on the previous evening.
None of them had seen the Martians, and they had but
the vaguest ideas of them, so that they plied me with
questions. They said that they did not know who had
authorised the movements of the troops; their idea was
that a dispute had arisen at the Horse Guards. The
ordinary sapper is a great deal better educated than the
common soldier, and they discussed the peculiar
conditions of the possible fight with some acuteness. I
described the Heat-Ray to them, and they began to
argue among themselves.
"Crawl up under cover and rush 'em, say I," said one.
"Get aht!" said another. "What's cover against this 'ere
'eat? Sticks to cook yer! What we got to do is to go as
near as the ground'll let us, and then drive a trench."
"Blow yer trenches! You always want trenches; you
ought to ha' been born a rabbit Snippy."
"Ain't they got any necks, then?" said a third,
abruptly--a little, contemplative, dark man, smoking a
pipe.
I repeated my description.
"Octopuses," said he, "that's what I calls 'em. Talk
about fishers of men--fighters of fish it is this time!"
"It ain't no murder killing beasts like that," said the first
speaker.
"Why not shell the darned things strite off and finish
'em?" said the little dark man. "You carn tell what they
might do."
"Where's your shells?" said the first speaker. "There
ain't no time. Do it in a rush, that's my tip, and do it at
once."
So they discussed it. After a while I left them, and went
on to the railway station to get as many morning papers
as I could.
But I will not weary the reader with a description of
that long morning and of the longer afternoon. I did not
succeed in getting a glimpse of the common, for even
Horsell and Chobham church towers were in the hands
of the military authorities. The soldiers I addressed
didn't know anything; the officers were mysterious as
well as busy. I found people in the town quite secure
again in the presence of the military, and I heard for the
zbog tog debelog tepiha borovih iglica i humusa”,
rekao je, pa se onda naglo uozbiljio zbog
“sirotog Ogilvyja”. Poslije doručka, umjesto da se
prihvatim posla, odlučio sam se prošetati do
pašnjaka. Ispod željezničkog sam mosta zatekao
odjel vojnika pionira, s okruglim kapicama, u
raskopčanim prljavocrvenim bluzama, a vidjele su
im se i modre košulje, tamne hlače i čizme do
listova. Rekli su mi da nitko ne smije preko kanala, a
kad sam niz cestu pogledao prema mostu, opazio
sam kako tu drži stražu jedan iz Cardigana. Popričao
sam malo s tim vojnicima; ispričao sam im kako
sam sinoć vidio Marsijance. Nitko ih od njih još nije
vidio, i o njima su imali tek najmaglovitije pojmove,
pa su me obasuli pitanjima. Rekli su mi da ne
znaju tko je odobrio pokrete trupa; oni su imali
dojam da je u Konjičkoj gardi došlo do rasprave.
Obično je pionir mnogo obrazovaniji od prosječnog
vojnika, pa su stoga neobične okolnosti moguće
borbe počeli razmatrati s izvjesnom pronicavošću.
Opisao sam im toplinsku zraku, i zbog nje je odmah
izbila prepirka.
“Drži se zaklona, dopuži i skoči na njih, velim ja”, rekao je
jedan.
“Malo sutra!” rekao je drugi. “Ma kakav zaklon protiv takve
jare? Skuha te k’o pile! Evo što treba: prići što bliže,
pa onda iskopati rov.”
“Vrag neka nosi i tebe i rovove! Samo su ti oni na pameti;
Snippy, trebao si se roditi kao zec.”
“Pa zar oni nemaju nikakav vrat, ha?” rekao je najednom
treći - sitan, tamnoput, zamišljen i s lulom u zubima.
Ponovio sam svoj opis.
“Hobotnice,” rekao je on, “eto što su oni za mene. Eto nas u
ribare riba ljudilovki, eto što nas čeka!”
“Nije to umorstvo, ubijati takve zvijeri”, rekao je onaj prvi.
“Ma te vragove treba odmah granatama i gotova priča”,
rekao je onaj sitni i crnoputi. “Vrag bi ga znao za što su sve
sposobni.”
“Pa gdje su ti granate?” upitao je onaj prvi. “Nema tu
vremena. Naprijed, dečki, eto što si ja mozgam, pa da smo s
tim gotovi.”
I tako su raspravljali o tome. Nakon nekog sam ih vremena
ostavio, pa otišao do kolodvora pokupiti sve žive jutarnje
novine.
Ipak neću zamarati čitatelja opisom tog dugog jutra i još
dužeg popodneva. Na pašnjak nisam uspio baciti ni pogled,
jer su u rukama vojnih vlasti bili čak i zvonici crkve u
Horsellu i Chobhamu. Vojnici kojima sam se obraćao nisu
znali ništa; časnici su bili koliko tajanstveni toliko i zauzeti.
Otkrio sam da se stanovnici gradića uz vojsku opet osjećaju
sigurni, i sad sam prvi put od trafikanta Marshalla čuo da je
među poginulima na pašnjaku i njegov sin. Vojnici su ljude
first time from Marshall, the tobacconist, that his son
was among the dead on the common. The soldiers had
made the people on the outskirts of Horsell lock up and
leave their houses.
I got back to lunch about two, very tired for, as I have
said, the day was extremely hot and dull; and in order
to refresh myself I took a cold bath in the afternoon.
About half past four I went up to the railway station to
get an evening paper, for the morning papers had
contained only a very inaccurate description of the
killing of Stent, Henderson, Ogilvy, and the others. But
there was little I didn't know. The Martians did not
show an inch of themselves. They seemed busy in their
pit, and there was a sound of hammering and an almost
continuous streamer of smoke. Apparently they were
busy getting ready for a struggle. "Fresh attempts have
been made to signal, but without success," was the
stereotyped formula of the papers. A sapper told me it
was done by a man in a ditch with a flag on a long
pole. The Martians took as much notice of such
advances as we should of the lowing of a cow.
I must confess the sight of all this armament, all this
preparation, greatly excited me. My imagination
became belligerent, and defeated the invaders in a
dozen striking ways; something of my schoolboy
dreams of battle and heroism came back. It hardly
seemed a fair fight to me at that time. They seemed
very helpless in that pit of theirs.
About three o'clock there began the thud of a gun at
measured intervals from Chertsey or Addlestone. I
learned that the smouldering pine wood into which the
second cylinder had fallen was being shelled, in the
hope of destroying that object before it opened. It was
only about five, however, that a field gun reached
Chobham for use against the first body of Martians.
About six in the evening, as I sat at tea with my wife in
the summerhouse talking vigorously about the battle
that was lowering upon us, I heard a muffled
detonation from the common, and immediately after a
gust of firing. Close on the heels of that came a violent
rattling crash, quite close to us, that shook the ground;
and, starting out upon the lawn, I saw the tops of the
trees about the Oriental College burst into smoky red
flame, and the tower of the little church beside it slide
down into ruin. The pinnacle of the mosque had
vanished, and the roof line of the college itself looked
as if a hundred-ton gun had been at work upon it. One
of our chimneys cracked as if a shot had hit it, flew,
and a piece of it came clattering down the tiles and
made a heap of broken red fragments upon the flower
bed by my study window.
I and my wife stood amazed. Then I realised that the
crest of Maybury Hill must be within range of the
Martians' Heat-Ray now that the college was cleared
na periferiji Horsella natjerali da zaključaju kuće i odu.
Kući sam se vratio oko dva, i bio sam jako umoran, jer je,
kao što sam već rekao, dan bio silno i vruć i sparan; zato
sam se radi osvježenja popodne okupao u hladnoj vodi. Oko
četiri i pol otišao sam na kolodvor po večernje novine, zato
što je u jutarnjima bio samo vrlo netočan opis pogibije
Stenta, Hendersona, Ogilvyja i ostalih. Ali je zato i u
večernjima bilo malo toga što već nisam znao. Marsijanci
nisu provirili ni nosa. Čini se da su u svojoj jami imali pune
ruke posla, i čula se lupa čekića i dizala se
gotovo neprekinuta perjanica dima. Očito su se marljivo
spremali za boj. “Obnovljeni su pokušaji za uspostavljanje
veze, ali bez uspjeha”, glasila je stereotipna novinska
formula. Neki mi je pionir rekao da je to pokušao učiniti
čovjek iz zaklona, sa zastavom na dugoj motki. Marsijanci
su na ta prilaženja obratili zanimanje koliko i mi na
mukanje krave.
Moram priznati da me pogled na sve to oružje, na sve te
pripreme, silno uzbudio. Mašta mi se razgoropadila, i
poražavala zavojevače na mnoštvo zapanjujućih načina; u
glavu mi se vratilo nešto od dječačkih snova o boju i
heroizmu. Ipak mi se ta borba u to doba jedva činila
poštenom. U toj su svojoj jami izgledali sasvim
bespomoćno.
Oko tri sata iz pravca Chertseyja i Addlestonea započelo je,
u odmjerenim razmacima, gruhanje topova. Doznao sam da
su borovu šumu u koju je pao drugi valjak, i koja se još
dimila, obasuli granatama u nadi da će one uništiti objekt
još prije nego što se otvori. U Chobham je, međutim, prvi
poljski top, koji je trebao djelovati protiv prve marsijanske
postrojbe, stigao tek oko pet.
Oko šest uvečer, dok sam sa ženom sjedio uz čaj u vrtnoj
sjenici i žustro pričao o boju koji nam se primiče, s pašnjaka
sam začuo prigušenu detonaciju, a odmah zatim i zapuh
paljbe. Njemu za petama stigao je divlji štropot, vrlo bliski
tresak koji je potresao zemlju; a kad sam istrčao na tratinu,
vidio sam kako su krošnje stabala oko Oriental Collegea
planule crvenim plamenom punim dima, a toranj se obližnje
crkvice naprosto slio u vlastite ruševine. Vršak je džamije
nestao, a obrisi su krovova koledža izgledali kao da ih je
obrađivao top od stotinu tona. Jedan je naš dimnjak pukao
kao da ga je pogodio metak, i odletio, a njegova je krhotina
zalupetala niz crjepove pa na gredici s cvijećem pod
prozorom moje radne sobe složila hrpicu
izlomljenih crvenih krhotina.
I ja i žena stajali smo zapanjeni. Onda sam shvatio da se vrh
Maybury Hilla sada, kad je koledž maknut s puta, zacijelo
našao na dometu marsijanskih toplinskih zraka.
out of the way.
At that I gripped my wife's arm, and without ceremony
ran her out into the road. Then I fetched out the servant,
telling her I would go upstairs myself for the box she
was clamouring for.
"We can't possibly stay here," I said; and as I spoke the
firing reopened for a moment upon the common.
"But where are we to go?" said my wife in terror.
I thought perplexed. Then I remembered her cousins at
Leatherhead.
"Leatherhead!" I shouted above the sudden noise. She
looked away from me downhill. The people were
coming out of their houses, astonished.
"How are we to get to Leatherhead?" she said.
Down the hill I saw a bevy of hussars ride under the
railway bridge; three galloped through the open gates
of the Oriental College; two others dismounted, and
began running from house to house. The sun, shining
through the smoke that drove up from the tops of the
trees, seemed blood red, and threw an unfamiliar lurid
light upon everything.
"Stop here," said I; "you are safe here"; and I started off
at once for the Spotted Dog, for I knew the landlord
had a horse and dog cart. I ran, for I perceived that in a
moment everyone upon this side of the hill would be
moving. I found him in his bar, quite unaware of what
was going on behind his house. A man stood with his
back to me, talking to him.
"I must have a pound," said the landlord, "and I've no
one to drive it."
"I'll give you two," said I, over the stranger's shoulder.
"What for?"
"And I'll bring it back by midnight," I said.
"Lord!" said the landlord; "what's the hurry? I'm selling
my bit of a pig. Two pounds, and you bring it back?
What's going on now?" I explained hastily that I had to
leave my home, and so secured the dog cart. At the
time it did not seem to me nearly so urgent that the
landlord should leave his. I took care to have the cart
there and then, drove it off down the road, and, leaving
it in charge of my wife and servant, rushed into my
house and packed a few valuables, such plate as we
had, and so forth. The beech trees below the house
were burning while I did this, and the palings up the
road glowed red.
While I was occupied in this way, one of the
dismounted hussars came running up. He was going
from house to house, warning people to leave. He was
going on as I came out of my front door, lugging my
treasures, done up in a tablecloth. I shouted after him:
"What news?"
He turned, stared, bawled something about "crawling
Na to sam uhvatio ženu za mišicu pa s njom bez ceremonija
istrčao na cestu. A onda sam izvukao i sluškinju, i rekao joj
da ću se sam uspeti na kat i donijeti joj kutiju za kojom je
toliko jaukala.
“Ne možemo tu više ostati”, rekao sam, no nisam to pravo
još ni izgovorio, a na pašnjak su na trenutak opet otvorili
paljbu.
“Ali kamo da idemo?” upitala je moja žena užasnuto.
Razmislio sam o tome, sav smeten. A onda sam se sjetio
njezinih u Leatherheadu.
“Leatherhead!” dreknuo sam nadglasavajući naglo nadošlu
buku. Ona je skrenula pogled s mene i pogledala nizbrdo. Iz
kuća su izlazili zapanjeni ljudi.
“Ali kako da stignemo do Leatherheada?” upitala je ona.
A dolje, nizbrdo, ugledao sam ispod željezničkog mosta
kako jaši skupina husara; trojica su progalopirala kroz
otvorena dvorišna vrata Oriental Collegea; druga su dvojica
sjašila i rastrčala se od kuće do kuće. Sunce, blistavo kroz
dim što se dizao iz krošanja, bilo je krvavo crveno, i na sve
bacalo nestvarno sablasno svjetlo.
“Stoj tu,” rekoh, “tu si sigurna”; pa sam još jednom krenuo
prema Pjegavom psu, jer sam znao da gazda ima konja i
karuce. Potrčao sam zato što sam znao da će se za trenutak
pokrenuti sve živo s ove strane brda. Zatekao sam ga u
njegovu baru, posve nesvjesna svega što mu se zbiva iza
kuće. S njim je razgovarao neki čovjek, okrenut mi leđima.
“Hoću svoju funtu,” rekao je gazda, “ali nemam nikog da
vozi.”
“Ja ću vam dati dvije”, rekao sam ja preko neznančeva
ramena.
“A zašto?”
“I vraćam do ponoći”, rekoh.
“Bože!” rekao je gazda. “Čemu tolika žurba? Prodajem
svoga gicana. Dvije funte, i još ćete mi ga vratiti? Što se to
zbiva?” Na brzinu sam mu objasnio da moram hitno ići, i
tako sam nabavio karuce. U tom mi se trenutku nije činilo
da bi se gostioničaru moglo žuriti ni izdaleka koliko meni.
Pobrinuo sam se da kola dobijem na licu mjesta, pa se
odvezao cestom, i prepustivši ih brizi žene i sluškinje,
odjurio u kuću i spakirao ono nešto vrijednih stvari,
srebrninu i to. Bukve pod kućom u međuvremenu su
planule, a letve su se plota uz cestu žarile rumenilom.
Dok sam ja bio zauzet time, dotrčao je jedan od husara što
su maločas sjašili. Išao je od kuće do kuće i pozivao ljude
da bježe. On je nastavio baš kad sam izišao na prednja
vrata, vukući svoje blago, umotano u stolnjak. Povikao sam
za njim:
“Što je nova?”
On se okrenuo, zapiljio u mene, dreknuo nešto u smislu
out in a thing like a dish cover," and ran on to the gate
of the house at the crest. A sudden whirl of black
smoke driving across the road hid him for a moment. I
ran to my neighbour's door and rapped to satisfy myself
of what I already knew, that his wife had gone to
London with him and had locked up their house. I went
in again, according to my promise, to get my servant's
box, lugged it out, clapped it beside her on the tail of
the dog cart, and then caught the reins and jumped up
into the driver's seat beside my wife. In another
moment we were clear of the smoke and noise, and
spanking down the opposite slope of Maybury Hill
towards Old Woking.
In front was a quiet sunny landscape, a wheat field
ahead on either side of the road, and the Maybury Inn
with its swinging sign. I saw the doctor's cart ahead of
me. At the bottom of the hill I turned my head to look
at the hillside I was leaving. Thick streamers of black
smoke shot with threads of red fire were driving up into
the still air, and throwing dark shadows upon the green
treetops eastward. The smoke already extended far
away to the east and west--to the Byfleet pine woods
eastward, and to Woking on the west. The road was
dotted with people running towards us. And very faint
now, but very distinct through the hot, quiet air, one
heard the whirr of a machine-gun that was presently
stilled, and an intermittent cracking of rifles.
Apparently the Martians were setting fire to everything
within range of their Heat-Ray.
I am not an expert driver, and I had immediately to turn
my attention to the horse. When I looked back again
the second hill had hidden the black smoke. I slashed
the horse with the whip, and gave him a loose rein until
Woking and Send lay between us and that quivering
tumult. I overtook and passed the doctor between
Woking and Send.
CHAPTER TEN
IN THE STORM
Leatherhead is about twelve miles from Maybury Hill.
The scent of hay was in the air through the lush
meadows beyond Pyrford, and the hedges on either
side were sweet and gay with multitudes of dog-roses.
The heavy firing that had broken out while we were
driving down Maybury Hill ceased as abruptly as it
began, leaving the evening very peaceful and still. We
got to Leatherhead without misadventure about nine
o'clock, and the horse had an hour's rest while I took
supper with my cousins and commended my wife to
their care.
My wife was curiously silent throughout the drive, and
seemed oppressed with forebodings of evil. I talked to
“ispuzali iz lonaca”, pa otrčao do dvorišnih vrata kuće na
vrhu. Na trenutak ga je sakrio naglo nadošli kovitlac crnoga
dima što ga je vjetar nanio preko ceste. Otrčao sam do
susjeda i pokucao na vrata, da se uvjerim u nešto što sam
već znao, to jest da je već sa ženom otišao put Londona i
zaključao kuću. Vratio sam se u kuću da, kako sam bio
obećao, uzmem služavkinu škrinju, pa je izvukao, prikopčao
je kraj nje na rep dvokolice, pa uhvatio uzde i skočio na
kočijašku klupu i sjeo do žene. Trenutak kasnije već smo se
bili izvukli iz dima i buke, pa živo zakaskali niz drugu
padinu Maybury Hilla i krenuli prema Old Wokingu.
Pred nama je bio tih i sunčan krajolik, s obje su se strane
ceste sterala žitna polja, a bila je tu i Maybury Inn na kojoj
se zibao znak. Pred sobom sam ugledao doktorove kočije.
Na dnu sam strmine okrenuo glavu i pogledao brijeg od
kojeg sam upravo odlazio. Gusti plamenci crnoga dima
isprepleteni crvenim nitima vatre dizali su se u miran zrak,
te bacali mračne sjene na zelene krošnje na istoku. Dim se
već bio raširio daleko i na istok i na zapad - sve do borove
šume Byfleet na istoku te Wokinga na zapadu. Cesta je bila
posijana ljudima, svi su trčali prema nama. A sad se začulo i
vrlo slabašno, iako i vrlo jasno, kroz vrući, tihi
zrak, štektanje strojne puške koje je smjesta i utihnulo, a
isto tako i isprekidano puškaranje. Marsijanci su očito palili
sve što im se našlo na dometu toplinskih zraka.
Ja baš nisam vješt vozač, pa sam pažnju morao smjesta opet
vratiti konju. Kad sam se ponovno okrenuo, crni se dim već
bio sakrio iza drugog brijega. Raspalio sam konja bičem i
otpustio mu uzde, i tako nastavio sve dok se između nas i te
uzdrhtale gungule nisu našli i Woking i Send. Doktora sam
stigao i prestigao negdje između Wokinga i Senda.
GLAVA 10.
U OLUJI
Leatherhead se smjestio dvanaestak milja iza Maybury
Hilla. Dok smo se vozili kroz bujne ledine iza Pyrforda, u
zraku je visio miris sijena, a živica je s obje strane bila sva
raznježena i vesela od mnoštva divljih ruža. Gusta pucnjava
što je provalila dok smo se vozili niz Maybury Hill
prekinula se naglo kao što je i počela, ostavljajući večer u
miru i spokoju. U Leatherhead smo stigli oko devet sati i
bez nezgoda, pa se konj jedan sat odmorio dok sam
ja večerao sa svojtom i preporučivao ženu njezinoj brizi.
Moja je žena za čitave te vožnje bila neobično tiha i kao da
su je pritiskale slutnje velikog zla. Ja sam joj govorio i
her reassuringly, pointing out that the Martians were
tied to the Pit by sheer heaviness, and at the utmost
could but crawl a little out of it; but she answered only
in monosyllables. Had it not been for my promise to
the innkeeper, she would, I think, have urged me to
stay in Leatherhead that night. Would that I had! Her
face, I remember, was very white as we parted.
For my own part, I had been feverishly excited all day.
Something very like the war fever that occasionally
runs through a civilised community had got into my
blood, and in my heart I was not so very sorry that I
had to return to Maybury that night. I was even afraid
that that last fusillade I had heard might mean the
extermination of our invaders from Mars. I can best
express my state of mind by saying that I wanted to be
in at the death.
It was nearly eleven when I started to return. The night
was unexpectedly dark; to me, walking out of the
lighted passage of my cousins' house, it seemed indeed
black, and it was as hot and close as the day. Overhead
the clouds were driving fast, albeit not a breath stirred
the shrubs about us. My cousins' man lit both lamps.
Happily, I knew the road intimately. My wife stood in
the light of the doorway, and watched me until I
jumped up into the dog cart. Then abruptly she turned
and went in, leaving my cousins side by side wishing
me good hap.
I was a little depressed at first with the contagion of my
wife's fears, but very soon my thoughts reverted to the
Martians. At that time I was absolutely in the dark as to
the course of the evening's fighting. I did not know
even the circumstances that had precipitated the
conflict. As I came through Ockham (for that was the
way I returned, and not through Send and Old Woking)
I saw along the western horizon a blood-red glow,
which as I drew nearer, crept slowly up the sky. The
driving clouds of the gathering thunderstorm mingled
there with masses of black and red smoke.
Ripley Street was deserted, and except for a lighted
window or so the village showed not a sign of life; but
I narrowly escaped an accident at the corner of the road
to Pyrford, where a knot of people stood with their
backs to me. They said nothing to me as I passed. I do
not know what they knew of the things happening
beyond the hill, nor do I know if the silent houses I
passed on my way were sleeping securely, or deserted
and empty, or harassed and watching against the terror
of the night.
From Ripley until I came through Pyrford I was in the
valley of the Wey, and the red glare was hidden from
me. As I ascended the little hill beyond Pyrford Church
the glare came into view again, and the trees about me
smirivao je, ukazivao joj na činjenicu da su Marsijanci
zakovani za tu jamu već i samom svojom tromošću, te da bi
iz nje, u najgorem slučaju, mogli samo malo ispuzati; ona
mi je, međutim, odgovarala samo jednosložnim riječima. Da
gostioničaru nisam bio obećao da ću mu vratiti kola, ona bi
me, vjerujem, počela nagovarati da te noći ostanem u
Leatherheadu. Da sam je bar poslušao! Kad smo se rastajali
lice joj je, jasno se sjećam, bilo vrlo blijedo.
Što se pak tiče mene, ja sam čitav dan bio u grozničavu
uzbuđenju. U krv mi je ušlo nešto vrlo slično ratnoj groznici
što povremeno poteče kroz civilizirano društvo, a duboko u
srcu baš i nisam jako žalio što se te noći moram vratiti u
Maybury. Čak sam se pobojao da je to posljednje
puškaranje što sam ga bio čuo označilo istrebljenje naših
zavojevača s Marsa. Svoje ću stanje duha najbolje izraziti
tvrdnjom da sam želio biti na poprištu smrti.
Kad sam se počeo vraćati, bilo je već gotovo jedanaest. Noć
je bila neočekivano mračna; za mene, koji sam tek bio
izišao iz osvijetljenog hodnika kuće svoje svojte, bila je
upravo crna, iako i vruća i sparna, kao i dan koji joj je
prethodio. Iznad mene su hitro plovili oblaci, iako oko nas
grmlje nije pomaknuo niti dašak. Sluga moje svojte upalio
je obje svjetiljke. Cestu sam, na svu sreću, poznavao kao
vlastiti džep. Žena je stajala osvijetljena u vratima
i promatrala me sve dok nisam uskočio u karuce. A onda se
naglo okrenula i prepustila mi rođake da mi oni, onako
jedan uz drugog, požele dobru sreću.
U prvi sam čas bio malo potišten jer sam se zarazio ženinim
strahom, ali su mi se misli vrlo brzo vratile na
Marsijance. U tom sam trenutku, u vezi s odvijanjem
sinoćnje bitke, živio u potpunome mraku. Nisu mi
bile poznate čak ni okolnosti koje su izazvale sukob.
Kad sam prošao kroz Ockham (jer sam se vratio tim
putem, a ne kroz Send i Old Woking), na zapadnom
sam obzorju ugledao krvavocrveni sjaj koji se, kad
sam prišao bliže, uspuzao uz nebo. Tu su se vjetrom
nošeni oblaci oluje, što se već skupljala, miješali s
masama crvenog i crnog dima.
Na Ripley Streetu nije bilo nikoga, a izuzmemo li nekoliko
osvijetljenih prozora, u čitavom selu nije bilo ni
znaka života; ipak sam jedvice izbjegao nesreću na
uglu ceste za Pyrford, jer je na njemu stajao grozd
ljudi leđima okrenut prema meni. Kad sam
prošao, nisu mi rekli ništa. Nisam znao što znaju o
svemu što se zbiva iza brijega, baš kao što nisam
znao ni da li te nijeme kuće u prolazu zaista mirno
spavaju, ili su pak napuštene i prazne, ili su,
naprotiv, uznemirene pa budno bdiju na sve užase
noći.
Od Ripleyja pa sve dok nisam prošao kroz Pyrford, kretao
sam se kroz dolinu Wey, a crveni je sjaj bio od mene
skriven. Dok sam se uspinjao brežuljkom iza crkve u
Pyrfordu, taj mi je sjaj opet došao pred oči, a stabla
shivered with the first intimation of the storm that was
upon me. Then I heard midnight pealing out from
Pyrford Church behind me, and then came the
silhouette of Maybury Hill, with its tree-tops and roofs
black and sharp against the red. Even as I beheld this a
lurid green glare lit the road about me and showed the
distant woods towards Addlestone. I felt a tug at the
reins. I saw that the driving clouds had been pierced as
it were by a thread of green fire, suddenly lighting their
confusion and falling into the field to my left. It was
the third falling star!
Close on its apparition, and blindingly violet by
contrast, danced out the first lightning of the gathering
storm, and the thunder burst like a rocket overhead.
The horse took the bit between his teeth and bolted. A
moderate incline runs towards the foot of Maybury
Hill, and down this we clattered. Once the lightning
had begun, it went on in as rapid a succession of
flashes as I have ever seen. The thunderclaps, treading
one on the heels of another and with a strange crackling
accompaniment, sounded more like the working of a
gigantic electric machine than the usual detonating
reverberations. The flickering light was blinding and
confusing, and a thin hail smote gustily at my face as I
drove down the slope.
At first I regarded little but the road before me, and
then abruptly my attention was arrested by something
that was moving rapidly down the opposite slope of
Maybury Hill. At first I took it for the wet roof of a
house, but one flash following another showed it to be
in swift rolling movement. It was an elusive vision--a
moment of bewildering darkness, and then, in a flash
like daylight, the red masses of the Orphanage near the
crest of the hill, the green tops of the pine trees, and
this problematical object came out clear and sharp and
bright.
And this Thing I saw! How can I describe it? A
monstrous tripod, higher than many houses, striding
over the young pine trees, and smashing them aside in
its career; a walking engine of glittering metal, striding
now across the heather; articulate ropes of steel
dangling from it, and the clattering tumult of its
passage mingling with the riot of the thunder. A flash,
and it came out vividly, heeling over one way with two
feet in the air, to vanish and reappear almost instantly
as it seemed, with the next flash, a hundred yards
nearer. Can you imagine a milking stool tilted and
bowled violently along the ground? That was the
impression those instant flashes gave. But instead of a
milking stool imagine it a great body of machinery on a
tripod stand.
Then suddenly the trees in the pine wood ahead of me
were parted, as brittle reeds are parted by a man
su oko mene drhtala prvom slutnjom oluje što se
spuštala na mene. A onda sam iz crkve u Pyrfordu
iza sebe začuo ponoćnu zvonjavu, našto su se
pojavili i obrisi Maybury Hilla, s krošnjama i
krovovima oštro ocrtanim na crvenoj pozadini. Još
dok sam tako gledao, sablasni je zeleni bljesak
osvijetlio cestu oko mene i pokazao daleke šume put
Addlestonea. Osjetio sam kako su se uzde zategle.
Vidio sam kako je vjetrom nošene oblake probola nit
zelene vatre, u trenutku osvijetlila njihovu zbrku i
pala na polje lijevo. Bila je to treća zvijezda
padalica!
Ubrzo poslije njezine pojave i, nasuprot njoj, zasljepljujuće
ljubičaste, zaplesale su prve munje dolazeće oluje, a iznad
nas je kao raketa prsnuo grom. Konj je zagrizao u žvale i
propeo se. Prema dnu Maybury Hilla spuštala se umjerena
strmina, pa smo niza nju i zatandrkali. A kad je grmljavina
napokon počela, bio je to tako učestao niz bljeskova, da
bržeg nisam ni vidio u životu. Ti su praskovi groma, što su,
u čudnoj pucketavoj pratnji, gazili jedni drugima po petama,
više sličili glasanju nekakvog divovskog elektrostatskog
stroja negoli uobičajenom odjekivanju
detonacija. Treperavo je svjetlo zasljepljivalo i zbunjivalo, a
dok sam se vozio nizbrdo, sitna me je tuča olujno šibala po
licu.
U prvi sam čas gledao gotovo samo cestu pred sobom, a
onda mi se najednom zanimanje zaustavilo na nečemu što
se brzo spuštalo niz drugu stranu Maybury Hilla. U prvi
sam čas pomislio da je to vlažni krov kuće, ali je slijed
bljeskova ukazao na brzo valjanje. Bila je to časovita
prikaza - trenutak zbunjujuće tame i onda, u bljesku dana,
kraj crvene mase sirotišta pri hrptu brijega i zelenih krošnji
borova, taj problematični predmet izranja jasan i oštar i
svijetao.
Ugledao sam Stvar! Kako da je opišem? Čudovišni
tronožac, viši od mnogih kuća, koračao je preko mladih
borova i u hodu ih drobio i izvijao; bio je to strojni hodač od
blistave kovine, i sad je gazio preko vrištine; s njega su
visjeli artikulirani čelični konopi, a zveketavi se urnebes
njegova prolaza miješao s bijesom grmljavine. Bljesak, i on
živo niče iz tame, naginje se s dvije noge u zraku, da bi
potom u trenutku naizgled nestao, no sa sljedećim se
bljeskom pojavio stotinu jardi bliže. Možete li zamislili
mljekarski tronožac kako se naginje i divlje valja po tlu? A
baš su takav dojam stvarali ti trenutni bljeskovi. Ali umjesto
mljekarskog stolića zamislite veliku strojnu masu posađenu
na tronožni stalak.
A onda su se borovi u šumi preda mnom najednom
razmaknuli, onako kako se razmiče krhka trska u prolazu;
thrusting through them; they were snapped off and odlomili su se i poletjeli strmoglavce, a onda se pojavio i
driven headlong, and a second huge tripod appeared, drugi golemi tronožac, i poletio, činilo se, strmoglavce
rushing, as it seemed, headlong towards me. And I was prema meni. A ja sam prema njemu galopirao koliko me
galloping hard to meet it! At the sight of the second noge nose! Kad sam ugledao i drugo čudovište, živci su me
monster my nerve went altogether. Not stopping to sasvim izdali. Ne zastavši da ga još jednom
look again, I wrenched the horse's head hard round to pogledam, naglo sam konju zakrenuo glavu nadesno, i u
the right and in another moment the dog cart had sljedećem su se trenutku na nj svalile karuce; osovine su
heeled over upon the horse; the shafts smashed noisily, bučno prasnule i tako me udarac odbacio u stranu, pa sam
and I was flung sideways and fell heavily into a teško pljusnuo u plitku lokvu.
shallow pool of water.
I crawled out almost immediately, and crouched, my Ispuzao sam gotovo istoga časa, i čučnuo, s nogama još u
feet still in the water, under a clump of furze. The horse vodi, ispod grma žutilovke. Konj je ležao nepomično (vrat
lay motionless (his neck was broken, poor brute!) and mu je bio slomljen, sirotoj beštiji!) a u odbljescima sam
by the lightning flashes I saw the black bulk of the gromova ugledao crnu masu prevrnutih karuca, kao i siluetu
overturned dog cart and the silhouette of the wheel still kotača koji se polako okretao. Trenutak kasnije kolosalni je
spinning slowly. In another moment the colossal mehanizam krupnim korakom prošao pokraj mene i
mechanism went striding by me, and passed uphill produžio uzbrdo prema Pyrfordu.
towards Pyrford.
Seen nearer, the Thing was incredibly strange, for it Gledana tako iz veće blizine, ta je Stvar bila nevjerojatno
was no mere insensate machine driving on its way. čudna, jer to nije bio tek puki nerazumni stroj što nastavlja
Machine it was, with a ringing metallic pace, and long, svojim putem. No ipak je to bio stroj, i koračao je zvonko i
flexible, glittering tentacles (one of which gripped a metalno, a dugi su se, savitljivi i svjetlucavi kraci (jednim se
young pine tree) swinging and rattling about its strangeod njih uhvatio za mladi bor) zibali i zveketali oko njegova
body. It picked its road as it went striding along, and čudnog tijela. U koraku je odabrao put kojim će krenuti, a
the brazen hood that surmounted it moved to and fro mjedena kukuljica koja ga je nadvisivala micala se amo-
with the inevitable suggestion of a head looking about. tamo neodoljivo podsjećajući na glavu koja se ogledava. Iza
Behind the main body was a huge mass of white metal glavnoga tijela bila je golema masa bijele kovine nalik na
like a gigantic fisherman's basket, and puffs of green divovsku pecačku košaru, a u trenutku kad se
smoke squirted out from the joints of the limbs as the čudovište promelo kraj mene, iz zglobova su mu udova
monster swept by me. And in an instant it was gone. briznuli oblačići zelenog dima. I u trenutku, već ga nije bilo.
So much I saw then, all vaguely for the flickering of Tada sam vidio samo toliko, i sve to maglovito u
the lightning, in blinding highlights and dense black svjetlucanju munja, u zasljepljujućim reflektorskim
shadows. snopovima i dubokim crnim sjenama.
As it passed it set up an exultant deafening howl that U prolazu je stroj zatulio, ushićeno i zaglušujuće, tako
drowned the thunder--"Aloo! Aloo!"--and in another glasno da se u tom kriku utopila i sama grmljavina: “Aluu!
minute it was with its companion, half a mile away, Aluu!” - i već se u sljedećem trenutku našao sa svojim
stooping over something in the field. I have no doubt prijanom, pola milje dalje, koji se pognuo nad nečim u
this Thing in the field was the third of the ten cylinders
polju. Nisam nimalo dvojio da je ta Stvar u polju treći od
they had fired at us from Mars. deset cilindara koji su na nas ispaljeni s Marsa.
For some minutes I lay there in the rain and darkness Ostao sam ležati tako, nekoliko minuta, na kiši i u tami,
watching, by the intermittent light, these monstrous motreći, u tom isprekidanom svjetlu, te čudovišne metalne
beings of metal moving about in the distance over the Stvari što su se u daljini gibale iznad vrhova živica. Sad je
hedge tops. A thin hail was now beginning, and as it već počeo padati sitni grad, a kako je on dolazio i odlazio,
came and went their figures grew misty and then njihovi su se likovi maglili, a onda bi opet bljesnuli u svoj
flashed into clearness again. Now and then came a gap jasnoći. Povremeno bi i u grmljavini došlo do predaha, pa bi
in the lightning, and the night swallowed them up. ih opet progutala noć.
I was soaked with hail above and puddle water below. Bio sam promočen tučom odozgo i barom odozdo. Prošlo je
It was some time before my blank astonishment would nešto vremena prije nego što mi je zbunjena zabezeknutost
let me struggle up the bank to a drier position, or think
dopustila da se isprtljam na obalu i zauzmem suši položaj,
at all of my imminent peril. pa čak i samo pomislim na neposrednu opasnost u kojoj sam
se našao.
Not far from me was a little one-roomed squatter's hut Nedaleko je od mene bila jednosobna drvena kolibica nekog
of wood, surrounded by a patch of potato garden. I napoličara, okružena krpicom zemlje s krumpirom.
struggled to my feet at last, and, crouching and making Napokon sam se uspio uspraviti na noge, pa sam, pognut i
use of every chance of cover, I made a run for this. I
hammered at the door, but I could not make the people
hear (if there were any people inside), and after a time I
desisted, and, availing myself of a ditch for the greater
part of the way, succeeded in crawling, unobserved by
these monstrous machines, into the pine woods towards
Maybury.
Under cover of this I pushed on, wet and shivering
now, towards my own house. I walked among the trees
trying to find the footpath. It was very dark indeed in
the wood, for the lightning was now becoming
infrequent, and the hail, which was pouring down in a
torrent, fell in columns through the gaps in the heavy
foliage.
If I had fully realised the meaning of all the things I
had seen I should have immediately worked my way
round through Byfleet to Street Cobham, and so gone
back to rejoin my wife at Leatherhead. But that night
the strangeness of things about me, and my physical
wretchedness, prevented me, for I was bruised, weary,
wet to the skin, deafened and blinded by the storm.
I had a vague idea of going on to my own house, and
that was as much motive as I had. I staggered through
the trees, fell into a ditch and bruised my knees against
a plank, and finally splashed out into the lane that ran
down from the College Arms. I say splashed, for the
storm water was sweeping the sand down the hill in a
muddy torrent. There in the darkness a man blundered
into me and sent me reeling back.
He gave a cry of terror, sprang sideways, and rushed on
before I could gather my wits sufficiently to speak to
him. So heavy was the stress of the storm just at this
place that I had the hardest task to win my way up the
hill. I went close up to the fence on the left and worked
my way along its palings.
Near the top I stumbled upon something soft, and, by a
flash of lightning, saw between my feet a heap of black
broadcloth and a pair of boots. Before I could
distinguish clearly how the man lay, the flicker of light
had passed. I stood over him waiting for the next flash.
When it came, I saw that he was a sturdy man, cheaply
but not shabbily dressed; his head was bent under his
body, and he lay crumpled up close to the fence, as
though he had been flung violently against it.
Overcoming the repugnance natural to one who had
never before touched a dead body, I stooped and turned
him over to feel for his heart. He was quite dead.
Apparently his neck had been broken. The lightning
flashed for a third time, and his face leaped upon me. I
sprang to my feet. It was the landlord of the Spotted
Dog, whose conveyance I had taken.
I stepped over him gingerly and pushed on up the hill. I
made my way by the police station and the College
Arms towards my own house. Nothing was burning on
služeći se svime što je moglo poslužiti kao zaklon, potrčao
prema njoj. Zamlatio sam po vratima, ali nisam postigao da
me itko čuje (ako je unutra i bilo ikoga), pa sam nakon
nekog vremena odustao i, pomogavši se većinom puta
jarkom, uspio nekako otpuzati, nezapažen od tih čudovišnih
strojeva, do borika prema Mayburyju.
U njegovu sam zaklonu uporno nastavio, sad već mokar i
cvokoćući, prema svojoj kući. Koračao sam među stablima
i pokušavao naći stazu. U šumi je doista bilo silno mračno,
jer su se munje u međuvremenu prorijedile, a tuča, koja se
slijevala bujicom, kroz otvore je u gustom lišću padala u
stupovima.
Da sam tada bio do kraja shvatio značenje svega što sam
vidio, smjesta bih se pokušao probiti kroz Byfleet do Street
Cobhama, i vratiti se ženi u Leatherhead. Te me je noći,
međutim, u tome spriječila neobičnost svega što se zbivalo
oko mene, baš kao i moje jadno tjelesno stanje, jer sam bio
sav izubijan, umoran, promočen do kože, zaslijepljen i
zaglušen olujom.
U glavi mi je bila samo nejasna misao da se moram vratiti
kući, i to mi je bio jedini motiv. Teturao sam između
stabala, pao u jarak i nabio koljena na nekakvoj dasci, da
bih na kraju ipak pljusnuo na stazu što se spuštala prema
College Armsu. Velim pljusnuo, zato što je voda donesena
olujom ispirala pijesak nizbrdo u glibovitoj bujici. I tu je, u
mraku, netko naletio na mene, tako da sam zateturao
natraške.
On je užasnuto kriknuo, odskočio u stranu, i nastavio srljati
prije nego što sam skupio misli da mu se obratim. Udar je
oluje na tome mjestu bio tako žestok da sam se morao
žestoko pomučiti da bih uopće napredovao uzbrdo.
Primakao sam se plotu lijevo i počeo se polako probijati uz
njegove letve.
Već pri vrhu spotaknuo sam se o nešto meko pa sam, u
bljesku munje, među nogama ugledao hrpu crnoga sukna i
par dubokih cipela. Prije nego što sam uspio jasno razabrati
kako taj čovjek zapravo leži, treptaj je svjetla već bio
prošao. Stajao sam nad njim i čekao drugi bljesak. A kad je
stigao, opazio sam da je to muškarac, stamen, odjeven
jeftino, ali ne otrcano; glava mu je bila podvijena pod tijelo,
a ležao je tako sklupčan uz ogradu, kao da ga je nešto
žestoko bacilo na nju.
Svladao sam odvratnost sasvim naravnu za čovjeka koji još
nikad nije dotakao mrtvaca, pa sam se pognuo i
prevrnuo ga da mu opipam srce. Bio je mrtav. Očito
mu je nešto slomilo vrat. Munja je bljesnula i po
treći put, i njegovo mi je lice skočilo u oči. Ðipnuo
sam na noge. Bio je to gazda Pjegavog psa, od kojeg
sam uzeo vozilo.
Gipko sam ga prekoračio i produžio uzbrdo. Pošao sam,
kraj policijske postaje i College Armsa, prema
vlastitoj kući. Na obronku više nije gorjelo ništa,
the hillside, though from the common there still came a
red glare and a rolling tumult of ruddy smoke beating
up against the drenching hail. So far as I could see by
the flashes, the houses about me were mostly
uninjured. By the College Arms a dark heap lay in the
road.
Down the road towards Maybury Bridge there were Niz cestu, prema Maybury Bridgeu, začuli su se glasovi i
voices and the sound of feet, but I had not the courage
to shout or to go to them. I let myself in with my
latchkey, closed, locked and bolted the door, staggered
to the foot of the staircase, and sat down. My
imagination was full of those striding metallic
monsters, and of the dead body smashed against the
fence.
I crouched at the foot of the staircase with my back to Skutrio sam se na dnu stuba, naslonio se na zid i počeo se
the wall, shivering violently. divlje tresti.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
AT THE WINDOW
I have already said that my storms of emotion have a
trick of exhausting themselves. After a time I
discovered that I was cold and wet, and with little pools
of water about me on the stair carpet. I got up almost
mechanically, went into the dining room and drank
some whiskey, and then I was moved to change my
clothes.
After I had done that I went upstairs to my study, but
why I did so I do not know. The window of my study
looks over the trees and the railway towards Horsell
Common. In the hurry of our departure this window
had been left open. The passage was dark, and, by
contrast with the picture the window frame enclosed,
the side of the room seemed impenetrably dark. I
stopped short in the doorway.
The thunderstorm had passed. The towers of the
Oriental College and the pine trees about it had gone,
and very far away, lit by a vivid red glare, the common
about the sand pits was visible. Across the light huge
black shapes, grotesque and strange, moved busily to
and fro.
It seemed indeed as if the whole country in that
direction was on fire--a broad hillside set with minute
tongues of flame, swaying and writhing with the gusts
of the dying storm, and throwing a red reflection upon
the cloud-scud above. Every now and then a haze of
smoke from some nearer conflagration drove across the
window and hid the Martian shapes. I could not see
what they were doing, nor the clear form of them, nor
recognise the black objects they were busied upon.
Neither could I see the nearer fire, though the
reflections of it danced on the wall and ceiling of the
study. A sharp, resinous tang of burning was in the air.
iako je na pašnjaku još bilo crvenoga žara, a
uzvitlani je urnebes rumenog dima udarao u
tuču koja je promakala do kože. Koliko sam uspio
razabrati u bljeskovima, kuće oko mene bile su
uglavnom neoštećene. Kraj College Armsa na cesti
je ležala mračna hrpa.
zvukovi nogu, ali nisam smogao hrabrosti ni da ih
zazovem a niti da krenem prema njima. Otključao
sam patentnu bravu, ušao, zatvorio vrata pa ih onda
još i zaključao i zakračunao, te napokon oteturao do
dna stuba i sjeo. Mašta mi je bila puna tih
nogatih metalnih čudovišta, a i trupla smrskanog uz
ogradu.
GLAVA 11.
NA PROZORU
Već sam rekao da su moje emotivne oluje sklone
samoicrpljivanju. Nakon nekog sam vremena otkrio da mi
je hladno i da sam mokar, te da su oko mene, na sagu, male
lokvice vode. Ustao sam gotovo mehanički, otišao do
blagovaonice i popio malo viskija, nakon čega sam osjetio
nagnuće da se preodjenem.
Nakon što sam to učinio, uspeo sam se u radnu sobu, ali mi
nije jasno zašto sam to učinio. Prozor moje radne sobe gleda
preko krošanja i pruge na Horsellski pašnjak. U hitnji
odlaska, taj smo prozor ostavili otvoren. Prolaz je bio u
mraku, a u kontrastu sa slikom što ju je zatvarao okvir
prozora, soba se činila neprobojno mračnom. Zastao sam
u dovratku kao ukopan.
Oluja je prošla. Tornjevi su Oriental Collegea i borik oko
njih nestali, a u jako velikoj daljini, vidio se, osvijetljen
živahnim crvenim svjetlom, pašnjak oko pješčanih jama. A
kroz to svjetlo, žurno su se amo-tamo muvale goleme crne
sjene, groteskne i čudne.
Činilo se doista kao da je čitavo ladanje u tom smjeru
zahvatio požar - široka se padina osula plamenim jezičcima,
i sad su se zibali i uvijali pred zapusima zamiruće oluje, te
bacali crven odsjaj na rijetke oblake nošene vjetrom. Svako
malo vjetar bi mi na prozor nanio izmaglicu kakva bližeg
požara i sakrio likove Marsijanaca. Nisam uspijevao
razabrati što to rade, niti im jasno razlučiti obrise, baš kao
što nisam uspijevao prepoznati ni crne predmete kojima su
se marljivo bavili. Isto tako nisam vidio ni obližnji požar,
iako su njegovi odsjaji plesali po stolu i stropu moje radne
sobe. U zraku je visio oštar, smolni vonj paljevine.
I closed the door noiselessly and crept towards the
window. As I did so, the view opened out until, on the
one hand, it reached to the houses about Woking
station, and on the other to the charred and blackened
pine woods of Byfleet. There was a light down below
the hill, on the railway, near the arch, and several of the
houses along the Maybury road and the streets near the
station were glowing ruins. The light upon the railway
puzzled me at first; there were a black heap and a vivid
glare, and to the right of that a row of yellow oblongs.
Then I perceived this was a wrecked train, the fore part
smashed and on fire, the hinder carriages still upon the
rails.
Between these three main centres of light--the houses,
the train, and the burning county towards Chobham--
stretched irregular patches of dark country, broken here
and there by intervals of dimly glowing and smoking
ground. It was the strangest spectacle, that black
expanse set with fire. It reminded me, more than
anything else, of the Potteries at night. At first I could
distinguish no people at all, though I peered intently for
them. Later I saw against the light of Woking station a
number of black figures hurrying one after the other
across the line.
And this was the little world in which I had been living
securely for years, this fiery chaos! What had happened
in the last seven hours I still did not know; nor did I
know, though I was beginning to guess, the relation
between these mechanical colossi and the sluggish
lumps I had seen disgorged from the cylinder. With a
queer feeling of impersonal interest I turned my desk
chair to the window, sat down, and stared at the
blackened country, and particularly at the three gigantic
black things that were going to and fro in the glare
about the sand pits.
They seemed amazingly busy. I began to ask myself
what they could be. Were they intelligent mechanisms?
Such a thing I felt was impossible. Or did a Martian sit
within each, ruling, directing, using, much as a man's
brain sits and rules in his body? I began to compare the
things to human machines, to ask myself for the first
time in my life how an ironclad or a steam engine
would seem to an intelligent lower animal.
The storm had left the sky clear, and over the smoke of
the burning land the little fading pinpoint of Mars was
dropping into the west, when a soldier came into my
garden. I heard a slight scraping at the fence, and
rousing myself from the lethargy that had fallen upon
me, I looked down and saw him dimly, clambering over
the palings. At the sight of another human being my
torpor passed, and I leaned out of the window eagerly.
"Hist!" said I, in a whisper.
He stopped astride of the fence in doubt. Then he came
over and across the lawn to the corner of the house. He
Nečujno sam zatvorio vrata i zapuzao prema prozoru. Tako
mi se počeo širiti vidik, sve dok, s jedne strane, nije dosegao
kuće oko wokinškog kolodvora, a s druge nagorjeli i
pocrnjeli borik Byfleeta. Dolje je ispod brda nešto svijetlilo,
na pruzi, kraj luka, a nekoliko se kuća duž ceste za Maybury
i u ulicama uz kolodvor pretvorilo u usijane ruševine.
Svjetlo na pruzi u prvi me čas zbunilo; vidio sam crnu hrpu
i živahan sjaj, a desno od toga red žutih ovala. A onda sam
opazio da je to uništeni vlak, da mu je prednji dio zdrobljen
i zapaljen, dok su stražnji vagoni još na tračnicama.
Između ta tri središta svjetlosti - kuće, vlaka i zapaljenih
sela prema Chobhamu - sterale su se nepravilne krpice
mračne zemlje, prekinute tu i tamo intervalima sumračno
zažarenog i zadimljenog tla. Bio je to doista neobičan
prizor, to crno prostranstvo posijano vatrom. Mene je, više
no na išta drugo, podsjetilo na lončarske peći noću. U prvi
čas nisam ni uspio razabrati ljude, iako sam ih vrlo napeto
tražio pogledom. Kasnije sam na pozadini osvijetljenog
wokinškog kolodvora opazio mnoštvo crnih likova
kako jedni za drugima žurno prelaze prugu.
I to je bio taj maleni svijet u kojem sam godinama živio
tako sigurno - pretvoren u ognjeni kaos! Što se zapravo
dogodilo u proteklih sedam sati još mi nije bilo jasno; baš
kao što nisam ni znao, iako sam već počinjao slutiti, kakav
je odnos između tih mehaničkih kolosa i tromih gvalja što
su ih, kako sam vidio, rigali cilindri. S nekakvim čudnim
osjećajem sasvim ravnodušnog zanimanja okrenuo sam
stolac, na kojem sam inače sjedio za pisaćim stolom, prema
prozoru, pa sjeo i zagledao se u pocrnjelo ladanje, a napose
u tri divovske crne Stvari što su išle amo-tamo, u odsjaju,
oko šljunčanih jama.
Činilo se da imaju zapanjujuće mnogo posla. Počeo sam se
pitati što bi to moglo biti. Jesu li to razumni mehanizmi?
Osjećao sam da je tako nešto nemoguće. Ili u svakome od
njih sjedi po Marsijanac, pa njime kormilari, upravlja, služi
se, onako kao što sjedi i ljudski mozak i upravlja tijelom?
Počeo sam te stvari uspoređivati sa strojem zvanim čovjek, i
po prvi se put u životu pitati kako nekoj razumnoj nižoj
životinji izgleda oklopnjača ili parna lokomotiva.
Oluja je pročistila nebo, i sad se kroz dim zapaljene zemlje
prema zapadu spuštala sve bljeđa točkica Marsa, i baš je
tada u vrt ušao vojnik. Začuo sam tiho grebanje po ogradi,
pa se razbudio iz letargije koja se na mene bila svalila, te
spustio pogled i opazio ga mutno, kako se pentra preko
letvi. Pri pogledu na drugo ljudsko biće smjesta me prošla
tupost, pa sam se žudno nagnuo kroz prozor.
“Psst!” rekao sam šaptom.
On je, u dvojbi, zastao objašivši ogradu. A onda ju je prešao
i preko tratine stigao do ugla kuće. Pognuo se i tiho
bent down and stepped softly.
"Who's there?" he said, also whispering, standing under
the window and peering up.
"Where are you going?" I asked.
"God knows."
"Are you trying to hide?"
"That's it."
"Come into the house," I said.
I went down, unfastened the door, and let him in, and
locked the door again. I could not see his face. He was
hatless, and his coat was unbuttoned.
"My God!" he said, as I drew him in.
"What has happened?" I asked.
"What hasn't?" In the obscurity I could see he made a
gesture of despair. "They wiped us out--simply wiped
us out," he repeated again and again.
He followed me, almost mechanically, into the dining
room.
"Take some whiskey," I said, pouring out a stiff dose.
He drank it. Then abruptly he sat down before the
table, put his head on his arms, and began to sob and
weep like a little boy, in a perfect passion of emotion,
while I, with a curious forgetfulness of my own recent
despair, stood beside him, wondering.
It was a long time before he could steady his nerves to
answer my questions, and then he answered
perplexingly and brokenly. He was a driver in the
artillery, and had only come into action about seven. At
that time firing was going on across the common, and it
was said the first party of Martians were crawling
slowly towards their second cylinder under cover of a
metal shield.
Later this shield staggered up on tripod legs and
became the first of the fighting-machines I had seen.
The gun he drove had been unlimbered near Horsell, in
order to command the sand pits, and its arrival it was
that had precipitated the action. As the limber gunners
went to the rear, his horse trod in a rabbit hole and
came down, throwing him into a depression of the
ground. At the same moment the gun exploded behind
him, the ammunition blew up, there was fire all about
him, and he found himself lying under a heap of
charred dead men and dead horses. "I lay still," he said,
"scared out of my wits, with the fore quarter of a horse
atop of me. We'd been wiped out. And the smell--good
God! Like burnt meat! I was hurt across the back by
the fall of the horse, and there I had to lie until I felt
better. Just like parade it had been a minute before--
then stumble, bang, swish!"
"Wiped out!" he said.
He had hid under the dead horse for a long time,
peeping out furtively across the common. The Cardigan
men had tried a rush, in skirmishing order, at the pit,
simply to be swept out of existence. Then the monster
zakoračao.
“Tko je tamo?” upitao je, također šaptom, dok je stajao pod
prozorom i zurio uvis.
“Kamo ćete?” upitao sam.
“Bog zna.”
“Hoćete se sakriti?”
“Tako je.”
“Uđite u kuću”, rekoh.
Sišao sam, oslobodio vrata i pustio ga unutra, pa onda opet
zaključao vrata. Nisam mu mogao razabrati lice. Bio je
gologlav, a bluza mu je bila raskopčana.
“Moj Bože!” rekao je kad sam ga uvukao u kuću.
“Što se dogodilo?” upitao sam.
“A što nije?” U mraku sam vidio kako je napravio gestu
beznađa. “Oni su nas pomeli - naprosto su nas pomeli”,
ponovio je bezbroj puta.
Pošao je za mnom, gotovo automatski, prema blagovaonici.
“Popijte malo viskija”, rekao sam i natočio mu poštenu
dozu. On ju je ispio. A onda je najednom sjeo za stol, stavio
glavu na podlaktice, pa se rasplakao i razjecao kao malo
dijete, obuzet savršeno strastvenim osjećajima, dok sam ja,
čudno zaboravljiv prema vlastitom nedavnom očaju, stajao
kraj njega i čudio se.
Prošlo je dugo vremena dok nije toliko umirio živce da mi
može odgovoriti na pitanja, no i onda je na njih odgovarao
zbunjeno i isprekidano. Bio je kočijaš u artiljeriji, a u bitku
je ušao tek oko sedam. U tom se trenutku već pucalo preko
čitavog pašnjaka, i pričalo se da prva družina Marsijanaca,
pod zaštitom metalnog štita, već polako puže prema drugom
cilindru.
Kasnije se, međutim, taj štit klimavo uspravio na tri noge i
tako se pretvorio u prvi od bojnih strojeva što sam ih vidio.
Top koji je on vozio skinuli su kod Horsella s prednjaka da
njime pokriju pješčane jame, i baš je njegovim dolaskom i
započeo boj. Kad su topnici s prednjakom krenuli natrag,
njegov je konj ugazio u zečju rupu i srušio se, i tako ga
bacio u udubljenje u zemlji. U tom je času iza njega
eksplodirao top, streljivo se upalilo, posvuda je oko njega
bio oganj, i najednom je shvatio da leži pod hrpom
nagorjelih mrtvih ljudi i konja. “Ležao sam nepomično”,
rekao je vojnik, “raspamećen od straha, a na meni je bila
prednja četvrtina konja. Bili smo zbrisani. A taj smrad -
blagi Bože! Kao zagorjelo meso! Zbog pada sam konja
povrijedio leđa, i morao sam ostati ležati dok se malo ne
oporavim. Samo čas prije bilo je kao na paradi - i onda
spoticanje, pras, fiju!
Zbrisani!” rekao je.
Dugo se tako morao skrivati ispod mrtvog konja, i potajice
zirkati preko pašnjaka. Cardiganci su pokušali izvršiti juriš,
u streljačkom lancu, na jamu, ali je plod svega toga bio da
su bili zbrisani iz postojanja. A onda se čudovište uspravilo
had risen to its feet and had begun to walk leisurely to
and fro across the common among the few fugitives,
with its headlike hood turning about exactly like the
head of a cowled human being. A kind of arm carried a
complicated metallic case, about which green flashes
scintillated, and out of the funnel of this there smoked
the Heat-Ray.
In a few minutes there was, so far as the soldier could
see, not a living thing left upon the common, and every
bush and tree upon it that was not already a blackened
skeleton was burning. The hussars had been on the road
beyond the curvature of the ground, and he saw nothing
of them. He heard the Martians rattle for a time and
then become still. The giant saved Woking station and
its cluster of houses until the last; then in a moment the
Heat-Ray was brought to bear, and the town became a
heap of fiery ruins. Then the Thing shut off the Heat-
Ray, and turning its back upon the artilleryman, began
to waddle away towards the smouldering pine woods
that sheltered the second cylinder. As it did so a second
glittering Titan built itself up out of the pit.
The second monster followed the first, and at that the
artilleryman began to crawl very cautiously across the
hot heather ash towards Horsell. He managed to get
alive into the ditch by the side of the road, and so
escaped to Woking. There his story became ejaculatory.
The place was impassable. It seems there were a few
people alive there, frantic for the most part and many
burned and scalded. He was turned aside by the fire,
and hid among some almost scorching heaps of broken
wall as one of the Martian giants returned. He saw this
one pursue a man, catch him up in one of its steely
tentacles, and knock his head against the trunk of a
pine tree. At last, after nightfall, the artilleryman made
a rush for it and got over the railway embankment.
Since then he had been skulking along towards
Maybury, in the hope of getting out of danger
Londonward. People were hiding in trenches and
cellars, and many of the survivors had made off
towards Woking village and Send. He had been
consumed with thirst until he found one of the water
mains near the railway arch smashed, and the water
bubbling out like a spring upon the road.
That was the story I got from him, bit by bit. He grew
calmer telling me and trying to make me see the things
he had seen. He had eaten no food since midday, he
told me early in his narrative, and I found some mutton
and bread in the pantry and brought it into the room.
We lit no lamp for fear of attracting the Martians, and
ever and again our hands would touch upon bread or
meat. As he talked, things about us came darkly out of
the darkness, and the trampled bushes and broken rose
trees outside the window grew distinct. It would seem
that a number of men or animals had rushed across the
na noge, pa se ležerno ushodalo pašnjakom između
malobrojnih bjegunaca, dok mu se glavolika kukuljica
okretala baš kao da je zakukuljeno ljudsko biće. Nešto nalik
ruci nosilo je kompliciranu metalnu torbu oko koje su se
iskrili zeleni bljeskovi, a iz lijevka na torbi dimila se
Toplinska zraka.
Nakon nekoliko minuta, bar koliko je on mogao opaziti, na
pašnjaku nije ostalo ni žive duše, a sve grmlje i drveće, koje
se već nije pretvorilo u pocrnjeli kostur, sad se zapalilo.
Husari su bili na cesti iza pregiba zemljišta, i on ih nije ni
vidio. Neko je vrijeme čuo štektanje Maxima, ali su onda i
oni utihnuli. Div je wokinški kolodvor i grozd kuća poštedio
sve do kraja; a onda je Toplinska zraka u trenutku pronašla
cilj i grad se pretvorio u hrpu usplamtjelih ruševina. Tada je
Stvar isključila Toplinsku zraku i onda se, okrenuvši se
leđima našem topniku, zagegala prema tinjajućem boriku
koji je skrivao drugi cilindar. Dok je to trajalo, drugi
se svjetlucavi Titan već izgradio i izdigao iz jame.
Drugo je čudovište krenulo za prvim, i tada je naš topnik
vrlo oprezno, preko vrućih vrijeskova pepela, zapuzao
prema Horsellu. Uspio je nekako živ stići do jarka kraj ceste
i tako pobjeći do Wokinga. I tu mu je priča postala puna
usklika. Kroz to se mjesto nije moglo proći. Čini se da je u
njemu još bilo nešto preživjelih, no oni su bili uglavnom
izbezumljeni, a mnogi i opečeni i oprljeni. Njega je požar
odbio, pa se sakrio između gotovo usijanih hrpa srušenoga
zida, i u tom se času vratio jedan marsijanski div. Vidio ga
je kako progoni nekog čovjeka, kako ga je uhvatio
čeličnim krakom, a onda mu je smrskao glavu o deblo bora.
Na koncu je ipak, nakon što se spustila noć, naš topnik
pojurio prema željezničkom nasipu i uspio se preko njega
prebaciti.
Od tada pa nadalje samo se kukavno prikradao Maybuiyju,
u nadi da će, kad se približi Londonu, pobjeći i od
opasnosti. Ljudi su se skrivali po jarcima i podrumima, a
mnogi su pošli prema selu Wokingu i Sendu. Strašno je
trpio od žeđi sve dok nije, kraj željezničkog luka, otkrio
razbijenu vodovodnu cijev, iz koje je voda kao iz izvora
klokotala na cestu.
Tako je glasila priča što sam je, sve mrvu po mrvu, izvukao
iz njega. Dok mi je tako pričao sve što se dogodilo, i trudio
se da mi predoči sve što je vidio i sam, polako se sve više
smirivao. Još mi je na početku priče rekao da nije jeo sve od
podneva, pa sam u smočnici našao nešto kruha i ovčetine, i
sve mu to donio u sobu. Nismo palili svjetiljke, u strahu da
ne privučemo Marsijance, a ruke su nam se nad kruhom i
mesom mnogo puta dotakle. Dok smo tako razgovarali,
stvari su oko nas mračno izranjale iz mraka, pa smo počeli
jasno razabirati zgaženo grmlje i slomljena stabalca ruže
pod prozorom. Činilo se kao da su preko livade u trku
lawn. I began to see his face, blackened and haggard, as
no doubt mine was also.
When we had finished eating we went softly upstairs to
my study, and I looked again out of the open window.
In one night the valley had become a valley of ashes.
The fires had dwindled now. Where flames had been
there were now streamers of smoke; but the countless
ruins of shattered and gutted houses and blasted and
blackened trees that the night had hidden stood out now
gaunt and terrible in the pitiless light of dawn. Yet here
and there some object had had the luck to escape--a
white railway signal here, the end of a greenhouse
there, white and fresh amid the wreckage. Never before
in the history of warfare had destruction been so
indiscriminate and so universal. And shining with the
growing light of the east, three of the metallic giants
stood about the pit, their cowls rotating as though they
were surveying the desolation they had made.
It seemed to me that the pit had been enlarged, and ever
and again puffs of vivid green vapour streamed up and
out of it towards the brightening dawn--streamed up,
whirled, broke, and vanished.
Beyond were the pillars of fire about Chobham. They
became pillars of bloodshot smoke at the first touch of
day.
CHAPTER TWELVE
WHAT I SAW OF THE DESTRUCTION OF
WEYBRIDGE AND SHEPPERTON
As the dawn grew brighter we withdrew from the
window from which we had watched the Martians, and
went very quietly downstairs.
The artilleryman agreed with me that the house was no
place to stay in. He proposed, he said, to make his way
Londonward, and thence rejoin his battery--No. 12, of
the Horse Artillery. My plan was to return at once to
Leatherhead; and so greatly had the strength of the
Martians impressed me that I had determined to take
my wife to Newhaven, and go with her out of the
country forthwith. For I already perceived clearly that
the country about London must inevitably be the scene
of a disastrous struggle before such creatures as these
could be destroyed.
Between us and Leatherhead, however, lay the third
cylinder, with its guarding giants. Had I been alone, I
think I should have taken my chance and struck across
country. But the artilleryman dissuaded me: "It's no
kindness to the right sort of wife," he said, "to make her
a widow"; and in the end I agreed to go with him,
under cover of the woods, northward as far as Street
Cobham before I parted with him. Thence I would
make a big detour by Epsom to reach Leatherhead.
prošli mnogi ljudi i životinje. Počeo sam mu razabirati lice,
pocrnjelo i ispijeno, a takvo je nesumnjivo bilo i moje.
Kad smo bili gotovi s jelom, tiho smo se uspeli na kat, u
moju radnu sobu, pa sam opet pogledao kroz otvoren
prozor. Dolina se za jednu noć pretvorila u dolinu praha i
pepela. Požari su do sada već bili utihnuli. Gdje je prije bio
plamen, sad su bili samo plamenci dima; ipak su bezbrojne
ruševine raznesenih kuća, i onih od kojih su ostale samo
zidine, smrskanog i pocrnjelog drveća, koje je dosad
skrivala noć, sad stajale nezgrapne i strašne u
nemilosrdnoj svjetlosti zore. Ipak se tu i tamo pokojem
predmetu posrećilo da pobjegne: bijelom željezničkom
signalu ovdje, okrajku staklenika tamo, pa su se sad dizali
bijeli i svježi usred sveg tog krša. Nikad još u povijesti
ratovanja uništenje nije bilo tako opće i lišeno svakoga
kriterija. A blistajući na sve jačem svjetlu istoka, kraj
jame su stajala tri metalna diva, a kukuljice su im se
okretale kao da pregledavaju pustoš što su je stvorili.
Učinilo mi se da se jama u međuvremenu povećala, a svako
bi malo iz nje prema sve svjetlijem nebu potekli oblačići
zelene pare, pa onda potekli niz vjetar, uzvitlali se, iskidali,
nestali.
A iza svega toga bili su stupovi vatre oko Chobhama. U
prvo su se ruđenje dana pretvorili u stupove krvavoga dima.
GLAVA 12.
ŠTO SAM VIDIO OD UNIŠTENJA WEYBRIDGEA I
SHEPPERTONA
Kad je zarudjela zora, odmaknuli smo se od prozora s kojeg
smo gledali Marsijance, pa tiho sišli u prizemlje.
Topnik se suglasio sa mnom da kuća više nije prikladno
mjesto za stanovanje. Njegov je prijedlog bio da se
pokušamo probiti prema Londonu, gdje će se on priključi
svojoj bitnici broj 12 Konjičkog topništva. Moj je plan bio
da se smjesta vratim u Leatherhead; a snaga je Marsijanaca
na mene bila ostavila tolik dojam da sam bio tvrdo odlučio
ženu odvesti u Newhaven, i s njom smjesta otići iz zemlje.
Postalo mi je naime već sasvim jasno da će seosko područje
oko Londona neizbježno postati poprištem katastrofalnoga
boja, bez kakvog se takva stvorenja ni neće moći uništiti.
Između nas, međutim, i Leatherheada, ležao je treći cilindar
sa svojim divovskim čuvarima. Da sam bio sam, mislim da
bih sve stavio na kocku i udario ravno. Od toga me,
međutim, odvratio moj topnik: “Kad čovjek ima pravu
ženu,” rekao je, “nije baš jako lijepo učiniti je udovicom”,
pa sam na kraju pristao poći s njim, zaklonjen šumom, na
sjever sve do Street Cobhama, prije nego što smo se rastali.
Odatle ću napraviti široki luk preko Epsoma i tako stići u
Leatherhead.
I should have started at once, but my companion had
been in active service and he knew better than that. He
made me ransack the house for a flask, which he filled
with whiskey; and we lined every available pocket with
packets of biscuits and slices of meat. Then we crept
out of the house, and ran as quickly as we could down
the ill-made road by which I had come overnight. The
houses seemed deserted. In the road lay a group of
three charred bodies close together, struck dead by the
Heat-Ray; and here and there were things that people
had dropped--a clock, a slipper, a silver spoon, and the
like poor valuables. At the corner turning up towards
the post office a little cart, filled with boxes and
furniture, and horseless, heeled over on a broken
wheel. A cash box had been hastily smashed open and
thrown under the debris.
Except the lodge at the Orphanage, which was still on
fire, none of the houses had suffered very greatly here.
The Heat-Ray had shaved the chimney tops and passed.
Yet, save ourselves, there did not seem to be a living
soul on Maybury Hill. The majority of the inhabitants
had escaped, I suppose, by way of the Old Woking
road--the road I had taken when I drove to
Leatherhead--or they had hidden.
We went down the lane, by the body of the man in
black, sodden now from the overnight hail, and broke
into the woods at the foot of the hill. We pushed
through these towards the railway without meeting a
soul. The woods across the line were but the scarred
and blackened ruins of woods; for the most part the
trees had fallen, but a certain proportion still stood,
dismal grey stems, with dark brown foliage instead of
green.
On our side the fire had done no more than scorch the
nearer trees; it had failed to secure its footing. In one
place the woodmen had been at work on Saturday;
trees, felled and freshly trimmed, lay in a clearing, with
heaps of sawdust by the sawing-machine and its
engine. Hard by was a temporary hut, deserted. There
was not a breath of wind this morning, and everything
was strangely still. Even the birds were hushed, and as
we hurried along I and the artilleryman talked in
whispers and looked now and again over our shoulders.
Once or twice we stopped to listen.
After a time we drew near the road, and as we did so
we heard the clatter of hoofs and saw through the tree
stems three cavalry soldiers riding slowly towards
Woking. We hailed them, and they halted while we
hurried towards them. It was a lieutenant and a couple
of privates of the 8th Hussars, with a stand like a
theodolite, which the artilleryman told me was a
heliograph.
"You are the first men I've seen coming this way this
morning," said the lieutenant. "What's brewing?" His
Ja bih bio smjesta i krenuo, ali je moj suputnik bio u
djelatnom sastavu, pa je bolje od mene znao što treba činiti.
Natjerao me da prevrnem kuću u potrazi za čuturom, pa je
napunio viskijem; potom smo sve raspoložive džepove
nabili zamocima dvopeka i kriškama mesa. Potom smo
ispuzali iz kuće, pa poletjeli koliko nas noge nose kvrgavom
cestom kojom sam noćas došao. Kuće su djelovale
napušteno. Na cesti je ležala tročlana skupina
nagorjelih tijela, usmrćenih Toplinskom zrakom; a tu i tamo
ugledali bismo stvari što su ih ljudi ispustili - zidni sat,
papuču, srebrnu žlicu i slične sirotinjske dragocjenosti. Na
uglu, prema pošti, na slomljen su se kotač nakrivila mala
kola, bez konja i natrpana sanducima i namještajem. Bila je
tu i ručna blagajna, žurno otvorena udarcem i bačena pod
krš.
Osim kućice kod sirotišta, koja je još gorjela, tamo nijedna
kuća nije pretrpjela neke velike štete. Toplinska je zraka
odbrijala dimnjake i prošla. Pa ipak se činilo da osim nas u
Maybury Hillu nema ni žive duše. Pretpostavljam da je
većina stanovnika pobjegla, i to Oldvokinškom cestom -
onom istom kojom sam se dovezao u Leatherhead - ili se
posakrivala.
Pošli smo stazom, kraj trupla čovjeka u crnom, sad već
promočenim tučom što je padala čitavu noć, pa prodrli u
šumu na podnožju brijega. Nastavili smo se kroz nju
probijati prema kolodvoru, a da pritom nismo sreli ni živu
dušu. Šuma preko pruge pretvorila se u puke pocrnjele i
nagorjele ruševine stabala; drveće se uglavnom srušilo, ali
je izvjestan dio još ostao stajati, u obliku sumornih sivih
stapki, s lišćem ne više zelenim nego tamnosmeđim.
S naše je strane vatra opalila samo najbliža stabla; tu se nije
uspjela utvrditi. Na jednom su mjestu drvosječe u subotu
bili na poslu; na čistini su ležala stabla, oborena i svježe
okljaštrena, a kraj motorne pile i njezina motora stajale su
hrpe piljevine. Tik do nje je bila privremena koliba, ali
napuštena. Tog jutra nije bilo ni daška vjetra, i sve je bilo
čudesno mirno. Utihnule su čak i ptice, i dok smo žurili
dalje, topnik i ja smo razgovarali šaptom i stalno se
ogledavali preko ramena. Dva-tri puta smo zastali i
osluhnuli.
Nakon nekog smo se vremena primakli cesti, i onda smo
začuli topot kopita i kroz debla ugledali tri vojnika
na konjima kako polako jašu prema Wokingu.
Pozdravili smo ih, i oni su zastali, a mi pohitali
prema njima. Bili su to poručnik i dva vojnika
iz Osme husarske pukovnije, a sa sobom su imali
nekakvo postolje, nalik na teodolit, i topnik mi je
rekao da je to heliograf.
“Vi ste prvi koje sam jutros vidio da dolaze iz tog smjera”,
rekao je poručnik. “Što se to kuha?” I glas i lice bili
voice and face were eager. The men behind him stared su mu napeti. Ljudi iza njega radoznalo su se
curiously. The artilleryman jumped down the bank into zagledali. Topnik je skočio niz nasip na obalu i
the road and saluted. pozdravio po vojnički.
"Gun destroyed last night, sir. Have been hiding. “Jučer mi je uništen top, gospodine. Pa sam se skrivao.
Trying to rejoin battery, sir. You'll come in sight of the Pokušavam se vratiti svojoj bitnici, gospodine. Još
Martians, I expect, about half a mile along this road." pola milje cestom pa ćete, vjerujem, ugledati
Marsijance.”
"What the dickens are they like?" asked the lieutenant. “A kako, k vragu, izgledaju?” upitao je poručnik.
"Giants in armour, sir. Hundred feet high. Three legs “Divovi u oklopu, gospodine. Visina stotinu stopa. Tri noge
and a body like 'luminium, with a mighty great head in i tijela kao od aluminija, sa silnom golemom glavurdom
a hood, sir." pod kukuljicom, gospodine.”
"Get out!" said the lieutenant. "What confounded “No dajte!” rekao je poručnik. “Vražje li budalaštine!”
nonsense!"
"You'll see, sir. They carry a kind of box, sir, that “Vidjet ćete, gospodine. A nose i nekakvu kutiju, gospodine,
shoots fire and strikes you dead." koja ispaljuje vatru i pogađa i ubija.”
"What d'ye mean--a gun?" “Hoćete reći - pušku?”
"No, sir," and the artilleryman began a vivid account of “Ne, gospodine”, i tu se topnik slikovito raspričao o
the Heat-Ray. Halfway through, the lieutenant Toplinskoj zraci. Na pola priče poručnik ga je prekinuo i
interrupted him and looked up at me. I was still podigao pogled na mene. Ja sam još stajao na nasipu kraj
standing on the bank by the side of the road. puta.
"It's perfectly true," I said. “To je savršena istina”, rekoh.
"Well," said the lieutenant, "I suppose it's my business “Pa, ovaj,” rekao je poručnik, “pretpostavljam da je moj
to see it too. Look here"--to the artilleryman--"we're posao da to pogledam. Čujte,” obratio se topniku, “poslali
detailed here clearing people out of their houses. You'd su nas ovamo da očistimo kuće od ljudi. A vama je
better go along and report yourself to Brigadier- najpametnije da produžite i javite se brigadnom generalu
General Marvin, and tell him all you know. He's at Marvinu, i ispričate mu sve što znate. On je u Weybridgeu.
Weybridge. Know the way?" Znate put?”
"I do," I said; and he turned his horse southward again. “Znam ja”, rekoh, a onda je on opet okrenuo konja na jug.
"Half a mile, you say?" said he. “Pola milje, velite?” upitao je.
"At most," I answered, and pointed over the treetops “Najviše”, odgovorio sam, pa preko krošnji pokazao na jug.
southward. He thanked me and rode on, and we saw On mi je zahvalio i produžio, i više ga nismo vidjeli.
them no more.
Farther along we came upon a group of three women Kasnije smo na cesti naišli na tri žene i dvoje djece, kako
and two children in the road, busy clearing out a žurno izlaze iz radničke kolibe. Domogli su se ručnih
labourer's cottage. They had got hold of a little hand kolica, i sad su na njih slagali hrpu očito nečistih zavežljaja
truck, and were piling it up with unclean-looking i trošnog namještaja. Svi su bili isuviše zaokupljeni poslom
bundles and shabby furniture. They were all too da bi nam se obratili u prolazu.
assiduously engaged to talk to us as we passed.
By Byfleet station we emerged from the pine trees, and Iz borika smo izašli kraj byfleetskog kolodvora, pa pod
found the country calm and peaceful under the morning jutarnjim suncem zatekli ladanje tiho i mirno. Tu smo bili
sunlight. We were far beyond the range of the Heat-Ray daleko izvan domašaja Toplinske zraka, i da nije bilo
there, and had it not been for the silent desertion of nijemog napuštanja nekih kuća, i komešanja pri pakiranju u
some of the houses, the stirring movement of packing drugim, kao i grozda vojnika što su stajali na mostu iznad
in others, and the knot of soldiers standing on the pruge i gledali niz tračnice prema Wokingu, dan bi izgledao
bridge over the railway and staring down the line gotovo kao i svaka druga nedjelja.
towards Woking, the day would have seemed very like
any other Sunday.
Several farm waggons and carts were moving creakily Nekoliko se seoskih kola i kola za sijeno uz škripu gibalo
along the road to Addlestone, and suddenly through the cestom prema Addlestoneu, i onda smo najednom kroz vrata
gate of a field we saw, across a stretch of flat meadow, prema polju ugledali, preko prostranstva ravne livade, šest
six twelve-pounders standing neatly at equal distances dvanaestfuntaša uredno poredanih u pravilnim razmacima i
pointing towards Woking. The gunners stood by the uperenih prema Wokingu. Kraj topova su stajali topnici i
guns waiting, and the ammunition waggons were at a čekali, dok su kola sa streljivom stajala na radnoj
business-like distance. The men stood almost as if udaljenosti. Vojnici su stajali gotovo kao na smotri.
under inspection.
"That's good!" said I. "They will get one fair shot, at
any rate."
The artilleryman hesitated at the gate.
"I shall go on," he said.
Farther on towards Weybridge, just over the bridge,
there were a number of men in white fatigue jackets
throwing up a long rampart, and more guns behind.
"It's bows and arrows against the lightning, anyhow,"
said the artilleryman. "They 'aven't seen that fire-beam
yet."
The officers who were not actively engaged stood and
stared over the treetops southwestward, and the men
digging would stop every now and again to stare in the
same direction.
Byfleet was in a tumult; people packing, and a score of
hussars, some of them dismounted, some on horseback,
were hunting them about. Three or four black
government waggons, with crosses in white circles, and
an old omnibus, among other vehicles, were being
loaded in the village street. There were scores of
people, most of them sufficiently sabbatical to have
assumed their best clothes. The soldiers were having
the greatest difficulty in making them realise the
gravity of their position. We saw one shrivelled old
fellow with a huge box and a score or more of flower
pots containing orchids, angrily expostulating with the
corporal who would leave them behind. I stopped and
gripped his arm.
"Do you know what's over there?" I said, pointing at
the pine tops that hid the Martians.
"Eh?" said he, turning. "I was explainin' these is
vallyble."
"Death!" I shouted. "Death is coming! Death!" and
leaving him to digest that if he could, I hurried on after
the artillery-man. At the corner I looked back. The
soldier had left him, and he was still standing by his
box, with the pots of orchids on the lid of it, and staring
vaguely over the trees.
No one in Weybridge could tell us where the
headquarters were established; the whole place was in
such confusion as I had never seen in any town before.
Carts, carriages everywhere, the most astonishing
miscellany of conveyances and horseflesh. The
respectable inhabitants of the place, men in golf and
boating costumes, wives prettily dressed, were packing,
river-side loafers energetically helping, children
excited, and, for the most part, highly delighted at this
astonishing variation of their Sunday experiences. In
the midst of it all the worthy vicar was very pluckily
holding an early celebration, and his bell was jangling
out above the excitement.
I and the artilleryman, seated on the step of the
drinking fountain, made a very passable meal upon
“To je dobro!” rekoh. “Ako ništa drugo, ispalit će jedan
čestiti hitac.”
Topnik je zastao na vrtnim vratima.
“Moram dalje”, rekao je.
Još dalje prema Weybridgeu, odmah s druge strane mosta,
stajao je veći broj ljudi u bijelim terenskim bluzama, pa
nabacivao novi prsobran, a iza njih je bilo još topova.
“To je i tako kao s lukom i strelicama ići protiv gromova”,
rekao je topnik. “Nisu oni još vidjeli plamenu zraku.”
Časnici koji nisu bili aktivno uključeni u posao stajali su i
gledali preko krošanja prema jugozapadu, a ljudi koji su
kopali svako bi malo zastajali i zagledavali se u istome
smjeru.
U Byfleetu je vladala opća pomutnja; ljudi su tovarili stvari,
a posvuda ih je lovilo dvadesetak husara, od kojih su neki
bili na konjima, dok su drugi sjahali. Na seoskoj su se ulici,
uz ostala vozila, tovarila i troja-četvora državna kola, s
križevima u bijelim krugovima, kao i stari omnibus. Okolo
su bili deseci ljudi, većinom toliko u nedjeljnom
raspoloženju da su obukli najbolju odjeću. Vojnici su imali
velikih muka da ih uvjere u kako su se teškom položaju
našli. Vidjeli smo jednog smežuranog starinu s golemim
sandukom i dvadesetak, a možda i više, lonaca s
orhidejama, kako se srdito prepire s desetnikom koji bi ih
najradije ostavio. Zastao sam i uhvatio ga za mišicu.
“Znate li što je tamo?” upitao sam i pokazao na krošnje
borova koji su skrivali Marsijance.
“Ha?” rekao je on i okrenuo se. “Ja mu objašnjavam koliko
to vrijedi.”
“Smrt!” dreknuh. “Smrt dolazi! Smrt!” Pa sam ga ostavio da
to prožvače, ako može, i žurno produžio za topnikom. Na
uglu sam se osvrnuo. Vojnik ga je ostavio, a on je i dalje
stajao kraj svojega sanduka, s loncima orhideja na
poklopcu, i mutno zurio preko stabala.
Nitko nam u Weybridgeu nije znao reći gdje se nalazi glavni
stan; sve je bilo u zbrci kakvu još nisam nikada vidio ni u
jednomu mjestu. Posvuda kola i kolica, krajnje zapanjujući
potpuri vozila i konjetine. Uvaženi stanovnici toga mjesta,
muškarci u kostimima za golf i čamce, lijepo odjevene
supruge, svi su se pakirali, u čemu su im energično
pomagale skitnice s rijeke, dok su djeca bila uzbuđena i
uglavnom silno ushićena tom zapanjujućom promjenom
nedjeljnih doživljaja. Usred svega toga, valjani je vikar vrlo
srčano držao ranu misu, a zveckanje se njegova zvona
probijalo kroz sve to uzbuđenje.
Ja sam pak s topnikom, posjevši na stepenicu vodoskoka za
piće, blagovao prilično prihvatljiv obrok, složen od onog što
what we had brought with us. Patrols of soldiers--here
no longer hussars, but grenadiers in white--were
warning people to move now or to take refuge in their
cellars as soon as the firing began. We saw as we
crossed the railway bridge that a growing crowd of
people had assembled in and about the railway station,
and the swarming platform was piled with boxes and
packages. The ordinary traffic had been stopped, I
believe, in order to allow of the passage of troops and
guns to Chertsey, and I have heard since that a savage
struggle occurred for places in the special trains that
were put on at a later hour.
We remained at Weybridge until midday, and at that
hour we found ourselves at the place near Shepperton
Lock where the Wey and Thames join. Part of the time
we spent helping two old women to pack a little cart.
The Wey has a treble mouth, and at this point boats are
to be hired, and there was a ferry across the river. On
the Shepperton side was an inn with a lawn, and
beyond that the tower of Shepperton Church--it has
been replaced by a spire--rose above the trees.
Here we found an excited and noisy crowd of fugitives.
As yet the flight had not grown to a panic, but there
were already far more people than all the boats going to
and fro could enable to cross. People came panting
along under heavy burdens; one husband and wife were
even carrying a small outhouse door between them,
with some of their household goods piled thereon. One
man told us he meant to try to get away from
Shepperton station.
There was a lot of shouting, and one man was even
jesting. The idea people seemed to have here was that
the Martians were simply formidable human beings,
who might attack and sack the town, to be certainly
destroyed in the end. Every now and then people would
glance nervously across the Wey, at the meadows
towards Chertsey, but everything over there was still.
Across the Thames, except just where the boats landed,
everything was quiet, in vivid contrast with the Surrey
side. The people who landed there from the boats went
tramping off down the lane. The big ferryboat had just
made a journey. Three or four soldiers stood on the
lawn of the inn, staring and jesting at the fugitives,
without offering to help. The inn was closed, as it was
now within prohibited hours. "What's that?" cried a
boatman, and "Shut up, you fool!" said a man near me
to a yelping dog. Then the sound came again, this time
from the direction of Chertsey, a muffled thud--the
sound of a gun.
The fighting was beginning. Almost immediately
unseen batteries across the river to our right, unseen
because of the trees, took up the chorus, firing heavily
one after the other. A woman screamed. Everyone stood
arrested by the sudden stir of battle, near us and yet
smo bili donijeli sa sobom. Vojničke ophodnje - ne više
husari, nego grenadiri u bijelom - upozoravali su ljude da
se, čim počne paljba, moraju udaljiti ili se bar skloniti u
podrume. Kad smo prelazili preko željezničkog mosta
opazili smo da se na kolodvoru i oko njega skuplja stalno
sve veće mnoštvo, te da peron, zatrpan sanducima i
paketima, vrvi od ljudi. Vjerujem da je uobičajeni promet
već bio prekinut, eda bi se osigurao prolaz vojnika i topova
do Chertseyja, a kasnije sam čuo da je došlo do divljega
boja za mjesta u specijalnim, kasnije pristiglim vlakovima.
U Weybridgeu smo ostali sve do podneva, i u tom smo se
trenutku zatekli na mjestu kraj Shepperton Locka, na
sutoku Weya i Temze. Dio smo vremena utrošili da dvjema
staricama pomognemo pri tovarenju kolica. Ušće je Weya
bilo trostruko, pa je trebalo unajmiti čamce, a preko rijeke je
vozila i skela. Na sheppertonskoj je strani bila gostionica s
livadom, a iza nje se, iznad stabala, dizao zvonik
sheppertonske crkve - toranj zamijenjen tornjićem.
Tu smo zatekli uzbuđenu i bučnu gomilu bjegunaca. Do
tada bijeg još nije prerastao u paniku, no ipak se već bilo
skupilo više ljudi nego što su ih mogli prebaciti svi čamci
što su prelazili s jedne na drugu stranu. Stalno su pristizali
novi, zadihani ljudi pod teškim bremenom; neki je muž sa
ženom čak nosio vratašca poljskoga zahoda, a na njima hrpu
kućnih stvari. Jedan nam je čovjek rekao da kani pobjeći sa
sheppertonskog kolodvora.
Bilo je mnogo vike, a jedan se čak i šalio. Čini se da se
predodžba o Marsijancima svodila naprosto na silno moćne
ljude, koji doduše mogu napasti i opljačkati grad, ali će na
koncu biti sigurno uništeni. Svako malo ljudi bi nervozno
pogledavali prema Weyu i livadama prema Chertseyju, ali je
s te strane sve bilo mirno.
I s druge strane Temze, osim na samome mjestu pristajanja
čamaca, sve je bilo tiho, u živoj suprotnosti sa surreyjskom
stranom. Ljudi bi se iskrcali i zaklipsali stazom. Na tratini
su gostionice stajala trojica-četvorica vojnika, pa zurila u
bjegunce i sprdala se, ne nudeći im nikakvu pomoć.
Gostionica je bila zatvorena, jer su već počeli zabranjeni
sati. “Što je sad to?” uskliknuo je lađar, a potom je “Daj
šuti, ludo!” čovjek kraj mene rekao svom psu koji se
uzlajao. Onda je do nas ponovno dopro onaj zvuk, ovog
puta iz smjera Chertseyja, prigušeni mukli tresak - glasanje
topa.
Počeo je boj. Gotovo istoga časa baterije preko rijeke, nama
s desna, nevidljive zbog drveća, zapjevale su u zboru,
otvarajući jedna za drugom gustu paljbu. Neka je žena
vrisnula. Svi su zastali zaustavljeni naglo nadošlim
komešanjem bitke, tako bliske, a ipak nevidljive. Ništa se
invisible to us. Nothing was to be seen save flat
meadows, cows feeding unconcernedly for the most
part, and silvery pollard willows motionless in the
warm sunlight.
"The sojers'll stop 'em," said a woman beside me,
doubtfully. A haziness rose over the treetops.
Then suddenly we saw a rush of smoke far away up the
river, a puff of smoke that jerked up into the air and
hung; and forthwith the ground heaved under foot and
a heavy explosion shook the air, smashing two or three
windows in the houses near, and leaving us astonished.
"Here they are!" shouted a man in a blue jersey.
"Yonder! D'yer see them? Yonder!"
Quickly, one after the other, one, two, three, four of the
armoured Martians appeared, far away over the little
trees, across the flat meadows that stretched towards
Chertsey, and striding hurriedly towards the river. Little
cowled figures they seemed at first, going with a
rolling motion and as fast as flying birds. Then,
advancing obliquely towards us, came a fifth. Their
armoured bodies glittered in the sun as they swept
swiftly forward upon the guns, growing rapidly larger
as they drew nearer. One on the extreme left, the
remotest that is, flourished a huge case high in the air,
and the ghostly, terrible Heat-Ray I had already seen on
Friday night smote towards Chertsey, and struck the
town.
At sight of these strange, swift, and terrible creatures
the crowd near the water's edge seemed to me to be for
a moment horror-struck. There was no screaming or Učinilo mi se da se mnoštvo uz rub vode, pri pogledu na te
shouting, but a silence. Then a hoarse murmur and a
movement of feet--a splashing from the water. A man,
too frightened to drop the portmanteau he carried on
his shoulder, swung round and sent me staggering with
a blow from the corner of his burden. A woman thrust
at me with her hand and rushed past me. I turned with
the rush of the people, but I was not too terrified for
thought. The terrible Heat-Ray was in my mind. To get
under water! That was it!
"Get under water!" I shouted, unheeded.
I faced about again, and rushed towards the
approaching Martian, rushed right down the gravelly
beach and headlong into the water. Others did the “Pod vodu!” dreknuo sam, ali se nitko nije ni obazreo.
same. A boatload of people putting back came leaping
out as I rushed past. The stones under my feet were
muddy and slippery, and the river was so low that I ran
perhaps twenty feet scarcely waist-deep. Then, as the
Martian towered overhead scarcely a couple of hundred
yards away, I flung myself forward under the surface.
The splashes of the people in the boats leaping into the
river sounded like thunderclaps in my ears. People
were landing hastily on both sides of the river. But the
Martian machine took no more notice for the moment
nije vidjelo osim ravnih livada, i krava koje su uglavnom
bezbrižno pasle, te potkresanih srebrnih vrba, nepomičnih
na toplome suncu.
“Vojaci će ih ustaviti”, rekla je žena kraj mene, no u glasu
joj je bila sumnja. Nad krošnje se digla sumaglica.
A onda smo, daleko uzvodno, najednom ugledali navalu
dima, oblačić dima što je sunuo u nebo i ostao visjeti
u zraku; a onda smo pod nogama osjetili nadimanje
zemlje, a težak je prasak potresao zrak i na obližnjim
kućama razbio dva-tri prozora, te nas ostavio u
stanju potpune zapanjenosti.
“Evo ih!” dreknuo je muškarac u modrom puloveru. “Tamo!
Vidite ih? Tamo!”
A onda su se u brzom slijedu, jedan za drugim, pojavili
oklopljeni Marsijanci: jedan, dvojica, trojica,
četvorica, daleko iza sitnih stabala, preko ravnih
livada što su se sterale prema Chertseyju, pa žurno
zagrabili prema rijeci. U prvi su čas izgledali kao
sitni zakukuljeni likovi, i valjali su se, brzi kao
ptice u letu. A onda se pojavio i peti, iskosa
napredujući prema nama. Oklopljena su im se tijela
presijavala na suncu dok su hitro klizili prema
topovima, u svom prilaženju brzo rastući iz časa u
čas. Jedan je od njih, krajnje lijevo, to jest najdalji
od nas, visoko vitlao golemom kutijom, i onda je
sablasna, užasna Toplinska zraka, koju sam već imao
prilike vidjeti u petak uvečer, tresnula
prema Chertseyju i udarila u grad.
čudne, hitre i užasne kreature, na trenutak skamenilo
od strave. Nisu se čuli ni krikovi ni vriskovi; čula
se samo tišina. A onda i hrapav mrmor i gibanje
nogu - pljuskanje iz vode. Neki muškarac, toliko
prepadnut da nije ni ispustio kovčeg s ramena, naglo
se okrenuo i uglom me svog bremena udario tako da
sam zateturao. Neka me žena odgurnula rukom i
projurila. Pustio sam da me ponese bujica, ali se
nisam prepao baš toliko da bi mi zastale misli. U
glavi mi je bila samo užasna Toplinska zraka. Treba
zaroniti! To je rješenje!
Ponovno sam se okrenuo i pojurio prema Marsijancu
koji nam je prilazio, pojurio ravno niz šljunčanu
plažu i naglavce se bacio u vodu. I drugi su učinili
isto. Dok sam jurio kraj čamca punog ljudi; on je
zastao, a iz njega su iskakivali ljudi. Kamenje mi je
pod nogama bilo blatno i klizavo, a vodostaj je
bio tako nizak da mi je voda bila jedva i do pasa i
nakon što sam pretrčao pet-šest metara. A onda, dok
se Marsijanac dizao preda mnom, jedva dvjesto
metara daleko, bacio sam se naprijed i zaronio pod
of the people running this way and that than a man
would of the confusion of ants in a nest against which
his foot has kicked. When, half suffocated, I raised my
head above water, the Martian's hood pointed at the
batteries that were still firing across the river, and as it ovamo bar za sada nije pokazivao nimalo više
advanced it swung loose what must have been the
generator of the Heat-Ray.
In another moment it was on the bank, and in a stride
wading halfway across. The knees of its foremost legs
bent at the farther bank, and in another moment it had
raised itself to its full height again, close to the village onda je, u napredovanju, očito oslobodio generator
of Shepperton. Forthwith the six guns which, unknown
to anyone on the right bank, had been hidden behind
the outskirts of that village, fired simultaneously. The
sudden near concussion, the last close upon the first, U sljedećem je trenutku već bio na obali, pa se zagegao
made my heart jump. The monster was already raising
the case generating the Heat-Ray as the first shell burst
six yards above the hood. I gave a cry of astonishment.
I saw and thought nothing of the other four Martian
monsters; my attention was riveted upon the nearer
incident. Simultaneously two other shells burst in the
air near the body as the hood twisted round in time to
receive, but not in time to dodge, the fourth shell. The
shell burst clean in the face of the Thing. The hood
bulged, flashed, was whirled off in a dozen tattered
fragments of red flesh and glittering metal.
"Hit!" shouted I, with something between a scream and
a cheer. I heard answering shouts from the people in
the water about me. I could have leaped out of the
water with that momentary exultation. The decapitated
colossus reeled like a drunken giant; but it did not fall
over. It recovered its balance by a miracle, and, no
longer heeding its steps and with the camera that fired
the Heat-Ray now rigidly upheld, it reeled swiftly upon
Shepperton. The living intelligence, the Martian within
the hood, was slain and splashed to the four winds of
heaven, and the Thing was now but a mere intricate “Pogodak!” uskliknuo sam, i bilo je to nešto između krika
device of metal whirling to destruction. It drove along
in a straight line, incapable of guidance. It struck the
tower of Shepperton Church, smashing it down as the
impact of a battering ram might have done, swerved
aside, blundered on and collapsed with tremendous
force into the river out of my sight. A violent explosion
shook the air, and a spout of water, steam, mud, and
shattered metal shot far up into the sky. As the camera
of the Heat-Ray hit the water, the latter had
immediately flashed into steam. In another moment a
huge wave, like a muddy tidal bore but almost
scaldingly hot, came sweeping round the bend
upstream. I saw people struggling shorewards, and
heard their screaming and shouting faintly above the
seething and roar of the Martian's collapse. For a
moment I heeded nothing of the heat, forgot the patent
površinu. Pljuskanje ljudi što su iz čamaca skakali u
rijeku zvonilo mi je u ušima kao grmljavina. Ljudi
su se žurno iskrcavali s obiju strana rijeke.
Marsijanski stroj, međutim, za ljude koji su bježali
zanimanja no što bi ga pokazao čovjek prema strci
mrava nakon udarca nogom u mravinjak. Kad sam,
napola već ugušen, digao glavu nad
vodu, Marsijančeva je kukuljica bila usmjerena
prema bitnicama koje su još tukle preko rijeke, a
Toplinske zrake.
preko rijeke. Kad se našao na drugoj strani, koljena
su mu se na prednjim nogama svinula, no sljedećeg
se trenutka već bio uspravio u punoj visini, negdje
kraj sela Sheppertona. Nakon toga je istodobno
otvorilo paljbu onih šest topova, za koje nije znao
nitko na desnoj obali, jer su se sakrili na prilazima
selu. Od bliskih i nenadanih pucnjeva, od kojih je
posljednji bio sasvim blizu prvom, poskočilo mi je
srce. Kad je prva granata eksplodirala šest jardi
iznad kukuljice, čudovište je već dizalo kutiju za
proizvodnju Toplinske zrake. Zapanjeno
sam kriknuo. Preostala četiri marsijanska čudovišta
niti sam vidio niti o njima mislio; sve se moje
zanimanje prikovalo za to najbliže zbivanje.
Istodobno su mu kraj tijela u zraku eksplodirale još
dvije granate, i to baš u času kad se kukuljica
zakrenula dovoljno brzo da ih dočeka, no ipak
nedovoljno brzo da zaustavi i četvrtu granatu.
Granata je prasnula ravno u lice Stvari. Kukuljica
se nadula, bljesnula, a onda ju je kovitlac eksplozije
odnio u desecima izderanih fragmenata crvenoga
mesa i svjetlucave kovine.
i bodrenja. Odazvali su mi se povici ljudi iz vode
oko mene. Od trenutnog sam ushita gotovo iskočio
iz vode. Obezglavljeni se kolos zaljuljao poput
pijanoga diva, ali se nije svalio. Kao čudom je
povratio ravnotežu, pa se, ne gledajući više kamo
gazi, i kruto podigavši kameru koja je ispalila
Toplinsku zraku, brzo zavaljao prema Sheppertonu.
Živi razum, Marsijanac u kukuljici, bio je ubijen i
raspljuskan u sva četiri nebeska vjetra, pa se Stvar
pretvorila u puku složenu metalnu spravu što se
kovitlala hodeći u susret vlastitom uništenju. Vozila
je u pravcu, izgubivši sposobnost upravljanja.
Udarila je u zvonik crkve u Sheppertonu, pa ga
oborila kao opsadni ovan, skrenula u stranu,
zabazala još malo, pa se silovito svalila u rijeku
izvan mojih očiju. Zrak je potresla
need of self-preservation. I splashed through the
tumultuous water, pushing aside a man in black to do
so, until I could see round the bend. Half a dozen
deserted boats pitched aimlessly upon the confusion of
the waves. The fallen Martian came into sight
downstream, lying across the river, and for the most
part submerged.
Thick clouds of steam were pouring off the wreckage,
and through the tumultuously whirling wisps I could
see, intermittently and vaguely, the gigantic limbs
churning the water and flinging a splash and spray of
mud and froth into the air. The tentacles swayed and
struck like living arms, and, save for the helpless
purposelessness of these movements, it was as if some
wounded thing were struggling for its life amid the
waves. Enormous quantities of a ruddy-brown fluid
were spurting up in noisy jets out of the machine. My
attention was diverted from this death flurry by a
furious yelling, like that of the thing called a siren in
our manufacturing towns. A man, knee-deep near the
towing path, shouted inaudibly to me and pointed.
Looking back, I saw the other Martians advancing with Iz njegove su se olupine izlijevali gusti oblaci dima, i kroz
gigantic strides down the riverbank from the direction
of Chertsey. The Shepperton guns spoke this time
unavailingly. At that I ducked at once under water, and,
holding my breath until movement was an agony,
blundered painfully ahead under the surface as long as
I could. The water was in a tumult about me, and
rapidly growing hotter.
When for a moment I raised my head to take breath and
throw the hair and water from my eyes, the steam was
rising in a whirling white fog that at first hid the
Martians altogether. The noise was deafening. Then I
saw them dimly, colossal figures of grey, magnified by
the mist. They had passed by me, and two were
stooping over the frothing, tumultuous ruins of their
comrade.
Kad sam na trenutak podigao glavu da udahnem zrak te s
silovita eksplozija, pa je visoko u nebo briznuo mlaz
vode, pare, blata i smrskanog metala. Kad je kamera
Toplinske zrake udarila u vodu, voda se u bljesku
pretvorila u paru. Sljedećeg se trenutka golemi val,
nalik na blatnjavi plimni val u estuariju, no gotovo
prijeći vruć, pojavio iza okuke uzvodno, metući sve
pred sobom. Vidio sam ljude kako se pokušavaju
probiti do obale, a čuo sam ih i kako vrište i urlaju,
slabašno kroz ključanje i grmljavinu
Marsijančeva pada. Na trenutak nisam nimalo mario
za jaru, zaboravio sam i na bjelodanu potrebu za
samoodržanjem. Zapljuskao sam kroz halabučnu
vodu, i pritom sam morao odgurnuti u stranu
čovjeka u crnom, i tako sve dok nisam uspio
pogledati iza okuke. Na metežu valova besciljno se
ljuljalo pet-šest napuštenih čamaca. Pali
se Marsijanac nizvodno pojavio pred očima; ležao je
poprijeko na rijeci, i najvećim je dijelom bio utonuo.
uzvitlani sam metež paperja uspijevao razabrati, na
prekide i mutno, divovske udove što su bućkali vodu
i visoko u zrak bacali pljusak i kišu gliba i
pjene. Pipci su mahali i udarali poput živih ruku pa
bi se, da nije bilo te bespomoćne besciljnosti
pokreta, učinilo da se to nešto ranjeno u valovima
bori za život. Iz stroja su u bučnim mlazovima
brizgale strahovite količine rumeno-smeđe tekućine.
A onda mi je zanimanje s te samrtničke izmaglice
skrenuo ljutit povik, nalik na glasanje takozvane
sirene u našim industrijskim gradovima. Neki mi je
čovjek, do koljena u vodi kraj staze za tegljenje
brodova, doviknuo nešto jedva čujno i pokazao
prstom. Osvrnuo sam se i opazio druge Marsijance
kako krupno grabe nasipom iz smjera Chertseyja.
Topovi od Sheppertona ovog su se puta oglasili
uzalud. Na taj sam se zvuk smjesta sakrio pod vodu,
pa sam, zadržavši dah sve dok se gibanje nije
pretvorilo u agoniju, bolno i što sam duže mogao,
nastavio bazari pod površinom. Voda je oko
mene bila u silnom metežu i naglo je postajala sve
toplijom.
očiju maknem vodu i kosu, u uzvitlanoj se bijeloj
magli dizala para, u prvi čas sasvim skrivajući
Marsijance. Buka je bila zaglušujuća. A onda sam
ih ugledao, kolosalne likove od sivila, povećane
maglom. Već su me bili prošli, i sad su se dvojica
pognula nad zapjenjene, uskomešane ruševine
svojega druga.
The third and fourth stood beside him in the water, one
perhaps two hundred yards from me, the other towards
Laleham. The generators of the Heat-Rays waved high,
and the hissing beams smote down this way and that.
The air was full of sound, a deafening and confusing
conflict of noises--the clangorous din of the Martians,
the crash of falling houses, the thud of trees, fences,
sheds flashing into flame, and the crackling and roaring
of fire. Dense black smoke was leaping up to mingle
with the steam from the river, and as the Heat-Ray
went to and fro over Weybridge its impact was marked
by flashes of incandescent white, that gave place at
once to a smoky dance of lurid flames. The nearer
houses still stood intact, awaiting their fate, shadowy,
faint and pallid in the steam, with the fire behind them
going to and fro.
For a moment perhaps I stood there, breast-high in the
almost boiling water, dumbfounded at my position,
hopeless of escape. Through the reek I could see the
people who had been with me in the river scrambling
out of the water through the reeds, like little frogs
hurrying through grass from the advance of a man, or
running to and fro in utter dismay on the towing path.
Then suddenly the white flashes of the Heat-Ray came
leaping towards me. The houses caved in as they
dissolved at its touch, and darted out flames; the trees
changed to fire with a roar. The Ray flickered up and
down the towing path, licking off the people who ran
this way and that, and came down to the water's edge
not fifty yards from where I stood. It swept across the
river to Shepperton, and the water in its track rose in a
boiling weal crested with steam. I turned shoreward.
In another moment the huge wave, well-nigh at the
boiling-point had rushed upon me. I screamed aloud,
and scalded, half blinded, agonised, I staggered through
the leaping, hissing water towards the shore. Had my
foot stumbled, it would have been the end. I fell
helplessly, in full sight of the Martians, upon the broad,
bare gravelly spit that runs down to mark the angle of
the Wey and Thames. I expected nothing but death.
I have a dim memory of the foot of a Martian coming
down within a score of yards of my head, driving
straight into the loose gravel, whirling it this way and
that and lifting again; of a long suspense, and then of
the four carrying the debris of their comrade between
them, now clear and then presently faint through a veil
of smoke, receding interminably, as it seemed to me,
across a vast space of river and meadow. And then,
very slowly, I realised that by a miracle I had escaped.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
HOW I FELL IN WITH THE CURATE
Treći i četvrti su stajali kraj njega u vodi, jedan možda
dvjesto metara daleko, a drugi u smjeru Lalehama.
Visoko su vitlali generatorima Toplinske zrake, a
pištave su zrake udarale sad tu, sad tamo.
Zrak je bio prepun zvukova, zaglušnog i zbunjujećeg
sukoba raznih vrsta buke - zvonkog brenčanja Marsijanaca,
lomljave kuća što su se rušile, muklog treskanja stabala,
huka potleušica što su bljesnule u plamen, kao i pucketanja i
urlanja požara. Uvis je skakao gusti crni dim i miješao se s
parom s rijeke, a kako je Toplinska zraka šetala amo-tamo
preko Weybridgea, njezino se djelovanje opažalo po
bljeskovima usijane bjeline, koji su smjesta ustupili mjesto
zadimljenom plesu jarkih plamenova. Bliže su kuće i dalje
stajale netaknute, čekajući svoju sudbinu, sjenovite, mutne i
blijede u pari, dok je požar iza njih šetao amo-tamo.
Stajao sam tako možda jedan trenutak, do prsa u skoro
usključaloj vodi, zabezeknut položajem u kojem sam se
našao, bez ikakve nade u spas. Kroz isparavanja sam
razabrao ljude, koji su se sa mnom našli u rijeci, kako se
kroz trsku pokušavaju iskobeljati iz vode, kao žabice što
žure kroz travu jer dolazi čovjek; drugi su pak sasvim
bezglavo trčali, čas amo čas tamo, po vučnoj stazi.
A onda su, najednom, prema meni zaskakutali bijeli
bljeskovi Toplinske zrake. Kuće su se počele urušavati,
otopljene njezinim dodirom, a iz njih bi iskočio plamen;
stabla su se uz krik pretvarala u vatru. Zraka je palucala
gore-dolje po vučnoj stazi, i lizala ljude koji su trčali na sve
strane, i spuštali se do ruba vode niti pedeset jardi od mene.
Prebrisala je zatim preko rijeke prema Sheppertonu, i
voda se u njezinu tragu podigla u usključali čir s kruništem
od pare. Okrenuo sam se prema obali.
Sljedećeg je trenutka na mene nasrnuo drugi val, zagrijan
gotovo do vrelišta. Glasno sam zavrištao, i onako oprljen,
napola slijep, u smrtnim mukama, zateturao prema obali
kroz vodu što je skakala i psikala. Da mi se spotakla noga,
tu bi mi bio i kraj. Srušio sam se bespomoćno, sasvim
izložen pogledima Marsijanaca, na široki, goli šljunčani
klin, spušten do vode, koji označava kut što ga zatvaraju
Wey i Temza. Od svega sam očekivao samo smrt.
Mračno se sjećam kako se Marsijančeva noga spustila
dvadesetak jardi od moje glave, kako se zabila ravno u
nenabijeni šljunak, kako ga je zavitlala prema meni, i kako
se onda opet digla; potom je uslijedio dugi trenutak
napetosti, a onda su ta četvorica između sebe ponijela
ostatke svojega druga, na trenutak jasne, no odmah potom
zamagljene koprenom dima, povlačeći se, činilo mi
se beskonačno, preko golemog prostora rijeke i livade. A
onda sam, neobično polako, shvatio da sam se nekim čudom
spasio.
GLAVA 13.
KAKO SAM SE NAMJERIO NA KAPELANA
After getting this sudden lesson in the power of
terrestrial weapons, the Martians retreated to their
original position upon Horsell Common; and in their
haste, and encumbered with the debris of their smashed
companion, they no doubt overlooked many such a
stray and negligible victim as myself. Had they left
their comrade and pushed on forthwith, there was
nothing at that time between them and London but
batteries of twelve-pounder guns, and they would
certainly have reached the capital in advance of the
tidings of their approach; as sudden, dreadful, and
destructive their advent would have been as the
earthquake that destroyed Lisbon a century ago.
But they were in no hurry. Cylinder followed cylinder
on its interplanetary flight; every twenty-four hours
brought them reinforcement. And meanwhile the
military and naval authorities, now fully alive to the
tremendous power of their antagonists, worked with
furious energy. Every minute a fresh gun came into
position until, before twilight, every copse, every row
of suburban villas on the hilly slopes about Kingston
and Richmond, masked an expectant black muzzle.
And through the charred and desolated area--perhaps
twenty square miles altogether--that encircled the
Martian encampment on Horsell Common, through
charred and ruined villages among the green trees,
through the blackened and smoking arcades that had
been but a day ago pine spinneys, crawled the devoted
scouts with the heliographs that were presently to warn
the gunners of the Martian approach. But the Martians
now understood our command of artillery and the
danger of human proximity, and not a man ventured
within a mile of either cylinder, save at the price of his
life.
It would seem that these giants spent the earlier part of
the afternoon in going to and fro, transferring
everything from the second and third cylinders--the
second in Addlestone Golf Links and the third at
Pyrford--to their original pit on Horsell Common. Over
that, above the blackened heather and ruined buildings
that stretched far and wide, stood one as sentinel, while
the rest abandoned their vast fighting-machines and
descended into the pit. They were hard at work there
far into the night, and the towering pillar of dense
green smoke that rose therefrom could be seen from the
hills about Merrow, and even, it is said, from Banstead
and Epsom Downs.
And while the Martians behind me were thus preparing
for their next sally, and in front of me Humanity
gathered for the battle, I made my way with infinite
pains and labour from the fire and smoke of burning
Weybridge towards London.
I saw an abandoned boat, very small and remote,
Nakon što su dobili tu nenadanu pouku o snazi zemaljskog
oružja, Marsijanci su se povukli na početne položaje na
Horsellskom pašnjaku; onako u žurbi, i onako obremenjeni
ostacima svojeg razbijenog druga, zacijelo su zaboravili i na
mene i na mnoge druge takve odlutale i zanemarive
potencijalne žrtve. Da su ostavili svojega druga i nastavili
nadirati - a kako između njih i Londona nije bilo ničega
osim bitnica dvanaestfuntaša - zacijelo bi do prijestolnice
stigli prije vijesti o vlastitom napredovanju, a njihov
bi dolazak bio nenadan, strašan i razoran kao potres koji je
prije čitavog stoljeća razorio Lisabon.
Njima se, međutim, nije žurilo. Valjak je slijedio valjak na
interplanetarnom letu; svaka su dvadeset četiri sata donosila
novo pojačanje. A u međuvremenu su zapovjedništva
kopnene vojske i ratne mornarice, sad već sasvim svjesna
silne snage protivnika, radila s upravo bijesnim elanom.
Svake je minute na položaje dolazio novi top sve dok pred
ponoć svaka šikara, svaki red prigradskih vila na padinama
brežuljaka oko Kingstona i Richmonda, nije počeo skrivati
crno grlo cijevi što je samo vrebalo na zgodu. A kroz
spaljeno i napušteno područje - sve u svemu možda
dvadeset četvornih milja - što je okruživalo marsijanski
tabor na Horsellskom pašnjaku, kroz spaljena i porušena
sela između zelenih stabala, kroz pocrnjele i zadimljene
arkade koje su još jučer bile neprohodni borici, sad su
puzali vjerni izviđači s heliografima koji su trebali smjesta
upozoriti topnike na dolazak Marsijanaca. Oni su, međutim,
dosad već bili shvatili da smo ovladali artiljerijom baš kao i
koliko je opasna ljudska blizina, pa više nitko nije uspio
valjcima prići na manje od milje, a da to nije platio glavom.
Čini se da su divovi raniji dio popodneva proveli u hodanju
sad amo sad tamo, u prenošenju svega iz drugog i trećeg
cilindra - drugog na Addlestone Golf Linksu i trećeg na
Pyrfordu - u onu prvu jamu na Horsellskom pašnjaku. A
iznad svega toga, ponad pocrnjele vrištine i uništenih kuća
što su se prostirale nadugo i naširoko, stajao je jedan kao
stražar, dok je ostatak napustio svoje goleme bojne strojeve
i spustio se u jamu. Tu su se marljivo latili posla i tako sve
do duboko u noć, a neboderni stup gustog zelenog dima što
se dizao iz jame vidio se i s brda oko Merrowa, pa čak
i, kako vele, iz Bansteada i Epsom Downsa.
I dok su se tako Marsijanci iza mene pripremali za sljedeći
izlet iz uporišta, a preda mnom se ljudski rod okupljao za
boj, ja sam se beskrajno bolno i mučno iz vatre i dima
zapaljenog Weybridgea probijao prema Londonu.
Ugledao sam napušteni čamac, malen i dalek, kako ga nosi
drifting down-stream; and throwing off the most of my
sodden clothes, I went after it, gained it, and so escaped
out of that destruction. There were no oars in the boat,
but I contrived to paddle, as well as my parboiled
hands would allow, down the river towards Halliford
and Walton, going very tediously and continually
looking behind me, as you may well understand. I
followed the river, because I considered that the water
gave me my best chance of escape should these giants
return.
The hot water from the Martian's overthrow drifted
downstream with me, so that for the best part of a mile
I could see little of either bank. Once, however, I made
out a string of black figures hurrying across the
meadows from the direction of Weybridge. Halliford, it
seemed, was deserted, and several of the houses facing
the river were on fire. It was strange to see the place
quite tranquil, quite desolate under the hot blue sky,
with the smoke and little threads of flame going
straight up into the heat of the afternoon. Never before
had I seen houses burning without the accompaniment
of an obstructive crowd. A little farther on the dry reeds
up the bank were smoking and glowing, and a line of
fire inland was marching steadily across a late field of
hay.
For a long time I drifted, so painful and weary was I
after the violence I had been through, and so intense
the heat upon the water. Then my fears got the better of
me again, and I resumed my paddling. The sun
scorched my bare back. At last, as the bridge at Walton
was coming into sight round the bend, my fever and
faintness overcame my fears, and I landed on the
Middlesex bank and lay down, deadly sick, amid the
long grass. I suppose the time was then about four or
five o'clock. I got up presently, walked perhaps half a
mile without meeting a soul, and then lay down again
in the shadow of a hedge. I seem to remember talking,
wanderingly, to myself during that last spurt. I was also
very thirsty, and bitterly regretful I had drunk no more
water. It is a curious thing that I felt angry with my
wife; I cannot account for it, but my impotent desire to
reach Leatherhead worried me excessively.
I do not clearly remember the arrival of the curate, so
that probably I dozed. I became aware of him as a
seated figure in soot-smudged shirt sleeves, and with
his upturned, clean-shaven face staring at a faint
flickering that danced over the sky. The sky was what
is called a mackerel sky--rows and rows of faint down-
plumes of cloud, just tinted with the midsummer
sunset.
I sat up, and at the rustle of my motion he looked at me
quickly.
"Have you any water?" I asked abruptly.
He shook his head.
voda, pa sam, bacivši gotovo svu promočenu odjeću, pošao
za njim, dostigao ga i tako pobjegao iz svega tog razaranja.
U čamcu nije bilo vesala, ali sam ipak nekako zaveslao,
koliko su mi to dopuštale napola skuhane ruke, nizvodno
prema Hallfordu i Waltonu, i to sam činio vrlo marno i
stalno se osvrtao, što vam neće biti teško shvatiti. Slijedio
sam rijeku zato što sam smatrao da će mi voda, ako se
orijaši vrate, pružiti najbolji zaklon.
Sa mnom je tekla i vruća voda stvorena Marsijančevim
padom, tako da sam najvećim dijelom milje vidio malo i od
jedne i od druge obale. Jednom sam zgodom ipak uspio
razabrati niz crnih likova što su žurili preko livada iz smjera
Weybridgea. Halliford su, činilo se, svi već bili napustili, a
gorjelo je nekoliko kuća okrenutih rijeci. Bilo je neobično
vidjeti to mjesto tako mirno, tako pusto pod vrućim modrim
nebom, iz kojeg se dižu dim i tanke niti ognja ravno u
popodnevnu jaru. Nikad još nisam vidio kuće u plamenu
bez pratnje mnoštva koje se tom plamenu protivi. Malo
dalje dimila se i žarila suha trska na obali, a lanac je
vatre, duboko u kopnu, ustrajno nastupao preko polja puna
zaostalog sijena.
Dugo sam tako plutao, jer sam bio tako umoran, i sve me je
tako boljelo, nakon divljanja kroz koje sam bio prošao, i
toliko je silna bila jara na vodi. Onda je opet prevladao
strah, pa sam se opet prihvatio vesala. Sunce mi je palilo
gola leđa. I onda napokon, kad mi se iza zavoja rijeke pred
očima pojavio Waltonski most, groznica i umor nadjačali su
strah, pa sam pristao uz obalu sa strane Middlesexa i legao,
jer mi je nasmrt pozlilo, sred visoke trave. Mislim da je tada
bilo već oko četiri-pet sati. Smjesta sam ustao, prevalio
možda pola milje ne naišavši pritom ni na živu dušu, pa
opet legao u sjenu živice. Sjećam se kako sam za
toga posljednjeg uzleta stalno pričao sam sa sobom, lutajući
s teme na temu. Osim toga sam bio i jako žedan, pa sam se
gorko kajao što nisam popio više vode. Neobično je bilo što
sam se ljutio na vlastiti život; to ne bih znao ničim objasniti,
ali me silno brinula moja nemoćna želja da stignem do
Leatherheada.
Dolaska se kapelana ne sjećam baš točno, pa će biti da sam
zadrijemao. Počeo sam ga opažati kao posjelu priliku, samo
u čađavoj košulji, lica uzdignuta i glatko izbrijana,
zagledana u slabašno svjetlucanje što pleše po nebu. A nebo
je bilo, kako se kaže, tigrasto - s mnogim prugama niskih
perjanica oblaka, obojenih tek nijansom ljetnog sutona.
Uspravio sam se u sjedeći položaj, i kad je moje gibanje
izazvalo šuškanje, on me hitro pogledao.
“Imate li malo vode?” upitao sam iznebuha.
On je odmahnuo glavom.
"You have been asking for water for the last hour," he
said.
For a moment we were silent, taking stock of each
other. I dare say he found me a strange enough figure,
naked, save for my water-soaked trousers and socks,
scalded, and my face and shoulders blackened by the
smoke. His face was a fair weakness, his chin retreated,
and his hair lay in crisp, almost flaxen curls on his low
forehead; his eyes were rather large, pale blue, and
blankly staring. He spoke abruptly, looking vacantly
away from me.
"What does it mean?" he said. "What do these things
mean?"
I stared at him and made no answer. He extended a thin
white hand and spoke in almost a complaining tone.
"Why are these things permitted? What sins have we
done? The morning service was over, I was walking
through the roads to clear my brain for the afternoon,
and then--fire, earthquake, death! As if it were Sodom
and Gomorrah! All our work undone, all the work----
What are these Martians?"
"What are we?" I answered, clearing my throat.
He gripped his knees and turned to look at me again.
For half a minute, perhaps, he stared silently.
"I was walking through the roads to clear my brain," he
said. "And suddenly--fire, earthquake, death!" He
relapsed into silence, with his chin now sunken almost
to his knees.
Presently he began waving his hand.
"All the work--all the Sunday schools--What have we
done--what has Weybridge done? Everything gone--
everything destroyed. The church! We rebuilt it only
three years ago. Gone! Swept out of existence! Why?"
Another pause, and he broke out again like one
demented.
"The smoke of her burning goeth up for ever and ever!"
he shouted.
His eyes flamed, and he pointed a lean finger in the
direction of Weybridge.
By this time I was beginning to take his measure. The
tremendous tragedy in which he had been involved--it
was evident he was a fugitive from Weybridge--had
driven him to the very verge of his reason.
"Are we far from Sunbury?" I said, in a matter-of-fact
tone.
"What are we to do?" he asked. "Are these creatures
everywhere? Has the earth been given over to them?
"Are we far from Sunbury?"" "Only this morning I
officiated at early celebration----"
"Things have changed," I said, quietly. "You must keep
your head. There is still hope."
"Hope!"
"Yes. Plentiful hope--for all this destruction!" I began
to explain my view of our position. He listened at first,
“Već čitav sat tražite vodu”, odgovorio je.
Na trenutak smo ušutjeli, odmjeravajući se pogledom.
Usudio bih se reći da me je našao prilično neobičnom
pojavom, onako gola - izuzmemo li promočene hlače i
čarape - te oprljena, lica i ramena pocrnjelih od dima. Lice
mu je odavalo ljepotu i slabost, brada mu je bila uvučena, a
kosa mu je na niskom čelu ležala u krutim, gotovo
slamnatim viticama. Oči su mu bile poprilično krupne,
blijedomodre, i tupo su zurile. Progovorio je naglo, pogleda
praznog i skrenuta s mene.
“Što to znači?” upitao je. “Što sve to znači?” Zagledao sam
se u nj i nisam odgovorio.
Ispružio je tanku bijelu ruku i progovorio gotovo gunđavim
tonom.
“Tko sve to dopušta? Što smo Bogu zgriješili? Jutarnja je
misa bila gotova, pa sam se prošetao cestom da pročistim
misli za popodne, kad najednom - oganj, potres, smrt! Kao
u Sodomi i Gomori! Sav naš trud obezvrijeđen, sav naš
trud ... Što su ti Marsijanci?”
“A što smo mi?” odgovorio sam i pročistio grlo.
Uhvatio se za koljena, pa se okrenuo i opet me pogledao. I
ostao tako nijemo zuriti možda pola minute.
“Prošetao sam se cestom da pročistim misli”, rekao je. “Kad
najednom oganj, potres, smrt!” Ponovno je utonuo u tišinu,
a brada mu je potonula gotovo do koljena.
Najednom je zamahao rukom.
“Sav naš trud - sve nedjeljne škole - što smo to učinili - što
je to Weybridge zgriješio? Svega je nestalo - sve je
uništeno. Crkva! A obnovili smo je prije samo tri godine.
Nema je više! Zbrisana, ne postoji! Zašto?” Još jedna
stanka, a onda je iz njega opet provalilo, kao da je sišao s
uma.
“I dim se s njezina zgarišta dizao na vijeke vjekova!”
uskliknuo je.
Oči su mu planule, a mršavi je kažiprst upro prema
Weybridgeu.
U tom sam mu trenutku već počeo uzimati mjeru. I njemu i
strahovitoj tragediji koju je doživio - jer je bilo očito da je
riječ o bjeguncu iz Weybridgea, i da ga je to što se dogodilo
natjeralo na sam rub pameti.
“Jesmo li daleko od Sunburyja?” upitao sam upravo
poslovnim tonom.
“I što ćemo sada?” upitao je. “Jesu li te kreature posvuda?
Je li zemlja predana njima? Jesmo li daleko od Sunburyja?
Još jutros sam služio ranu misu ...”
“Sve se promijenilo”, rekao sam tiho. “Morate sačuvati
zdravu svijest. Još ima nade.”
“Nade!”
“Da. Obilje nade - unatoč svim tim razaranjima!” Počeo
sam mu izlagati svoje poglede na stanje u kojem smo se
but as I went on the interest dawning in his eyes gave
place to their former stare, and his regard wandered
from me.
"This must be the beginning of the end," he said,
interrupting me. "The end! The great and terrible day of
the Lord! When men shall call upon the mountains and
the rocks to fall upon them and hide them--hide them
from the face of Him that sitteth upon the throne!" I
began to understand the position. I ceased my laboured
reasoning, struggled to my feet, and, standing over him,
laid my hand on his shoulder.
"Be a man!" said I. "You are scared out of your wits!
What good is religion if it collapses under calamity?
Think of what earthquakes and floods, wars and
volcanoes, have done before to men! Did you think
God had exempted Weybridge? He is not an insurance
agent." For a time he sat in blank silence.
"But how can we escape?" he asked, suddenly. "They
are invulnerable, they are pitiless."
"Neither the one nor, perhaps, the other," I answered.
"And the mightier they are the more sane and wary
should we be. One of them was killed yonder not three
hours ago."
"Killed!" he said, staring about him. "How can God's
ministers be killed?"
"I saw it happen." I proceeded to tell him. "We have
chanced to come in for the thick of it," said I, "and that
is all."
"What is that flicker in the sky?" he asked abruptly.
I told him it was the heliograph signalling--that it was
the sign of human help and effort in the sky.
"We are in the midst of it," I said, "quiet as it is. That
flicker in the sky tells of the gathering storm. Yonder, I
take it are the Martians, and Londonward, where those
hills rise about Richmond and Kingston and the trees
give cover, earthworks are being thrown up and guns
are being placed. Presently the Martians will be coming
this way again."
And even as I spoke he sprang to his feet and stopped
me by a gesture.
"Listen!" he said.
From beyond the low hills across the water came the
dull resonance of distant guns and a remote weird
crying. Then everything was still. A cockchafer came
droning over the hedge and past us. High in the west
the crescent moon hung faint and pale above the smoke
of Weybridge and Shepperton and the hot, still
splendour of the sunset.
"We had better follow this path," I said, "northward."
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
IN LONDON
našli. Isprva me je slušao, ali kad sam nastavio, zanimanje
koje mu je počelo svitati u očima ponovno je ustupilo
mjesto prijašnjem stanju, pa mu je pogled odlutao s mene.
“To je sigurno početak kraja”, rekao je i prekinuo me.
“Kraja! Silnog i strašnog dana Gospodnjeg! Kad će ljudi
zazivati brda i kamenje da se na njih svale i skriju ih - skriju
pred licem Onoga koji sjedi na prijestolju!” Počeo sam
shvaćati situaciju, pa prekinuo to mučno rezoniranje, s
mukom se uspravio na noge pa se uzvisio kraj njega i
položio mu ruku na rame.
“Ponašajte se kao muškarac!” rekoh. “Od straha ste sišli s
uma! Kakva je to religija koja se ruši pred nevoljom?
Pomislite samo na sve ono što su dosad poplave, ratovi i
vulkani učinili ljudima! Mislili ste da će Bog izuzeti
Weybridge? On nije agent osiguranja.” Neko je vrijeme
samo sjedio tako, u tupome muku.
“Ali kako da se spasimo?” upitao je iznebuha. “Oni su
neranjivi, nemilosrdni.”
“Nisu ni jedno, a možda ni drugo”, odgovorio sam. “A
koliko su oni moćniji, toliko mi moramo biti zdravijega uma
i oprezniji. Jednog su od njih ubili tamo, eno, nema ni tri
sata.”
“Ubili!” uskliknuo je on i zagledao se oko sebe. “Kako
vršitelji Božje volje mogu poginuti?!”
“Vidio sam to vlastitim očima.” Potom sam mu sve ispričao.
“Slučaj je htio da upadnem baš u središte zbivanja,” rekoh,
“i to je sve.”
“A što to svjetluca na nebu?” upitao je on iznenada.
Rekoh da su to signali heliografa - da je to znak na nebu,
znak ljudske pomoći.
“Mi smo u središtu zbivanja,” rekoh, “bez obzira na to
koliko sve oko nas bilo mirno. To svjetlucanje na nebu
govori nam da se sprema oluja. Tamo su, koliko sam
shvatio, Marsijanci, a prema Londonu, gdje se ti brežuljci
dižu oko Richmonda i Kingstona, i gdje stabla stvaraju
zaklon, podižu se zemljani zakloni i postavljaju topovi. Još
malo, pa će Marsijanci opet krenuti tim smjerom.”
Ja još nisam bio ni dovršio, kad je on skočio na noge i
zaustavio me pokretom ruke.
“Slušajte!” rekao je.
Iza niskih brežuljaka preko vode začuli su se tupa jeka
dalekih topova i daleki sablasni jauci. A onda je opet
sve utihlo. Preko živice je dobrujao hrušt i proletio
mimo nas. Visoko na zapadu Mjesečev je srp visio
slabašan i blijed nad dimom Weybridgea
i Sheppertona kao i nad vrućim, nepomičnim
veličanstvom smiraja.
“Bit će nam najpametnije da pođemo stazom,” rekoh, “i to
na sjever.”
GLAVA 14.
U LONDONU
My younger brother was in London when the Martians
fell at Woking. He was a medical student working for
an imminent examination, and he heard nothing of the
arrival until Saturday morning. The morning papers on
Saturday contained, in addition to lengthy special
articles on the planet Mars, on life in the planets, and
so forth, a brief and vaguely worded telegram, all the
more striking for its brevity.
The Martians, alarmed by the approach of a crowd, had
killed a number of people with a quick-firing gun, so
the story ran. The telegram concluded with the words:
"Formidable as they seem to be, the Martians have not
moved from the pit into which they have fallen, and,
indeed, seem incapable of doing so. Probably this is
due to the relative strength of the earth's gravitational
energy." On that last text their leader-writer expanded
very comfortingly.
Of course all the students in the crammer's biology
class, to which my brother went that day, were
intensely interested, but there were no signs of any
unusual excitement in the streets. The afternoon papers
puffed scraps of news under big headlines. They had
nothing to tell beyond the movements of troops about
the common, and the burning of the pine woods
between Woking and Weybridge, until eight. Then the
St. James's Gazette, in an extra-special edition,
announced the bare fact of the interruption of
telegraphic communication. This was thought to be due
to the falling of burning pine trees across the line.
Nothing more of the fighting was known that night, the
night of my drive to Leatherhead and back.
My brother felt no anxiety about us, as he knew from
the description in the papers that the cylinder was a
good two miles from my house. He made up his mind
to run down that night to me, in order, as he says, to see
the Things before they were killed. He dispatched a
telegram, which never reached me, about four o'clock,
and spent the evening at a music hall. In London, also,
on Saturday night there was a thunderstorm, and my
brother reached Waterloo in a cab. On the platform
from which the midnight train usually starts he learned,
after some waiting, that an accident prevented trains
from reaching Woking that night. The nature of the
accident he could not ascertain; indeed, the railway
authorities did not clearly know at that time. There was
very little excitement in the station, as the officials,
failing to realise that anything further than a breakdown
between Byfleet and Woking junction had occurred,
were running the theatre trains which usually passed
through Woking round by Virginia Water or Guildford.
They were busy making the necessary arrangements to
alter the route of the Southampton and Portsmouth
Sunday League excursions. A nocturnal newspaper
Kad su se Marsijanci stuštili na Woking, moj je mlađi brat
bio u Londonu. On je studirao medicinu, i spremao
skorašnji ispit, pa sve do subote ujutro o njihovu dolasku
nije čuo ni glasa. A u subotnjim je jutarnjim novinama bio,
uz dugačke posebne priloge o planetu Marsu, o životu na
drugim planetima i tako dalje, i šturi i prilično neodređeno
sročen brzojav, koji je baš zbog kratkoće bio još dojmljiviji.
Marsijanci, prepavši se dolaska gomile, pobili su
brzometnim topom veći broj ljudi - tako je bar glasila priča.
Brzojav je bio zaključen riječima: “Bez obzira na to koliko
strašan dojam stvarali, Marsijanci ipak nisu izašli iz jame u
koju su pali, a čini se da za to zapravo nisu ni sposobni.
Vjerojatno se to ima pripisati relativnoj snazi Zemljine
gravitacijske energije.” O tom se zadnjem tekstu pisac
uvodnika raspisao nadugačko i naširoko i vrlo umirujuće.
Naravno da su svi budući studenti biologije u privatnoj
pripremnoj školi do kojih je tog dana otišao moj brat, za to
pokazali silno zanimanje, ali po ulicama nije bilo baš
nikakva znaka neuobičajenog uzbuđenja. Popodnevne su
novine pod krupnim naslovima donijele prenapuhane
mrvice vijesti. One zapravo izvijestiti i nisu imale o čemu,
osim o kretanju trupa oko pašnjaka, kao i paljenju borika
između Wokinga i Weybridgea, i tako sve do osam sati. A
onda je St. James’s Gazette, u ekstra-posebnom izdanju,
objavila golu činjenicu prekida brzojavnih veza. Smatralo se
da je do toga došlo zbog pada zapaljenih borova na žice. Te
se noći o borbama nije doznalo ništa više, one iste noći kad
sam se odvezao u Leatherhead i vratio se.
Brata u povodu naše sudbine nisu mučile nikakve brige, jer
je iz novinskog opisa shvatio da je valjak pao dobrane dvije
milje od moje kuće. Ipak je odlučio te noći skoknuti do
mene, kako bi, što reče, još stigao vidjeti te Stvari prije nego
što ih pobiju. Stoga je poslao brzojav koji do mene nikad
nije ni stigao, negdje oko četiri popodne, te proveo večer u
glazbenoj dvorani. U Londonu se, osim toga, te subotnje
večeri prolomio olujni pljusak, pa se brat do kolodvora
Waterloo dovezao fijakerom. Onda je na peronu s kojeg
obično polazi ponoćni vlak, nakon nešto čekanja, doznao
da noćas, zbog nesreće, vlakovi ne voze do Wokinga.
Pritom, međutim, nije mogao utvrditi kakva je narav te
nesreće; to zapravo u tom času nije bilo sasvim jasno ni
samoj upravi željeznica. Na kolodvoru se zbog toga nitko
nije previše uzbuđivao, zato što su službenici, koji nisu
shvaćali da se dogodilo išta veće od prekida prometa
između Byfleeta i križanja Woking, područne vlakove, koji
su obično prolazili kroz Woking, skretali okolo preko
Virginia Watera ili Guildforda. Osim toga imali su pune
ruke posla oko mijenjanja izletničkih ruta southamptonskog
i portsmouthskog Nedjeljnog saveza. Noćni novinski
reporter, koji je mog brata pobrkao sa željezničkim
reporter, mistaking my brother for the traffic manager,
to whom he bears a slight resemblance, waylaid and
tried to interview him. Few people, excepting the
railway officials, connected the breakdown with the
Martians.
I have read, in another account of these events, that on
Sunday morning "all London was electrified by the
news from Woking." As a matter of fact, there was
nothing to justify that very extravagant phrase. Plenty
of Londoners did not hear of the Martians until the
panic of Monday morning. Those who did took some
time to realise all that the hastily worded telegrams in
the Sunday papers conveyed. The majority of people in
London do not read Sunday papers.
The habit of personal security, moreover, is so deeply
fixed in the Londoner's mind, and startling intelligence
so much a matter of course in the papers, that they
could read without any personal tremors: "About seven
o'clock last night the Martians came out of the cylinder,
and, moving about under an armour of metallic shields,
have completely wrecked Woking station with the
adjacent houses, and massacred an entire battalion of
the Cardigan Regiment. No details are known. Maxims
have been absolutely useless against their armour; the
field guns have been disabled by them. Flying hussars
have been galloping into Chertsey. The Martians
appear to be moving slowly towards Chertsey or
Windsor. Great anxiety prevails in West Surrey, and
earthworks are being thrown up to check the advance
Londonward." That was how the Sunday Sun put it,
and a clever and remarkably prompt "handbook" article
in the Referee compared the affair to a menagerie
suddenly let loose in a village.
No one in London knew positively of the nature of the
armoured Martians, and there was still a fixed idea that
these monsters must be sluggish: "crawling," "creeping
painfully"--such expressions occurred in almost all the
earlier reports. None of the telegrams could have been
written by an eyewitness of their advance. The Sunday
papers printed separate editions as further news came
to hand, some even in default of it. But there was
practically nothing more to tell people until late in the
afternoon, when the authorities gave the press agencies
the news in their possession. It was stated that the
people of Walton and Weybridge, and all the district
were pouring along the roads Londonward, and that
was all.
My brother went to church at the Foundling Hospital in
the morning, still in ignorance of what had happened
on the previous night. There he heard allusions made to
the invasion, and a special prayer for peace. Coming
out, he bought a Referee. He became alarmed at the
news in this, and went again to Waterloo station to find
prometnikom, kojemu je donekle sličio, pristupio mu je i
pokušao ga intervjuirati. Malo je tko osim željezničkih
službenika taj prekid povezao s Marsijancima.
Bio sam negdje pročitao, u nekom drugom prikazu
događaja, kako je toga nedjeljnog jutra “čitav London bio
naelektriziran vijestima iz Wokinga”. U stvarnosti,
međutim, nije bilo ničega što bi opravdalo tu vrlo
ekstravagantnu rečenicu. Mnogi Londonci za Marsijance
zapravo nisu ni čuli sve dok u ponedjeljak ujutro nije izbila
panika. Onima pak koji jesu, trebalo je vremena da shvate
što sve znače oni na brzinu sročeni brzojavi što su se
pojavili u nedjeljnim novinama. No većina žitelja Londona
ne čita nedjeljne novine.
Osim toga, naviklost na osobnu sigurnost bila se duboko
ugnijezdila u svijesti Londonaca, dok su zapanjujuće vijesti
u novinama bile iznesene kao gole konstatacije, pa su stoga
i članke poput ovoga što slijedi, mogli čitati bez imalo
drhturenja za vlastitu sudbinu. “Sinoć oko sedam sati iz
valjka su izašli Marsijanci, pa krenuli oklopljeni metalnim
štitovima i potpuno razorili wokinški kolodvor i okolne
kuće, a osim toga pobili i čitav bataljun Cardiganskog puka.
Pojedinosti još nisu poznate. Maximi su protiv
njihova oklopa bili potpuno nemoćni, a poljske su topove
uspjeli onesposobiti. Husari su uzmakli i galopom stigli u
Chertsey. Čini se da Marsijanci polako napreduju prema
Chertseyju ili Windsoru. U West Surreyju vlada velika
zabrinutost, i podižu se zemljani zakloni da se spriječi
njihov prodor prema Londonu.” Eto kako je to opisao
Sunday Sun, a vrlo domišljat i zadivljujuće brzo sročeni
“savjetodavni” članak u novinama Referee čitav je slučaj
usporedio s menažerijom pobjeglom iz kaveza koja se
najednom sručila na selo.
Nitko u Londonu nije znao ništa određeno o pravoj naravi
tih oklopljenih Marsijanaca, a još je prevladavala fiks-ideja
da su ta čudovišta zacijelo vrlo troma, jer su se izrazi poput
“plazili” i “s mukom puzali” pojavljivali u gotovo
svim ranim izvještajima. Zacijelo nijedan od tih brzojava
nije napisao nitko od očevidaca njihova napredovanja.
Nedjeljne su novine, kad su im u ruke došle nove vijesti,
otisnule i odvojena izdanja, a neke su to učinile čak i bez
njih. Ipak se ljudima praktički i nije imalo što reći sve do
kasnoga popodneva, kad su vlasti novinskim agencijama
dale novosti što su ih držale. U njima je stajalo da su
stanovnici Waltona i Weybridgea, kao i čitavog okruga,
bujicom potekli cestama put Londona, i to je bilo sve.
Moj je brat tog jutra pošao u crkvu u Foundling Hospitalu, i
dalje u neznanju o svemu što se dogodilo prethodne noći.
Tu je pak čuo aluzije na najezdu, kao i posebnu molitvu za
mir. Kad je izišao iz crkve, kupio je Referee. Vijesti što ih je
našao u njemu silno su ga uzbunile, pa je opet pošao do
kolodvora Waterloo da vidi jesu li se veze opet uspostavile.
out if communication were restored. The omnibuses,
carriages, cyclists, and innumerable people walking in
their best clothes seemed scarcely affected by the
strange intelligence that the news venders were
disseminating. People were interested, or, if alarmed,
alarmed only on account of the local residents. At the
station he heard for the first time that the Windsor and
Chertsey lines were now interrupted. The porters told
him that several remarkable telegrams had been
received in the morning from Byfleet and Chertsey
stations, but that these had abruptly ceased. My brother
could get very little precise detail out of them.
"There's fighting going on about Weybridge" was the
extent of their information.
The train service was now very much disorganised.
Quite a number of people who had been expecting
friends from places on the South-Western network were
standing about the station. One grey-headed old
gentleman came and abused the South-Western
Company bitterly to my brother. "It wants showing up,"
he said.
One or two trains came in from Richmond, Putney, and
Kingston, containing people who had gone out for a
day's boating and found the locks closed and a feeling
of panic in the air. A man in a blue and white blazer
addressed my brother, full of strange tidings. "There's
hosts of people driving into Kingston in traps and carts
and things, with boxes of valuables and all that," he
said. "They come from Molesey and Weybridge and
Walton, and they say there's been guns heard at
Chertsey, heavy firing, and that mounted soldiers have
told them to get off at once because the Martians are
coming. We heard guns firing at Hampton Court
station, but we thought it was thunder. What the
dickens does it all mean? The Martians can't get out of
their pit, can they?" My brother could not tell him.
Afterwards he found that the vague feeling of alarm
had spread to the clients of the underground railway,
and that the Sunday excursionists began to return from
all over the South-Western "lung"--Barnes,
Wimbledon, Richmond Park, Kew, and so forth--at
unnaturally early hours; but not a soul had anything
more than vague hearsay to tell of. Everyone connected
with the terminus seemed ill-tempered.
About five o'clock the gathering crowd in the station
was immensely excited by the opening of the line of
communication, which is almost invariably closed,
between the South-Eastern and the South-Western
stations, and the passage of carriage trucks bearing
huge guns and carriages crammed with soldiers. These
were the guns that were brought up from Woolwich and
Chatham to cover Kingston. There was an exchange of
pleasantries: "You'll get eaten!" "We're the beast-
tamers!" and so forth. A little while after that a squad of
Omnibusi, karuce, biciklisti i bezbrojni ljudi što su šetali u
nedjeljnoj odjeći kao da su jedva i bili dojmljeni neobičnim
obavijestima što su ih među njima sijali prodavači novosti.
Ljude je sve to donekle zanimalo, a ako su se pritom imalo i
bojali, bojali su se samo za mještane. Na kolodvoru je po
prvi put čuo da se sad prekinula i veza za Windsor i
Chertsey. Nosači su mu rekli da su ujutro s kolodvora u
Byfleetu i Chertseyju primili nekoliko neobičnih brzojava,
no da su onda najednom naglo prestali stizati. Moj je brat iz
njih mogao izvući jako malo preciznih pojedinosti.
“Oko Weybridgea se vode borbe”, glasio je krajnji doseg
njihovih informacija.
Željeznička je služba u međuvremenu postala doista jako
dezorganizirana. Oko kolodvora je stajao popriličan broj
ljudi koji su očekivali prijatelje iz mjesta obuhvaćenih
jugozapadnom željezničkom mrežom. Bratu je prišao neki
sjedokosi stari gospodin pa počeo na pasja kola grditi
Jugozapadnu kompaniju. “Sad se iskazala”, rekao je.
Jedan je od dva vlaka stigao iz Richmonda, Putneyja i
Kingstona, i u njemu su bili ljudi koji su otišli na dan izleta
u čamcu, pa zatekli zaključane lokote i osjećaj panike u
zraku. Mom se bratu obratio neznanac u bijelo-plavoj jakni,
čovjek pun čudnih vijesti. “Ljudi na hrpe ulaze u Kingston u
karucama i kolima i svemu tome, sa škrinjama s
dragocjenostima i svime time”, rekao je. “Dolaze iz
Moleseyja i Weybridgea i Waltona, i vele da se u Chertseyju
čuju topovi, teška paljba, i da su im vojnici na konjima rekli
da smjesta siđu jer dolaze Marsijanci. Topovsku smo paljbu
čuli i na kolodvoru Hampton Court, ali smo mislili da je to
grmljavina. Koji je sad to vrag? Marsijanci ne mogu iz
jame, ma je li tako?” Moj mu brat na to nije znao
odgovoriti.
Kasnije je otkrio da se magloviti osjećaj straha proširio i na
klijente podzemne željeznice, i da su se nedjeljni izletnici
počeli vraćati s čitavih jugozapadnih “pluća grada” -
Barnesa, Wimbledona, Richmond Parka, Kewa i tako dalje -
i to u neprirodno sitne sate; ipak nije bilo žive duše da
ispriča išta više od maglovitog rekla-kazala. Sve koji su
prošli kroz krajnje stanice kao da je obuzela nekakva
zlovolja.
Oko pet sati, gomila što se skupila na kolodvoru, silno se
ushitila zbog otvaranja komunikacijske pruge, inače gotovo
uvijek zatvorene, između jugoistočnog i jugozapadnog
kolodvora, kao i prolaska otvorenih vagona s golemim
topovima i vagona nabijenih vojnicima. Bili su to topovi
dopremljeni iz Woolwicha i Chathama, a radi pokrivanja
Kingstona. Uslijedila je razmjena prijaznosti: “žive će vas
pojesti!” “Mi smo krotitelji zvijeri!” i tako dalje. Malo
potom na kolodvoru se pojavio policijski odred i počeo
čistiti ljude s perona, pa je moj brat ponovno izišao na ulicu.
police came into the station and began to clear the
public off the platforms, and my brother went out into
the street again. The church bells were ringing for
evensong, and a squad of Salvation Army lassies came
singing down Waterloo Road. On the bridge a number
of loafers were watching a curious brown scum that
came drifting down the stream in patches. The sun was
just setting, and the Clock Tower and the Houses of
Parliament rose against one of the most peaceful skies
it is possible to imagine, a sky of gold, barred with long
transverse stripes of reddish-purple cloud. There was
talk of a floating body. One of the men there, a reservist
he said he was, told my brother he had seen the
heliograph flickering in the west.
In Wellington Street my brother met a couple of sturdy
roughs who had just been rushed out of Fleet Street
with still-wet newspapers and staring placards.
"Dreadful catastrophe!" they bawled one to the other
down Wellington Street. "Fighting at Weybridge! Full
description! Repulse of the Martians! London in
Danger!" He had to give threepence for a copy of that
paper.
Then it was, and then only, that he realised something
of the full power and terror of these monsters. He
learned that they were not merely a handful of small
sluggish creatures, but that they were minds swaying
vast mechanical bodies; and that they could move
swiftly and smite with such power that even the
mightiest guns could not stand against them.
They were described as "vast spiderlike machines,
nearly a hundred feet high, capable of the speed of an
express train, and able to shoot out a beam of intense
heat." Masked batteries, chiefly of field guns, had been
planted in the country about Horsell Common, and
especially between the Woking district and London.
Five of the machines had been seen moving towards
the Thames, and one, by a happy chance, had been
destroyed. In the other cases the shells had missed, and
the batteries had been at once annihilated by the Heat-
Rays. Heavy losses of soldiers were mentioned, but the
tone of the dispatch was optimistic.
The Martians had been repulsed; they were not
invulnerable. They had retreated to their triangle of
cylinders again, in the circle about Woking. Signallers
with heliographs were pushing forward upon them
from all sides. Guns were in rapid transit from
Windsor, Portsmouth, Aldershot, Woolwich--even from
the north; among others, long wire-guns of ninety-five
tons from Woolwich. Altogether one hundred and
sixteen were in position or being hastily placed, chiefly
covering London. Never before in England had there
been such a vast or rapid concentration of military
material.
Any further cylinders that fell, it was hoped, could be
Crkvena su zvona pozivala na večernju molitvu, a
niz Waterloo Road je stigao raspjevani odred djevojčica iz
Vojske spasa. Na mostu su mnogobrojne lutalice promatrale
neobičnu smeđu žabokrečinu što ju je voda nosila u
krpicama. Sunce je baš zalazilo, a Satni toranj i Parlament
dizali su se na pozadini neba, od kojeg je mirnije teško bilo
i zamisliti, neba od zlata, neba isprugana dugim uzdužnim
trakama crvenkasto-purpurnih oblaka. Pričalo se o
nekakvom doplutalom truplu. Jedan je od
prolaznika, predstavivši se kao rezervist, mom bratu
ispričao kako je na zapadu vidio treperenje heliografa.
Na Wellington Streetu brat je naišao na par stamenih
neotesanaca koji su upravo izletjeli iz Fleet Streeta s još
mokrim novinama i napadnim plakatima. “Strašna
katastrofa!” zatulili su jedan drugom u uho i niz Wellington
Street. “Borbe kod Weybridgea! Sve piše! Marsijanci
odbijeni! London u opasnosti!” Za primjerak je tih novina
morao dati tri penija.
I tada je, i samo tada, shvatio ponešto od pune snage i
strahote tih čudovišta. Tada je doznao da to nije tek šačica
sitnih i tromih stvorenja, već da su to umovi koji zibaju
golema mehanička tijela; osim toga i da se gibaju brzo i
udaraju takvom silinom da im se ne mogu oprijeti ni
najmoćniji topovi.
Opisali su ih kao “goleme, pauku slične strojeve, visoke
gotovo stotinu stopa, sposobne za gibanje brzinom
ekspresnoga vlaka, kao i ispaljivanje zraka silne jare”. Na
ladanju oko Horsellskog pašnjaka, a napose između distrikta
Woking i Londona, bile su posijane maskirane bitnice,
uglavnom poljskih topova. Opaženo je pet strojeva kako
napreduju prema Temzi, i jedan je od njih, sretnom igrom
slučaja, bio uništen. U drugim su slučajevima granate
promašile cilj, pa su bitnice stoga bile u trenutku uništene
toplinskim zrakama. Spomenuti su teški gubici
među vojnicima, ali je ton depeše bio optimističan.
Marsijanci su odbijeni; i nisu neranjivi. Ponovno su se
povukli do svog trokuta od valjaka, u krug oko Wokinga.
Izvidnici s heliografima prilazili su im sa svih strana.
Topovi su se hitro prebacivali iz Windsora, Portsmoutha,
Aldershota, Woolwicha - čak i sa sjevera; među njima su,
između ostalih, bili i dugi, fretirani,
devedesetpettonski topovi iz Woolwicha. Ukupno ih se na
položajima već nalazilo, ili na njih bilo hitro postavljeno,
sto i šesnaest komada, a pokrivali su uglavnom London.
Nikada prije u Engleskoj nije došlo do tako silnog i brzog
koncentriranja vojnog materijala.
Svi daljnji valjci koji budu pali, govorila je nada, moći će se
destroyed at once by high explosives, which were
being rapidly manufactured and distributed. No doubt,
ran the report, the situation was of the strangest and
gravest description, but the public was exhorted to
avoid and discourage panic. No doubt the Martians
were strange and terrible in the extreme, but at the
outside there could not be more than twenty of them
against our millions.
The authorities had reason to suppose, from the size of
the cylinders, that at the outside there could not be
more than five in each cylinder--fifteen altogether. And
one at least was disposed of--perhaps more. The public
would be fairly warned of the approach of danger, and
elaborate measures were being taken for the protection
of the people in the threatened southwestern suburbs.
And so, with reiterated assurances of the safety of
London and the ability of the authorities to cope with
the difficulty, this quasi-proclamation closed.
This was printed in enormous type on paper so fresh
that it was still wet, and there had been no time to add a
word of comment. It was curious, my brother said, to
see how ruthlessly the usual contents of the paper had
been hacked and taken out to give this place.
All down Wellington Street people could be seen
fluttering out the pink sheets and reading, and the
Strand was suddenly noisy with the voices of an army
of hawkers following these pioneers. Men came
scrambling off buses to secure copies. Certainly this
news excited people intensely, whatever their previous
apathy. The shutters of a map shop in the Strand were
being taken down, my brother said, and a man in his
Sunday raiment, lemon-yellow gloves even, was visible
inside the window hastily fastening maps of Surrey to
the glass.
Going on along the Strand to Trafalgar Square, the
paper in his hand, my brother saw some of the fugitives
from West Surrey. There was a man with his wife and
two boys and some articles of furniture in a cart such as
greengrocers use. He was driving from the direction of
Westminster Bridge; and close behind him came a hay
waggon with five or six respectable-looking people in
it, and some boxes and bundles. The faces of these
people were haggard, and their entire appearance
contrasted conspicuously with the Sabbath-best
appearance of the people on the omnibuses. People in
fashionable clothing peeped at them out of cabs. They
stopped at the Square as if undecided which way to
take, and finally turned eastward along the Strand.
Some way behind these came a man in workday
clothes, riding one of those old-fashioned tricycles with
a small front wheel. He was dirty and white in the face.
My brother turned down towards Victoria, and met a
number of such people. He had a vague idea that he
might see something of me. He noticed an unusual
smjesta uništiti eksplozivom koji su počeli ubrzano i
proizvoditi i dijeliti. Nema nimalo dvojbe, stajalo je u
izvještaju, da se prilike dadu opisati samo kao najneobičnije
i najozbiljnije, ali se pučanstvo poziva da ne širi paniku i da
joj ne podliježe. Nema dvojbe da su ti Marsijanci krajnje i
čudni i strašni, ali s druge strane, očito je da ih nema više od
dvadeset protiv nas, kojih je na milijune.
Vlasti su imale razloga pretpostaviti, najviše prema veličini
valjaka, da ih u svakome od njih, gledajući izvana, ne bi
moglo biti više od petoro - dakle ukupno petnaestak. A od
njih je bar jedan već bio likvidiran - a možda i još koji.
Javnost će biti blagovremeno obaviještena o dolasku
opasnosti, a osim toga su bile poduzete i opsežne mjere da
se zaštite ljudi u ugroženim jugozapadnim predgrađima. I
tako se ta kvaziproklamacija zaključivala ponavljanjem
uvjeravanja da je London siguran, te da su vlasti sposobne
izaći na kraj i s tom nevoljom.
To je bilo otisnuto pregolemim slovima u još vlažnim
novinama, a nije bilo vremena da se tome doda i riječ
komentara. Bilo je zanimljivo, rekao je moj brat, gledati
kako je uobičajeni sadržaj novina bio okljaštren i izbačen da
bi se dobilo mjesta za ovo.
Čitavim Wellington Streetom vidjeli su se ljudi kako
lamataju ružičastim listovima i čitaju, a Strand je najednom
postao vrlo bučan od glasova čitave vojske kolportera koji
su pošli stopama onih prvih pionira. Ljudi su iskakali iz
omnibusa i grabili novine. Izvjesno je da su te vijesti ljude
silno uzbudile, bez obzira na njihovu raniju apatičnost.
Roloi na trgovini karata na Strandu bili su dignuti, ispričao
mi je brat, a u izlogu su vidjeli čovjeka u nedjeljnom ruhu,
čak s limunskožutim rukavicama, kako na staklo stavlja
karte Surreyja.
S novinama u ruci, brat je produžio Standom sve do
Trafalgar Squarea i tako ugledao nekoliko bjegunaca iz
West Surreyja. Među njima je bio i muškarac sa ženom i
dva dječaka i nešto namještaja na piljarskim kolicima.
Dovezao ih je iz smjera Westminster Bridgea; a odmah iza
njega došla su kola za sijeno, i na njima petero do šestero
ljudi sasvim pristojna izgleda, zajedno s nešto sanduka
i zavežljaja. Lica su im bila ispijena, a čitav je njihov izraz
stajao u upadljivom kontrastu s blagdanskim ruhom ljudi u
omnibusima. Zastali su na Squareu kao da se ne mogu
odlučiti kamo dalje, pa napokon skrenuli na istok duž
Stranda. Malo iza njih je došao čovjek u svakodnevnom
odijelu, a vozio se na jednom od onih staromodnih tricikala
s malenim prednjim kotačem. Bio je prljav i bijel u licu.
Moj brat je skrenuo i pošao prema Victoriji, i pritom susreo
još mnogo takvih. Po glavi mu se vrtjela maglovita misao
da bi mogao naletjeti na mene. Zamijetio je i da prometom
number of police regulating the traffic. Some of the
refugees were exchanging news with the people on the
omnibuses. One was professing to have seen the
Martians. "Boilers on stilts, I tell you, striding along
like men." Most of them were excited and animated by
their strange experience.
Beyond Victoria the public-houses were doing a lively
trade with these arrivals. At all the street corners groups
of people were reading papers, talking excitedly, or
staring at these unusual Sunday visitors. They seemed
to increase as night drew on, until at last the roads, my
brother said, were like Epsom High Street on a Derby
Day. My brother addressed several of these fugitives
and got unsatisfactory answers from most.
None of them could tell him any news of Woking
except one man, who assured him that Woking had
been entirely destroyed on the previous night.
"I come from Byfleet," he said; "man on a bicycle
came through the place in the early morning, and ran
from door to door warning us to come away. Then
came soldiers. We went out to look, and there were
clouds of smoke to the south--nothing but smoke, and
not a soul coming that way. Then we heard the guns at
Chertsey, and folks coming from Weybridge. So I've
locked up my house and come on." At the time there
was a strong feeling in the streets that the authorities
were to blame for their incapacity to dispose of the
invaders without all this inconvenience.
About eight o'clock a noise of heavy firing was
distinctly audible all over the south of London. My
brother could not hear it for the traffic in the main
thoroughfares, but by striking through the quiet back
streets to the river he was able to distinguish it quite
plainly.
He walked from Westminster to his apartments near
Regent's Park, about two. He was now very anxious on
my account, and disturbed at the evident magnitude of
the trouble. His mind was inclined to run, even as mine
had run on Saturday, on military details. He thought of
all those silent, expectant guns, of the suddenly
nomadic countryside; he tried to imagine "boilers on
stilts" a hundred feet high.
There were one or two cartloads of refugees passing
along Oxford Street, and several in the Marylebone
Road, but so slowly was the news spreading that
Regent Street and Portland Place were full of their
usual Sunday-night promenaders, albeit they talked in
groups, and along the edge of Regent's Park there were
as many silent couples "walking out" together under
the scattered gas lamps as ever there had been. The
night was warm and still, and a little oppressive; the
sound of guns continued intermittently, and after
midnight there seemed to be sheet lightning in the
south.
ravna neuobičajeno mnogo policajaca. Neki su prognanici
razmjenjivali vijesti s ljudima na omnibusima. Jedan se kleo
da je vidio Marsijance. “Parni kotlovi na štulama, velim
vam, i koračaju kao ljudi.” Ljude je njihov neobičan izgled
uglavnom uzbuđivao i u njima budio živost.
Iza Victorije krčme su s tim pridošlicama trgovale vrlo živo.
Na svim su uličnim uglovima skupine ljudi čitale novine, i
pritom što uzbuđeno razgovarale, što zurile u te neobične
nedjeljne posjetitelje. S dolaskom su noći te skupine počele
rasti, sve dok ulice, rekao mi je brat, nisu počele sličiti
Epsom Streetu na dan Derbyja. Brat se obratio nekolicini
bjegunaca, ali je od većine dobio samo nezadovoljavajuće
odgovore.
Od svih mu je njih vijesti iz Wokinga mogao prenijeti samo
jedan, a taj ga je uvjeravao da je Woking sinoć bio razoren
do temelja.
“Stigao sam iz Byfleeta”, rekao je. “Rano jutros kroz mjesto
je prošao čovjek na biciklu, pa proletio od vrata do vrata s
upozorenjem da se sklonimo. A onda su stigli vojnici. Izišli
smo pogledati, i vani su bili oblaci dima, na jugu ništa osim
dima, i u tom smjeru ni žive duše. A onda smo začuli topove
od Chertseyja i ugledali svijet kako dolazi iz Weybridgea. I
tako sam zaključao kuću i pošao.” U tom je trenutku na
ulicama vladalo snažno uvjerenje kako je prava sramota što
su vlasti bile nesposobne likvidirati uljeze bez svih tih
neugodnosti.
Oko osam sati u čitavom kraju južno od Londona jasno se
mogla razabrati teška paljba. Moj je brat nije čuo zbog buke
vozila na glavnih prometnicama, ali kad je tihim pokrajnjim
ulicama krenuo prema rijeci, uspio ju je razaznati sasvim
jasno.
Oko dva sata je krenuo pješice s Westminstera do svog stana
kraj Regent’s Parka. Sad se već počeo jako brinuti zbog
mene, a uznemirila ga je i očita veličina nedaće. Um mu je
bio sklon razmišljanju, baš kao što je to bio i moj u subotu,
o svim tim vojnim postrojbama. Razmišljao je o svim tih
nijemim topovima koji vrebaju na neprijatelja, o seljanima
koji su se najednom pretvorili u nomade; pokušavao je i
zamisliti “parne kotlove na štulama” visoke stotinu stopa.
Oxford Streetom su prolazila dvoja-troja kola izbjeglica, a
nekoliko ih je bilo i na Marylebone Roadu, ali su se vijesti
širile tako sporo da su Regent Street i Portland Place bili
puni svojih uobičajenih nedjeljnih večernjih šetača, iako su
razgovarali u grupicama, a duž ruba Regent’s Parka nije još
nikad bilo toliko nijemih parova što su zajedno “hodali” pod
raštrkanim plinskim svjetiljkama. Noć je bila tiha i mirna, i
pomalo opresivna; grmljavina topova se nastavljala s
prekidima, a poslije ponoći kao da se na jugu pojavila
bljeskavica.
He read and re-read the paper, fearing the worst had
happened to me. He was restless, and after supper
prowled out again aimlessly. He returned and tried in
vain to divert his attention to his examination notes. He
went to bed a little after midnight, and was awakened
from lurid dreams in the small hours of Monday by the
sound of door knockers, feet running in the street,
distant drumming, and a clamour of bells. Red
reflections danced on the ceiling. For a moment he lay
astonished, wondering whether day had come or the
world gone mad. Then he jumped out of bed and ran to
the window.
His room was an attic and as he thrust his head out, up
and down the street there were a dozen echoes to the
noise of his window sash, and heads in every kind of
night disarray appeared. Enquiries were being shouted.
"They are coming!" bawled a policeman, hammering at
the door; "the Martians are coming!" and hurried to the
next door.
The sound of drumming and trumpeting came from the
Albany Street Barracks, and every church within
earshot was hard at work killing sleep with a vehement
disorderly tocsin. There was a noise of doors opening,
and window after window in the houses opposite
flashed from darkness into yellow illumination.
Up the street came galloping a closed carriage, bursting
abruptly into noise at the corner, rising to a clattering
climax under the window, and dying away slowly in
the distance. Close on the rear of this came a couple of
cabs, the forerunners of a long procession of flying
vehicles, going for the most part to Chalk Farm station,
where the North-Western special trains were loading
up, instead of coming down the gradient into Euston.
For a long time my brother stared out of the window in
blank astonishment, watching the policemen
hammering at door after door, and delivering their
incomprehensible message. Then the door behind him
opened, and the man who lodged across the landing
came in, dressed only in shirt, trousers, and slippers,
his braces loose about his waist, his hair disordered
from his pillow.
"What the devil is it?" he asked. "A fire? What a devil
of a row!"
They both craned their heads out of the window,
straining to hear what the policemen were shouting.
People were coming out of the side streets, and
standing in groups at the corners talking.
"What the devil is it all about?" said my brother's
fellow lodger.
My brother answered him vaguely and began to dress,
running with each garment to the window in order to
miss nothing of the growing excitement. And presently
men selling unnaturally early newspapers came
bawling into the street:
Bezbroj je puta pročitao novine, pun straha da mi se
dogodilo najgore. Bio je nervozan, a nakon kasne večere,
ponovno je pošao van, u besciljno lutanje i u lov na tko zna
što. Vratio se i uzalud se pokušavao ponovno koncentrirati
na bilješke za ispit. Malo poslije ponoći pošao je u postelju,
da bi ga u ponedjeljak, u sitne sate, iz avetnih snova
probudili lupanje na vrata, trka nogu po ulici, daleko
bubnjanje i zvek zvona. Na stropu su plesali crveni
odrazi. Na trenutak je ostao tako zapanjeno ležati i pitati se
je li to došao Sudnji dan ili je to svijet poludio. A onda je
iskočio iz postelje i pritrčao prozoru.
Njegova je soba bila u potkrovlju, a kad je kroz prozor
gurnuo glavu, s ulice je začuo desetke bučnih odjeka kako
se dižu do praga njegova prozora, i sad su se pojavile glave
izneređene na svaki mogući noćni način. Ljudi su izvikivali
pitanja. “Dolaze!” zatulio je policajac mlateći po vratima,
“Marsijanci dolaze!” Potom bi požurio do sljedećih.
Bubnjanje i jek truba dolazili su iz vojarne na Albany
Streetu, a sve crkve na dometu uha imale su pune ruke posla
ubijajući san žestokom i uzvitlanom zvonjavom. Čulo se
otvaranje vrata, a u kućama s druge strane ulice, iz tame u
žuto osvjetljenje, bljeskao je prozor za prozorom.
Ulicom su galopom stigle zatvorene kočije, pa se na uglu
naglo oglasile bukom, koja mu se pod prozorom digla do
zveketava klimaksa, pa polako zamrla u daljini. Odmah iza
nje prispio je par fijakera, i bila je to prethodnica duge
povorke letećih vozila, koja su većinom išla prema
kolodvoru Chalk Farm, gdje su se ukrcavali specijalni
vlakovi, umjesto da se strminom spuste do Eustona.
Moj je brat dugo zurio kroz prozor obuzet tupom
zapanjenošću, i gledao policajce kako lupaju po vratima,
jednim za drugim, te izriču svoju nerazumljivu poruku. A
onda su se iza njega otvorila vrata, i u sobu je ušao susjed s
druge strane stubišta, i to odjeven samo u košulju, hlače i
papuče, dok su mu oko struka labavo visjele vrpce, a kosa
mu još bila izneređena od jastuka.
“Koji je to vrag?” upitao je. “Požar? Kakva vražja
halabuka!”
Potom su obojica istegla vratove kroz prozor, pa naćulila uši
da čuju što to policajci viču. Iz bočnih su ulica izlazili ljudi,
i sad su u hrpicama stajali na uglovima i razgovarali.
“Ma za koga vraga sve to?” rekao je bratov sustanar.
Brat mu je neodređeno odgovorio i počeo se odijevati, i
pritom bi kod stavljanja svakoga odjevnog predmeta
pritrčao prozoru da mu ne promakne ništa od tog sve jačeg
uzbuđenja. I u taj se čas na ulici digla dreka kolportera koji
su se pojavili s neprirodno ranim novinama:
"London in danger of suffocation! The Kingston and
Richmond defences forced! Fearful massacres in the
Thames Valley!" And all about him--in the rooms
below, in the houses on each side and across the road,
and behind in the Park Terraces and in the hundred
other streets of that part of Marylebone, and the
Westbourne Park district and St. Pancras, and westward
and northward in Kilburn and St. John's Wood and
Hampstead, and eastward in Shoreditch and Highbury
and Haggerston and Hoxton, and, indeed, through all
the vastness of London from Ealing to East Ham--
people were rubbing their eyes, and opening windows
to stare out and ask aimless questions, dressing hastily
as the first breath of the coming storm of Fear blew
through the streets. It was the dawn of the great panic.
London, which had gone to bed on Sunday night
oblivious and inert, was awakened, in the small hours
of Monday morning, to a vivid sense of danger.
Unable from his window to learn what was happening,
my brother went down and out into the street, just as
the sky between the parapets of the houses grew pink
with the early dawn. The flying people on foot and in
vehicles grew more numerous every moment. "Black
Smoke!" he heard people crying, and again "Black
Smoke!" The contagion of such a unanimous fear was
inevitable. As my brother hesitated on the door-step, he
saw another news vender approaching, and got a paper
forthwith. The man was running away with the rest,
and selling his papers for a shilling each as he ran--a
grotesque mingling of profit and panic.
And from this paper my brother read that catastrophic
dispatch of the Commander-in-Chief:
"The Martians are able to discharge enormous clouds
of a black and poisonous vapour by means of rockets.
They have smothered our batteries, destroyed
Richmond, Kingston, and Wimbledon, and are
advancing slowly towards London, destroying
everything on the way. It is impossible to stop them.
There is no safety from the Black Smoke but in instant
flight." That was all, but it was enough. The whole
population of the great six-million city was stirring,
slipping, running; presently it would be pouring en
masse northward.
"Black Smoke!" the voices cried. "Fire!" The bells of
the neighbouring church made a jangling tumult, a cart
carelessly driven smashed, amid shrieks and curses,
against the water trough up the street.
Sickly yellow lights went to and fro in the houses, and
some of the passing cabs flaunted unextinguished
lamps. And overhead the dawn was growing brighter,
clear and steady and calm.
He heard footsteps running to and fro in the rooms, and
up and down stairs behind him. His landlady came to
the door, loosely wrapped in dressing gown and shawl;
“London u opasnosti od gušenja! Probijena obrana u
Kingstonu i Richmondu! Strašni pokolj u dolini Temze!” A
posvuda oko njega - u sobama dolje, u kućama s obje strane
i s druge strane ceste, baš kao i iza njega u Park Terraces i
po stotinama drugih ulica tog dijela Marylebonea, kvarta
Westbourne Parka i St. Pancrasa, baš kao i na zapadu i
sjeveru u Kilburnu i St. John’s Woodu i Hampsteadu, te na
istoku u Shoreditchu i Highburyju i Haggerstonu i Hoxtonu,
i, zapravo, kroz čitavo prostranstvo Londona od Ealinga do
East Hama - ljudi su trljali oči i otvarali prozore i buljili
kroz njih i postavljali besmislena pitanja, pa se, kad je
ulicama propirio prvi dašak nadolazeće oluje Straha, počeli
žurno odijevati. Bila je to zora velike panike. London, koji
je u subotu uvečer legao u postelju inertan i u slatkom
zaboravu, sad je bio probuđen, u ponedjeljak, u sitne
jutarnje sate, živim osjećajem pogibelji.
Budući da s prozora nije mogao shvatiti što se to zbiva, brat
je sišao i izišao na ulicu, baš u trenutku kad je nebo između
zidina kuća porumenilo od prve zore. Broj je ljudi, koji su
bježali što pješice što vozilima, rastao iz časa u čas. “Crni
dim!” začuo je kako ljudi viču, i zatim opet: “Crni dim!”
Takav se jednodušan strah neizbježno širio poput zaraze.
Dok je brat oklijevao na kućnom pragu, opazio je kako mu
prilazi još jedan kolporter, pa od njega smjesta uzeo novine.
Ovaj je smjesta otrčao s ostatkom, pa nastavio u trku
prodavati novine za šiling po primjerku - stvarajući tako
grotesknu smjesu profiterstva i panike.
I baš je u tim novinama brat pročitao onu katastrofičnu
depešu vrhovnog zapovjednika:
“Marsijanci mogu s pomoću raketa ispustiti goleme oblake
crne i otrovne pare. Oni su smoždili naše bitnice, razorili
Richmond, Kingston i Wimbledon, i sad polako napreduju
prema Londonu, uništavajući sve pred sobom. Njih je
nemoguće zaustaviti. Zaštitu od Crnog dima pruža samo
časovit bijeg.” To je bilo sve, no i to je bilo sasvim dosta.
Čitavo se stanovništvo velikog, šestmilijunskog grada
počelo micati, spoticati, trčati; još malo pa će se masovno
izliti na sjever.
“Crni dim!” vikali su glasovi. “Požar!” Zvona obližnjih
crkava dizala su zveckavi urnebes, a o ulični su se hidrant,
sred krikova i psovki, razbila nepažljivo vožena kola.
U kućama su se amo-tamo gibala bolesno žuta svjetla, a
nekoliko se fijakera u prolazu gizdalo neugašenim
svjetiljkama. A iznad svega je toga zora postajala sve
svjetlijom, bistra i postojana i mirna.
Čuo je korake kako trčkaraju po sobama, iza leđa, uza stube
i niz njih. Na vratima se pojavila i gazdarica, labavo uvijena
u kućni haljetak i rubac; za petama joj je bio suprug pun
her husband followed ejaculating.
As my brother began to realise the import of all these
things, he turned hastily to his own room, put all his
available money--some ten pounds altogether--into his
pockets, and went out again into the streets.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
WHAT HAD HAPPENED IN SURREY
It was while the curate had sat and talked so wildly to
me under the hedge in the flat meadows near Halliford,
and while my brother was watching the fugitives
stream over Westminster Bridge, that the Martians had
resumed the offensive. So far as one can ascertain from
the conflicting accounts that have been put forth, the
majority of them remained busied with preparations in
the Horsell pit until nine that night, hurrying on some
operation that disengaged huge volumes of green
smoke.
But three certainly came out about eight o'clock and,
advancing slowly and cautiously, made their way
through Byfleet and Pyrford towards Ripley and
Weybridge, and so came in sight of the expectant
batteries against the setting sun. These Martians did not
advance in a body, but in a line, each perhaps a mile
and a half from his nearest fellow. They communicated
with one another by means of sirenlike howls, running
up and down the scale from one note to another.
It was this howling and firing of the guns at Ripley and
St. George's Hill that we had heard at Upper Halliford.
The Ripley gunners, unseasoned artillery volunteers
who ought never to have been placed in such a
position, fired one wild, premature, ineffectual volley,
and bolted on horse and foot through the deserted
village, while the Martian, without using his Heat-Ray,
walked serenely over their guns, stepped gingerly
among them, passed in front of them, and so came
unexpectedly upon the guns in Painshill Park, which he
destroyed.
The St. George's Hill men, however, were better led or
of a better mettle. Hidden by a pine wood as they were,
they seem to have been quite unsuspected by the
Martian nearest to them. They laid their guns as
deliberately as if they had been on parade, and fired at
about a thousand yards' range.
The shells flashed all round him, and he was seen to
advance a few paces, stagger, and go down. Everybody
yelled together, and the guns were reloaded in frantic
haste. The overthrown Martian set up a prolonged
ululation, and immediately a second glittering giant,
answering him, appeared over the trees to the south. It
would seem that a leg of the tripod had been smashed
by one of the shells. The whole of the second volley
glasnih uzvika.
Kad je brat počeo shvaćati težinu svega što se zbivalo,
žurno se vratio u svoju sobu, stavio u džep sav svoj novac -
ukupno deset funti - pa se vratio na ulicu.
GLAVA 15.
ŠTO SE DOGODILO U SURREYJU
Baš dok je kapelan sjedao kraj mene i zatim vehementno,
pod živicom na ravnoj ledini kraj Halliforda, pričao svoju
priču, a moj brat promatrao protjecanje struje izbjeglica
preko Westminster Bridgea, Marsijanci su ponovno krenuli
u ofenzivu. Sudeći, koliko je uopće moguće, prema
kontradiktornim prikazima što su se kasnije pojavili, većina
se njih sve do devet uvečer marljivo bavila pripremama u
jami kod Horsella, žurno obavljajući neku operaciju koja je
oslobađala goleme količine zelenoga dima.
Ipak je izvjesno da su oko osam iz jame izišla trojica, nakon
čega su se, napredujući polako i oprezno, uspjela probiti
kroz Byfleet i Pyrford prema Ripleyju i Weybridgeu, i tako
se, na pozadini Sunca na zalazu, naći na pogledu već
spremnih bitnica. Ti Marsijanci nisu napredovali kao
formacija, nego u lancu, međusobno udaljeni otprilike milju
i pol. Međusobno su komunicirali tuleći kao sirene,
prelijećući pritom preko čitave ljestvice, od note do note.
U Upper Hallifordu se iz Ripleyja i St. George’s Hilla čulo
upravo to tuljenje i paljba topova. Ripleyjski topnici,
neprekaljeni artiljerijski dragovoljci koje nikad nisu ni
smjeli staviti na takav položaj, ispalili su jedan divlji,
preuranjeni, jalovi plotun, pa potom jurnuli, što na konju što
na vlastitim nogama, kroz napušteno selo, dok je
Marsijanac, ne posluživši se pritom čak ni Toplinskom
zrakom, spokojno pregazio njihove topove,
oprezno stupajući između njih, pa ih tako i prestigao, te se
neočekivano oborio na topove u Painshill Parku i uništio ih.
Momci na St. George’s Hillu bili su ili boljega vodstva ili
boljega kova. Onako skrivene u boriku, čini se da ih najbliži
Marsijanac nije ni naslutio. Uperili su cijevi ležerno kao na
paradi pa opalili s udaljenosti od oko tisuću jardi.
Posvuda su oko Marsijanca zabljeskale granate, a onda su
vidjeli kako je napravio nekoliko koraka, zateturao i pao.
Svi su ispustili krik kao iz jednoga grla, pa u grozničavoj
žurbi opet napunili topove. Prevrnuti je Marsijanac otegnuto
zalelekao, i smjesta se iznad krošanja na jugu pojavio drugi
svjetlucavi dim, odazvavši se njegovu pozivu. Činilo se da
je onom prvom granata smrskala jednu nogu tronošca. Čitav
je drugi plotun uvelike promašio Marsijanca na tlu, a oba su
flew wide of the Martian on the ground, and,
simultaneously, both his companions brought their
Heat-Rays to bear on the battery. The ammunition blew
up, the pine trees all about the guns flashed into fire,
and only one or two of the men who were already
running over the crest of the hill escaped.
After this it would seem that the three took counsel
together and halted, and the scouts who were watching
them report that they remained absolutely stationary for
the next half hour. The Martian who had been
overthrown crawled tediously out of his hood, a small
brown figure, oddly suggestive from that distance of a
speck of blight, and apparently engaged in the repair of
his support. About nine he had finished, for his cowl
was then seen above the trees again.
It was a few minutes past nine that night when these
three sentinels were joined by four other Martians, each
carrying a thick black tube. A similar tube was handed
to each of the three, and the seven proceeded to
distribute themselves at equal distances along a curved
line between St. George's Hill, Weybridge, and the
village of Send, southwest of Ripley.
A dozen rockets sprang out of the hills before them so
soon as they began to move, and warned the waiting
batteries about Ditton and Esher. At the same time four
of their fighting machines, similarly armed with tubes,
crossed the river, and two of them, black against the
western sky, came into sight of myself and the curate as
we hurried wearily and painfully along the road that
runs northward out of Halliford. They moved, as it
seemed to us, upon a cloud, for a milky mist covered
the fields and rose to a third of their height.
At this sight the curate cried faintly in his throat, and
began running; but I knew it was no good running from
a Martian, and I turned aside and crawled through
dewy nettles and brambles into the broad ditch by the
side of the road. He looked back, saw what I was
doing, and turned to join me.
The two halted, the nearer to us standing and facing
Sunbury, the remoter being a grey indistinctness
towards the evening star, away towards Staines.
The occasional howling of the Martians had ceased;
they took up their positions in the huge crescent about
their cylinders in absolute silence. It was a crescent
with twelve miles between its horns. Never since the
devising of gunpowder was the beginning of a battle so
still. To us and to an observer about Ripley it would
have had precisely the same effect--the Martians
seemed in solitary possession of the darkling night, lit
only as it was by the slender moon, the stars, the
afterglow of the daylight, and the ruddy glare from St.
George's Hill and the woods of Painshill.
But facing that crescent everywhere--at Staines,
Hounslow, Ditton, Esher, Ockham, behind hills and
njegova druga istog časa svoje Toplinske zrake usmjerila na
bitnicu. To je izazvalo eksploziju streljiva, borovi uokolo
bljesnuli su požarom, a od svih se uspjelo spasiti samo njih
nekoliko koji su uspjeli pretrčati preko hrpta brda.
Čini se da su nakon toga sva trojica zastala da se
posavjetuju, a izviđači koji su ih promatrali javili su da su
sljedećih pola sata ostali apsolutno nepomični. Onaj oboreni
Marsijanac s mukom se izvukao iz svoje kukuljice, kao sitni
smeđi lik, koji je s tolike udaljenosti neobično podsjećao na
mrljicu snijeti, pa se očito pozabavio popravkom svog
pomagala. S tim je poslom bio gotov oko devet sati, jer su
mu tada nad krošnjama opet ugledali kukuljicu.
Te večeri, tek nekoliko minuta poslije devet, toj su se trojici
stražara pridružila još četvorica Marsijanca, i svaki je od
njih nosio debelu crnu cijev. Slične su cijevi predali i
preostaloj trojici, i sad su se ta sedmorica ravnomjerno
rasporedila duž zakrivljene linije između St. George’s Hilla,
Weybridgea i sela Send, jugozapadno od Ripleyja.
Čim su krenuli, pred njima je, između brežuljaka, poletjelo
tucet raketa, što je upozorilo bitnice što su čekale oko
Dittona i Eshera. Nekako u isto doba četiri njihova bojna
stroja, naoružana sličnim cijevima, prešla su rijeku, našto su
se dvojica od njih, ocrtana crno na zapadnom nebu, pojavila
meni i kapelanu pred očima, dok smo umorno i mučno
žurili cestom što iz Halliforda teče na sjever. Oni su se
gibali, činilo se, kroz oblak, jer je polja pokrivala mliječna
izmaglica, dižući se do trećine njihove visine.
Na taj je prizor kapelan slabašno kriknuo iz grla i udario u
bijeg; ja sam, međutim, znao da pred Marsijancima nema
nikakva smisla bježati, pa sam skrenuo u stranu pa kroz
vlažne kupine i koprive otpuzao do širokoga jarka kraj
ceste. On se osvrnuo, opazio što radim, pa se okrenuo da mi
se pridruži.
Obojica su zastala, pri čemu je onaj bliži stajao licem
okrenut Sunburyju, dok je dalji bio samo siva neodređenost
s Večernjačom u pozadini, daleko prema Stainesu.
Povremeno je tuljenje Marsijanaca u međuvremenu
prestalo; zauzeli su položaj u golemom polumjesecu oko
svojih valjaka, i sve to u potpunoj tišini. Bio je to
polumjesec s rogovima udaljenim čitavih dvanaest milja.
Nikada još, sve od izuma puščanoga praha, nije početak
boja bio tako tih. Sve bi to ostavilo savršeno isti dojam i na
nas i na promatrača kod Ripleyja - činilo se da su
Marsijanci usamljeni gospodari sve tamnije noći,
osvijetljeni samo vitkim Mjesecom, zvijezdama i odsjajem
dana, baš kao i rubinskim žarenjem što je dopiralo od St.
George’s Hilla i šuma oko Painstilla.
Pa ipak, prema tom su polumjesecu odasvud bili okrenuti
spremni topovi - kod Stainesa, Hounslowa, Dittona,
woods south of the river, and across the flat grass
meadows to the north of it, wherever a cluster of trees
or village houses gave sufficient cover--the guns were
waiting. The signal rockets burst and rained their
sparks through the night and vanished, and the spirit of
all those watching batteries rose to a tense expectation.
The Martians had but to advance into the line of fire,
and instantly those motionless black forms of men,
those guns glittering so darkly in the early night, would
explode into a thunderous fury of battle.
No doubt the thought that was uppermost in a thousand
of those vigilant minds, even as it was uppermost in
mine, was the riddle--how much they understood of us.
Did they grasp that we in our millions were organized,
disciplined, working together? Or did they interpret our
spurts of fire, the sudden stinging of our shells, our
steady investment of their encampment, as we should
the furious unanimity of onslaught in a disturbed hive
of bees? Did they dream they might exterminate us?
(At that time no one knew what food they needed.) A
hundred such questions struggled together in my mind
as I watched that vast sentinel shape. And in the back
of my mind was the sense of all the huge unknown and
hidden forces Londonward. Had they prepared pitfalls?
Were the powder mills at Hounslow ready as a snare?
Would the Londoners have the heart and courage to
make a greater Moscow of their mighty province of
houses?
Then, after an interminable time, as it seemed to us,
crouching and peering through the hedge, came a
sound like the distant concussion of a gun. Another
nearer, and then another. And then the Martian beside
us raised his tube on high and discharged it, gunwise,
with a heavy report that made the ground heave. The
one towards Staines answered him. There was no flash,
no smoke, simply that loaded detonation.
I was so excited by these heavy minute-guns following
one another that I so far forgot my personal safety and
my scalded hands as to clamber up into the hedge and
stare towards Sunbury. As I did so a second report
followed, and a big projectile hurtled overhead towards
Hounslow. I expected at least to see smoke or fire, or
some such evidence of its work. But all I saw was the
deep blue sky above, with one solitary star, and the
white mist spreading wide and low beneath. And there
had been no crash, no answering explosion. The silence
was restored; the minute lengthened to three.
Eshera, Ockhama, iza brežuljaka i šuma južno od
rijeke, i preko ravnih travnatih poljana sjeverno od
nje, gdje god su skupine stabala ili seoskih kuća
osiguravale dovoljan zaklon. Signalne su
rakete prsnule i pustile kišu iskri kroz noć i onda
nestale, i sad je raspoloženje u svim tim spremnim
bitnicama poraslo do napetog iščekivanja.
Marsijanci su trebali samo uznapredovati do
njihove vatrene linije, pa da svi ti nepomični crni
likovi ljudi, čiji su topovi tako mračno svjetlucali na
početku noći, u trenutku prasnu u gromoglasan bijes
bitke.
Nema dvojbe da je u tisućama tih budnih umova
prevladavala misao, upravo zagonetka, baš kao što
je prevladala i u mom - koliko su toga oni zapravo
shvatili o nama? Jesu li shvatili da smo mi, milijuni
nas, organizirani, disciplinirani, i da djelujemo
zajedno? Ili su oni naše izboje paljbe, iznenadne
ubode žalaca naših granata, naše uporno opsjedanje
njihova tabora, doživljavali onako kao što mi
doživljavamo bijesnu jednodušnost
napada uznemirene košnice pčela? Sanjaju li oni o
tome da bi nas mogli istrijebiti? (U tom trenutku
nitko još nije znao kakva im hrana treba.) Stotinu se
takvih pitanja hrvalo u mojoj glavi dok sam
promatrao lik toga golemog stražara. A negdje u
dubini glave osjećao sam i sve one goleme
nepoznate i skrivene snage na putu prema Londonu.
Jesu li pripremili stupice? Jesu li barutane kod
Hounslowa spremne kao klopka? Hoće li Londonci
imati srca i hrabrosti da svoje moćno carstvo kuća
pretvore u još jednu, i još veću Moskvu?
A onda, nakon beskonačnog vremena, ili nam se tako bar
činilo, dok smo čučali iza živice i virili, do nas je
dopro zvuk nalik na dalek topovski pucanj. Zatim se
oglasio jedan još bliži, pa još jedan. A onda je onaj
Marsijanac kraj nas visoko podigao cijev i ispalio je,
kao pušku, uz težak prasak od kojeg se nadigla
zemlja. Odazvao mu se onaj drugi, od Stainesa. Nije
bilo ni bljeska, ni dima, naprosto samo ta teška
detonacija.
Ti teški topovi, koji su se oglašavali jedan za drugim kao da
signaliziraju opasnost, toliko su me uzbudili da sam u
tolikoj mjeri zaboravio na vlastitu sigurnost i oprljene ruke
da sam se uzverao na živicu i zagledao prema Sunburyju.
Baš dok sam to činio, uslijedio je i drugi prasak, i preko nas
je prema Hounslowu sunuo krupni projektil. Očekivao sam
da ću ugledati bar dim ili vatru, ili kakav sličan znak
njegova djelovanja. Vidio sam, međutim, samo duboko
modro nebo nad sobom, s jednom samotnom
zvijezdom, kao i bijelu maglu što se pod njom prostirala,
nisko i u širinu. I nije se začuo nikakav tresak, nije se
odazvala nikakva eksplozija. Vratila se tišina; minuta se
razvukla u tri.
"What has happened?" said the curate, standing up
beside me.
"Heaven knows!" said I.
A bat flickered by and vanished. A distant tumult of
shouting began and ceased. I looked again at the
Martian, and saw he was now moving eastward along
the riverbank, with a swift, rolling motion.
Every moment I expected the fire of some hidden
battery to spring upon him; but the evening calm was
unbroken. The figure of the Martian grew smaller as he
receded, and presently the mist and the gathering night
had swallowed him up. By a common impulse we
clambered higher. Towards Sunbury was a dark
appearance, as though a conical hill had suddenly come
into being there, hiding our view of the farther country;
and then, remoter across the river, over Walton, we saw
another such summit. These hill-like forms grew lower
and broader even as we stared.
Moved by a sudden thought, I looked northward, and
there I perceived a third of these cloudy black kopjes
had risen.
Everything had suddenly become very still. Far away
to the southeast, marking the quiet, we heard the
Martians hooting to one another, and then the air
quivered again with the distant thud of their guns. But
the earthly artillery made no reply.
Now at the time we could not understand these things,
but later I was to learn the meaning of these ominous
kopjes that gathered in the twilight. Each of the
Martians, standing in the great crescent I have
described, had discharged, by means of the gunlike
tube he carried, a huge canister over whatever hill,
copse, cluster of houses, or other possible cover for
guns, chanced to be in front of him. Some fired only
one of these, some two--as in the case of the one we
had seen; the one at Ripley is said to have discharged
no fewer than five at that time. These canisters
smashed on striking the ground--they did not explode--
and incontinently disengaged an enormous volume of
heavy, inky vapour, coiling and pouring upward in a
huge and ebony cumulus cloud, a gaseous hill that sank
and spread itself slowly over the surrounding country.
And the touch of that vapour, the inhaling of its
pungent wisps, was death to all that breathes.
It was heavy, this vapour, heavier than the densest
smoke, so that, after the first tumultuous uprush and
outflow of its impact, it sank down through the air and
poured over the ground in a manner rather liquid than
gaseous, abandoning the hills, and streaming into the
valleys and ditches and watercourses even as I have
heard the carbonic-acid gas that pours from volcanic
clefts is wont to do. And where it came upon water
some chemical action occurred, and the surface would
be instantly covered with a powdery scum that sank
“Što se dogodilo?” upitao je kapelan i ustao kraj mene.
“Pitaj Boga!” odgovorio sam.
Kraj nas je zalepršao šišmiš, pa nestao. Daleki se urnebes
povika digao pa nestao. Opet sam pogledao Marsijanca, i
opazio kako je sad krenuo na istok, duž riječne obale, i to
hitrim, valovitim pokretima.
Očekivao sam da će svakog časa na nj skočiti paljba kakve
skrivene bitnice; večernji je mir, međutim, ostao
neporemećen. Lik je Marsijanca u daljini postajao sve
manji, da bi ga napokon progutali magla i sve dublja noć.
Poneseni zajedničkim porivom, iskobeljali smo se iz jarka.
Prema Sunburyju stajalo je nešto mračno, kao da se ondje
najednom stvorio stožasti brežuljak, skrivajući nam pred
očima ostatak ladanja; i onda smo, dalje preko rijeke, onkraj
Waltona, ugledali još jedan takav vrhunac. Ti su nam se
brežuljkasti likovi naočigled spuštali i rasli u širinu.
Ponesen naglo nadošlom mišlju, pogledao sam na sjever, i
opazio kako se ondje digao treći od tih oblačnih crnih
humaka.
Najednom se sve jako umirilo. Daleko na istoku, što je još
više isticalo tišinu, čuli smo Marsijance kako se dozivaju
hukanjem, a onda je zrak još jednom zadrhtao dalekim
muklim gruhanjem njihovih topova. Zemaljsko im
topništvo, međutim, na to nije baš ničim odgovorilo.
Mislim, u tom trenutku mi još sve to nismo ni mogli
shvatiti, ali ću kasnije ipak doznati smisao tih zloslutnih
humaka što su se skupljali u sumraku. Svaki je od
Marsijanaca što su stajali u velikom, već opisanom
polumjesecu, bio ispalio, i to s pomoću cijevi, slične pušci,
golemi spremnik preko svake šikare, zaseoka, ili kakva
drugog mogućeg zaklona za topove, koji se našao
pred njim. Neki su od njih ispalili samo po jedan projektil,
drugi opet po dva - kao u slučaju meni vidljivog Marsijanca;
za onog kod Ripleyja vele da ih je u tom trenutku ispalio bar
pet. Ti su se spremnici pri udaru o tlo razbijali - ne bi
eksplodirali - pa bi istog časa ispustili golemu količinu
teških, kao tuš crnih para, koje bi u viticama potekle uvis, i
izlile se u golem, ebonitno crni kumulus, plinoviti brijeg
koji bi potom potonuo i polako se raširio po okolnom
terenu. A sam dodir te pare, udisanje njezinih prodornih
pramenova, donosio je smrt svemu što diše.
Bila je teška, ta para, teža i od najgušćeg dima, tako da je,
nakon prvog silovitog srka u visinu i razlijetanja poslije
udarca, tonula kroza zrak i razlijevala se po zemlji više kao
tekućina nego kao plin, pa bi odlazila s brda i u bujici se
slijevala u doline i jarke pa čak i vododerine, onako kako to,
rekoše mi, čini plinovita ugljična kiselina kad se izlije iz
vulkanskih pukotina. A kad bi ta para naišla na vodu, došlo
bi do nekakve kemijske reakcije, pa bi se površina smjesta
prekrila praškastom žabokrečinom koja bi polako tonula,
oslobađajući mjesto za novu. Ta je žabokrečina bila
slowly and made way for more. The scum was
absolutely insoluble, and it is a strange thing, seeing
the instant effect of the gas, that one could drink
without hurt the water from which it had been strained.
The vapour did not diffuse as a true gas would do. It
hung together in banks, flowing sluggishly down the
slope of the land and driving reluctantly before the
wind, and very slowly it combined with the mist and
moisture of the air, and sank to the earth in the form of
dust. Save that an unknown element giving a group of
four lines in the blue of the spectrum is concerned, we
are still entirely ignorant of the nature of this substance.
Once the tumultuous upheaval of its dispersion was
over, the black smoke clung so closely to the ground,
even before its precipitation, that fifty feet up in the air,
on the roofs and upper stories of high houses and on
great trees, there was a chance of escaping its poison
altogether, as was proved even that night at Street
Cobham and Ditton.
The man who escaped at the former place tells a
wonderful story of the strangeness of its coiling flow,
and how he looked down from the church spire and
saw the houses of the village rising like ghosts out of
its inky nothingness. For a day and a half he remained
there, weary, starving and sun-scorched, the earth under
the blue sky and against the prospect of the distant hills
a velvet-black expanse, with red roofs, green trees, and,
later, black-veiled shrubs and gates, barns, outhouses,
and walls, rising here and there into the sunlight.
But that was at Street Cobham, where the black vapour
was allowed to remain until it sank of its own accord
into the ground. As a rule the Martians, when it had
served its purpose, cleared the air of it again by wading
into it and directing a jet of steam upon it.
This they did with the vapour banks near us, as we saw
in the starlight from the window of a deserted house at
Upper Halliford, whither we had returned. From there
we could see the searchlights on Richmond Hill and
Kingston Hill going to and fro, and about eleven the
windows rattled, and we heard the sound of the huge
siege guns that had been put in position there. These
continued intermittently for the space of a quarter of an
hour, sending chance shots at the invisible Martians at
Hampton and Ditton, and then the pale beams of the
electric light vanished, and were replaced by a bright
red glow.
Then the fourth cylinder fell--a brilliant green meteor--
as I learned afterwards, in Bushey Park. Before the
guns on the Richmond and Kingston line of hills began,
there was a fitful cannonade far away in the southwest,
due, I believe, to guns being fired haphazard before the
black vapour could overwhelm the gunners.
So, setting about it as methodically as men might
smoke out a wasps' nest, the Martians spread this
apsolutno netopljiva, i možda zvuči čudno, s obzirom na
trenutno djelovanje plina, no ta se voda, procijeđena, mogla
piti bez ikakve štete. Ta se para nije razilazila kao što bi
se razišao pravi plin. Držala se na okupu u oblačnim
pragovima i tromo tekla nizbrdicama zemljišta i nevoljko
bježala pred vjetrom i spajala se sasvim sporo s maglom i
vlagom iz zraka, i onda u obliku prašine tonula na tlo. O
pravoj naravi te tvari mi ne znamo baš ništa - osim da je u
njoj otkriven nepoznati element sa skupinom od četiri linije
u modrom dijelu spektra.
Jednom kad se završilo to urnebesno previranje kod
dispergiranja crnoga dima, on se tako zalijepio uz samu
zemlju, još prije nego što se staložio, da su na visini od
pedeset stopa, na krovovima i gornjim katovima visokih
kuća i velikih stabala, postojali izgledi i potpunoga bijega
od njegova otrova, a što se te noći i potvrdilo na Street
Cobhamu i u Dittonu.
Čovjek koji mu je pobjegao u potonjemu mjestu ispričao je
čudesnu priču o neobičnosti njegova vitičavog toka, o
pogledu s crkvenog zvonika, o seoskim kućama koje se
poput utvara uzdižu iz njegova kao tuš crnog ništavila. On
je na tom zvoniku ostao čitav dan i pol, umoran, izgladnio i
opaljen suncem, dok je zemlja pod modrim nebom i
kao prethodnica dalekih brda bila samo baršunastocrno
prostranstvo, iz kojeg su se tu i tamo u sunce dizali crveni
krovovi, zelene krošnje i, kasnije, crno zastrto grmlje i vrtna
vrata, štagljevi, poljski nužnici i zidovi.
Tako je to, međutim, bilo na Street Cobhamu, gdje su crne
pare pustili da ostanu dok se same od sebe nisu slegle na tlo.
Marsijanci bi naime u pravilu, kad bi crni dim odradio
svoje, ponovno pročistili zrak - zagazili bi u dim i u nj
uperili mlaz pare.
To su učinili i s pragovima pare kraj nas, i to smo vidjeli pri
svjetlosti zvijezda s prozora napuštene kuće u Upper
Hallifordu, kamo smo se vratili. Odatle smo vidjeli i
reflektorske snopove na Richmond i Kingston Hillu kako
metu lijevo-desno, a oko jedanaest su sati zazveckali
prozori, i tada smo začuli glasanje golemih opsadnih topova
koje su tada dovukli na položaj. Topovi su nastavili gruhati
s prekidima, i tako otprilike četvrt sata, gađajući nasumce
nevidljive Marsijance kod Hamptona i Dittona, a onda su ti
blijedi snopovi električnog svjetla iščezli, da bi ih zamijenio
blistav crveni sjaj.
A onda je pao i četvrti valjak - blistav zeleni meteor - i to,
kako smo doznali kasnije, u Bushey Park. Prije nego što su
počeli djelovati topovi na liniji brežuljaka Richmond i
Kingston, daleko se na jugozapadu začula hirovita
kanonada, i to zato što su, vjerujem, topnici iz topova pucali
nasumce, a onda bi ih svladale crne pare.
I tako, čineći to onako metodično kao što ljudi dimom
istjeruju ose iz osinjaka, Marsijanci su tu čudnu zagušljivu
strange stifling vapour over the Londonward country.
The horns of the crescent slowly moved apart, until at
last they formed a line from Hanwell to Coombe and
Malden. All night through their destructive tubes
advanced. Never once, after the Martian at St. George's
Hill was brought down, did they give the artillery the
ghost of a chance against them. Wherever there was a
possibility of guns being laid for them unseen, a fresh
canister of the black vapour was discharged, and where
the guns were openly displayed the Heat-Ray was
brought to bear.
By midnight the blazing trees along the slopes of
Richmond Park and the glare of Kingston Hill threw
their light upon a network of black smoke, blotting out
the whole valley of the Thames and extending as far as
the eye could reach. And through this two Martians
slowly waded, and turned their hissing steam jets this
way and that.
They were sparing of the Heat-Ray that night, either
because they had but a limited supply of material for its
production or because they did not wish to destroy the
country but only to crush and overawe the opposition
they had aroused. In the latter aim they certainly
succeeded. Sunday night was the end of the organised
opposition to their movements. After that no body of
men would stand against them, so hopeless was the
enterprise. Even the crews of the torpedo-boats and
destroyers that had brought their quick-firers up the
Thames refused to stop, mutinied, and went down
again. The only offensive operation men ventured upon
after that night was the preparation of mines and
pitfalls, and even in that their energies were frantic and
spasmodic.
One has to imagine, as well as one may, the fate of
those batteries towards Esher, waiting so tensely in the
twilight. Survivors there were none. One may picture
the orderly expectation, the officers alert and watchful,
the gunners ready, the ammunition piled to hand, the
limber gunners with their horses and waggons, the
groups of civilian spectators standing as near as they
were permitted, the evening stillness, the ambulances
and hospital tents with the burned and wounded from
Weybridge; then the dull resonance of the shots the
Martians fired, and the clumsy projectile whirling over
the trees and houses and smashing amid the
neighbouring fields.
One may picture, too, the sudden shifting of the
attention, the swiftly spreading coils and bellyings of
that blackness advancing headlong, towering
heavenward, turning the twilight to a palpable
darkness, a strange and horrible antagonist of vapour
striding upon its victims, men and horses near it seen
dimly, running, shrieking, falling headlong, shouts of
dismay, the guns suddenly abandoned, men choking
paru širili čitavim krajolikom na svom putu prema
Londonu. Rogovi tog polumjeseca polako su se razmicali,
sve dok napokon nisu stvorili liniju od Hanwella do
Coombea i Maldena. Njihove su razorne cijevi, međutim,
nastavile napredovati čitavu noć. Baš nijednom, sve otkako
smo oborili onog Marsijanca kod St. George’s Hilla,
Marsijanci topovima nisu pružili ni najtanju priliku da im
naude. Kad god bi se pojavila i najmanja mogućnost da su
ljudi negdje postavili nevidljive topove, Marsijanci bi
izbacili novi spremnik crnih para, a gdje su topovi bili
otvoreno izloženi, u akciju je stupala Toplinska zraka.
Kad je stigla ponoć, zapaljena su stabla duž padina
Richmond Parka i žar Kingston Hilla bacali svjetlo na
mrežu crnoga dima, brišući tako čitavu dolinu Temze,
protegnuti dokle je sezao pogled. A kroz sve su to polako
gazila dva Marsijanca, pa okretala pištave mlazove pare sad
tu sad tamo.
Te su noći štedjeli Toplinsku zraku, i to ili zbog ograničene
količine materijala potrebnog za njezino stvaranje, ili pak
zato što nisu željeli uništiti zemlju, nego samo zdrobiti i
užasom smlaviti otpor na koji su naišli. U potonjoj su
nakani nedvojbeno uspjeli. Nedjelja je uvečer označila kraj
organiziranom otporu njihovu kretanju. Nakon toga protiv
njih nije više bila spremna stati nikakva
organizirana skupina, jer tako beznadan bijaše taj pothvat.
Čak su se i posade torpednih čamaca i razarača, nakon što
su svoje brzometne pucače dovele uz Temzu, odbile
zaustaviti, pa se pobunile i vratile nizvodno. Jedina
ofenzivna operacija na koju su se ljudi poslije te
noći odvažili bilo je postavljanje mina i kopanje stupica, no
čak su im i na tom poslu snage bile grozničave i grčevite.
Moramo zamisliti, koliko je to uopće moguće, kakva je
sudbina snašla one bitnice prema Esheru, što su tako napeto
čekale u sumraku. U njima nije bilo preživjelih. Možemo si
oslikati disciplinirano čekanje, uz časnike budne i pažljive, i
topnike spremne, uz streljivo složeno pri ruci, uz prednjake
i konje i kola, uz okupljene skupine gledatelja u civilu, koji
stoje najbliže koliko su im dopustili, i večernji mir, i
bolnička kola i bolničke šatore s ispečenima i ranjenima iz
Weybridgea; a onda muklo odzvanjanje granata što su ih
ispalili Marsijanci, kao i nezgrapni projektil što se kovitla
iznad kuća i stabala da bi se napokon smrskao sred okolnih
polja.
Možemo zamisliti i naglu promjenu predmeta zanimanja,
brzo širenje vitica i nadimanje te crnine što napreduje
čelimice, što se poput kule diže put neba, što sumrak
pretvara u upravo opipljivu tminu, tog čudnog i strašnog
protivnika sazdanog od pare, što krupnim koracima grabi
prema svojim žrtvama, ljudima i konjima koje mutno
razabiremo kraj njega, kako trče, kriče, ruše se strmoglavce,
pa krikove očaja, topove naglo ostavljene, ljude što se guše i
and writhing on the ground, and the swift broadening-
out of the opaque cone of smoke. And then night and
extinction--nothing but a silent mass of impenetrable
vapour hiding its dead.
Before dawn the black vapour was pouring through the
streets of Richmond, and the disintegrating organism of
government was, with a last expiring effort, rousing the
population of London to the necessity of flight.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
THE EXODUS FROM LONDON
So you understand the roaring wave of fear that swept
through the greatest city in the world just as Monday
was dawning--the stream of flight rising swiftly to a
torrent, lashing in a foaming tumult round the railway
stations, banked up into a horrible struggle about the
shipping in the Thames, and hurrying by every
available channel northward and eastward. By ten
o'clock the police organisation, and by midday even the
railway organisations, were losing coherency, losing
shape and efficiency, guttering, softening, running at
last in that swift liquefaction of the social body.
All the railway lines north of the Thames and the
South-Eastern people at Cannon Street had been
warned by midnight on Sunday, and trains were being
filled. People were fighting savagely for standing-room
in the carriages even at two o'clock. By three, people
were being trampled and crushed even in Bishopsgate
Street, a couple of hundred yards or more from
Liverpool Street station; revolvers were fired, people
stabbed, and the policemen who had been sent to direct
the traffic, exhausted and infuriated, were breaking the
heads of the people they were called out to protect.
And as the day advanced and the engine drivers and
stokers refused to return to London, the pressure of the
flight drove the people in an ever-thickening multitude
away from the stations and along the northward-
running roads. By midday a Martian had been seen at
Barnes, and a cloud of slowly sinking black vapour
drove along the Thames and across the flats of
Lambeth, cutting off all escape over the bridges in its
sluggish advance. Another bank drove over Ealing, and
surrounded a little island of survivors on Castle Hill,
alive, but unable to escape.
After a fruitless struggle to get aboard a North-Western
train at Chalk Farm--the engines of the trains that had
loaded in the goods yard there ploughed through
shrieking people, and a dozen stalwart men fought to
keep the crowd from crushing the driver against his
furnace--my brother emerged upon the Chalk Farm
road, dodged across through a hurrying swarm of
vehicles, and had the luck to be foremost in the sack of
previjaju na tlu, te naglo širenje neprozirnog dimnog
stošca. A potom noć i istrijebljenost - tek nijemu masu
neprobojne pare što skriva svoje nedjelo.
Još prije svanuća, crna se para već počela slijevati ulicama
Richmonda, a organizam vlasti, već u raspadu, posljednjim
je, samrtničkim naporom, u pučanstvu Londona budio samo
spoznaju da treba pobjeći.
GLAVA 16.
EGZODUS IZ LONDONA
Shvatit ćete, dakle, zašto je u sam osvit ponedjeljka
najvećim gradom svijeta zaurlao val strave - zato što je
njime potekla čitava struja bjegunaca koja se brzo digla do
bujice, šibajući u pjenušavom urnebesu oko željezničkih
kolodvora, pa zavila u vis u užasni boj oko brodova na
Temzi, te napokon žurno potekla svim raspoloživim
kanalima na sjever i istok. Do deset sati sve su policijske
organizacije, a do podneva čak i željezničke, već
počele gubiti koherenciju, oblik i djelotvornost, pa se počele
kriviti i mekšati, da bi napokon i same potekle u toj hitroj
likvefakciji društvenoga tijela.
Sve su željezničke linije istočno od Temze, baš kao i posade
South-Easterna u Cannon Streetu, do nedjelje u podne već
bile obaviještene, i svi vlakovi popunjeni. Ljudi su se još i u
dva sata divlje otimali za stajaća mjesta u vagonima. U tri
su ih već rušile i gazile gomile čak i na Bishopsgate Streetu,
dvjestotinjak jardi od kolodvora na Liverpool Streetu;
pucali su revolveri, boli su noževi, a policajci, poslani da
upravljaju prometom, sad su, iscrpljeni i pobjesnjeli, lupali
glave ljudima koje su bili pozvani štititi.
A kad je dan još malo odmakao, a strojovođe se i ložači
odbili vratiti u London, pritisak je bijega potisnuo ljude, u
stalno sve zbijenijem mnoštvu, sve dalje od kolodvora i
potjerao ih cestama koje vode na sjever. Do podneva su
Marsijanci već bili viđeni kod Barnesa, a oblak se crne pare,
polako tonući, vukao Temzom i ravnicama Lambetha,
presijecajući, u svom sporom napredovanju, sve putove
bijega preko mostova. Drugi se prag oblaka prevukao preko
Ealinga, pa na Castle Hillu okružio otočić preživjelih,
ljudi živih, no koji otamo nisu imali kamo.
Nakon jalovog, borbom popraćenog pokušaja da se kod
Chalk Farma ukrca na sjeverozapadni vlak - jer su tamo
lokomotive vlakova ukrcanih na teretnom kolodvoru zaorale
kroz kriku mnoštva ljudi, a desetak se stamenih muškaraca
žestoko borilo da mnoštvo strojovođu ne zdrobi o ložište -
moj je brat izbio na cestu za Chalk Farm, probio se kroz
žurni roj vozila, nakon čega ga je poslužila sreća, pa se
našao na čelu mnoštva koje je orobilo trgovinu bicikala.
a cycle shop. The front tire of the machine he got was
punctured in dragging it through the window, but he
got up and off, notwithstanding, with no further injury
than a cut wrist. The steep foot of Haverstock Hill was
impassable owing to several overturned horses, and my
brother struck into Belsize Road.
So he got out of the fury of the panic, and, skirting the
Edgware Road, reached Edgware about seven, fasting
and wearied, but well ahead of the crowd. Along the
road people were standing in the roadway, curious,
wondering. He was passed by a number of cyclists,
some horsemen, and two motor cars. A mile from
Edgware the rim of the wheel broke, and the machine
became unridable. He left it by the roadside and
trudged through the village. There were shops half
opened in the main street of the place, and people
crowded on the pavement and in the doorways and
windows, staring astonished at this extraordinary
procession of fugitives that was beginning. He
succeeded in getting some food at an inn.
For a time he remained in Edgware not knowing what
next to do. The flying people increased in number.
Many of them, like my brother, seemed inclined to
loiter in the place. There was no fresh news of the
invaders from Mars.
At that time the road was crowded, but as yet far from
congested. Most of the fugitives at that hour were
mounted on cycles, but there were soon motor cars,
hansom cabs, and carriages hurrying along, and the
dust hung in heavy clouds along the road to St. Albans.
It was perhaps a vague idea of making his way to
Chelmsford, where some friends of his lived, that at
last induced my brother to strike into a quiet lane
running eastward. Presently he came upon a stile, and,
crossing it, followed a footpath northeastward. He
passed near several farmhouses and some little places
whose names he did not learn. He saw few fugitives
until, in a grass lane towards High Barnet, he happened
upon two ladies who became his fellow travellers. He
came upon them just in time to save them.
He heard their screams, and, hurrying round the corner,
saw a couple of men struggling to drag them out of the
little pony-chaise in which they had been driving, while
a third with difficulty held the frightened pony's head.
One of the ladies, a short woman dressed in white, was
simply screaming; the other, a dark, slender figure,
slashed at the man who gripped her arm with a whip
she held in her disengaged hand. My brother
immediately grasped the situation, shouted, and hurried
towards the struggle. One of the men desisted and
turned towards him, and my brother, realising from his
antagonist's face that a fight was unavoidable, and
being an expert boxer, went into him forthwith and sent
Prednja guma vozila kojeg se dokopao probila se
pri izvlačenju iz izloga, ali ga je on ipak uzjahao i produžio,
ne zadobivši pritom povredu ništa goru od porezane šake.
Strmo podnožje Haverstock Hilla bilo je neprolazno zbog
nekoliko prevrnutih konja, pa se brat ubacio na Belsize
Road.
Tako se izvukao iz bijesa panike, pa je, napredujući cestom
za Edgware, oko sedam stigao u to mjesto, izgladnio i
premoren, no dobrano odmaknuvši od gomile. Duž ceste su
stajali ljudi, radoznali i puni pitanja. Preteklo ga je mnogo
biciklista, nekoliko ljudi na konjima i još dva
automobila. Milju od Edgwarea slomio mu se obod kotača,
pa je bicikl postao nesposoban za vožnju. Ostavio ga je uz
rub ceste i zaklipsao kroz selo. Na glavnoj su ulici mjesta
trgovine bile napola otvorene, a po pločniku, na vratima i
prozorima gomilali su se ljudi i zapanjeno zurili u tu
neobičnu izbjegličku procesiju u nastajanju. U gostionici je
uspio dobiti nešto za jelo. Neko je vrijeme ostao u
Edwareu, ne znajući što i kako dalje. Mnogi su ljudi, baš
kao i moj brat, očito bih skloni tome da se skrase u mjestu.
O zavojevačima s Marsa nije bilo novih vijesti.
U to je doba cesta već bila pretrpana, ali je to bilo još daleko
od zakrčenosti. Većina je bjegunaca u to doba bila na
biciklima, ali su uskoro počeli žurno protjecati automobili,
fijakeri i kočije, pa je nad cestom za St. Albans visjela
prašina u teškim oblacima.
Možda je baš nekakva maglovita misao da bi se mogao
probiti do Chelmsforda, gdje su mu živjeli neki prijatelji,
napokon navela mog brata da udari tihom stazom što vodi
na istok. Potom je naišao na nogostup preko ograde, prešao
ga, pa nastavio pješačkom stazom prema sjeveroistoku.
Prošao je kraj nekoliko seoskih kuća i kroz nekoliko
mjestanaca za koje nije doznao ni kako se zovu. Pritom je
zamijetio tek malo bjegunaca, a onda je, na travnatoj stazi
što vodi prema High Barnetu, naišao na dvije dame koje će
mu postati suputnicama. A njima je donio baš spas u zadnji
čas.
Začuo je njihove krikove pa požurio oko ugla, i tada
ugledao dvojicu muškaraca kako ih s mukom pokušavaju
izvući iz njihovih malenih karuca, dok je treći s teškom
mukom zadržavao glavu preplašenom poniju. Jedna od
dama, niska žena sva u bijelom, naprosto je vrištala; druga,
crnokosa i vitka, ošinula je bičem u slobodnoj ruci
muškarca koji ju je uhvatio za mišicu. Brat je
smjesta shvatio situaciju i pohitao prema gužvi. Jedan je od
muškaraca ispustio žrtvu i okrenuo se prema njemu, našto
se moj brat, shvativši prema izrazu protivnikova lica da je
borba neizbježna, a budući iskusnim boksačem, smjesta
bacio na nj i oborio ga uz kotač karuca.
him down against the wheel of the chaise.
It was no time for pugilistic chivalry and my brother Trenutak baš nije bio prikladan za iskazivanje boksačkog
laid him quiet with a kick, and gripped the collar of the viteštva, pa ga je moj brat tiho rasprostro udarcem noge, a
man who pulled at the slender lady's arm. He heard the onda dohvatio za ovratnik muškarca koji je vitku damu
clatter of hoofs, the whip stung across his face, a third potezao za ruku. Začuo je udarce kopita, bič ga je ujeo za
antagonist struck him between the eyes, and the man he lice, i treći ga je protivnik udario među oči, dok mu se onaj
held wrenched himself free and made off down the lane kojega je držao istrgao iz ruke pa udario niza stazu putem
in the direction from which he had come. kojim je i došao.
Partly stunned, he found himself facing the man who Donekle ošamućen, otkrio je da se našao oči u oči s onim
had held the horse's head, and became aware of the koji je držao konja za glavu, a isto je tako shvatio i da
chaise receding from him down the lane, swaying from karuce odmiču niza stazu, njišući se s boka na bok, a žene
side to side, and with the women in it looking back. se u njima osvrću. Čovjek pred njim, inače krupna
The man before him, a burly rough, tried to close, and ljudeskara, pokušao mu je prići, no on ga je zaustavio
he stopped him with a blow in the face. Then, realising udarcem u lice. A onda je shvatio da je ostao sam, pa je
that he was deserted, he dodged round and made off izbjegao kružni udarac i poletio stazom za karucama, dok
down the lane after the chaise, with the sturdy man mu je onaj stameni bio za petama, a onaj ga pobjegli, koji
close behind him, and the fugitive, who had turned se u međuvremenu okrenuo, slijedio iz daleka.
now, following remotely.
Suddenly he stumbled and fell; his immediate pursuer Najednom se spotakao i pao; njegov je neposredni
went headlong, and he rose to his feet to find himself progonitelj nastavio nesmiljeno, pa se brat, kad se uspravio
with a couple of antagonists again. He would have had na noge, opet našao pred dvojicom protivnika. Protiv njih bi
little chance against them had not the slender lady very imao zaista mršave izglede da ona vitka dama nije vrlo
pluckily pulled up and returned to his help. It seems odvažno zaustavila kola i vratila mu se u pomoć. Čini se da
she had had a revolver all this time, but it had been je sve to vrijeme imala revolver, ali je on u času napada na
under the seat when she and her companion were nju i njezinu družicu bio pod sjedalom. Sad je zapucala s
attacked. She fired at six yards' distance, narrowly udaljenosti od šest jardi i pritom za dlaku promašila brata.
missing my brother. The less courageous of the robbers Onaj manje hrabri razbojnik na to je dao petama vjetra, a za
made off, and his companion followed him, cursing his njim se odmah dao i njegov drug, usput psujući
cowardice. They both stopped in sight down the lane, njegov kukavičluk. Obojica su zastala još na dometu
where the third man lay insensible. pogleda, na stazi, na mjestu gdje je onaj treći ležao bez
svijesti.
"Take this!" said the slender lady, and she gave my “Uzmite ga!” rekla je vitka dama i pružila bratu revolver.
brother her revolver.
"Go back to the chaise," said my brother, wiping the “Vratite se u karuce”, odgovorio je brat i obrisao krv s
blood from his split lip. razbijene usne.
She turned without a word--they were both panting-- Ona se okrenula bez riječi - oboje su dahtali - pa su se
and they went back to where the lady in white zajedno vratili do dame u bijelom koja se hrvala s
struggled to hold back the frightened pony. uplašenim ponijem.
The robbers had evidently had enough of it. When my Razbojnicima je sad očito bilo dosta. Kad ih je moj brat
brother looked again they were retreating. opet pogledao, oni su već počeli uzmicati.
"I'll sit here," said my brother, "if I may"; and he got “Sjest ću tu,” rekao je brat, “ako dopustite”, pa sjeo na
upon the empty front seat. The lady looked over her slobodno prednje sjedalo. Dama ga je pogledala preko
shoulder. ramena.
"Give me the reins," she said, and laid the whip along “Dajte mi uzde”, rekla je i opružila bič poniju po boku.
the pony's side. In another moment a bend in the road Trenutak je kasnije okuka ceste sakrila onu trojicu pred
hid the three men from my brother's eyes. bratovim očima.
So, quite unexpectedly, my brother found himself, I tako se, sasvim neočekivano, moj brat našao, zadihan, s
panting, with a cut mouth, a bruised jaw, and razbijenom usnicom, nabijenom čeljusti i zakrvavljenom
bloodstained knuckles, driving along an unknown lane šakom, u kolima i na nepoznatom putu s te dvije žene.
with these two women.
He learned they were the wife and the younger sister of Sad je doznao da su to žena i mlađa sestra kirurga iz
a surgeon living at Stanmore, who had come in the Stanmorea, koji se u sitne sate vratio od nekog opasnog
small hours from a dangerous case at Pinner, and heard slučaja u Pinneru, i pritom usput, na kolodvoru, čuo za
at some railway station on his way of the Martian nastupanje Marsijanaca. Požurio je kući, probudio žene -
advance. He had hurried home, roused the women--
their servant had left them two days before--packed
some provisions, put his revolver under the seat--
luckily for my brother--and told them to drive on to
Edgware, with the idea of getting a train there. He
stopped behind to tell the neighbours. He would
overtake them, he said, at about half past four in the
morning, and now it was nearly nine and they had seen
nothing of him. They could not stop in Edgware
because of the growing traffic through the place, and so
they had come into this side lane.
That was the story they told my brother in fragments
when presently they stopped again, nearer to New
Barnet. He promised to stay with them, at least until
they could determine what to do, or until the missing
man arrived, and professed to be an expert shot with
the revolver--a weapon strange to him--in order to give
them confidence.
They made a sort of encampment by the wayside, and
the pony became happy in the hedge. He told them of
his own escape out of London, and all that he knew of
these Martians and their ways. The sun crept higher in
the sky, and after a time their talk died out and gave
place to an uneasy state of anticipation. Several
wayfarers came along the lane, and of these my brother
gathered such news as he could. Every broken answer
he had deepened his impression of the great disaster
that had come on humanity, deepened his persuasion of
the immediate necessity for prosecuting this flight. He
urged the matter upon them.
"We have money," said the slender woman, and
hesitated.
Her eyes met my brother's, and her hesitation ended.
"So have I," said my brother.
She explained that they had as much as thirty pounds in
gold, besides a five-pound note, and suggested that
with that they might get upon a train at St. Albans or
New Barnet. My brother thought that was hopeless,
seeing the fury of the Londoners to crowd upon the
trains, and broached his own idea of striking across
Essex towards Harwich and thence escaping from the
country altogether.
Mrs. Elphinstone--that was the name of the woman in
white--would listen to no reasoning, and kept calling
upon "George"; but her sister-in-law was astonishingly
quiet and deliberate, and at last agreed to my brother's
suggestion. So, designing to cross the Great North
Road, they went on towards Barnet, my brother leading
the pony to save it as much as possible. As the sun
crept up the sky the day became excessively hot, and
under foot a thick, whitish sand grew burning and
blinding, so that they travelled only very slowly. The
hedges were grey with dust. And as they advanced
towards Barnet a tumultuous murmuring grew stronger.
sluškinja ih je napustila prije dva dana - pa zapakirao nešto
živeža, stavio pod sjedalo revolver - što je za mog brata bila
prava sreća - i rekao im da produže do Edgwarea, i ondje
sjednu na vlak. On će sam ostati da obavijesti susjede, ali će
ih ipak prestići, kako reče, oko četiri i pol ujutro - no sad je
već bilo gotovo devet, a od njega ni traga ni glasa. U
Edgwareu nisu mogle ostati, zato što je u njemu stalno jačao
promet, pa su morale skrenuti na tu sporednu stazu.
Tako je glasila priča što su je, u odlomcima, bile ispričale
mojemu bratu, kad su nedugo potom opet zastali, ovog puta
bliže New Barnetu. On im je obećao da će ostati s njima,
bar dok ne odluče što i kako dalje, ili dok ne stigne onaj
očekivani, koji nikako da dođe, a osim toga je i izjavio da je
pravi vještak u pucanju iz pištolja - iako mu je to oružje bilo
sasvim strano - ne bi li im time ulio samopouzdanje.
Zastali su kraj ceste i u izvjesnom se smislu utaborili, a
ponija je usrećila živica. Brat im je ispričao kako je
pobjegao iz Londona, kao i sve što je znao o tim
Marsijancima i njihovim navadama. Sunce je nastavilo
puzati sve više u nebo, pa je nakon nekog vremena razgovor
zamro, ustupivši mjesto nelagodnom stanju iščekivanja.
Putem je prošlo još nekoliko putnika, pa je brat od njih
skupio što je moguće više novosti. Svaki novi iskidani
odgovor samo je produbio njegov dojam da se na
čovječanstvo oborila silna katastrofa, produbio njegovo
uvjerenje da je potrebno smjesta produžiti bijeg. Sad je u
razgovoru s njima pokrenuo i to pitanje.
“Mi imamo novaca”, rekla je vitka žena i zastala.
Pogled joj se sreo s bratovim, i zastoj se prekinuo.
“Imam ga i ja”, odgovorio je brat.
Ona mu je objasnila da imaju trideset funti u zlatu, a osim
toga i novčanicu od pet funti, pa mu iznijela
mišljenje da bi se zahvaljujući tome mogli ukrcati na
vlak za St. Albans ili New Barnet. Moj je pak brat
smatrao da bi to bio beznadan pokušaj, s obzirom na
bijes kojim su se Londonci jatili oko vlakova, pa je
izložio vlastitu ideju da udare preko Essexa prema
Harwichu, i tako sasvim pobjegnu iz zemlje.
Gospođa Elphinstone - jer se baš tako zvala žena u bijelom -
nije, međutim, željela čuti nikakve razloge, nego se
nastavila pozivati na “Georgea”; njezina šurjakinja
bila je, međutim, zapanjujuće mirna i promišljena,
pa je napokon prihvatila bratov prijedlog. I tako su,
kaneći presjeći Great North Road, produžili prema
Barnetu, pri čemu je moj brat vodio ponija štedeći
mu, koliko je god to moguće, snage. Što je Sunce
puzalo više uz nebo, dan je postajao sve nesnosnije
vruć, a bijeli je, debeli pijesak počeo paliti pod
nogama i zasljepljivati, tako da su putovati mogli
samo jako sporo. Živice su bile sive od prašine. A

They began to meet more people. For the most part
these were staring before them, murmuring indistinct
questions, jaded, haggard, unclean. One man in
evening dress passed them on foot, his eyes on the
ground. They heard his voice, and, looking back at him,
saw one hand clutched in his hair and the other beating
invisible things. His paroxysm of rage over, he went on
his way without once looking back. As my brother's
party went on towards the crossroads to the south of
Barnet they saw a woman approaching the road across
some fields on their left, carrying a child and with two
other children; and then passed a man in dirty black,
with a thick stick in one hand and a small portmanteau
in the other. Then round the corner of the lane, from
between the villas that guarded it at its confluence with
the high road, came a little cart drawn by a sweating
black pony and driven by a sallow youth in a bowler
hat, grey with dust. There were three girls, East End
factory girls, and a couple of little children crowded in
the cart.
"This'll tike us rahnd Edgware?" asked the driver, wild-
eyed, white-faced; and when my brother told him it
would if he turned to the left, he whipped up at once
without the formality of thanks.
My brother noticed a pale grey smoke or haze rising
among the houses in front of them, and veiling the
white facade of a terrace beyond the road that appeared
between the backs of the villas. Mrs. Elphinstone
suddenly cried out at a number of tongues of smoky red
flame leaping up above the houses in front of them
against the hot, blue sky. The tumultuous noise
resolved itself now into the disorderly mingling of
many voices, the gride of many wheels, the creaking of
waggons, and the staccato of hoofs. The lane came
round sharply not fifty yards from the crossroads.
"Good heavens!" cried Mrs. Elphinstone. "What is this
you are driving us into?" My brother stopped. For the
main road was a boiling stream of people, a torrent of
human beings rushing northward, one pressing on
another. A great bank of dust, white and luminous in
the blaze of the sun, made everything within twenty
feet of the ground grey and indistinct and was
perpetually renewed by the hurrying feet of a dense
crowd of horses and of men and women on foot, and by
the wheels of vehicles of every description.
"Way!" my brother heard voices crying. "Make way!"
It was like riding into the smoke of a fire to approach
the meeting point of the lane and road; the crowd
roared like a fire, and the dust was hot and pungent.
And, indeed, a little way up the road a villa was
burning and sending rolling masses of black smoke
što su se više primicali Barnetu, gromovito
je mrmljanje postajalo sve jače.
Počelo je nailaziti sve više ljudi. Oni su većinom samo
zurili pred sebe, mrmljali nerazumljiva pitanja,
ojađeni, ispijeni, nečisti. Kraj njih je pješice prošao i
muškarac u večernjem odijelu, a oči su mu bile
prikovane za tlo. Čuli su mu glas, i kad su se za njim
osvrnuli, vidjeli su kako se jednom rukom drži za
kosu, a drugom mlati nešto nevidljivo. Kad ga je
prošao napad bijesa, produžio je svojim putem
nijednom se ne osvrnuvši. Kad je družina mog
brata produžila prema križanju južno od Barneta,
opazili su kako cesti s polja lijevo prilazi žena, s
jednim djetetom u naručju i s još dvoje uza se; a
onda su prošli kraj muškarca u prljavoj crnini, s
debelim štapom u jednoj ruci i kovčežićem u drugoj.
A onda su iza ugla staze, između vila što su
zaklanjale i nju i sutok s glavnom cestom, došla
mala kola koja je vukao oznojeni mali poni, a vozio
ih bljedunjavi mladac u polucilindru posivjelom od
prašine. U tim su kolima bile nabijene tri djevojke,
radnice iz tvornice u East Endu, kao i dvoje male
djece.
“Ovo vodi oko Edgwarea?” upitao je kočijaš, izbezumljena
pogleda i bijel u licu; a kad mu je brat odgovorio da je tako,
ali samo ako skrene lijevo, on je smjesta udario bičem, ne
trudeći se oko formalnosti koja se zove zahvala.
Brat je opazio kako se između kuća pred njima diže blijedi
sivi dim, te zastire bijelu fasadu terase s druge strane ceste,
a koja se nazirala između stražnjih zidova vila. Gospođa
Elphinstone najednom je kriknula, ugledavši mnoge jezike
dimećeg crvenog ognja što su lizali iz kuća pred njima i
dizali se u vruće, modro nebo. Urnebesna se buka sad
razlučila u kaotično previranje mnogih glasova, u struganje
mnogih kotača, u škripu seoskih kola i staccato kopita. I
onda je put, niti pedeset jardi od križanja, naglo zavio.
“O, nebesa!” uskliknula je gospođa Elphinstone. “U što nas
to vozite?” Brat je zastao. Jer se glavna cesta bila pretvorila
u uskuhalu rijeku ljudi, bujicu ljudi što su srljali na sjever,
tiskajući se međusobno. Golemi prag prašine, bijel i
svjetlucav u sunčevu bljesku, bojio je u sivo i zamućivao
sve niže od dvadeset stopa, i stalno se obnavljao žurnim
nogama guste gomile konja, kao i pješaka, muškaraca i
žena, ali i kotačima vozila svih mogućih opisa.
“S puta!” čuo je brat usklike. “Maknite se s puta!” Na tom
sastajalištu puta i ceste bilo im je kao da ulaze u dim požara;
gomila je urlala poput ognja, a prašina je bila vruća i
prodorna mirisa.
I doista, malo gore uz cestu, gorjela je vila i preko nje
ispuštala valovite mase crnoga dima, pa time samo
across the road to add to the confusion.
Two men came past them. Then a dirty woman,
carrying a heavy bundle and weeping. A lost retriever
dog, with hanging tongue, circled dubiously round
them, scared and wretched, and fled at my brother's
threat.
So much as they could see of the road Londonward
between the houses to the right was a tumultuous
stream of dirty, hurrying people, pent in between the
villas on either side; the black heads, the crowded
forms, grew into distinctness as they rushed towards
the corner, hurried past, and merged their individuality
again in a receding multitude that was swallowed up at
last in a cloud of dust.
"Go on! Go on!" cried the voices. "Way! Way!" One
man's hands pressed on the back of another. My brother
stood at the pony's head. Irresistibly attracted, he
advanced slowly, pace by pace, down the lane.
Edgware had been a scene of confusion, Chalk Farm a
riotous tumult, but this was a whole population in
movement. It is hard to imagine that host. It had no
character of its own. The figures poured out past the
corner, and receded with their backs to the group in the
lane. Along the margin came those who were on foot
threatened by the wheels, stumbling in the ditches,
blundering into one another.
The carts and carriages crowded close upon one
another, making little way for those swifter and more
impatient vehicles that darted forward every now and
then when an opportunity showed itself of doing so,
sending the people scattering against the fences and
gates of the villas.
"Push on!" was the cry. "Push on! They are coming!"
In one cart stood a blind man in the uniform of the
Salvation Army, gesticulating with his crooked fingers
and bawling, "Eternity! Eternity!" His voice was hoarse
and very loud so that my brother could hear him long
after he was lost to sight in the dust. Some of the
people who crowded in the carts whipped stupidly at
their horses and quarrelled with other drivers; some sat
motionless, staring at nothing with miserable eyes;
some gnawed their hands with thirst, or lay prostrate in
the bottoms of their conveyances. The horses' bits were
covered with foam, their eyes bloodshot.
There were cabs, carriages, shop cars, waggons,
beyond counting; a mail cart, a road-cleaner's cart
marked "Vestry of St. Pancras," a huge timber waggon
crowded with roughs. A brewer's dray rumbled by with
its two near wheels splashed with fresh blood.
"Clear the way!" cried the voices. "Clear the way!"
"Eter-nity! Eter-nity!" came echoing down the road.
There were sad, haggard women tramping by, well
dressed, with children that cried and stumbled, their
doprinosila zbrci.
Kraj njih su prošla dva muškarca. A onda i nečista žena, s
teškim zamotom i sva zaplakana. Izgubljeni prepeličar,
ovješena jezika, sumnjičavo je kružio oko njih, uplašen i
jadan, pa pobjegao kad mu je brat zaprijetio.
Ono što su, između kuća desno, mogli vidjeti od ceste
prema Londonu, bilo je ispunjeno bučnom rijekom prljavih,
užurbanih ljudi, zatvoreno vilama s obiju strana; crne glave,
zbijene prilike, postajale su sve jasnije dok su jurile prema
uglu, žurile u prolazu, pa svoju individualnost opet stapale
sa sve udaljenijim mnoštvom, da bi ih na koncu sve
progutao oblak prašine.
“Mičite se! Mičite se!” vikali su glasovi. “S puta! S puta!”
Ruke jednoga pritiskale su leđa drugog. Moj je brat stajao
poniju kraj glave. Neodoljivo privučen, napredovao je
polako, korak po korak, sve dalje seoskim putem.
Edgware je bio poprište zbrke, Chalk Farm buntovni
urnebes, ali pred njima je bilo čitavo stanovništvo u
pokretu. Tu je gomilu bilo teško i zamisliti. Ona nije imala
vlastite naravi. Ljudske su se prilike izlijevale iza ugla, i
povlačile se okrenute leđima skupini na putu. Uz rub su
dolazili pješaci ugroženi kotačima, pa se spoticali i padali u
jarak, bazali i udarali jedni o druge.
Kola i kočije gusto su se nabili jedni uz druge, ostavljajući
malo prostora za brža i nestrpljivija vozila koja su se svako
malo, kad god bi se za to ukazala prilika, zalijetala naprijed
i tjerala ljude da se rasprše uz ograde i vrtna vrata vila.
“Guraj naprijed!” javio se krik. “Samo guraj! Dolaze!” U
jednim je karucama stajao slijepac u odori Vojske spasa, pa
gestikulirao zgrčenim prstima i derao se: “Vječnost!
Vječnost!” Glas mu je bio promukao i vrlo jak, tako da ga je
brat čuo i dugo nakon što se izgubio u prašini. Neki ljudi,
zbijeni u karucama, glupo su bičevali konje i svađali se s
drugim kočijašima; neki su opet sjedili nepomično i
ojađenim očima zurili u ništa; neki si opet grizli prste
od žeđi, ili ležali nauznak na dnu svojih vozila. Konjske su
žvale bile prekrite pjenom, a oči podlivene krvlju.
Bilo je tu karuca, kočija, trgovačkih i seoskih kola, sve bez
broja; pa poštanska kola, kola pometača ulica s natpisom
“Župa sv. Pankracija”, pa golema kola za drvenu građu
prenabijena sirovim ljudima. Kraj njih su protandrkala
pivarska kola s dva bliža kotača poškropljena svježom
krvlju.
“Otvorite put!” vikali su glasovi. “Otvorite put!” “Vječ-
nost! Vječ-nost!” stizala je jeka s ceste. Kraj njih su trapale
sumorne, ispijene žene, lijepo odjevene, s djecom koja su
plakala i spoticala se, a otmjene su im se haljine gušile u
dainty clothes smothered in dust, their weary faces
smeared with tears. With many of these came men,
sometimes helpful, sometimes lowering and savage.
Fighting side by side with them pushed some weary
street outcast in faded black rags, wide-eyed, loud-
voiced, and foul-mouthed. There were sturdy workmen
thrusting their way along, wretched, unkempt men,
clothed like clerks or shopmen, struggling
spasmodically; a wounded soldier my brother noticed,
men dressed in the clothes of railway porters, one
wretched creature in a nightshirt with a coat thrown
over it.
But varied as its composition was, certain things all
that host had in common. There were fear and pain on
their faces, and fear behind them. A tumult up the road,
a quarrel for a place in a waggon, sent the whole host
of them quickening their pace; even a man so scared
and broken that his knees bent under him was
galvanised for a moment into renewed activity. The
heat and dust had already been at work upon this
multitude. Their skins were dry, their lips black and
cracked. They were all thirsty, weary, and footsore. And
amid the various cries one heard disputes, reproaches,
groans of weariness and fatigue; the voices of most of
them were hoarse and weak. Through it all ran a
refrain:
"Way! Way! The Martians are coming!" Few stopped
and came aside from that flood. The lane opened
slantingly into the main road with a narrow opening,
and had a delusive appearance of coming from the
direction of London. Yet a kind of eddy of people drove
into its mouth; weaklings elbowed out of the stream,
who for the most part rested but a moment before
plunging into it again. A little way down the lane, with
two friends bending over him, lay a man with a bare
leg, wrapped about with bloody rags. He was a lucky
man to have friends.
A little old man, with a grey military moustache and a
filthy black frock coat, limped out and sat down beside
the trap, removed his boot--his sock was blood-
stained--shook out a pebble, and hobbled on again; and
then a little girl of eight or nine, all alone, threw herself
under the hedge close by my brother, weeping.
"I can't go on! I can't go on!" My brother woke from
his torpor of astonishment and lifted her up, speaking
gently to her, and carried her to Miss Elphinstone. So
soon as my brother touched her she became quite still,
as if frightened.
"Ellen!" shrieked a woman in the crowd, with tears in
her voice--"Ellen!" And the child suddenly darted away
from my brother, crying "Mother!"
"They are coming," said a man on horseback, riding
past along the lane.
"Out of the way, there!" bawled a coachman, towering
prašini, dok su im umorna lica bila umrljana suzama. S
njima su došli i muškarci, ponekad spremni da pomognu,
ponekad opet namrgođeni i divlji. Boreći se s njima rame uz
rame, probijali su se umorni uličari u izblijedjelim crnim
prnjama, razrogačenih očiju, glasnoga grla i usta
punih psovki. Bili su tu i robusni radnici koji su si krčili put,
odrpani, zapušteni ljudi, odjeveni kao činovnici i trgovci, i
grčevito se hrvali s gomilom; a brat je opazio i ranjenog
vojnika, ljude odjevene u odore kolodvorskih nosača, kao i
neku bijednu kreaturu u noćnoj haljini, preko koje je samo
bio prebačen ogrtač.
No bez obzira na to koliko sastav te gomile bio raznovrstan,
nešto im je ipak svima bilo zajedničko. Svima su njima u
očima bili bol i strah, a iza svih njih užas. Gungula ispred
njih na cesti, svađa za mjesto u kolima, natjerala je čitavu
gomilu da ubrza korak; čak i čovjek tako uplašen i slomljen
da su mu klecala koljena, na trenutak se naelektrizirao
i obnovio aktivnost. Vrućina i prašina već su ostavile traga
na mnoštvu. Koža im je bila suha, usne crne i ispucale. Svi
su bili žedni, umorni i bolni u nogama. A usred svih tih
različitih krikova čule su se rasprave, predbacivanja,
stenjanja zbog umora i iscrpljenosti; većina je tih glasova
bila promukla i slaba. A kroz sve te glasove provlačio se
refren:
“S puta! S puta! Marsijanci dolaze!” Nekoliko je ljudi
iskoračilo te izišlo iz tog povodnja. Seoski se put uskim
izlazom otvarao nizbrdo na glavnu cestu i stvarao
varljiv dojam da dolazi od Londona. Ipak se u njegovo ušće
ulila nekakva plima ljudi; bili su to slabići koje su izgurali
iz bujice, ljudi koji su se uglavnom htjeli samo na trenutak
odmoriti, pa se zatim opet baciti u nju. Malo dalje niz seoski
put ležao je čovjek s ogoljelom nogom, omotanom u krvave
prnje, a nad njega su se nadvila dva prijatelja. Bio je sretnik
jer ih je imao.
Sitni starčić, sa sijedim vojnim brkom i u prljavom crnom
žaketu, išepesao je i sjeo kraj karuca, skinuo cipelu - čarapa
mu je bila krvava - istresao kamenčić, i opet zaklipsao; a
onda se djevojčica od osam, možda devet godina, sasvim
sama, bacila pod živicu kraj mog brata i zaplakala.
“Ne mogu dalje! Ne mogu dalje!” Brat se probudio iz
zapanjene tuposti i podigao je, obratio joj se nježnim
glasom i odnio je do gospođice Elphinstone. Čim ju je moj
brat dotakao, ona se sasvim ukipila, kao od straha.
“Ellen!” vrisnula je žena iz gomile, a u glasu su joj bile
suze. “Ellen!” I sad je dijete najednom poletjelo od mog
brata, kričeći: “Majko!”
“Dolaze”, rekao je muškarac na konju, prolazeći seoskim
putem.
“Mičite se s puta, vi tamo!” zaderao se kočijaš, visoko
high; and my brother saw a closed carriage turning into
the lane.
The people crushed back on one another to avoid the
horse. My brother pushed the pony and chaise back
into the hedge, and the man drove by and stopped at the
turn of the way. It was a carriage, with a pole for a pair
of horses, but only one was in the traces. My brother
saw dimly through the dust that two men lifted out
something on a white stretcher and put it gently on the
grass beneath the privet hedge.
One of the men came running to my brother.
"Where is there any water?" he said. "He is dying fast,
and very thirsty. It is Lord Garrick."
"Lord Garrick!" said my brother; "the Chief Justice?"
"The water?" he said.
"There may be a tap," said my brother, "in some of the
houses. We have no water. I dare not leave my people."
The man pushed against the crowd towards the gate of
the corner house.
"Go on!" said the people, thrusting at him. "They are
coming! Go on!" Then my brother's attention was
distracted by a bearded, eagle-faced man lugging a
small handbag, which split even as my brother's eyes
rested on it and disgorged a mass of sovereigns that
seemed to break up into separate coins as it struck the
ground. They rolled hither and thither among the
struggling feet of men and horses. The man stopped
and looked stupidly at the heap, and the shaft of a cab
struck his shoulder and sent him reeling. He gave a
shriek and dodged back, and a cartwheel shaved him
narrowly.
"Way!" cried the men all about him. "Make way!"
So soon as the cab had passed, he flung himself, with
both hands open, upon the heap of coins, and began
thrusting handfuls in his pocket. A horse rose close
upon him, and in another moment, half rising, he had
been borne down under the horse's hoofs.
"Stop!" screamed my brother, and pushing a woman
out of his way, tried to clutch the bit of the horse.
Before he could get to it, he heard a scream under the
wheels, and saw through the dust the rim passing over
the poor wretch's back. The driver of the cart slashed
his whip at my brother, who ran round behind the cart.
The multitudinous shouting confused his ears. The man
was writhing in the dust among his scattered money,
unable to rise, for the wheel had broken his back, and
his lower limbs lay limp and dead. My brother stood up
and yelled at the next driver, and a man on a black
horse came to his assistance.
"Get him out of the road," said he; and, clutching the
man's collar with his free hand, my brother lugged him
sideways. But he still clutched after his money, and
regarded my brother fiercely, hammering at his arm
ustobočen; i sad je brat ugledao zatvorenu kočiju kako
skreće na seoski put.
Ljudi su se, da izbjegnu konja, zabijali jedan u drugog. Brat
je gurnuo ponija i karuce u živicu, i čovjek se provezao i
zaustavio na okretištu puta. Bila je to kočija, s rudom za par
konja, ali je u ormi bio samo jedan. Brat je kroz prašinu
nejasno razabrao da su dva čovjeka podigla nešto na bijela
nosila i onda to obzirno položila na travu pod živicu od
kaline.
Jedan je od njih dotrčao do mog brata.
“Ima li tu negdje vode?” upitao je. “Umire nam na rukama,
i jako je žedan. To je lord Garrick.”
“Lord Garrick!” uskliknuo je brat. “Predsjednik Vrhovnog
suda?”
“Vode?” odgovorio je ovaj.
“Možda u nekoj kući ima slavina”, rekao je brat. “Mi
nemamo vode. I ne usuđujem se ostaviti svoje.” Čovjek se
počeo probijati kroz gomilu prema vrtnim vratima kuće na
uglu.
“Miči se!” govorili su ljudi gurajući ga. “Dolaze! Miči se!”
A onda je bratovo zanimanje privukao bradonja orlovskoga
nosa koji je teglio malu ručnu torbu - torba se raspala mome
bratu pred očima pa izbljuvala masu zlatnih funti koje su se
pri udarcu o tlo rasule na pojedine kovanice. Zakotrljale su
se na sve strane pod uzvitlane noge i ljudi i konja. Čovjek je
zaostao i glupo se zagledao u hrpu zlatnika, no onda ga je
ruda karuca udarila u rame, tako da je zateturao. Ispustio je
krik i ustuknuo, i tako ga je kotač karuca promašio za samo
dlaku.
“S puta!” kričali su ljudi svud oko njega. “Miči se s puta!”
Čim su karuce prošle, on se bacio, raširenih ruku, na hrpu
cekina, pa počeo u džepove trpati čitave pregršti. Najednom
se kraj njega propeo konj, i čas ga potom, napola već
podignuta, bacio pod kopita.
“Stoj!” kriknuo je brat i, gurnuvši neku ženu s puta,
pokušao zgrabiti konja za povodac.
Prije nego što je i stigao do njega, začuo je krik ispod
kotača, i kroz prašinu vidio kako jadniku preko leđa prelazi
obruč kotača. Brat je optrčao kola da priskoči čovjeku u
pomoć, no kočijaš je na nj pucnuo bičem. Dernjava mnoštva
zbunila mu je uši. Onaj se čovjek previjao u prašini sred
svog razbacanog novca, nemoćan da ustane, jer mu je kotač
prebio kičmu, pa su mu donji udovi ležali mlitavi i mrtvi.
Brat se uspravio i dreknuo na sljedećeg kočijaša, a onda mu
je onaj čovjek na vrancu priskočio u pomoć.
“Mičite ga s ceste”, rekao je, a brat ga je, uhvativši ga
slobodnom rukom za ovratnik, odvukao u stranu. On je i
dalje pohlepno grabio novac pa gledao brata s bijesom u
očima i mlatio ga u mišicu šakom punom zlata.
with a handful of gold.
"Go on! Go on!" shouted angry voices behind. "Way!
Way!"
There was a smash as the pole of a carriage crashed
into the cart that the man on horseback stopped. My
brother looked up, and the man with the gold twisted
his head round and bit the wrist that held his collar.
There was a concussion, and the black horse came
staggering sideways, and the carthorse pushed beside
it. A hoof missed my brother's foot by a hair's breadth.
He released his grip on the fallen man and jumped
back. He saw anger change to terror on the face of the
poor wretch on the ground, and in a moment he was
hidden and my brother was borne backward and carried
past the entrance of the lane, and had to fight hard in
the torrent to recover it.
He saw Miss Elphinstone covering her eyes, and a little
child, with all a child's want of sympathetic
imagination, staring with dilated eyes at a dusty
something that lay black and still, ground and crushed
under the rolling wheels. "Let us go back!" he shouted,
and began turning the pony round. "We cannot cross
this--hell," he said and they went back a hundred yards
the way they had come, until the fighting crowd was
hidden. As they passed the bend in the lane my brother
saw the face of the dying man in the ditch under the
privet, deadly white and drawn, and shining with
perspiration. The two women sat silent, crouching in
their seat and shivering.
Then beyond the bend my brother stopped again. Miss
Elphinstone was white and pale, and her sister-in-law
sat weeping, too wretched even to call upon "George."
My brother was horrified and perplexed. So soon as
they had retreated he realised how urgent and
unavoidable it was to attempt this crossing. He turned
to Miss Elphinstone, suddenly resolute.
"We must go that way," he said, and led the pony round
again.
For the second time that day this girl proved her
quality. To force their way into the torrent of people,
my brother plunged into the traffic and held back a cab
horse, while she drove the pony across its head. A
waggon locked wheels for a moment and ripped a long
splinter from the chaise. In another moment they were
caught and swept forward by the stream. My brother,
with the cabman's whip marks red across his face and
hands, scrambled into the chaise and took the reins
from her.
"Point the revolver at the man behind," he said, giving “Ako nas ovaj otraga previše pritisne, uperite u nj revolver”,
it to her, "if he presses us too hard. No!--point it at his
horse."
Then he began to look out for a chance of edging to the Sad, međutim, kad se našao u struji, kao da je izgubio
right across the road. But once in the stream he seemed slobodnu volju i pretvorio se u dio tog prašnog rasula.
“Dalje! Dalje!” vikali su srditi glasovi iza njega. “S puta! S
puta!”
Začuo se tresak jer se rudo kočije zabilo u karuce što ih je
zaustavio čovjek na konju. Brat je podigao pogled, a čovjek
je sa zlatom zakrenuo glavu i ugrizao zapešće koje ga je
držalo za ovratnik. Začuo se prasak i vranac je zateturao u
stranu, a kraj njega se progurao konj kola iza njih. Kopito je
za dlaku promašilo nogu mog brata. Ispustio je palog i
odskočio. I opazio kako se srdžba na licu tog jadnika na
zemlji mijenja u užas, no trenutak kasnije već ga je sakrila
gomila, ona ista koja je mog brata ponijela natrag i pronijela
kraj ulaza na seoski put, pa se, da ga se opet
domogne morao žestoko pohrvati s bujicom.
Vidio je kako je gospođica Elphinstone pokrila oči, dok je
neki mališan, sa svim dječjim nedostatkom sućutne
imaginacije, razrogačenih očiju zurio u prašnjavo nešto što
je ležalo zavaljeno i mirno, samljeveno i zdrobljeno pod
kotačima u pokretu. “Vratimo se!” povikao je i počeo
okretati ponija. “Ne možemo kroz taj - pakao”, rekao je pa
su se vratili stotinjak jardi putem kojim su i došli, sve dok
im se ta gomila u stalnom otimanju nije izgubila iz vida.
Kad su prolazili kraj okuke seoskog puta, brat je opazio lice
samrtnika u jarku pod kalinom, mrtvački bijelo i ispijeno, i
sjajno od znoja. Dvije su žene sjedile nijeme, skutrene
na sjedalu i uzdrhtale.
A onda je, nakon okuke, brat ponovno zastao. Gospođica
Elphinstone je bila blijeda i bijela, a njezina je šurjakinja
sjedila i plakala, isuviše jadna da zazove i “Georgea”. Brat
je bio užasnut i sav smeten. Čim su se povukli, on je shvatio
koliko je bilo hitno i neizbježno pokušati prijeći na drugu
stranu. Okrenuo se gospođici Elphinstone, najednom pun
odlučnosti.
“Moramo baš ovuda”, rekao je i još jednom okrenuo ponija.
Sad je djevojka i po drugi put tog dana pokazala koliko
vrijedi. Da bi im prokrčio put u tu bujicu ljudi, brat je
uronio u promet i zadržao fijakerskog konja, a djevojka mu
je ispred nosa potjerala ponija. Teška su ih seoska kola na
trenutak zakačila kotačem i s karuca oderala dugačku
trijesku. Sljedećeg trenutka već ih je zahvatila rijeka ljudi i
povukla sa sobom. Tada se brat, s crvenim tragovima
fijakeristova biča na licu i rukama, uspentrao u karuce i od
djevojke preuzeo uzde.
rekao joj je i pružio joj ga. “Ne! Uperite ga u konja.” Zatim
se počeo ogledavati za prilikom da se polako protisne na
drugu stranu ceste.
to lose volition, to become a part of that dusty rout.
They swept through Chipping Barnet with the torrent;
they were nearly a mile beyond the centre of the town
before they had fought across to the opposite side of
the way. It was din and confusion indescribable; but in
and beyond the town the road forks repeatedly, and this
to some extent relieved the stress.
They struck eastward through Hadley, and there on
either side of the road, and at another place farther on
they came upon a great multitude of people drinking at
the stream, some fighting to come at the water. And
farther on, from a lull near East Barnet, they saw two
trains running slowly one after the other without signal
or order--trains swarming with people, with men even
among the coals behind the engines--going northward
along the Great Northern Railway. My brother
supposes they must have filled outside London, for at
that time the furious terror of the people had rendered
the central termini impossible.
Near this place they halted for the rest of the afternoon,
for the violence of the day had already utterly
exhausted all three of them. They began to suffer the
beginnings of hunger; the night was cold, and none of
them dared to sleep. And in the evening many people
came hurrying along the road nearby their stopping
place, fleeing from unknown dangers before them, and
going in the direction from which my brother had
come.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
THE "THUNDER CHILD"
Had the Martians aimed only at destruction, they might
on Monday have annihilated the entire population of
London, as it spread itself slowly through the home
counties. Not only along the road through Barnet, but
also through Edgware and Waltham Abbey, and along
the roads eastward to Southend and Shoeburyness, and
south of the Thames to Deal and Broadstairs, poured
the same frantic rout. If one could have hung that June
morning in a balloon in the blazing blue above London
every northward and eastward road running out of the
tangled maze of streets would have seemed stippled
black with the streaming fugitives, each dot a human
agony of terror and physical distress. I have set forth at
length in the last chapter my brother's account of the
road through Chipping Barnet, in order that my readers
may realise how that swarming of black dots appeared
to one of those concerned. Never before in the history
of the world had such a mass of human beings moved
Bujica ih je kroz Chipping Barnet naprosto pomela; prije
nego što su se s mukom uspjeli probiti na drugu stranu ceste
od centra su se grada udaljili već gotovo milju. Vladala je
neopisiva buka i konfuzija; ipak se iza gradića cesta često
granala, i to je donekle ublažilo pritisak.
Udarili su na istok kroz Hadley, i tu su s obje strane ceste,
kao i u jednom mjestu dalje, naišli na veliko mnoštvo ljudi
koji su se pojili na potoku, pri čemu su se neki silom
pokušavali probiti do vode. A još dalje, s brežuljka kraj East
Barneta, opazili su dva vlaka kako polako voze jedan za
drugim, bez reda i signala na sjever, Velikom sjevernom
prugom - dva vlaka koja su vrvjela od ljudi, a bilo ih je čak i
na ugljenu u tenderu iza lokomotive. Brat pretpostavlja da
su se ukrcali izvan Londona, zato što je u to doba
pobjesnjeli užas ljudi središnji kolodvor već bio učinio
sasvim neupotrebljivim.
Kraj tog su mjesta zastali i ostali tako do kraja popodneva,
zato što su brutalnosti tog dana već potpuno iscrpile sve
troje. Počeli su već patiti i od početka gladi; noć je bila
hladna, i nitko se od njih nije usudio zaspati. A uvečer su
cestom kraj mjesta gdje su zaspali žurno prošli još mnogi,
bježeći pred nepoznatim opasnostima koje su njih tek
čekale, i krećući se u pravcu iz kojeg je moj brat došao.
GLAVA 17.
DIJETE GROMA
Da je Marsijancima jedini cilj bio razaranje, tog su
ponedjeljka mogli uništiti sve stanovništvo Londona, dok se
ono polako širilo kroz londonske prigradske grofovije. Jer
ne samo cestom kroz Barnet, nego i kroz Edgware i
Waltham Abbey, baš kao i cestama što su tekle na istok do
Southenda i Shoeburynessa, te južno od Temze do Deala i
Broadstairsa, izlijevalo se isto grozničavo rasulo. Da je
netko toga lipanjskog jutra visio u balonu u modroj caklini
neba nad Londonom, vidio bi da su sve ceste što istječu
iz zapletena labirinta ulica i teku na sjever i istok, istočkane
rijekama bjegunaca, a svaka bi od tih točaka bila puna
ljudske muke izazvane strahom i tjelesnim nedaćama. U
prethodnom sam poglavlju rastegao bratovu priču o
zbivanjima na cesti kroz Chipping Barnet, a da bi štioc
shvatio kako je taj roj crnih točaka izgledao čovjeku svime
time neposredno pogođenom. Nikad se još u povijesti
svijeta nije zajedno gibala i zajedno patila tolika masa
ljudi. Legendarne horde Gota i Huna, najgolemije vojske što
and suffered together. The legendary hosts of Goths
and Huns, the hugest armies Asia has ever seen, would
have been but a drop in that current. And this was no
disciplined march; it was a stampede--a stampede
gigantic and terrible--without order and without a goal,
six million people unarmed and unprovisioned, driving
headlong. It was the beginning of the rout of
civilisation, of the massacre of mankind.
Directly below him the balloonist would have seen the
network of streets far and wide, houses, churches,
squares, crescents, gardens--already derelict--spread
out like a huge map, and in the southward blotted. Over
Ealing, Richmond, Wimbledon, it would have seemed
as if some monstrous pen had flung ink upon the chart.
Steadily, incessantly, each black splash grew and
spread, shooting out ramifications this way and that,
now banking itself against rising ground, now pouring
swiftly over a crest into a new-found valley, exactly as
a gout of ink would spread itself upon blotting paper.
And beyond, over the blue hills that rise southward of
the river, the glittering Martians went to and fro, calmly
and methodically spreading their poison cloud over this
patch of country and then over that, laying it again with
their steam jets when it had served its purpose, and
taking possession of the conquered country. They do
not seem to have aimed at extermination so much as at
complete demoralisation and the destruction of any
opposition. They exploded any stores of powder they
came upon, cut every telegraph, and wrecked the
railways here and there. They were hamstringing
mankind. They seemed in no hurry to extend the field
of their operations, and did not come beyond the
central part of London all that day. It is possible that a
very considerable number of people in London stuck to
their houses through Monday morning. Certain it is that
many died at home suffocated by the Black Smoke.
Until about midday the Pool of London was an
astonishing scene. Steamboats and shipping of all sorts
lay there, tempted by the enormous sums of money
offered by fugitives, and it is said that many who swam
out to these vessels were thrust off with boathooks and
drowned. About one o'clock in the afternoon the
thinning remnant of a cloud of the black vapour
appeared between the arches of Blackfriars Bridge. At
that the Pool became a scene of mad confusion,
fighting, and collision, and for some time a multitude
of boats and barges jammed in the northern arch of the
Tower Bridge, and the sailors and lightermen had to
fight savagely against the people who swarmed upon
them from the riverfront. People were actually
clambering down the piers of the bridge from above.
When, an hour later, a Martian appeared beyond the
Clock Tower and waded down the river, nothing but
wreckage floated above Limehouse.
ih je vidjela Azija, u toj bi rijeci bile tek kapi. I nije to bio
disciplinirani marš; bio je to stampedo - stampedo divovski
i strašni - bez reda i bez cilja, sa šest milijuna ljudi, bez
oružja i komore, u bezglavu srljanju. Bio je to početak
sloma civilizacije, početak pokolja ljudskoga roda.
Točno ispod sebe balonist bi vidio na sve strane protegnutu
mrežu ulica, pa kuće, crkve, trgove, polukružne blokove
kuća i vrtove - već zapuštene - kako se šire poput kakve
goleme karte, na jugu prekrivene mrljom tinte. Preko
Ealinga, Richmonda, Wimbledona, kao da je nekakvo
čudovišno pero na tu kartu bacilo tintu. Uporno i neumorno,
sve su te crne packe rasle i širile se, izbacivale ogranke sad
tu sad tamo, sad se razbijale o uzdignuto zemljište, sad se
preko hrpta hitro prelijevale u novopronađenu dolinu, baš
onako kako se kapljica tinte širi bugačicom.
A iza svega toga, preko modrih brda što su se dizala južno
od rijeke, svjetlucavi su Marsijanci koračali sad amo sad
tamo, pa mirno i metodično širili svoj otrovni oblak sad
preko ove, sad preko one krpice zemlje, pa ga onda opet,
kad bi obavio posao, micali parnim mlazovima da bi na
koncu mogli i zaposjesti osvojenu zemlju. Stvarao se dojam
da im cilj nije toliko istrebljenje koliko potpuna
demoralizacija i uništenje svakog otpora. Dizali su u zrak
svaku barutanu na koju bi naišli, sjekli svaku brzojavnu žicu
i na sve strane uništavali pruge. Ljudskom su rodu naprosto
presijecali tetive. Činilo se da se u širenju područja svog
djelovanja baš nimalo ne žure, pa čitav taj dan i nisu prodrli
dalje od središnjeg dijela Londona. Sasvim je moguće da je
zamjetan broj ljudi u Londonu odlučio čitav ponedjeljak
ujutro ostati u kući. Kao što je i izvjesno da ih je toliko u
njihovim kućama ugušio Crni dim.
Sve do otprilike podneva Pool of London je pružao
zapanjujući prizor. U njemu su ležali parobrodi i svakovrsna
plovila, primamljena golemim novčanim iznosima što su ih
nudili bjegunci, a priča se da su mnoge koji su doplivali do
tih brodova odgurnuli čakijama, pa su se utopili. Negdje
oko jedan popodne između lukova Blackfriars Bridgea
pojavio se stanjeni ostatak oblaka crnih para. I tada je Pool
postao poprište sulude zbrke, tuče i sudara, a neko se
vrijeme u sjevernom luku Tower Bridgea zaglavilo
čitavo mnoštvo brodica i mauna, pa su se mornari i maunari
morali divlje boriti s ljudima koji bi s riječne obale doplivali
do njih. Ljudi su se čak i pentrali po stupovima i spuštali se
s mosta.
Kada se, jedan sat kasnije, iza Satnog tornja pojavio
Marsijanac, i zagegao se niz rijeku, uzvodno od Limehousea
plutale su još samo olupine.
Of the falling of the fifth cylinder I have presently to
tell. The sixth star fell at Wimbledon. My brother,
keeping watch beside the women in the chaise in a
meadow, saw the green flash of it far beyond the hills.
On Tuesday the little party, still set upon getting across
the sea, made its way through the swarming country
towards Colchester. The news that the Martians were
now in possession of the whole of London was
confirmed. They had been seen at Highgate, and even,
it was said, at Neasden. But they did not come into my
brother's view until the morrow.
That day the scattered multitudes began to realise the
urgent need of provisions. As they grew hungry the
rights of property ceased to be regarded. Farmers were
out to defend their cattle-sheds, granaries, and ripening
root crops with arms in their hands. A number of
people now, like my brother, had their faces eastward,
and there were some desperate souls even going back
towards London to get food. These were chiefly people
from the northern suburbs, whose knowledge of the
Black Smoke came by hearsay. He heard that about
half the members of the government had gathered at
Birmingham, and that enormous quantities of high
explosives were being prepared to be used in automatic
mines across the Midland counties.
He was also told that the Midland Railway Company
had replaced the desertions of the first day's panic, had
resumed traffic, and was running northward trains from
St. Albans to relieve the congestion of the home
counties. There was also a placard in Chipping Ongar
announcing that large stores of flour were available in
the northern towns and that within twenty-four hours
bread would be distributed among the starving people
in the neighbourhood. But this intelligence did not
deter him from the plan of escape he had formed, and
the three pressed eastward all day, and heard no more
of the bread distribution than this promise. Nor, as a
matter of fact, did anyone else hear more of it. That
night fell the seventh star, falling upon Primrose Hill. It
fell while Miss Elphinstone was watching, for she took
that duty alternately with my brother. She saw it.
On Wednesday the three fugitives--they had passed the
night in a field of unripe wheat--reached Chelmsford,
and there a body of the inhabitants, calling itself the
Committee of Public Supply, seized the pony as
provisions, and would give nothing in exchange for it
but the promise of a share in it the next day. Here there
were rumours of Martians at Epping, and news of the
destruction of Waltham Abbey Powder Mills in a vain
attempt to blow up one of the invaders.
People were watching for Martians here from the
church towers. My brother, very luckily for him as it
chanced, preferred to push on at once to the coast
rather than wait for food, although all three of them
O padu ću vam petog valjka ubrzo ispričati. Šesta je
zvijezda pala u Wimbledon. Moj brat, koji je stražario na
livadi kraj žena u karucama, ugledao je njezin zeleni bljesak
daleko iza brežuljaka. U utorak se mala družina, i dalje
kaneći prijeći preko mora, uspjela kroz uzavreli kraj probiti
prema Colchesteru. Uto je stigla i potvrda da su Marsijanci
u međuvremenu ovladali čitavim Londonom. Vidjeli su ih u
Highgateu pa čak i, pričalo se, u Neasdenu. Ipak se bratu
pred očima nisu pojavili sve do jutra.
Taj je dan raštrkano mnoštvo počelo osjećati akutnu potrebu
za živežom. Kad je ojačala glad, prestala su se uvažavati
vlasnička prava. Farmeri su bili vani da s oružjem u ruci
brane svoje štale, žitnice i nedozreli krumpir i repu. Mnogi
su ljudi, među kojima i moj brat, sad okrenuli lica na istok,
a neke su se očajne duše u potrazi za hranom čak okrenule
natrag prema Londonu. Bili su to poglavito ljudi iz
sjevernih predgrađa, koji su sva svoja znanja o Crnom dimu
stekli iz priča iz druge ruke. Brat je čuo da se
u Birminghamu sastalo otprilike pola članova vlade, te da su
pripremljene goleme količine brizantnog eksploziva koji će
se ugrabiti u automatske mine postavljene kroz midlandske
grofovije.
Također mu rekoše da je Midland Railway Company
popunila praznine nastale zbog dezertiranja prvog dana
panike, da ponovno prometuje, te da vozi vlakove na sjever
iz St. Albansa ne bi li olakšala zagušenje u londonskim
prigradskim grofovijama. U Chipping Ongaru se osim toga
pojavio i plakat koji je javljao da u gradovima na sjeveru
postoje velike zalihe brašna, i da će se u roku od dvadeset
četiri sata gladnim ljudima u susjedstvu dijeliti kruh. Ta ga
vijest, međutim, nije odvratila od plana bijega što ga je
bio stvorio, pa su se sve troje nastavili čitav dan probijati
prema sjeveru, tako da o dijeljenju kruha, mimo tog
obećanja, nije više čuo ništa. Baš kao što, zapravo, o tome
više nije čuo ni itko drugi. Te je noći pala i sedma zvijezda i
spustila se na Primrose Hill. Pala je dok je na straži bila
gospođica Elphinstone, zato što se ona na toj dužnosti
smjenjivala s bratom. Ona ju je vidjela.
U srijedu je troje bjegunaca - a noćili su u polju nesazrela
žita - stiglo u Chelmsford, i tu je tijelo sastavljeno od
građana toga grada, a koje je sebe nazivalo Odborom javne
opskrbe, zaplijenilo ponija, proglasivši ga živežem, i za nj
zauzvrat nije ponudilo ništa više od obećanja da će sutradan
od njega dobiti dio. Širile su se glasine da su Marsijanci u
Eppingu, kao i novosti o uništenju tvornice eksploziva u
Waltham Abbeyju, do kojeg je došlo u jalovu pokušaju
dizanja u zrak jednog osvajača.
Ljudi su ovdje s crkvenih zvonika vrebali na dolazak
Marsijanaca. Moj brat, a pokazat će se da je to za nj bila
vrlo sretna okolnost, radije nego da čeka na hranu, iako su
sve troje bili jako gladni, je odlučio smjesta isforsirati do
were very hungry. By midday they passed through
Tillingham, which, strangely enough, seemed to be
quite silent and deserted, save for a few furtive
plunderers hunting for food. Near Tillingham they
suddenly came in sight of the sea, and the most
amazing crowd of shipping of all sorts that it is
possible to imagine.
For after the sailors could no longer come up the
Thames, they came on to the Essex coast, to Harwich
and Walton and Clacton, and afterwards to Foulness
and Shoebury, to bring off the people. They lay in a
huge sickle-shaped curve that vanished into mist at last
towards the Naze. Close inshore was a multitude of
fishing smacks--English, Scotch, French, Dutch, and
Swedish; steam launches from the Thames, yachts,
electric boats; and beyond were ships of large burden, a
multitude of filthy colliers, trim merchantmen, cattle
ships, passenger boats, petroleum tanks, ocean tramps,
an old white transport even, neat white and grey liners
from Southampton and Hamburg; and along the blue
coast across the Blackwater my brother could make out
dimly a dense swarm of boats chaffering with the
people on the beach, a swarm which also extended up
the Blackwater almost to Maldon.
About a couple of miles out lay an ironclad, very low
in the water, almost, to my brother's perception, like a
water-logged ship. This was the ram Thunder Child. It
was the only warship in sight, but far away to the right
over the smooth surface of the sea--for that day there
was a dead calm--lay a serpent of black smoke to mark
the next ironclads of the Channel Fleet, which hovered
in an extended line, steam up and ready for action,
across the Thames estuary during the course of the
Martian conquest, vigilant and yet powerless to prevent
it.
At the sight of the sea, Mrs. Elphinstone, in spite of the
assurances of her sister-in-law, gave way to panic. She
had never been out of England before, she would rather
die than trust herself friendless in a foreign country,
and so forth. She seemed, poor woman, to imagine that
the French and the Martians might prove very similar.
She had been growing increasingly hysterical, fearful,
and depressed during the two days' journeyings. Her
great idea was to return to Stanmore. Things had been
always well and safe at Stanmore. They would find
George at Stanmore.
It was with the greatest difficulty they could get her
down to the beach, where presently my brother
succeeded in attracting the attention of some men on a
paddle steamer from the Thames. They sent a boat and
drove a bargain for thirty-six pounds for the three. The
steamer was going, these men said, to Ostend.
It was about two o'clock when my brother, having paid
their fares at the gangway, found himself safely aboard
obale. U podne su prošli kroz Tillingham koji se, što je bilo
prilično čudno, doimao tihim i napuštenim, izuzmemo li
nekoliko pritajenih pljačkaša u lovu na hranu. Kod
Tillinghama su najednom ugledali more, kao i najbizarniju
hrpu svakovrsnih brodova što ih je uopće moguće zamisliti.
Bilo je to zato što mornari više nisu mogli ploviti uz Temzu,
nego su nastavili dolaziti na obalu Essexa, do Harwicha i
Waltona i Clactona, a potom i do Foulnessa i Shoeburyja, da
odande odvezu ljude. Ležali su u golemoj srpolikoj krivulji
što se napokon gubila u magli prema Nazeu. Bliže obali bilo
je mnoštvo ribarskih barki - engleskih, škotskih, francuskih,
nizozemskih i švedskih; parnih brodića s Temze, jahti,
električnih brodica; a iza svega toga bili su brodovi velike
nosivosti, mnoštvo prljavih ugljarica, naftnih tankera,
oceanskih trampera pa čak i starih bijelih brodova za
prijevoz trupa, ali i elegantnih bijelih i sivih linijaša iz
Southamptona i Hamburga; a duž modre je obale s druge
strane Blackwatera brat mogao mutno razabrati gust roj
brodica s kojih su se pogađali s ljudima na plaži, roj koji se
osim toga protezao i uz Blackwater sve gotovo do Maldona.
Otprilike dvije milje prema pučini ležala je oklopnjača, vrlo
utonila, gotovo kao da je, učinilo mu se, u nju prodrla voda.
Bilo je to Dijete groma, brod za probijanje kljunom. Bio je
to jedini ratni brod na domaku oka, ali nadaleko desno
preko glatke površine mora - jer je vladala bonaca kao ulje -
ležala je zmija crnoga dima, obilježavajući položaj susjedne
oklopnjače Kanalske flote, koja je plutala u razvučenoj
liniji, pod parom i spremna za djelovanje, preko čitavog
estuara Temze za sveg marsijanskog osvajanja, budna i
spremna, no ipak nemoćna da ga spriječi.
Pri pogledu na more, gospođa Elphinstone, usprkos svem
umirivanju svoje šurjakinje, ipak je popustila pred panikom.
Ona još nikad nije bila u inozemstvu, draže joj je i umrijeti
nego se snalaziti sama, bez ijednog prijatelja, u tuđoj zemlji,
i tako dalje. Činilo se da ta uboga žena zamišlja da bi
Francuzi mogli biti vrlo slični Marsijancima. Za dva dana
puta u njoj je stalno rasla histerija, jačali su strah i
potištenost. Njezina je velika ideja bila da se vrate u
Stanmore. U Stanmoreu je uvijek sve bilo dobro i sigurno. A
u Stanmoreu bi zacijelo našli i Georgea.
Samo su je s najvećom mukom uspjeli nagovoriti da se
spusti na plažu, gdje je brat smjesta uspio privući pozornost
nekih ljudi na parobrodu s kotačem što je došao iz Temze.
Ovi su poslali čamac i pogodili se, trideset šest funti za sve
troje. Parobrod plovi, rekli su ti ljudi, za Ostende.
Kad se moj brat, plativši vozarinu na mostiću, sa svojim
štićenicama našao u sigurnosti parobroda, bila su
the steamboat with his charges. There was food aboard,
albeit at exorbitant prices, and the three of them
contrived to eat a meal on one of the seats forward.
There were already a couple of score of passengers
aboard, some of whom had expended their last money
in securing a passage, but the captain lay off the
Blackwater until five in the afternoon, picking up
passengers until the seated decks were even
dangerously crowded. He would probably have
remained longer had it not been for the sound of guns
that began about that hour in the south. As if in answer,
the ironclad seaward fired a small gun and hoisted a
string of flags. A jet of smoke sprang out of her
funnels.
Some of the passengers were of opinion that this firing
came from Shoeburyness, until it was noticed that it
was growing louder. At the same time, far away in the
southeast the masts and upperworks of three ironclads
rose one after the other out of the sea, beneath clouds
of black smoke. But my brother's attention speedily
reverted to the distant firing in the south. He fancied he
saw a column of smoke rising out of the distant grey
haze.
The little steamer was already flapping her way
eastward of the big crescent of shipping, and the low
Essex coast was growing blue and hazy, when a
Martian appeared, small and faint in the remote
distance, advancing along the muddy coast from the
direction of Foulness. At that the captain on the bridge
swore at the top of his voice with fear and anger at his
own delay, and the paddles seemed infected with his
terror. Every soul aboard stood at the bulwarks or on
the seats of the steamer and stared at that distant shape,
higher than the trees or church towers inland, and
advancing with a leisurely parody of a human stride. It
was the first Martian my brother had seen, and he
stood, more amazed than terrified, watching this Titan
advancing deliberately towards the shipping, wading
farther and farther into the water as the coast fell away.
Then, far away beyond the Crouch, came another,
striding over some stunted trees, and then yet another,
still farther off, wading deeply through a shiny mudflat
that seemed to hang halfway up between sea and sky.
They were all stalking seaward, as if to intercept the
escape of the multitudinous vessels that were crowded
between Foulness and the Naze. In spite of the
throbbing exertions of the engines of the little paddle-
boat, and the pouring foam that her wheels flung
behind her, she receded with terrifying slowness from
this ominous advance.
Glancing northwestward, my brother saw the large
crescent of shipping already writhing with the
approaching terror; one ship passing behind another,
another coming round from broadside to end on,
već oko dva sata. Na brodu je bilo i hrane, makar i
po astronomskim cijenama, pa je sve troje uspjelo
nekako objedovati na jednoj od pramčanih klupa.
Na brodu je već bilo osamdesetak putnika, od kojih su neki
dali i zadnji novac samo da si osiguraju prijevoz, ali
se kapetan zadržao kraj Blackwatera sve do pet
popodne, pa skupljao putnike sve dok palube s
klupama nisu postale opasno pretrpane. Ostao bi
on vjerojatno i duže, da se baš nekako u taj sat na
jugu nisu oglasili topovi. Kao u odgovor, oklopnjača
je na pučini ispalila hitac iz malenoga topa i podigla
čitavu nisku zastavica. Iz dimnjaka joj je suknuo
mlaz dima.
Neki su se putnici priklonili mišljenju da ta paljba dolazi iz
Shoeburynessa, sve dok nisu opazili da jača.
Istodobno su, daleko na jugoistoku, iz mora, jedan
za drugim, izronili jarboli i nadgrađa tri oklopnjače,
ispod oblaka crnog dima. Zanimanje se mog
brata, međutim, brzo okrenulo dalekoj paljbi na
jugu. Učinilo mu se da je ugledao i stup dima kako
se diže iz daleke sive izmaglice.
Maleni je parobrod već šljapkao istočno od velikog
polumjeseca brodova, a niska je obala Essexa postajala sve
modrijom i maglovitijom - i baš se tada pojavio Marsijanac,
malen i blijed u velikoj daljini, napredujući glibovitom
obalom iz smjera Foulnessa. Na to je kapetan na mostu iz
svega glasa, ispunjenog i strahom i bijesom, opsovao
vlastito otezanje, a čini se da je njegova strava zarazila
i lopatice kotača. Svi su živi na brodu stali na palubnu
ogradu i klupe parobroda te se zagledali u daleki lik, viši od
stabala i zvonika na kopnu, a koji se približavao ležernom
parodijom ljudskoga hoda. Bio je to prvi Marsijanac što ga
je brat ikad vidio, i sad je, više zapanjen no užasnut,
promatrao tog Titana kako odmjereno napreduje prema
brodovima, gacajući sve dublje kroz vodu dok je obala
postajala sve dalja. A onda, izdaleka iza Croucha, stigao
je još jedan, grabeći preko kržljavih stabala, pa onda još
jedan, još dalji, koji je gacao duboko kroz sjajan mulj
osekom ogoljele pličine, a za koji se činilo da visi negdje na
pola puta između neba i mora. Svi su oni grabili prema
moru, kao da žele zapriječiti bijeg mnoštvu plovila što se
bilo skupilo između Foulnessa i Nazea. Usprkos
napregnutom bubanju strojeva malog lopatara, i slapa pjene
što su ga iza njega bacali kotači, on se ipak pred tim
zloslutnim napredovanjem povlačio užasavajuće sporo.
Kad je bacio pogled na zapad-sjeverozapad, brat je opazio
kako se veliki polumjesec brodova već meškolji pred
prilazećim užasom; jedan je brod prolazio iza drugog, drugi
ga je zaobilazio s boka prema krmi, parobrodi su pištali i
steamships whistling and giving off volumes of steam,
sails being let out, launches rushing hither and thither.
He was so fascinated by this and by the creeping
danger away to the left that he had no eyes for anything
seaward. And then a swift movement of the steamboat
(she had suddenly come round to avoid being run
down) flung him headlong from the seat upon which he
was standing. There was a shouting all about him, a
trampling of feet, and a cheer that seemed to be
answered faintly. The steamboat lurched and rolled him
over upon his hands.
He sprang to his feet and saw to starboard, and not a
hundred yards from their heeling, pitching boat, a vast
iron bulk like the blade of a plough tearing through the
water, tossing it on either side in huge waves of foam
that leaped towards the steamer, flinging her paddles
helplessly in the air, and then sucking her deck down
almost to the waterline.
A douche of spray blinded my brother for a moment.
When his eyes were clear again he saw the monster had
passed and was rushing landward. Big iron upperworks
rose out of this headlong structure, and from that twin
funnels projected and spat a smoking blast shot with
fire. It was the torpedo ram, Thunder Child, steaming
headlong, coming to the rescue of the threatened
shipping.
Keeping his footing on the heaving deck by clutching
the bulwarks, my brother looked past this charging
leviathan at the Martians again, and he saw the three of
them now close together, and standing so far out to sea
that their tripod supports were almost entirely
submerged. Thus sunken, and seen in remote
perspective, they appeared far less formidable than the
huge iron bulk in whose wake the steamer was pitching
so helplessly. It would seem they were regarding this
new antagonist with astonishment. To their intelligence,
it may be, the giant was even such another as
themselves. The Thunder Child fired no gun, but
simply drove full speed towards them. It was probably
her not firing that enabled her to get so near the enemy
as she did. They did not know what to make of her.
One shell, and they would have sent her to the bottom
forthwith with the Heat-Ray. She was steaming at such
a pace that in a minute she seemed halfway between
the steamboat and the Martians--a diminishing black
bulk against the receding horizontal expanse of the
Essex coast.
Suddenly the foremost Martian lowered his tube and
discharged a canister of the black gas at the ironclad. It
hit her larboard side and glanced off in an inky jet that
rolled away to seaward, an unfolding torrent of Black
Smoke, from which the ironclad drove clear. To the
watchers from the steamer, low in the water and with
the sun in their eyes, it seemed as though she were
ispuštali goleme količine pare, jedra su se podizala, na sve
su strane letjeli brodići. To ga je toliko fasciniralo, baš kao i
opasnost što im se puzeći primicala s lijeva, da i nije imao
oči nizašto drugo na pučini. A onda ga je nagli manevar
parobroda (koji je naglo skrenuo da ga drugi brod
ne potopi), bacio naglavce s klupe na kojoj je stajao. Svuda
se oko njega podigla graja, zalupale su noge, a začulo se i
klicanje kao i slabašni odziv. Parobrod je poskočio, i tako se
brat prevrnuo i dočekao na ruke.
Brat je skočio na noge i pogledao preko desnog boka, pa niti
stotinu jardi od njihova broda koji se naginjao i posrtao,
ugledao golemu željeznu trupinu kako poput lemeša reže
vodu i baca je s obiju strana u golemim valovima pjene što
je skakala prema parobrodu, da bi mu najprije bespomoćne
kotače bacila u zrak, a potom usrkala palubu gotovo do
linije gaza.
Brata je na trenutak zaslijepio tuš vodenih kapi. Kad su mu
se oči opet razbistrile, opazio je da je čudovište prošlo i da
sada juri prema kopnu. Iz njegova se strmoglava tijela
uzdizalo veliko željezno nadgrađe, a iz njega je opet virio
par dimnjaka i bljuvao dimne zapuhe protkane vatrom. Bio
je to torpedni probijač Dijete groma, i sad se bacao
strmoglavce i pod punom parom, hitajući u pomoć
ugroženim brodovima.
Brat se uhvatio za ogradu i tako uspio ostati na nogama na
palubi koja se naglo nagnula, pa kraj tog levijatana u jurišu
ponovno pogledao Marsijanca, te opazio kako su se ona
trojica opet skupila, pa sad stoje već tako daleko od obale da
su im tronošci već gotovo sasvim potopljeni. Tako utonuli, i
gledani iz daleke perspektive, činili su se manje strašnima
od goleme željezne trupine u čijoj se brazdi parobrod tako
bespomoćno propinjao. I činilo se kao da tog novog
protivnika promatraju sa zaprepaštenjem. Za njihovu je
pamet, možda, taj div bio jednako stran kao i oni
sami. Dijete groma nije opalilo iz topa, nego je naprosto
punom brzinom udarilo prema njima. I vjerojatno mu je baš
činjenica da nije opalio i omogućila da se neprijatelju toliko
primakne. Oni pak nisu znali što da s njim počnu. Da je
ispalio i jednu granatu, vjerojatno bi ga smjesta Toplinskom
zrakom poslali na dno. A vozio je takvim tempom da se već
za minutu našao na pola puta između parobroda i
Marsijanaca - sve manje crne trupine na
pozadini vodoravnog prostranstva obale Essexa.
Najednom je onaj Marsijanac na čelu spustio cijev i na
oklopnjaču ispalio spremnik crnoga plina. Spremnik ju je
pogodio u lijevi bok i odbio se u poput tuša crnom mlazu, i
ovaj se zavaljao prema pučini, razvijajući bujicu Crnoga
dima, no iz njega se oklopnjača brzo izvukla na čistinu.
Promatračima na parobrodu, nisko nad vodom i sa suncem u
očima, činilo se da se već našao među Marsijancima.
already among the Martians.
They saw the gaunt figures separating and rising out of
the water as they retreated shoreward, and one of them
raised the camera-like generator of the Heat-Ray. He
held it pointing obliquely downward, and a bank of
steam sprang from the water at its touch. It must have
driven through the iron of the ship's side like a white-
hot iron rod through paper. A flicker of flame went up
through the rising steam, and then the Martian reeled
and staggered. In another moment he was cut down,
and a great body of water and steam shot high in the
air. The guns of the Thunder Child sounded through the
reek, going off one after the other, and one shot
splashed the water high close by the steamer,
ricocheted towards the other flying ships to the north,
and smashed a smack to matchwood.
But no one heeded that very much. At the sight of the
Martian's collapse the captain on the bridge yelled
inarticulately, and all the crowding passengers on the
steamer's stern shouted together. And then they yelled
again. For, surging out beyond the white tumult, drove
something long and black, the flames streaming from
its middle parts, its ventilators and funnels spouting
fire.
She was alive still; the steering gear, it seems, was
intact and her engines working. She headed straight for
a second Martian, and was within a hundred yards of
him when the Heat-Ray came to bear. Then with a
violent thud, a blinding flash, her decks, her funnels,
leaped upward. The Martian staggered with the
violence of her explosion, and in another moment the
flaming wreckage, still driving forward with the
impetus of its pace, had struck him and crumpled him
up like a thing of cardboard. My brother shouted
involuntarily. A boiling tumult of steam hid everything
again.
"Two!" yelled the captain.
Everyone was shouting. The whole steamer from end to
end rang with frantic cheering that was taken up first
by one and then by all in the crowding multitude of
ships and boats that was driving out to sea. The steam
hung upon the water for many minutes, hiding the third
Martian and the coast altogether. And all this time the
boat was paddling steadily out to sea and away from
the fight; and when at last the confusion cleared, the
drifting bank of black vapour intervened, and nothing
of the Thunder Child could be made out, nor could the
third Martian be seen. But the ironclads to seaward
were now quite close and standing in towards shore
past the steamboat.
The little vessel continued to beat its way seaward, and
the ironclads receded slowly towards the coast, which
was hidden still by a marbled bank of vapour, part
steam, part black gas, eddying and combining in the
Opazili su kako se sablasni likovi, u svom povlačenju prema
obali, razdvajaju i dižu iz vode, a jedan je od njih podigao
generator Toplinske zrake, nalik na kameru. Držao ga je
uperena nakrivo prema dolje, a na njegov je dodir iz vode
iskočio čitav prag pare. Zacijelo je kroz željezo brodskoga
boka prošla kao što kroz papir prolazi usijani žarač. Kroz
paru što se dizala zapalucao je plamen, a onda se
Marsijanac zaljuljao i posrnuo. Sljedećeg je trenutka već bio
posječen, a uvis se digla silna masa vode i pare. Kroz silna
su se isparavanja oglasili topovi Djeteta groma, paleći
jedan za drugim, i jedan je hitac pljusnuo u vodu opasno
blizu parobroda, rikošetirao prema ostalim brodovima u
bijegu, koji su plovili na sjeveru, pa u triješće usitnio
ribarsku barku.
Nitko za to, međutim, nije baš jako mario. Pri pogledu na
Marsijančev pad, kapetan je na mostu neartikulirano
zaurlao, a svi su putnici, zbijeni na krmi, u glas zaklicali. A
to zato, što je s druge strane bijelog urnebesa izletjelo nešto
dugo i crno, čemu su iz sredine tekli plamenovi, a
ventilatori i dimnjaci bljuvali vatru.
Još je bio živ; kormilarski je stroj, po svemu sudeći, ostao
netaknut, a i strojevi su još bili u pogonu. Krenuo je ravno
na drugog Marsijanca, i prišao mu na niti stotinu jardi, kad
je Toplinska zraka napokon pronašla svoj cilj. I tada su mu,
s divljim muklim treskom i zasljepljujućim bljeskom, i
palube i dimnjaci poskočili naprijed. Marsijanac je zateturao
od siline eksplozije, i sljedećeg je trenutka zapaljena
olupina, i dalje srljajući naprijed impetusom svog
napredovanja, udarila u nj i zgužvala ga kao da je od
kartona. Moj brat je i protiv volje uskliknuo. Uskuhali je
urnebes pare ponovno sve sakrio.
“Dva!” zaderao se kapetan.
Svi su vikali. Čitav je parobrod od pramca do krme zvonio
od frenetičnog klicanja, a njemu se ubrzo pridružio jedan, a
potom i svi ostali zbijeni brodovi i brodice što su se tiskali
prema pučini. Para je nad vodom ostala visjeti još mnogo
minuta, sasvim skrivajući i trećeg Marsijanca i obalu. A sve
je to vrijeme brod uporno veslao prema pučini, udaljujući se
od boja; a kad se napokon zbrka pročistila, upleo se vjetrom
nošeni prag crne pare, te se od Djeteta groma više nije dalo
razabrati ništa, baš kao što se više nije vidio ni treći
Marsijanac. Oklopnjače s morske strane bile su,
međutim, sad već sasvim blizu i stajale su okrenute obali,
dok je kraj njih prolazio parobrod.
Maleno se plovilo nastavilo praćakati probijajući se prema
otvorenomu moru, pa su se oklopnjače polako odmicale
prema obali, koju je i dalje skrivao marmorirani prag pare,
sazdan dijelom od vodene pare, dijelom od crnoga plina,
strangest way. The fleet of refugees was scattering to
the northeast; several smacks were sailing between the
ironclads and the steamboat. After a time, and before
they reached the sinking cloud bank, the warships
turned northward, and then abruptly went about and
passed into the thickening haze of evening southward.
The coast grew faint, and at last indistinguishable amid
the low banks of clouds that were gathering about the
sinking sun.
Then suddenly out of the golden haze of the sunset
came the vibration of guns, and a form of black
shadows moving. Everyone struggled to the rail of the
steamer and peered into the blinding furnace of the
west, but nothing was to be distinguished clearly. A
mass of smoke rose slanting and barred the face of the
sun. The steamboat throbbed on its way through an
interminable suspense.
The sun sank into grey clouds, the sky flushed and
darkened, the evening star trembled into sight. It was
deep twilight when the captain cried out and pointed.
My brother strained his eyes. Something rushed up into
the sky out of the greyness--rushed slantingly upward
and very swiftly into the luminous clearness above the
clouds in the western sky; something flat and broad,
and very large, that swept round in a vast curve, grew
smaller, sank slowly, and vanished again into the grey
mystery of the night. And as it flew it rained down
darkness upon the land.
BOOK TWO
THE EARTH UNDER THE MARTIANS
CHAPTER ONE
UNDER FOOT
In the first book I have wandered so much from my
own adventures to tell of the experiences of my brother
that all through the last two chapters I and the curate
have been lurking in the empty house at Halliford
whither we fled to escape the Black Smoke. There I
will resume. We stopped there all Sunday night and all
the next day--the day of the panic--in a little island of
daylight, cut off by the Black Smoke from the rest of
the world. We could do nothing but wait in aching
inactivity during those two weary days.
My mind was occupied by anxiety for my wife. I
figured her at Leatherhead, terrified, in danger,
mourning me already as a dead man. I paced the rooms
and cried aloud when I thought of how I was cut off
from her, of all that might happen to her in my absence.
koji su nadirali i miješali se na najčudniji način. Flota se
bjegunaca raštrkala na sjeveroistoku; između oklopnjača i
parobroda plovilo je nekoliko ribarskih barki. Nakon nekog
vremena, i prije nego što su stigli do praga oblaka što se
polako slijegao, ratni su se brodovi okrenuli na sjever, a
onda su naglo skrenuli i zašli u sve gušću
večernju izmaglicu na jugu. Obala je izblijedjela, da bi na
koncu postala neprepoznatljiva između niskih pragova
oblaka što su se skupljali oko Sunca na zalasku.
A onda su najednom, iz zlatne sumaglice Sunčeva zalaska,
doprle vibracije topova i pomicanje nekakvih crnih sjena.
Svi su se probili do ograde parobroda i zapiljili se u
zasljepljujuću peć na zapadu, no ništa se nije dalo jasno
razabrati. Masa se dima dizala koso i rešetkom zaklanjala
lice Sunca. Parobrod je bubao na svom putu kroz
beskonačnu napetost.
Sunce je potonulo u sive oblake, nebo je porumenilo i
potamnilo, a Večernjača im drhtavo izronila pred oči. Kad je
kapetan uskliknuo i pokazao prstom, već se bio spustio
duboki sumrak. Brat je napregnuo oči. Nešto je iz sivila
pojurilo u nebo - pojurilo ukoso i vrlo brzo u luminoznu
bistrinu nad oblacima na zapadnom nebu; nešto plosnato i
široko, i vrlo veliko, zakruživši u golemoj krivulji, pa se
smanjilo, i polako potonulo, da ponovno nestane u sivoj
misteriji noći. A dok je letjelo, iz njega je po zemlji kišila
tama.
KNJIGA DRUGA
ZEMLJA POD MARSIJANCIMA
GLAVA 1.
POD NOGOM
U prvoj sam knjizi bio toliko odlutao od svojih pustolovina,
eda bih ispričao doživljaje svojega brata, da smo se kapelan
i ja u dva posljednja poglavlja samo skrivali u onoj praznoj
kući u Hallifordu, u koju smo utekli pred Crnim dimom.
Ovdje, dakle, nastavljam. U toj smo kući ostali čitavu noć s
nedjelje na ponedjeljak i onda čitav sutrašnji dan - dan
panike - na sitnom otočiću Sunčeva svjetla, odsječeni Crnim
dimom od ostatka svijeta. Kroz ta smo dva umorna dana
mogli samo čekati u mučnoj neaktivnosti.
Meni su misli bile zaokupljene brigama o ženi. Zamišljao
sam je u Leatherheadu, užasnutu, u opasnosti, kako me već
oplakuje kao pokojnika. Kad bih samo pomislio kako sam
odsječen od nje, i na sve ono što joj se bez mene moglo
dogoditi, ushodao bih se sobama i glasno zaplakao. Znao
My cousin I knew was brave enough for any
emergency, but he was not the sort of man to realise
danger quickly, to rise promptly. What was needed now
was not bravery, but circumspection. My only
consolation was to believe that the Martians were
moving London-ward and away from her. Such vague
anxieties keep the mind sensitive and painful. I grew
very weary and irritable with the curate's perpetual
ejaculations; I tired of the sight of his selfish despair.
After some ineffectual remonstrance I kept away from
him, staying in a room--evidently a children's
schoolroom--containing globes, forms, and copybooks.
When he followed me thither, I went to a box room at
the top of the house and, in order to be alone with my
aching miseries, locked myself in.
We were hopelessly hemmed in by the Black Smoke all
that day and the morning of the next. There were signs
of people in the next house on Sunday evening--a face
at a window and moving lights, and later the slamming
of a door. But I do not know who these people were,
nor what became of them. We saw nothing of them
next day. The Black Smoke drifted slowly riverward all
through Monday morning, creeping nearer and nearer
to us, driving at last along the roadway outside the
house that hid us.
A Martian came across the fields about midday, laying
the stuff with a jet of superheated steam that hissed
against the walls, smashed all the windows it touched,
and scalded the curate's hand as he fled out of the front
room. When at last we crept across the sodden rooms
and looked out again, the country northward was as
though a black snowstorm had passed over it. Looking
towards the river, we were astonished to see an
unaccountable redness mingling with the black of the
scorched meadows.
For a time we did not see how this change affected our
position, save that we were relieved of our fear of the
Black Smoke. But later I perceived that we were no
longer hemmed in, that now we might get away. So
soon as I realised that the way of escape was open, my
dream of action returned. But the curate was lethargic,
unreasonable.
"We are safe here," he repeated; "safe here."
I resolved to leave him--would that I had! Wiser now
for the artilleryman's teaching, I sought out food and
drink. I had found oil and rags for my burns, and I also
took a hat and a flannel shirt that I found in one of the
bedrooms. When it was clear to him that I meant to go
alone--had reconciled myself to going alone--he
suddenly roused himself to come. And all being quiet
throughout the afternoon, we started about five o'clock,
as I should judge, along the blackened road to Sunbury.
In Sunbury, and at intervals along the road, were dead
bodies lying in contorted attitudes, horses as well as
sam da je moj rođak dovoljno hrabar da odoli svakoj
neprilici, ali on nije bio od onih koji brzo opažaju opasnost i
hitro reagiraju. A u ovoj se zgodi nije tražila hrabrost, već
promišljenost. Jedina mi je utjeha bilo vjerovanje da se
Marsijanci kreću prema Londonu i sve se više udaljavaju od
nje. Takve neodređene tjeskobe održavaju um u osjetljivom
i bolnom stanju. Mene su već izmučili i iziritirali kapelanovi
stalni usklici; umorio me pogled na njegovo sebično
očajavanje. Nakon nekoliko jalovih prosvjeda počeo sam se
držati podalje od njega, te ostao u svojoj sobi - očito
učionici za djecu - u kojoj su bili globusi, klupe i bilježnice.
Kad je on pošao za mnom i ovamo, otišao sam u ostavu na
vrhu kuće pa se, da ostanem sam sa svojim mučnim jadima,
u njoj i zaključao.
Nas je pak Crni dim beznadno opkolio, i tako nas držao
čitav taj dan i sutrašnje jutro. U nedjelju uvečer u susjednoj
su se kući osjetili znakovi života - na prozoru bi se pojavilo
lice, ili bi se počela micati svjetla, a kasnije se i čulo da su
se zalupila vrata. Ipak nisam znao ni tko su ti ljudi ni što je s
njima. Sutradan od njih nismo vidjeli ništa. Čitav je
ponedjeljak ujutro vjetar polako nosio Crni dim prema
rijeci, pa nam je puzeći sve više prilazio, da bi napokon
potekao cestom kraj kuće koja nas je skrivala.
Oko podneva preko polja je stigao Marsijanac, metući dim
mlazom pregrijane pare koja je pištala udarajući o zidove,
razbijala sve prozore kojih bi se dotakla, te napokon
kapelanu, dok je bježao iz prednje sobe, opržila ruku. Kad
smo na koncu dopuzali kroz promočene sobe i opet
pogledali kroz prozor, učinilo nam se da je preko ladanja na
sjeveru prešla crna snježna mećava. Kad smo pogledali
prema rijeci, zapanjeno smo opazili kako se
nekakvo neobjašnjivo rumenilo miješa s crninom oprljenih
livada.
Neko vrijeme nam nije bilo jasno što ta promjena znači za
naš položaj, osim što nas je oslobodila straha od Crnog
dima. Kasnije sam ipak opazio da više nismo odsječeni, te
da bismo mogli pobjeći. Čim sam shvatio da nam se opet
otvorio izlaz, smjesta mi se vratio san o djelovanju. Kapelan
je, međutim, bio letargičan i nije se dao razlogu.
“Tu smo na sigurnom,” ponavljao je, “na sigurnom.”
Odlučio sam ga ostaviti - i da sam to bar učinio! Mudriji za
pouku koju mi je dao onaj topnik, potražio sam hranu i
piće. Pronašao sam ulje i krpe za svoje opekline, a uzeo sam
i šešir te flanelsku košulju što sam ih našao u jednoj
spavaonici. Kad je njemu postalo jasno da kanim otići sam -
kad sam se napokon pomirio s tom mišlju - najednom se i
on uspio natjerati da i krene. A kako je čitavo popodne
vladao mir, napokon smo - koliko mogu procijeniti - oko pet
sati i krenuli, pa pocrnjelom cestom pošli prema Sunburyju.
A u Sunburyju, kao i u razmacima uz cestu, ležala su
skovrljena trupla, kako ljudi tako i konja, prevrnute karuce i
men, overturned carts and luggage, all covered thickly
with black dust. That pall of cindery powder made me
think of what I had read of the destruction of Pompeii.
We got to Hampton Court without misadventure, our
minds full of strange and unfamiliar appearances, and
at Hampton Court our eyes were relieved to find a
patch of green that had escaped the suffocating drift.
We went through Bushey Park, with its deer going to
and fro under the chestnuts, and some men and women
hurrying in the distance towards Hampton, and so we
came to Twickenham. These were the first people we
saw.
Away across the road the woods beyond Ham and
Petersham were still afire. Twickenham was uninjured
by either Heat-Ray or Black Smoke, and there were
more people about here, though none could give us
news. For the most part they were like ourselves,
taking advantage of a lull to shift their quarters. I have
an impression that many of the houses here were still
occupied by scared inhabitants, too frightened even for
flight. Here too the evidence of a hasty rout was
abundant along the road. I remember most vividly three
smashed bicycles in a heap, pounded into the road by
the wheels of subsequent carts. We crossed Richmond
Bridge about half past eight. We hurried across the
exposed bridge, of course, but I noticed floating down
the stream a number of red masses, some many feet
across. I did not know what these were--there was no
time for scrutiny--and I put a more horrible
interpretation on them than they deserved. Here again
on the Surrey side were black dust that had once been
smoke, and dead bodies--a heap near the approach to
the station; but we had no glimpse of the Martians until
we were some way towards Barnes.
We saw in the blackened distance a group of three
people running down a side street towards the river, but
otherwise it seemed deserted. Up the hill Richmond
town was burning briskly; outside the town of
Richmond there was no trace of the Black Smoke.
Then suddenly, as we approached Kew, came a number
of people running, and the upperworks of a Martian
fighting-machine loomed in sight over the housetops,
not a hundred yards away from us. We stood aghast at
our danger, and had the Martian looked down we must
immediately have perished. We were so terrified that
we dared not go on, but turned aside and hid in a shed
in a garden.
There the curate crouched, weeping silently, and
refusing to stir again.
But my fixed idea of reaching Leatherhead would not
let me rest, and in the twilight I ventured out again. I
went through a shrubbery, and along a passage beside a
big house standing in its own grounds, and so emerged
upon the road towards Kew. The curate I left in the
prtljaga, i sve je to bilo prekriveno debelim slojem crne
prašine. Taj mrtvački pokrov od praškastog pepela pobudio
je u meni misli na sve što sam pročitao o propasti Pompeja.
Bez nezgoda smo stigli do Hampton Courta, a misli su nam
bile pune čudnih i nepoznatih utvara, da bi nam u Hampton
Courtu oči s olakšanjem otkrile krpicu zelenila koja je
uspjela izbjeći zagušljivu strujanju. Prošli smo kroz Bushey
Park, u kojem je pod kestenovima šetao jelen, a u daljini
smo ugledali i nekoliko muškaraca i žena kako hitaju prema
Hamptonu, pa smo tako stigli i u Twickenham. I tu
smo ugledali prve ljude. A s druge strane ceste šuma je iza
Hama i Petershama i dalje gorjela.
Twickenham nije poharala ni Toplinska zraka ni Crni dim, i
u njemu je bilo više ljudi, no nitko nam od njih nije znao
reći novosti. Većinom su to bili ljudi poput nas, kojima je
zatišje poslužilo da promijene boravište. Stekao sam dojam
da u mnogim kućama još žive njihovi isprepadani stanari,
preustrašeni da bi se odvažili makar i za bijeg. I ovdje smo
duž ceste nailazili na obilje dokaza brzoga rasula. Vrlo se
živo sjećam tri razbijena bicikla na hrpi, koje su kotači kola
iza njih doslovce zabili u cestu. Oko osam i pol smo prešli
preko Richmond Bridgea. Naravno da smo preko tog
nezaštićenog mosta prešli žurno, no ipak sam stigao
opaziti kako voda nosi mnoštvo crvenih gvalja, od kojih su
mnoge imale promjer i od mnogo stopa. Ja, dakako, nisam
znao što je to - a nije bilo vremena za pomno razgledavanje
- pa sam ih protumačio i jezovitije no što su to stvarno
zaslužile. I ovdje je nad krajem prema Surreyju visjela crna
prašina, ostatak negdašnjeg dima, a tu su ležala i trupla -
hrpa njih na prilazu kolodvoru; ipak od Marsijanaca, sve
dok nismo nešto odmakli prema Barnesu, nije bilo
ni spomena.
U zacrnjenoj smo daljini ugledali troje ljudi kako postranom
ulicom bježe prema rijeci, no osim njih u vodi naizgled nije
bilo nikoga. Uzbrdo od njih žustro je gorio gradić
Richmond; izvan njega od Crnoga dima nije bilo ni traga. A
onda, najednom, dok smo prilazili Kewu, do nas je dotrčalo
mnoštvo ljudi, a iznad krovova pred oči nam se digao gornji
dio marsijanskog bojnog stroja, i to niti stotinu jardi daleko.
Zastali smo skamenjeni pred opasnošću na koju smo
naletjeli, i da je Marsijanac samo spustio pogled, tu bismo
nedvojbeno i poginuli. Toliko smo se prepali da se nismo
usudili dalje, nego smo skrenuli i sakrili se u vrtnu šupu.
Tu se kapelan skutrio, bezglasno zaplakao i odbio da dalje
napravi i korak.
Meni, međutim, nije davala mira moja fiks-ideja da moram
stići u Leatherhead, pa sam se u sumrak ponovno odvažio
na put. Prošao sam kroz grmlje, pa kroz prolaz kraj velike
kuće na odvojenoj parceli, i tako izbio na cestu za Kew.
Kapelana sam ostavio u šupi, ali me je on žurno dostigao.
shed, but he came hurrying after me.
That second start was the most foolhardy thing I ever
did. For it was manifest the Martians were about us. No
sooner had the curate overtaken me than we saw either
the fighting-machine we had seen before or another, far
away across the meadows in the direction of Kew
Lodge. Four or five little black figures hurried before it
across the green-grey of the field, and in a moment it
was evident this Martian pursued them. In three strides
he was among them, and they ran radiating from his
feet in all directions. He used no Heat-Ray to destroy
them, but picked them up one by one. Apparently he
tossed them into the great metallic carrier which
projected behind him, much as a workman's basket
hangs over his shoulder.
It was the first time I realised that the Martians might
have any other purpose than destruction with defeated
humanity. We stood for a moment petrified, then turned
and fled through a gate behind us into a walled garden,
fell into, rather than found, a fortunate ditch, and lay
there, scarce daring to whisper to each other until the
stars were out.
I suppose it was nearly eleven o'clock before we
gathered courage to start again, no longer venturing
into the road, but sneaking along hedgerows and
through plantations, and watching keenly through the
darkness, he on the right and I on the left, for the
Martians, who seemed to be all about us. In one place
we blundered upon a scorched and blackened area, now
cooling and ashen, and a number of scattered dead
bodies of men, burned horribly about the heads and
trunks but with their legs and boots mostly intact; and
of dead horses, fifty feet, perhaps, behind a line of four
ripped guns and smashed gun carriages.
Sheen, it seemed, had escaped destruction, but the
place was silent and deserted. Here we happened on no
dead, though the night was too dark for us to see into
the side roads of the place. In Sheen my companion
suddenly complained of faintness and thirst, and we
decided to try one of the houses.
The first house we entered, after a little difficulty with
the window, was a small semi-detached villa, and I
found nothing eatable left in the place but some
mouldy cheese. There was, however, water to drink;
and I took a hatchet, which promised to be useful in our
next house-breaking.
We then crossed to a place where the road turns
towards Mortlake. Here there stood a white house
within a walled garden, and in the pantry of this
domicile we found a store of food--two loaves of bread
in a pan, an uncooked steak, and the half of a ham. I
give this catalogue so precisely because, as it
Taj drugi polazak bio je nešto najvratolomnije što sam
učinio u životu. Bilo je naime očito da su Marsijanci
posvuda oko nas. Čim me je kapelan dostigao, ugledali smo
bojni stroj, onaj prijašnji ili neki drugi, i to daleko preko
livada, prema Kew Lodgeu. Pred njim je, preko
sivkastozelenog polja, bježalo četvero-petero prilika, i u
trenutku je postalo jasno da im je Marsijanac za petama.
U tri se koraka našao među njima, i oni su sad, pred
njegovim nogama, bježali na sve strane. On ih nije uništio
Toplinskom zrakom, nego ih je hvatao sve jednog po
jednog. Očito ih je bacao u veliku metalnu naprtnjaču što
mu je virila iza leđa, a koju je nosio kao seljanka košaru.
Tada mi je prvi put palo na um da bi Marsijanci poraženom
čovječanstvu mogli, osim uništenja, namijeniti i neku drugu
sudbinu. Na trenutak smo ostali kao skamenjeni, a onda
smo se okrenuli i potrčali kroz vrtna vrata iza nas u vrt
ograđen zidom, pa nismo potražili jarak, nego smo u nj
sretnim slučajem upali, i tako ostali ležati, jedva se
usuđujući prozboriti i šaptom sve dok na nebu nisu izbile
zvijezde.
Pretpostavljam da je, kad smo napokon skupili hrabrosti da
krenemo dalje, bilo već gotovo jedanaest sati, no ovog se
puta nismo odvažili izaći na cestu, nego smo se počeli
provlačiti duž živica i kroz nasade, i prodorno zuriti kroz
tamu, i to on desno a ja lijevo, da nas ne bi iznenadili
Marsijanci kojima smo, po svemu sudeći, bili okruženi sa
svih strana. Na jednom smo mjestu nabasali na spaljeno i
pocrnjelo zemljište, sad već dobrano ohlađeno i posuto
pepelom, a na njemu i na mnoštvo razbacanih
muških lešina. Glave i trupovi bili su im jezivo spaljeni, ali
su im zato noge i čizme ostale uglavnom netaknute, a bilo je
tu i mrtvih konja, i to možda pedeset stopa iza linije od
četiri razbijena topa i njihovih smrskanih lafeta.
Sheen je, po svemu sudeći, izbjegao uništenju, ali je mjesto
bilo nijemo i napušteno. Tu nismo naišli ni na jednog
mrtvaca, iako moram upozoriti da je noć bila tako mračna
da nismo mogli vidjeti što kriju sporedne ulice. U Sheenu se
moj suputnik najednom počeo žaliti na vrtoglavicu i žeđ, pa
smo odlučili zaviriti u neku od kuća.
Prva u koju smo ušli, nakon malo prtljanja oko prozora, bila
je mala i dvojno građena vila, i u njoj sam od jestvina našao
samo nekakav pljesnivi sir. U njoj je, međutim, bilo bar
vode za piće; a osim toga sam uzeo i sjekiricu koja je
obećavala pomoć pri sljedećoj provali.
Potom smo stigli do mjesta gdje cesta skreće prema
Mortlakeu. Tu je u obzidanom vrtu stajala bijela kuća, a u
ostavi smo tog prebivališta pronašli zalihu hrane - dva
hljeba u zdjeli, komad sirove govedine te pola šunke. Taj
katalog prenosim tako precizno zašto što će nam sudbina
odrediti da na toj zalihi proživimo sljedećih četrnaest dana.
happened, we were destined to subsist upon this store
for the next fortnight. Bottled beer stood under a shelf,
and there were two bags of haricot beans and some
limp lettuces. This pantry opened into a kind of wash-
up kitchen, and in this was firewood; there was also a
cupboard, in which we found nearly a dozen of
burgundy, tinned soups and salmon, and two tins of
biscuits.
We sat in the adjacent kitchen in the dark--for we dared
not strike a light--and ate bread and ham, and drank
beer out of the same bottle. The curate, who was still
timorous and restless, was now, oddly enough, for
pushing on, and I was urging him to keep up his
strength by eating when the thing happened that was to
imprison us.
"It can't be midnight yet," I said, and then came a
blinding glare of vivid green light. Everything in the
kitchen leaped out, clearly visible in green and black,
and vanished again. And then followed such a
concussion as I have never heard before or since. So
close on the heels of this as to seem instantaneous came
a thud behind me, a clash of glass, a crash and rattle of
falling masonry all about us, and the plaster of the
ceiling came down upon us, smashing into a multitude
of fragments upon our heads. I was knocked headlong
across the floor against the oven handle and stunned. I
was insensible for a long time, the curate told me, and
when I came to we were in darkness again, and he,
with a face wet, as I found afterwards, with blood from
a cut forehead, was dabbing water over me.
For some time I could not recollect what had happened.
Then things came to me slowly. A bruise on my temple
asserted itself.
"Are you better?" asked the curate in a whisper.
At last I answered him. I sat up.
"Don't move," he said. "The floor is covered with
smashed crockery from the dresser. You can't possibly
move without making a noise, and I fancy they are
outside."
We both sat quite silent, so that we could scarcely hear
each other breathing. Everything seemed deadly still,
but once something near us, some plaster or broken
brickwork, slid down with a rumbling sound. Outside
and very near was an intermittent, metallic rattle.
"That!" said the curate, when presently it happened
again.
"Yes," I said. "But what is it?"
"A Martian!" said the curate.
I listened again.
"It was not like the Heat-Ray," I said, and for a time I
was inclined to think one of the great fighting-
machines had stumbled against the house, as I had seen
one stumble against the tower of Shepperton Church.
Pod policom su stajale boce piva, a tu su bile i dvije vreće
bijeloga graha i malo uvele salate. Iz ostave se ulazilo u
svojevrsnu sudopernicu, i u njoj je stajalo ogrjevno drvo; u
njoj je bio i kredenac, i u njemu smo našli gotovo tucet boca
burgundca, limenke s juhom i lososom, kao i dvije limenke
dvopeka.
Sjeli smo zatim u susjednu kuhinju, u mraku - jer se nismo
usudili upaliti svjetlo - pa pojeli kruh i šunku, te popili pivo
iz zajedničke boce. Kapelan, koji je i dalje bio sav ustrašen i
nemiran, sad je - što je doista neobično - bio sav za to da
nastavimo, i sad sam ga morao tjerati da se okrijepi jelom,
kad su nas već okolnosti učinile zarobljenicima.
“Neće još biti ni ponoć”, rekoh, i tada se pojavio
zasljepljujući bljesak živog zelenog svjetla. Najednom je
sve u kuhinji iskočilo iz mraka, jasno vidljivo kao zeleno i
crno, da bi smjesta potom ponovno iščezlo. A potom je
uslijedio prasak kakav nisam čuo ni prije ni poslije toga. A
njemu odmah za petama, tako blizu da se učinilo da su se
dogodili istodobno, uslijedio je tresak iza mene, prasak
stakla, lomljava i tutnjava srušenoga zida posvuda oko
nas, što nam se u lavini krhotina stuštio na glavu. Mene je
eksplozija prostrla po podu, bacila na ručicu pećnice i
onesvijestila. Kasnije mi je kapelan rekao da sam dugo
ostao tako bez svijesti, a kad mi se vratila, oko nas je opet
bila tama, a on me je - lica mokra od, kako ću kasnije
otkriti, krvi iz rasječena čela - vlažio vodom po tijelu.
Neko se vrijeme nisam mogao sjetiti što se dogodilo. A
onda su mi se slike počele polako vraćati. Javila se i
masnica na sljepoočnici.
“Je li vam bolje?” upitao me kapelan šaptom.
Napokon sam mu odgovorio. I uspravio se.
“Nemojte se micati”, rekao mi je on. “Pod je prekriven
razbijenim porculanom iz kredenca. Ne vjerujem da se
možete pomaknuti nečujno, a čini mi se da su vani oni.”
Obojica smo sjedili sasvim tiho, i jedva da smo jedan
drugom čuli i disanje. Sve je bilo smrtno nijemo, no
najednom je nešto kraj nas, malo žbuke ili smrskanih cigli,
skliznulo uz tutanj. Vani se, i to vrlo blizu, začuo isprekidan,
metalni štropot.
“Evo!” rekao je kapelan kad se to uskoro ponovilo.
“Da”, rekoh. “Ali što je to?”
“Marsijanac!” odvratio je kapelan.
Ponovno sam osluhnuo.
“To mi ne zvuči kao Toplinska zraka”, rekoh, pa sam neko
vrijeme bio sklon povjerovati da se to koji od tih
silnih bojnih strojeva spotaknuo o kuću, baš kao
onda kad sam jednoga od njih vidio da se spotaknuo
o zvonik crkve u Sheppertonu.
Our situation was so strange and incomprehensible that Prilika u kojoj smo se našli bila je tako neobična i
for three or four hours, until the dawn came, we neshvatljiva da smo se za tri do četiri sata, koliko je
scarcely moved. And then the light filtered in, not trebalo pričekati da svane zora, jedva i pomakli. A
through the window, which remained black, but onda se počelo cijediti svjetlo, ali ne kroz prozor,
through a triangular aperture between a beam and a koji je ostao crn, nego kroz trokutasti otvor između
heap of broken bricks in the wall behind us. The grede i hrpe slomljenih opeka u zidu iza nas. Sad
interior of the kitchen we now saw greyly for the first smo po prvi put, u sivkastom svjetlu, ugledali
time. unutrašnjost kuhinje.
The window had been burst in by a mass of garden Prozor je prsnuo utisnut masom vrtnog humusa koji se
mould, which flowed over the table upon which we had razlio po stolu za kojim smo bili sjedili, a ležao nam
been sitting and lay about our feet. Outside, the soil je i posvuda oko nogu. Vani se zemlja podigla
was banked high against the house. At the top of the visoko uz kuću. Na vrhu smo prozorskog okvira
window frame we could see an uprooted drainpipe. The ugledali iščupani oluk. Pod je bio posijan
floor was littered with smashed hardware; the end of razbijenim suđem; kraj kuhinje okrenut prema kući
the kitchen towards the house was broken into, and bio je provaljen, a kako je svjetlo dolazilo baš
since the daylight shone in there, it was evident the otamo, postalo je jasno da se najveći dio kuće srušio.
greater part of the house had collapsed. Contrasting U oštrom je kontrastu sa svim tim ruševinama
vividly with this ruin was the neat dresser, stained in stajao uredni kredenc, obojan po modi, to jest u
the fashion, pale green, and with a number of copper blijedozelenu, a ispod njega je visjelo mnogobrojno
and tin vessels below it, the wallpaper imitating blue bakreno i pokositreno suđe, i to na pozadini papirnih
and white tiles, and a couple of coloured supplements tapeta u imitaciji modrih i bijelih pločica, baš kao i
fluttering from the walls above the kitchen range. par pomoćnih kuhinjskih ormarića što su lepršali na
zidovima iznad kuhinjskog štednjaka.
As the dawn grew clearer, we saw through the gap in Kad se zora još malo razbistrila, kroz pukotinu smo u zidu
the wall the body of a Martian, standing sentinel, I gledali tijelo Marsijanca, kako - pretpostavio sam - drži
suppose, over the still glowing cylinder. At the sight of stražu kraj još usijanog valjka. Pri pogledu na taj prizor
that we crawled as circumspectly as possible out of the ispuzali smo što smo obazrivije mogli iz sumraka kuhinje u
twilight of the kitchen into the darkness of the scullery. mrak ostave.
Abruptly the right interpretation dawned upon my Najednom mi je u glavi prosinulo pravo objašnjenje.
mind.
"The fifth cylinder," I whispered, "the fifth shot from “Peti valjak”, prošaptao sam. “Peti hitac ispaljen s Marsa,
Mars, has struck this house and buried us under the udario je u kuću i pokopao nas pod ruševinama!”
ruins!"
For a time the curate was silent, and then he whispered: Kapelan je trenutak šutio, pa mi odgovorio šaptom: “Neka
"God have mercy upon us!" I heard him presently nam se Bog smiluje!” I odmah sam ga zatim začuo kako
whimpering to himself. jeca sebi u bradu.
Save for that sound we lay quite still in the scullery; I Izuzmemo li taj kratki razgovor, u ostavi smo ležali sasvim
for my part scarce dared breathe, and sat with my eyes mirno; ja sam se jedva usuđivao i disati, i samo sam sjedio
fixed on the faint light of the kitchen door. I could just zapiljen u slabašno svjetlo na kuhinjskom podu. Jedva sam
see the curate's face, a dim, oval shape, and his collar razabirao kapelanovo lice, taj sumračni, ovalni lik, kao i
and cuffs. Outside there began a metallic hammering, ovratnik i manžete. Vani je počelo metalno čekićanje, zatim
then a violent hooting, and then again, after a quiet se začulo divlje trubljenje, pa potom opet, nakon mirnog
interval, a hissing like the hissing of an engine. These intervala, pištanje nalik pištanju lokomotive. Ti su se
noises, for the most part problematical, continued zvukovi, po svojoj naravi uglavnom problematični, nastavili
intermittently, and seemed if anything to increase in s prekidima, a kako je vrijeme protjecalo, možda su se i
number as time wore on. Presently a measured umnožavali. Zatim je opet počelo i nastavilo se
thudding and a vibration that made everything about us odmjereno bubanje i vibriranje, od čega je sve oko nas
quiver and the vessels in the pantry ring and shift, počelo podrhtavati, a suđe u ostavi odzvanjati i micati se.
began and continued. Once the light was eclipsed, and Jednom je svjetlo i sasvim pomrčalo, pa su sablasna
the ghostly kitchen doorway became absolutely dark. kuhinjska vrata apsolutno potamnjela. Zacijelo smo se tako
For many hours we must have crouched there, silent kutrili mnoge sate, nijemi i uzdrhtali, sve dok nas nije izdala
and shivering, until our tired attention failed. . . . izmorena pažnja ...
At last I found myself awake and very hungry. I am Napokon sam otkrio da sam budan i silno gladan. Sklon
inclined to believe we must have spent the greater sam povjerovati da je prije tog buđenja protekao veći dio
portion of a day before that awakening. My hunger was
at a stride so insistent that it moved me to action. I told
the curate I was going to seek food, and felt my way
towards the pantry. He made me no answer, but so soon
as I began eating the faint noise I made stirred him up
and I heard him crawling after me.
CHAPTER TWO
WHAT WE SAW FROM THE RUINED HOUSE
After eating we crept back to the scullery, and there I
must have dozed again, for when presently I looked
round I was alone. The thudding vibration continued
with wearisome persistence. I whispered for the curate
several times, and at last felt my way to the door of the
kitchen. It was still daylight, and I perceived him
across the room, lying against the triangular hole that
looked out upon the Martians. His shoulders were
hunched, so that his head was hidden from me.
I could hear a number of noises almost like those in an
engine shed; and the place rocked with that beating
thud. Through the aperture in the wall I could see the
top of a tree touched with gold and the warm blue of a
tranquil evening sky. For a minute or so I remained
watching the curate, and then I advanced, crouching
and stepping with extreme care amid the broken
crockery that littered the floor.
I touched the curate's leg, and he started so violently
that a mass of plaster went sliding down outside and
fell with a loud impact. I gripped his arm, fearing he
might cry out, and for a long time we crouched
motionless. Then I turned to see how much of our
rampart remained. The detachment of the plaster had
left a vertical slit open in the debris, and by raising
myself cautiously across a beam I was able to see out
of this gap into what had been overnight a quiet
suburban roadway. Vast, indeed, was the change that
we beheld.
The fifth cylinder must have fallen right into the midst
of the house we had first visited. The building had
vanished, completely smashed, pulverised, and
dispersed by the blow. The cylinder lay now far
beneath the original foundations--deep in a hole,
already vastly larger than the pit I had looked into at
Woking. The earth all round it had splashed under that
tremendous impact--"splashed" is the only word--and
lay in heaped piles that hid the masses of the adjacent
houses. It had behaved exactly like mud under the
violent blow of a hammer. Our house had collapsed
backward; the front portion, even on the ground floor,
had been destroyed completely; by a chance the kitchen
and scullery had escaped, and stood buried now under
soil and ruins, closed in by tons of earth on every side
dana. Moja je glad koračala korakom tako žustrim da me je
prisilila da nešto poduzmem. Rekao sam kapelanu da idem
potražiti nešto za jelo, pa sam pipajući pošao prema
smočnici. On na to nije odgovorio, ali čim sam se prihvatio
jela, tihani zvuk što sam ga proizveo pokrenuo je i njega, pa
sam ga čuo kako je zapuzao za mnom.
GLAVA 2.
ŠTO SMO VIDJELI IZ SRUŠENE KUĆE
Kad smo se najeli, puzeći smo se vratili u ostavu, i tu sam
zacijelo opet zaspao, jer kad sam se osvrnuo oko sebe,
opazio sam da sam ostao sam. Ono se bubanje i vibriranje
nastavljalo sa zamornom upornošću. Šaptom sam nekoliko
puta zazvao kapelana, te napokon pipajući krenuo prema
kuhinji. Još je bio dan, pa sam ga opazio na drugoj strani
prostorije, kako leži uz trokutastu rupu kroz koju su se
vidjeli Marsijanci. Ramena su mu bila zgrbljena, tako da mu
nisam vidio glavu.
Čuo sam svakovrsnu buku, gotovo kao u strojovođinoj
kućici, a čitava se kuća tresla od silovita bubanja. Kroz
otvor sam u zidu opazio krošnju tek dotaknutu zlatom i
toplom modrinom spokojnog večernjeg neba. Tako sam
ostao možda minutu, zagledan u kapelana, a onda sam
krenuo, pognut i stajući krajnje brižljivo sred
slupane keramike kojom je bio posut pod.
Dotakao sam mu nogu, i on se prenuo tako silovito da je
vani kliznula masa žbuke i srušila se s glasnim treskom.
Čvrsto sam ga stisnuo za mišicu, plašeći se da bi mogao
kriknuti, i tako smo dugo ostali nepomično čučati. Onda
sam se okrenuo da vidim koliko je još ostalo od našeg
prsobrana. To odlamanje žbuke ostavilo je u ruševini okomit
prorez, pa sam se oprezno podigao preko grede i kroz taj se
procijep zagledao u nešto što je još jučer bila tiha prigradska
cesta. Golema, doista, bijaše promjena što nam se ukazala
pred očima.
Peti je valjak očito pao posred one kuće u koju smo prvu
svratili. Zgrade je nestalo, sasvim ju je slupalo, pretvorilo u
prah, nakon čega ju je raznio vjetar. Valjak je sad počivao
duboko ispod negdašnjih temelja, duboko u rupi, koja je već
bila silno veća od jame u koju sam povirio u Wokingu.
Strahovit je udarac posvuda ukrug nas raspljuskao zemlju -
“raspljuskati” je jedina riječ koja mi dolazi na um - koja je
sad ležala u nabacanim gomilama iza kojih su se krile mase
susjednih kuća. Zemlja se ponijela baš poput blata pod
silovitim udarcem malja. Naša se kuća srušila na
leđa; prednji joj je dio, sve do razine prizemlja, bio potpuno
uništen; toj su sudbini, sretnom igrom slučaja, izbjegli
smočnica i ostava, koje su ostale zatrpane pod zemljom i
ruševinama, zatvorene tonama zemlje sa svih strana osim s
one prema valjku. Pred tim smo prizorom mi sad visjeli, na
save towards the cylinder. Over that aspect we hung
now on the very edge of the great circular pit the
Martians were engaged in making. The heavy beating
sound was evidently just behind us, and ever and again
a bright green vapour drove up like a veil across our
peephole.
The cylinder was already opened in the centre of the
pit, and on the farther edge of the pit, amid the smashed
and gravel-heaped shrubbery, one of the great fighting-
machines, deserted by its occupant, stood stiff and tall
against the evening sky. At first I scarcely noticed the
pit and the cylinder, although it has been convenient to
describe them first, on account of the extraordinary
glittering mechanism I saw busy in the excavation, and
on account of the strange creatures that were crawling
slowly and painfully across the heaped mould near it.
The mechanism it certainly was that held my attention
first. It was one of those complicated fabrics that have
since been called handling-machines, and the study of
which has already given such an enormous impetus to
terrestrial invention. As it dawned upon me first, it
presented a sort of metallic spider with five jointed,
agile legs, and with an extraordinary number of jointed
levers, bars, and reaching and clutching tentacles about
its body. Most of its arms were retracted, but with three
long tentacles it was fishing out a number of rods,
plates, and bars which lined the covering and
apparently strengthened the walls of the cylinder.
These, as it extracted them, were lifted out and
deposited upon a level surface of earth behind it.
Its motion was so swift, complex, and perfect that at
first I did not see it as a machine, in spite of its metallic
glitter. The fighting-machines were coordinated and
animated to an extraordinary pitch, but nothing to
compare with this. People who have never seen these
structures, and have only the ill-imagined efforts of
artists or the imperfect descriptions of such eye-
witnesses as myself to go upon, scarcely realise that
living quality.
I recall particularly the illustration of one of the first
pamphlets to give a consecutive account of the war.
The artist had evidently made a hasty study of one of
the fighting-machines, and there his knowledge ended.
He presented them as tilted, stiff tripods, without either
flexibility or subtlety, and with an altogether
misleading monotony of effect. The pamphlet
containing these renderings had a considerable vogue,
and I mention them here simply to warn the reader
against the impression they may have created. They
were no more like the Martians I saw in action than a
Dutch doll is like a human being. To my mind, the
pamphlet would have been much better without them.
At first, I say, the handling-machine did not impress me
as a machine, but as a crablike creature with a glittering
samom rubu, velike kružne jame čijim su kopanjem bili
zauzeti Marsijanci. Oni su nam teški udarci očito dolazili s
leđa, a svako malo preko naše bi se špijunke,
poput koprene, digla rijetka, svijetlozelena para.
Valjak se u središtu jame već bio otvorio, a na drugom
njezinu rubu, usred smoždenoga grmlja, pokopan pod
hrpama šljunka, stajao je, krut i uspravan, jedan od silnih
bojnih strojeva, ocrtan na večernjem nebu. U prvi sam čas
jedva i opazio i jamu i valjak, iako mi je bilo zgodnije
najprije se posvetiti njihovu opisu, a zbog krajnje
neobičnog, sjajnog mehanizma, koji je marljivo kopao rupu,
kao i neobičnih kreatura što su puzale polako i s
naporom preko nabacanih humaka u njegovoj blizini.
Moje je zanimanje u prvi trenutak nedvojbeno prikovao baš
taj mehanizam. Bila je to jedna od onih složenih tvorevina
koje će dobiti ime manipulatora, a čije je izučavanje u
međuvremenu već dalo silan poticaj zemaljskom
novatorstvu. U prvi mi je čas bilo jasno samo da je riječ o
svojevrsnom metalnom pauku s pet povezanih, agilnih
nogu, kao i s velikim brojem povezanih poluga, motki te
pipaka za pružanje i hvatanje, a kojima mu je bilo okruženo
tijelo. Većina mu je udova bila uvučena, ali je zato s tri duga
pipka vadio mnoštvo cijevi, debelih limova i motki kojima
su bile prekrivene, očito kao ojačanjem, stijenke valjka. On
ih je vadio, dizao i polagao na ravnu površinu tla iza sebe.
Pokreti su mu bili tako brzi, složeni i savršeni da u prvi mah
u njemu i nisam vidio stroj, unatoč svem njegovu
kovinskom sjaju. Bojni su strojevi bili koordinirani i
animirani u doista iznimnoj mjeri, ali se ništa nije moglo
usporediti s ovim. Ljudi koji nikad nisu vidjeli te sprave, te
su pred očima imali samo nemaštovite prikaze umjetnika ili
nesavršene opise očevidaca poput mene, teško da mogu
shvatiti koliko je u njima bilo živahnosti.
Napose se sjećam ilustracija iz jedne od prvih brošura s
prikazom slijeda ratnih zbivanja. Umjetnik je očito na
brzinu izradio studiju bojnog stroja, i tu je bio kraj njegova
znanja. Prikazao ih je kao tronošce s krutim i nakošenim
nogama, bez imalo savitljivosti i profinjenosti, te tako
stvorio sve u svemu vrlo monoton dojam. Brošura u kojoj
su se pojavili ti crteži dospjela je prilično u modu, te stoga
ovdje moram upozoriti čitatelja da se ne pouzdaje u dojam
što ga je ona stvorila. Ona Marsijanca u boju ne prikazuju
ništa vjernije no što to nizozemska lutka čini s
čovjekom. Po mojemu bi mnijenju ta brošura bila mnogo
bolja da je izišla bez tih slika.
U prvi čas, kako rekoh, manipulator na mene i nije ostavio
dojam stroja, već prije nekakve račje kreature sa sjajnom
integument, the controlling Martian whose delicate
tentacles actuated its movements seeming to be simply
the equivalent of the crab's cerebral portion. But then I
perceived the resemblance of its grey-brown, shiny,
leathery integument to that of the other sprawling
bodies beyond, and the true nature of this dexterous
workman dawned upon me. With that realisation my
interest shifted to those other creatures, the real
Martians. Already I had had a transient impression of
these, and the first nausea no longer obscured my
observation. Moreover, I was concealed and
motionless, and under no urgency of action.
They were, I now saw, the most unearthly creatures it is
possible to conceive. They were huge round bodies--or,
rather, heads--about four feet in diameter, each body
having in front of it a face. This face had no nostrils--
indeed, the Martians do not seem to have had any sense
of smell, but it had a pair of very large dark-coloured
eyes, and just beneath this a kind of fleshy beak. In the
back of this head or body--I scarcely know how to
speak of it--was the single tight tympanic surface, since
known to be anatomically an ear, though it must have
been almost useless in our dense air. In a group round
the mouth were sixteen slender, almost whiplike
tentacles, arranged in two bunches of eight each. These
bunches have since been named rather aptly, by that
distinguished anatomist, Professor Howes, the hands.
Even as I saw these Martians for the first time they
seemed to be endeavouring to raise themselves on these
hands, but of course, with the increased weight of
terrestrial conditions, this was impossible. There is
reason to suppose that on Mars they may have
progressed upon them with some facility.
The internal anatomy, I may remark here, as dissection
has since shown, was almost equally simple. The
greater part of the structure was the brain, sending
enormous nerves to the eyes, ear, and tactile tentacles.
Besides this were the bulky lungs, into which the
mouth opened, and the heart and its vessels. The
pulmonary distress caused by the denser atmosphere
and greater gravitational attraction was only too
evident in the convulsive movements of the outer skin.
And this was the sum of the Martian organs. Strange as
it may seem to a human being, all the complex
apparatus of digestion, which makes up the bulk of our
bodies, did not exist in the Martians. They were heads--
merely heads. Entrails they had none. They did not eat,
much less digest. Instead, they took the fresh, living
blood of other creatures, and injected it into their own
veins. I have myself seen this being done, as I shall
mention in its place. But, squeamish as I may seem, I
cannot bring myself to describe what I could not
endure even to continue watching. Let it suffice to say,
ovojnicom, pri čemu je Marsijanac-upravljač, dakle biće
koje je svojim nježnim pipcima dirigiralo njegovim
pokretima, izgledao naprosto kao nešto analogno račjem
cerebralnom dijelu tijela. Kad sam, međutim, opazio
sličnost njegove sivkastosmeđe, sjajne ovojnice, površine
slične štavljenoj koži, s drugim tijelima što su se razmiljela
iza njega, njegova mi je prava narav najednom
postala jasna. Kad sam to shvatio, moje je zanimanje
skrenulo prema tim drugim stvorenjima, to jest pravim
Marsijancima. O njima sam već stekao nekakav letimičan
dojam, pa mi ona prvotna mučnina više nije mračila opažaj.
Osim toga sam bio skriven i nepomičan, i ništa me nije
tjeralo na djelovanje.
Bila su to, sad sam to jasno vidio, najnezemaljskija
stvorenja što ih je uopće moguće zamisliti. Bila su to
golema okrugla tijela - ili, bolje, glave - promjera oko četiri
stope, i svako je od njih sprijeda imalo lice. To lice nije
imalo nosnica - čini se, zapravo, da Marsijanci nisu ni
posjedovali osjetilo mirisa - ali je zato imalo par vrlo
krupnih, tamno obojenih očiju, ispod kojih se smjesta
pružao svojevrstan mesnati kljun. Sa stražnje je strane te
glave ili tijela - teško mi je zapravo reći o čemu je riječ -
bila samo jedna površina, napeta kao koža na bubnju, a za
koju će se kasnije uspostaviti da ima anatomsku ulogu
uha, makar u našem gustom zraku i bila gotovo beskorisna.
Oko usta je bila skupljena grupa od šesnaest tankih pipaka,
gotovo bičeva, razdijeljena u dva snopa od po osam
komada. Te je snopove u međuvremenu znameniti anatom
profesor Howes, i to prilično primjereno, nazvao rukama.
Već kad sam ih prvi put ugledao, Marsijanci su se pokušali
na njima dići, ali im to, zbog povećane težine u zemaljskim
uvjetima, nije bilo moguće. Imamo, međutim, razloga
povjerovati da su oni na Marsu na njima mogli napredovati
bez puno muke.
Ovdje bih mogao reći da im je i unutrašnja anatomija, kako
su u međuvremenu pokazale sekcije, bila gotovo jednako
jednostavna. Najveći je dio tijela zauzimao mozak, iz kojeg
su se širili enormno debeli živci, sežući do očiju, uha i
taktilnih pipaka. Kraj toga su bila još i voluminozna pluća,
do kojih su vodila usta, kao i srce sa žilama. Silna
opterećenost pluća, izazvana gušćom atmosferom i većom
gravitacijskom privlačnošću, bila je više no očita
u grčevitom gibanju vanjske kože.
I to je zbroj marsijanskih organa. Možda će nama ljudima to
zazvučati čudno, no kod Marsijanaca nije postojalo ništa
od složenog probavnog aparata, koji u nas zauzima većinu
trupa. Marsijanci su bili glave - i samo glave. A od
probavila nisu imali ništa. Očito nisu ni jeli, a još manje
probavljali. Umjesto toga su uzimali svježu, živu krv iz
drugih stvorenja i ubrizgavali je u vlastite žile. I sam sam
vidio kako to rade, no o tome ću kad za to bude čas. Ipak,
makar to nekom izgledalo i kao prenemaganje, ipak se ne
mogu natjerati da opišem ono što nisam mogao ni pogledati.
Neka bude dovoljno i samo to da su tu krv, što su je vadili iz
blood obtained from a still living animal, in most cases
from a human being, was run directly by means of a
little pipette into the recipient canal. . . .
The bare idea of this is no doubt horribly repulsive to
us, but at the same time I think that we should
remember how repulsive our carnivorous habits would
seem to an intelligent rabbit.
The physiological advantages of the practice of
injection are undeniable, if one thinks of the
tremendous waste of human time and energy
occasioned by eating and the digestive process. Our
bodies are half made up of glands and tubes and
organs, occupied in turning heterogeneous food into
blood. The digestive processes and their reaction upon
the nervous system sap our strength and colour our
minds. Men go happy or miserable as they have healthy
or unhealthy livers, or sound gastric glands. But the
Martians were lifted above all these organic
fluctuations of mood and emotion.
Their undeniable preference for men as their source of
nourishment is partly explained by the nature of the
remains of the victims they had brought with them as
provisions from Mars. These creatures, to judge from
the shrivelled remains that have fallen into human
hands, were bipeds with flimsy, silicious skeletons
(almost like those of the silicious sponges) and feeble
musculature, standing about six feet high and having
round, erect heads, and large eyes in flinty sockets.
Two or three of these seem to have been brought in
each cylinder, and all were killed before earth was
reached. It was just as well for them, for the mere
attempt to stand upright upon our planet would have
broken every bone in their bodies.
And while I am engaged in this description, I may add
in this place certain further details which, although they
were not all evident to us at the time, will enable the
reader who is unacquainted with them to form a clearer
picture of these offensive creatures.
In three other points their physiology differed strangely
from ours. Their organisms did not sleep, any more
than the heart of man sleeps. Since they had no
extensive muscular mechanism to recuperate, that
periodical extinction was unknown to them. They had
little or no sense of fatigue, it would seem. On earth
they could never have moved without effort, yet even
to the last they kept in action. In twenty-four hours they
did twenty-four hours of work, as even on earth is
perhaps the case with the ants.
In the next place, wonderful as it seems in a sexual
world, the Martians were absolutely without sex, and
therefore without any of the tumultuous emotions that
arise from that difference among men. A young
Martian, there can now be no dispute, was really born
upon earth during the war, and it was found attached to
još živih stvorenja, u većini slučajeva ljudskih bića,
s pomoću male cjevčice izravno pretakali u prihvatni
kanal ...
Za nas je već i sama ta pomisao nedvojbeno užasno
odbojna, no svejedno ipak mislim i da bismo se morali
prisjetiti koliko bi odvratno kakvu razumnom zecu mogle
izgledati naše mesožderske navike.
Fiziološke su prednosti, međutim, takva injiciranja sasvim
nesporne, ako samo pomislimo koliko užasno mnogo i
vremena i snage ljudi raspu na proces jedenja i probavljanja.
Polovicu našega tijela čine žlijezde i cijevi i organi
zaokupljeni pretvorbom heterogene hrane u krv. Probavni
procesi i njihovo djelovanje na živčani sustav crpe nam
snagu i boji misli. Ljudi su sretni ili nesretni već prema
stanju zdravlja ili nezdravlja jetre, ili krepkosti
želučanih žlijezda. Marsijanci su se, međutim, uspjeli uzdići
iznad svih tih organskih fluktuacija raspoloženja i osjećaja.
Njihova nedvojbena sklonost ljudima kao najomiljenijem
izvoru hrane dade se bar djelomice objasniti i ostacima
žrtava što su ih sa sobom, kao živež, doveli s Marsa. Ta
stvorenja, koliko je suditi po smežuranim ostacima koji su
nam pali u ruke, bili su dvonošci s prhkim, kremenim
kosturima (gotovo kao u kremenjašica) te slabašne
muskulature, visoki oko šest stopa, pa su imali okrugle,
uspravne glave, kao i krupne oči u kremenim
dupljama. Čini se da su u svakom valjku doveli po dva-tri ta
stvorenja, i sva su ubijena još prije dolaska na Zemlju.
Time, međutim, ništa nisu izgubila, jer bi im već i sam
pokušaj da se na našem planetu usprave zacijelo polomio
sve kosti u tijelu.
Budući da sam se prihvatio opisivanja, mogao bih na ovome
mjestu dodati još neke pojedinosti koje bi, iako nam u to
doba nisu bile baš nimalo očite, ipak čitatelju s njima
neupoznatim mogle olakšati stjecanje jasnije slike tih
odvratnih kreatura.
Njihova se fiziologija od naše, i to na vrlo neobičan način,
razlikovala u još tri pogleda. Njihovi organizmi nisu
spavali, baš kao što u čovjeka nikad ne spava srce. Budući
da nisu ni posjedovali razvijen muskularni sustav koji bi
povremeno valjalo okrijepiti odmorom, to im je periodično
gašenje svijesti bilo nepoznato. Čini se da su umor osjećali
malo ili nimalo. Po Zemlji se nisu mogli gibati bez napora,
no ipak su ostali aktivni sve do posljednjeg časa. U dvadeset
i četiri sata obavili bi dvadeset četiri sata rada, onako kako
to vjerojatno na Zemlji čine mravi.
Kao drugo, a što nam se u našem spolnom svijetu može
učiniti prekrasnim, Marsijanci su bili sasvim bez spola, te
zbog toga oslobođeni svih onih burnih osjećaja što ih stvara
ta razlika među ljudima. Za vrijeme rata - a o tome danas ne
može više biti nikakva spora - na Zemlji se zaista rodio i
jedan mali Marsijanac, a pronašli su ga još vezana uz
its parent, partially budded off, just as young lilybulbs
bud off, or like the young animals in the fresh-water
polyp.
In man, in all the higher terrestrial animals, such a
method of increase has disappeared; but even on this
earth it was certainly the primitive method. Among the
lower animals, up even to those first cousins of the
vertebrated animals, the Tunicates, the two processes
occur side by side, but finally the sexual method
superseded its competitor altogether. On Mars,
however, just the reverse has apparently been the case.
It is worthy of remark that a certain speculative writer
of quasi-scientific repute, writing long before the
Martian invasion, did forecast for man a final structure
not unlike the actual Martian condition. His prophecy, I
remember, appeared in November or December, 1893,
in a long-defunct publication, the Pall Mall Budget, and
I recall a caricature of it in a pre-Martian periodical
called Punch. He pointed out--writing in a foolish,
facetious tone--that the perfection of mechanical
appliances must ultimately supersede limbs; the
perfection of chemical devices, digestion; that such
organs as hair, external nose, teeth, ears, and chin were
no longer essential parts of the human being, and that
the tendency of natural selection would lie in the
direction of their steady diminution through the coming
ages. The brain alone remained a cardinal necessity.
Only one other part of the body had a strong case for
survival, and that was the hand, "teacher and agent of
the brain." While the rest of the body dwindled, the
hands would grow larger.
There is many a true word written in jest, and here in
the Martians we have beyond dispute the actual
accomplishment of such a suppression of the animal
side of the organism by the intelligence. To me it is
quite credible that the Martians may be descended from
beings not unlike ourselves, by a gradual development
of brain and hands (the latter giving rise to the two
bunches of delicate tentacles at last) at the expense of
the rest of the body. Without the body the brain would,
of course, become a mere selfish intelligence, without
any of the emotional substratum of the human being.
The last salient point in which the systems of these
creatures differed from ours was in what one might
have thought a very trivial particular. Micro-organisms,
which cause so much disease and pain on earth, have
either never appeared upon Mars or Martian sanitary
science eliminated them ages ago. A hundred diseases,
all the fevers and contagions of human life,
consumption, cancers, tumours and such morbidities,
never enter the scheme of their life. And speaking of
the differences between the life on Mars and terrestrial
life, I may allude here to the curious suggestions of the
red weed.
roditelja, djelomično raspupana, jer su se oni od roditelja
odvajali kao pupovi od ljiljana, ili pak mladunci od
slatkovodnoga polipa.
Kod čovjeka, kako i kod svih viših kopnenih životinja,
takav se način brojčanoga rasta izgubio; no čak je i na ovoj
zemlji taj postupak izvjesno bio izvoran način
razmnožavanja. Među nižim životinjama, sve do
plaštenjaka, najbližih rođaka kralježnjaka, ta se dva procesa
odvijaju rame uz rame, da bi na koncu spolni način posve
istisnuo suparnika. Na Marsu se, međutim, po svemu
sudeći dogodilo baš obratno.
Ovdje bi valjalo spomenuti kako je izvjesni spekulativni
pisac kvaziznanstvene reputacije, pišući još davno o najezdi
Marsijanaca, bio predvidio da će ta bića imati građu za koju
se uspostavilo da se malo razlikuje od stvarno zatečenog
stanja. Njegovo se proroštvo, koliko se sjećam, pojavilo u
studenom ili prosincu 1893., u davno već odumrlom
magazinu Pall Mall Budget, a sjećam se i karikature
Marsijanca u časopisu Punch, koji je izlazio prije
njihove najezde. On je istaknuo - pišući u luckastom,
vragolastom tonu - da će usavršavanje mehaničkih
pomagala na koncu nedvojbeno istisnuti udove;
usavršavanje kemijskih naprava probavu; te da su
organi poput kose, vanjskog dijela nosa, zuba, ušiju i brade
prestali biti ključnim dijelovima ljudskoga bića, te da će se
put prirodnog odabira, u godinama što dolaze, nedvojbeno
odvijati u smjeru njihova stalnog smanjivanja. Ključno
nužnim ostaje još samo mozak. Od svih ostalih dijelova
tijela samo još jedan ima jake razloge za opstanak, a to je
ruka, ta “učiteljica mozga i njegova djelatnica”. Dok će se
ostatak tijela smanjivati, ruke će sve više rasti u duljinu.
Mnoga je tako istinita riječ bila napisana u šali, i sad smo tu
u Marsijancima, u što nema nikakve sumnje, dobili i stvaran
plod takva potiskivanja životinjske strane organizma, a na
račun razuma. Meni se čini posve uvjerljivim da su
Marsijanci potekli od bića ne bitno različitih od nas, i to
postupnim razvojem mozga i ruku (pri čemu su iz potonjih
potekla bar ta dva snopa nježnih pipaka), a na račun ostatka
tijela. A bez tijela mozak, naravno, postaje mnogo
sebičnijim razumom, jer ga ne opterećuju nikakvi emotivni
podslojevi ljudskoga bića.
I posljednja upadljiva točka u kojoj se sustav tih stvorenja
razlikovao od našeg, zapravo je nešto što bismo mogli
proglasiti i sasvim trivijalnom pojedinošću.
Mikroorganizmi, koji su na Zemlji uzrok tolikih bolesti i
patnji, na Marsu se ili nikad nisu pojavili, ili ih je pak
marsijanska sanitarna znanost eliminirala već pred mnogo
eona. Stotinu bolesti, sve groznice i pošasti
ljudskoga života, tuberkuloza, rak, tumori i takvi
morbiditeti, nisu baš nimalo dio njihove svakodnevnice. A
kad već govorimo o razlikama između života na Zemlji i
Marsu, ovdje bih mogao usputno spomenuti neobičnu
crvenu travu.
Apparently the vegetable kingdom in Mars, instead of
having green for a dominant colour, is of a vivid blood-
red tint. At any rate, the seeds which the Martians
(intentionally or accidentally) brought with them gave
rise in all cases to red-coloured growths. Only that
known popularly as the red weed, however, gained any
footing in competition with terrestrial forms. The red
creeper was quite a transitory growth, and few people
have seen it growing. For a time, however, the red
weed grew with astonishing vigour and luxuriance. It
spread up the sides of the pit by the third or fourth day
of our imprisonment, and its cactus-like branches
formed a carmine fringe to the edges of our triangular
window. And afterwards I found it broadcast
throughout the country, and especially wherever there
was a stream of water.
The Martians had what appears to have been an
auditory organ, a single round drum at the back of the
head-body, and eyes with a visual range not very
different from ours except that, according to Philips,
blue and violet were as black to them. It is commonly
supposed that they communicated by sounds and
tentacular gesticulations; this is asserted, for instance,
in the able but hastily compiled pamphlet (written
evidently by someone not an eye-witness of Martian
actions) to which I have already alluded, and which, so
far, has been the chief source of information
concerning them. Now no surviving human being saw
so much of the Martians in action as I did. I take no
credit to myself for an accident, but the fact is so. And I
assert that I watched them closely time after time, and
that I have seen four, five, and (once) six of them
sluggishly performing the most elaborately
complicated operations together without either sound
or gesture. Their peculiar hooting invariably preceded
feeding; it had no modulation, and was, I believe, in no
sense a signal, but merely the expiration of air
preparatory to the suctional operation. I have a certain
claim to at least an elementary knowledge of
psychology, and in this matter I am convinced--as
firmly as I am convinced of anything--that the Martians
interchanged thoughts without any physical
intermediation. And I have been convinced of this in
spite of strong preconceptions. Before the Martian
invasion, as an occasional reader here or there may
remember, I had written with some little vehemence
against the telepathic theory.
The Martians wore no clothing. Their conceptions of
ornament and decorum were necessarily different from
ours; and not only were they evidently much less
sensible of changes of temperature than we are, but
changes of pressure do not seem to have affected their
health at all seriously. Yet though they wore no
clothing, it was in the other artificial additions to their
Čini se da biljnim carstvom na Marsu ne dominira zelena
boja, već da je ono sve obojeno živom krvavocrvenom
nijansom. Ako ništa drugo, iz sjemenja što su ga Marsijanci
(hotimice ili nehotice) donijeli sa sobom, u svakom je
slučaju izniklo crveno bilje. Od sveg se njega, međutim, u
natjecanju sa zemaljskim oblicima života, uspjela
ukorijeniti samo, pučki rečeno, crvena trava. Crvena se
puzavica održala kratko i tek su je malobrojni vidjeli
kako raste. Crvena je trava, međutim, neko vrijeme rasla sa
zapanjujućom bodrošću i sjajem. Ona se već treći i četvrti
dan našeg zatočeništva počela širiti uz stijenke jame, a
njezine grančice, nalik na kaktus, stvorile su uz stranice
našeg trokutastog prozora karminski obrub. Kasnije sam je
otkrio kako se širi krajolikom, i to napose na mjestima gdje
bi naišla na potok.
Čini se da su Marsijanci posjedovali i slušni organ, jedincati
okrugli bubanj straga na glavi-tijelu, i oči s vizualnim
dometom ne bitno različitim od našeg, samo što su, prema
Philipsu, oni modru i ljubičastu vidjeli kao crnu. Općenito
se pretpostavlja da su komunicirali zvučno i gestikuliranjem
pipcima; to se primjerice tvrdi u vješto no na brzinu
skupljenoj brošuri (koju je napisao netko tko djelovanje
Marsijanaca očito nije vidio vlastitim očima), a koju sam
već bio spomenuo, te koja je, bar dosad, bila glavni izvor
informacija o njima. Nijedan još ljudski stvor, međutim,
nije Marsijance na djelu vidio bolje i više od mene. Tu
slučajnost ne pripisujem sebi u zaslugu, no to je činjenica. A
ja ovdje tvrdim da sam ih bezbroj puta gledao iz neposredne
blizine, te da sam ih vidio po četvero, petero i (jednom)
šestero kako zajednički i tromo obavljaju i najsloženije i
najzamršenije radnje, a da pritom nisu ispustili ni zvuka, niti
napravili ma i najsitniju gestu. Svako bi hranjenje bilo
beziznimno najavljeno neobičnim hukanjem; bio je to zvuk
bez modulacije i, vjerujem, ni u kojem smislu nikakav
signal, već naprosto izdisanje zraka u pripremi za operaciju
sisanja. Za sebe u izvjesnoj mjeri mogu tvrditi da
raspolažem bar elementarnim poznavanjem psihologije, i u
tom sam pogledu uvjeren - kao ni u što drugo - da
Marsijanci bez ikakva fizičkog posrednika razmjenjuju
misli. A u to sam bio uvjeren usprkos svim jakim
predrasudama, jer još prije njihove najezde - čega se moj
povremeni čitatelj možda prisjeća - s popriličnom
sam strašću pisao protiv telepatske teorije.
Marsijanci nisu nosili nikakvu odjeću. Njihova shvaćanja
uresa i dostojanstvenosti nužno su se razlikovala od naših; i
oni nisu bili samo od nas očito mnogo neosjetljiviji na
promjene temperature, nego se čini da na njihovo zdravlje
nisu nimalo ozbiljno utjecale ni promjene tlaka. Pa ipak,
unatoč tome što nisu nosili odjeću, umjetni dodaci onome
što im je nudilo tijelo osigurali su im veliku prednost pred
bodily resources that their great superiority over man
lay. We men, with our bicycles and road-skates, our
Lilienthal soaring-machines, our guns and sticks and so
forth, are just in the beginning of the evolution that the
Martians have worked out. They have become
practically mere brains, wearing different bodies
according to their needs just as men wear suits of
clothes and take a bicycle in a hurry or an umbrella in
the wet. And of their appliances, perhaps nothing is
more wonderful to a man than the curious fact that
what is the dominant feature of almost all human
devices in mechanism is absent--the wheel is absent;
among all the things they brought to earth there is no
trace or suggestion of their use of wheels. One would
have at least expected it in locomotion. And in this
connection it is curious to remark that even on this
earth Nature has never hit upon the wheel, or has
preferred other expedients to its development. And not
only did the Martians either not know of (which is
incredible), or abstain from, the wheel, but in their
apparatus singularly little use is made of the fixed pivot
or relatively fixed pivot, with circular motions
thereabout confined to one plane. Almost all the joints
of the machinery present a complicated system of
sliding parts moving over small but beautifully curved
friction bearings. And while upon this matter of detail,
it is remarkable that the long leverages of their
machines are in most cases actuated by a sort of sham
musculature of the disks in an elastic sheath; these
disks become polarised and drawn closely and
powerfully together when traversed by a current of
electricity. In this way the curious parallelism to animal
motions, which was so striking and disturbing to the
human beholder, was attained. Such quasi-muscles
abounded in the crablike handling-machine which, on
my first peeping out of the slit, I watched unpacking
the cylinder. It seemed infinitely more alive than the
actual Martians lying beyond it in the sunset light,
panting, stirring ineffectual tentacles, and moving
feebly after their vast journey across space.
While I was still watching their sluggish motions in the
sunlight, and noting each strange detail of their form,
the curate reminded me of his presence by pulling
violently at my arm. I turned to a scowling face, and
silent, eloquent lips. He wanted the slit, which
permitted only one of us to peep through; and so I had
to forego watching them for a time while he enjoyed
that privilege.
When I looked again, the busy handling-machine had
already put together several of the pieces of apparatus
it had taken out of the cylinder into a shape having an
unmistakable likeness to its own; and down on the left
a busy little digging mechanism had come into view,
emitting jets of green vapour and working its way
čovjekom. Mi ljudi, s našim biciklima i koturaljkama, s
Lilienthalovim letjelicama, našim pucaljkama i topovima i
tako dalje, tek smo na početku evolucije koja je kod
Marsijanaca već uvelike uznapredovala. Oni su već bili
praktički samo mozgovi, te su, u skladu s potrebom, nosili
različita tijela baš onako kao što ljudi nose različita odijela
ili, kad im se žuri, uzimaju bicikl, ili kad zakiši, kišobran. A
kod svih njihovih uređaja, čovjeku vjerojatno ništa nije
začudnije od neobične činjenice da njima nedostaje
najvažniji dio svih ljudskih mehaničkih sprava - naime
kotač; među svime što su donijeli na Zemlju nigdje ni
traga ni slutnji da su se služili kotačem. A mogli bismo ga
očekivati bar kod lokomocije. Iako bi u vezi s tim možda
bilo zanimljivo spomenuti da čak ni na Zemlji Narav nikad
nije naišla na kotač, a niti se priklonila sredstvima koja bi
dovela do njegova razvoja. A Marsijanci za kotač ne samo
što ili nisu znali (što je nevjerojatno), ili su se pak klonili
njegove upotrebe, nego su se i u svojim uređajima
jedinstveno sustezali od primjene fiksiranog ili tek donekle
pričvršćenog stožera, kod kojeg je kružno
gibanje ograničeno na jednu ravninu. Gotovo svi spojevi u
toj mašineriji samo su složeni sustavi kliznih dijelova što se
gibaju po malim no lijepo zakrivljenim kliznim ležajevima.
I, kad smo već na detaljima, svakako je vrijedno spomenuti
da se djelovanje dugih poluga njihovih strojeva u većini
slučajeva pojačava svojevrsnom lažnom muskulaturom
diskova u elastičnoj ovojnici; ti se diskovi, kad se kroz njih
propusti električna struja, polariziraju i uzajamno privlače
tijesno i snažno. Na taj se način uspio sačuvati čudni
paralelizam s gibanjem životinja, koji inače ljudskog
promatrača toliko i čudi i zbunjuje. Takvim je
kvazimišićima napose obilovao rakoliki manipulator, onaj
koji sam, kad sam prvi put povirio kroz prorez, opazio kako
raspakirava valjak. Doimao se beskonačno življim od
stvarnih Marsijanaca koji su iza njega ležali u
svjetlu sumraka, pa dahtali i migoljili nemoćnim pipcima i
slabašno se gibali nakon tog pregolemog putovanja kroz
svemir.
Dok sam ja i dalje promatrao njihovo tromo gibanje na
suncu, i zapažao sve čudne pojedinosti njihova obličja,
kapelan me je silovitim potezanjem za mišicu podsjetio na
svoju nazočnost. Okrenuo sam se prema namrštenom licu i
nijemim, no govorljivim usnama. I on je želio do proreza,
koji je, međutim, dopuštao zurenje samo jednome od nas;
tako sam se neko vrijeme morao odreći promatranja, eda bi
on mogao uživati u toj povlastici.
Kad sam ponovno pogledao, opazio sam da je marljivi
manipulator već uspio složiti nekoliko dijelova aparata što
ga je izvadio iz cilindara, te tako stvorio oblik nedvojbeno
vrlo sličan našemu; a dolje lijevo pred oči mi je došao
marljiv maleni kopači mehanizam, koji je izbacivao
mlazove zelene pare i probijao se oko jame, sustavno i
round the pit, excavating and embanking in a
methodical and discriminating manner. This it was
which had caused the regular beating noise, and the
rhythmic shocks that had kept our ruinous refuge
quivering. It piped and whistled as it worked. So far as
I could see, the thing was without a directing Martian
at all.
CHAPTER THREE
THE DAYS OF IMPRISONMENT
The arrival of a second fighting-machine drove us from
our peephole into the scullery, for we feared that from
his elevation the Martian might see down upon us
behind our barrier. At a later date we began to feel less
in danger of their eyes, for to an eye in the dazzle of the
sunlight outside our refuge must have been blank
blackness, but at first the slightest suggestion of
approach drove us into the scullery in heart-throbbing
retreat. Yet terrible as was the danger we incurred, the
attraction of peeping was for both of us irresistible.
And I recall now with a sort of wonder that, in spite of
the infinite danger in which we were between
starvation and a still more terrible death, we could yet
struggle bitterly for that horrible privilege of sight. We
would race across the kitchen in a grotesque way
between eagerness and the dread of making a noise,
and strike each other, and thrust and kick, within a few
inches of exposure.
The fact is that we had absolutely incompatible
dispositions and habits of thought and action, and our
danger and isolation only accentuated the
incompatibility. At Halliford I had already come to hate
the curate's trick of helpless exclamation, his stupid
rigidity of mind. His endless muttering monologue
vitiated every effort I made to think out a line of action,
and drove me at times, thus pent up and intensified,
almost to the verge of craziness. He was as lacking in
restraint as a silly woman. He would weep for hours
together, and I verily believe that to the very end this
spoiled child of life thought his weak tears in some way
efficacious. And I would sit in the darkness unable to
keep my mind off him by reason of his importunities.
He ate more than I did, and it was in vain I pointed out
that our only chance of life was to stop in the house
until the Martians had done with their pit, that in that
long patience a time might presently come when we
should need food. He ate and drank impulsively in
heavy meals at long intervals. He slept little.
As the days wore on, his utter carelessness of any
consideration so intensified our distress and danger that
I had, much as I loathed doing it, to resort to threats,
and at last to blows. That brought him to reason for a
probirljivo dubeći i nasipajući. Baš je on bio uzrokom onog
pravilnog bubanja i ritmičkih udaraca od kojih je naše
ruševno sklonište stalno podrhtavalo. Pri radu je stalno i
svirao i zviždao. Koliko sam mogao razabrati, u njemu nije
bilo ni traga od Marsijanca-upravljača.
GLAVA 3.
DANI ZATOČENIŠTVA
Dolazak drugog bojnog stroja otjerao nas je od naše
špijunke u ostavu, jer smo se bojali da bi nas Marsijanac s te
visine mogao vidjeti odozgo iza naše barijere. Kasnijih smo
se dana počeli osjećati manje ugroženi njihovim očima, zato
što je za oko vani, na sunčevu bljesku, naše pribježište
zacijelo bilo pusta crnina, no u početku nas je i najmanja
slutnja prilaženja tjerala da se uzlupana srca povučemo u
ostavu. Pa ipak, bez obzira na to koliko velika bila opasnost
kojoj smo se izlagali, privlačnost je zurenja za obojicu bila
neodoljiva. Ipak se danas prisjećam, donekle s čuđenjem, da
smo se obojica, unatoč beskonačnoj pogibelji u kojoj smo se
našli, između smrti od gladi i one još groznije,
ipak ogorčeno otimali za tu jezivu povlasticu gledanja.
Utrkivali bismo se preko čitave kuhinje, dok su se u nama
groteskno borile žudnja da vidimo i strah od stvaranja buke,
pa udarali jedan o drugog, i gurali se i ritali, tek dlaku
daleko od toga da se razotkrijemo.
Činjenica je da smo bili apsolutno nesukladno nastrojeni te
navikli različito i misliti i djelovati, te da su opasnost i
izolacija tu neskladnost još i pojačali. Već sam u Hallifordu
zamrzio kapetanovu navadu ispuštanja bespomoćnih usklika
i njegovu glupu krutost uma. Njegovo je beskrajno
monološko mrmljanje potkopalo svaki moj pokušaj da
smislim nekakav način djelovanja, pa me povremeno, onako
napeta i žestokih misli, dovodilo gotovo na rub ludila. U
svom je nedostatku suzdržljivosti bio upravo kao kakva luda
baba. On bi znao spojiti sate i sate plača, i ja doista vjerujem
da je to dijete, razmaženo životom, do samoga
kraja vjerovalo da te njegove slabašne suze imaju nekakvo
djelovanje. A ja bih sjedio u mraku, nesposoban da ga, zbog
njegova stalnog dodijavanja, istjeram iz glave. Jeo je više
od mene, i ja sam mu uzalud ukazivao na to da nam je
jedina šansa da ostanemo u kući sve dok Marsijanci ne
iskopaju svoju jamu, i da bi u toj dugoj strpljivosti
najednom mogao doći trenutak kad će nam ta hrana itekako
zatrebati. On je jeo i pio impulzivno, u obilnim,
široko razmaknutim obrocima. Spavao je malo.
Kako su se vukli dani, njegov potpuni nemar prema svakom
obziru toliko je pogoršao nevolju i opasnost u kojima smo
se našli, da sam na koncu morao, bez obzira na to koliko mi
to inače bilo mrsko, posegnuti za prijetnjama, a napokon i
time. But he was one of those weak creatures, void of
pride, timorous, anaemic, hateful souls, full of shifty
cunning, who face neither God nor man, who face not
even themselves.
It is disagreeable for me to recall and write these
things, but I set them down that my story may lack
nothing. Those who have escaped the dark and terrible
aspects of life will find my brutality, my flash of rage
in our final tragedy, easy enough to blame; for they
know what is wrong as well as any, but not what is
possible to tortured men. But those who have been
under the shadow, who have gone down at last to
elemental things, will have a wider charity.
And while within we fought out our dark, dim contest
of whispers, snatched food and drink, and gripping
hands and blows, without, in the pitiless sunlight of
that terrible June, was the strange wonder, the
unfamiliar routine of the Martians in the pit. Let me
return to those first new experiences of mine. After a
long time I ventured back to the peephole, to find that
the new-comers had been reinforced by the occupants
of no fewer than three of the fighting-machines. These
last had brought with them certain fresh appliances that
stood in an orderly manner about the cylinder. The
second handling-machine was now completed, and was
busied in serving one of the novel contrivances the big
machine had brought. This was a body resembling a
milk can in its general form, above which oscillated a
pear-shaped receptacle, and from which a stream of
white powder flowed into a circular basin below.
The oscillatory motion was imparted to this by one
tentacle of the handling-machine. With two spatulate
hands the handling-machine was digging out and
flinging masses of clay into the pear-shaped receptacle
above, while with another arm it periodically opened a
door and removed rusty and blackened clinkers from
the middle part of the machine. Another steely tentacle
directed the powder from the basin along a ribbed
channel towards some receiver that was hidden from
me by the mound of bluish dust. From this unseen
receiver a little thread of green smoke rose vertically
into the quiet air. As I looked, the handling-machine,
with a faint and musical clinking, extended, telescopic
fashion, a tentacle that had been a moment before a
mere blunt projection, until its end was hidden behind
the mound of clay. In another second it had lifted a bar
of white aluminium into sight, untarnished as yet, and
shining dazzlingly, and deposited it in a growing stack
of bars that stood at the side of the pit. Between sunset
and starlight this dexterous machine must have made
more than a hundred such bars out of the crude clay,
and the mound of bluish dust rose steadily until it
topped the side of the pit.
udarcima. To ga je bar na neko vrijeme privelo pameti. On
je, međutim, bio jedno od onih slabih stvorenja, lišenih
ponosa, strašljivih, anemičnih, duše ispunjene mržnjom i
prevrtljivom lukavošću, koja se ne usuđuju pogledati u lice
ni čovjeku ni Bogu, pa čak ni samom sebi.
Svega mi se toga mrsko prisjećati, pa i o tome pisati, no sve
to ipak bilježim da moja priča ne bude ni u čemu manjkava.
Onima koji su uspjeli izbjeći mračnim i strašnim stranama
života, lako će biti osuditi moju brutalnost i bljesak gnjeva u
završnoj tragediji, jer iako oni najbolje od svih znaju što je
dobro a što zlo, ipak ne znaju i što je moguće izmučenim
ljudima. Oni, međutim, nad kojima je visjela sjena života,
ljudi koji su se snizili do najelementarnijih potreba, pokazat
će mnogo širokogrudnije milosrđe.
A dok smo mi unutra šaptom vodili naš mračni, mutni rat te
uzimali oskudne zalogaje i gutljaje hrane i pića, gurali se i
zadavali udarce, vani se, na nemilosrdnom suncu toga
jezivog lipnja, odigravala neobično čudna, nepoznata nam
rutina Marsijanaca u jami. No hajde da se vratim na tih
nekoliko svojih prvih doživljaja. Odvažio sam se vratiti do
špijunke, te tako otkrio da su novopridošli dobili pojačanje
u vidu najmanje tri bojna stroja. Ti su potonji sa sobom bili
donijeli neke nove uređaje koji su sad stajali uredno
poslagani oko valjka. Sad je bio dovršen i drugi
manipulator, te već marljivo uposlen opsluživanjem jedne
od novih sprava što ih je donio veliki stroj. Bilo je to tijelo
općim obličjem nalik na mljekarsku kantu; iznad njega je
oscilirao kruškoliki lijevak, dok je ispod iz njega u kružni
lavor istjecala struja bijeloga praha.
Jedan je pipak manipulatora taj lavor dovodio u oscilatorno
gibanje. Isti je stroj s dvije lopataste ruke iskapao masu
gline i ubacivao je u onaj gornji kruškoliki lijevak, dok je
drugom rukom periodički otvarao vrata pa iz stroja uklanjao
hrđavi i pocrnjeli klinker. Drugi je čelični pipak usmjeravao
prašak iz lavora duž rebrastog kanala prema nekoj drugoj
posudi, skrivenoj od mene humkom modrikaste prašine. Iz
te se nevidljive posude okomito u mirni zrak dizala tanka nit
zelenog dima. Dok sam sve to promatrao, manipulator se,
uz slabašno i muzikalno zveckanje, teleskopski produžio, pa
se završetak kraka, koji je samo trenutak prije bio tek tupi
izdanak, sakrio iza humka gline. Trenutak poslije pred oči
mi je podigao šipku bijelog aluminija, još nenagrđenu
patinom i zasljepljujuće blistavu, pa je položio na sjajnu
hrpu šipki što je stajala kraj jame. Taj je marljivi stroj
između zalaska Sunca i izlaska zvijezda iz sirove
gline napravio preko stotinu takvih šipki, a humak se
modrikaste prašine polako dizao sve dok nije nadvisio i rub
jame.
The contrast between the swift and complex
movements of these contrivances and the inert panting
clumsiness of their masters was acute, and for days I
had to tell myself repeatedly that these latter were
indeed the living of the two things.
The curate had possession of the slit when the first men
were brought to the pit. I was sitting below, huddled up,
listening with all my ears. He made a sudden
movement backward, and I, fearful that we were
observed, crouched in a spasm of terror. He came
sliding down the rubbish and crept beside me in the
darkness, inarticulate, gesticulating, and for a moment I
shared his panic. His gesture suggested a resignation of
the slit, and after a little while my curiosity gave me
courage, and I rose up, stepped across him, and
clambered up to it. At first I could see no reason for his
frantic behaviour. The twilight had now come, the stars
were little and faint, but the pit was illuminated by the
flickering green fire that came from the aluminium-
making. The whole picture was a flickering scheme of
green gleams and shifting rusty black shadows,
strangely trying to the eyes. Over and through it all
went the bats, heeding it not at all. The sprawling
Martians were no longer to be seen, the mound of blue-
green powder had risen to cover them from sight, and a
fighting-machine, with its legs contracted, crumpled,
and abbreviated, stood across the corner of the pit. And
then, amid the clangour of the machinery, came a
drifting suspicion of human voices, that I entertained at
first only to dismiss.
I crouched, watching this fighting-machine closely,
satisfying myself now for the first time that the hood
did indeed contain a Martian. As the green flames lifted
I could see the oily gleam of his integument and the
brightness of his eyes. And suddenly I heard a yell, and
saw a long tentacle reaching over the shoulder of the
machine to the little cage that hunched upon its back.
Then something--something struggling violently--was
lifted high against the sky, a black, vague enigma
against the starlight; and as this black object came
down again, I saw by the green brightness that it was a
man. For an instant he was clearly visible. He was a
stout, ruddy, middle-aged man, well dressed; three days
before, he must have been walking the world, a man of
considerable consequence. I could see his staring eyes
and gleams of light on his studs and watch chain. He
vanished behind the mound, and for a moment there
was silence. And then began a shrieking and a
sustained and cheerful hooting from the Martians.
I slid down the rubbish, struggled to my feet, clapped
my hands over my ears, and bolted into the scullery.
The curate, who had been crouching silently with his
arms over his head, looked up as I passed, cried out
quite loudly at my desertion of him, and came running
Kontrast između brzog i složenog gibanja tih sprava i lijene,
zadihane nezgrapnosti njihovih gospodara bio je vrlo oštar,
pa sam si danima morao stalno ponavljati da su od njih živi
zapravo ti potonji.
Kad su u jamu bili dovedeni prvi ljudi, prorez je baš bio
zaposjeo kapelan. Ja sam pak sjedio dolje, skutren, i
osluškivao četverim ušima. On je naglo ustuknuo, a ja sam,
uplašivši se da su nas opazili, čučnuo zgrčen od strave. On
je doklizio niz krš i u tami dopuzao do mene, nesuvislo
buncajući, pa sam mu se i sam na trenutak pridružio u
panici. Njegova je gesta govorila da mi prepušta prorez, pa
mi je nedugo potom radoznalost dala hrabrosti pa sam
ustao, prekoračio ga i uspentrao se do otvora. U prvi čas
nisam uspio razabrati nikakav razlog za takvo sumanuto
ponašanje. Već se bio spustio sumrak, zvijezde su bile
malene i blijede, ali je zato jama bila osvijetljena
žmirkavom zelenom vatrom iz peći za proizvodnju
aluminija. Čitava je slika bila žmirkavi prizor zelenih
odsjaja i pomičnih hrđavocrnih sjena, te stoga
neobično naporna za oči. A kroz sve su to prolazili šišmiši,
malo mareći za sve što se zbiva. Raštrkani se Marsijanci
nisu više vidjeli, humak se modrozelenog praha već digao
toliko da ih je sasvim sakrio, a bojni stroj, uvučenih nogu,
skupljen i skraćen, stajao je u drugom kutu jame. I tada je,
sred brenčanja mašinerije, do mene doprla nesigurna slutnja
ljudskih glasova, koju sam u prvi mah bio spreman olako
odbaciti.
Klečao sam i pažljivo motrio bojni stroj, i sad se po prvi put
zaista uvjerio da se pod kukuljicom skriva Marsijanac. Kad
su se digli zeleni plamenovi, opazio sam masni odbljesak
njegove ovojnice i sjaj njegovih očiju. A onda sam
najednom začuo povik, i ugledao dugi krak kako se preko
ramena stroja pruža prema malenom kavezu zgrbljenom
na njegovim leđima. A onda je podigao nešto - nešto što se
divlje koprcalo - visoko na pozadini neba, crnu nejasnu
zagonetku ocrtanu u svjetlosti zvijezda; a kad se taj crni
predmet ponovno spustio, u zelenom sam sjaju opazio da je
riječ o čovjeku. Na trenutak se vidio sasvim jasno. Bio je to
debeo, rumen, sredovječan muškarac, dobro odjeven; prije
samo tri dana zacijelo je samozadovoljno koračao svijetom,
kako i priliči čovjeku poprilične važnosti. Razabrao sam mu
zapiljene oči i odbljeske svjetla na mesinganim pucetima i
lancu od sata. A onda je nestao iza humka i na trenutak je
zavladala tišina. Trenutak zatim su se začuli krikovi, kao i
uporno i veselo hukanje Marsijanaca.
Kliznuo sam niz krš, s mukom se uspravio na noge,
dlanovima pokrio oči i uskočio u ostavu. Kapelan, koji je
nijemo čučao s rukama prebačenim preko glave, u trenutku
kad sam prošao kraj njega, podigao je pogled, glasno
viknuo što sam ga ostavio, pa trkom pošao za mnom.
after me.
That night, as we lurked in the scullery, balanced
between our horror and the terrible fascination this
peeping had, although I felt an urgent need of action I
tried in vain to conceive some plan of escape; but
afterwards, during the second day, I was able to
consider our position with great clearness. The curate, I
found, was quite incapable of discussion; this new and
culminating atrocity had robbed him of all vestiges of
reason or forethought. Practically he had already sunk
to the level of an animal. But as the saying goes, I
gripped myself with both hands. It grew upon my
mind, once I could face the facts, that terrible as our
position was, there was as yet no justification for
absolute despair. Our chief chance lay in the possibility
of the Martians making the pit nothing more than a
temporary encampment. Or even if they kept it
permanently, they might not consider it necessary to
guard it, and a chance of escape might be afforded us. I
also weighed very carefully the possibility of our
digging a way out in a direction away from the pit, but
the chances of our emerging within sight of some
sentinel fighting-machine seemed at first too great. And
I should have had to do all the digging myself. The
curate would certainly have failed me.
It was on the third day, if my memory serves me right,
that I saw the lad killed. It was the only occasion on
which I actually saw the Martians feed. After that
experience I avoided the hole in the wall for the better
part of a day. I went into the scullery, removed the
door, and spent some hours digging with my hatchet as
silently as possible; but when I had made a hole about a
couple of feet deep the loose earth collapsed noisily,
and I did not dare continue. I lost heart, and lay down
on the scullery floor for a long time, having no spirit
even to move. And after that I abandoned altogether the
idea of escaping by excavation.
It says much for the impression the Martians had made
upon me that at first I entertained little or no hope of
our escape being brought about by their overthrow
through any human effort. But on the fourth or fifth
night I heard a sound like heavy guns.
It was very late in the night, and the moon was shining
brightly. The Martians had taken away the excavating-
machine, and, save for a fighting-machine that stood in
the remoter bank of the pit and a handling-machine that
was buried out of my sight in a corner of the pit
immediately beneath my peephole, the place was
deserted by them. Except for the pale glow from the
handling-machine and the bars and patches of white
moonlight the pit was in darkness, and, except for the
clinking of the handling-machine, quite still. That night
was a beautiful serenity; save for one planet, the moon
Te noći, dok smo se skrivali u ostavi, kolebajući se između
užasa i jezive fascinacije što ju je u nama budilo to zurenje,
obuzela me silna potreba za djelovanjem, pa sam uzalud
pokušavao smisliti nekakav plan bijega; ipak sam kasnije, to
jest drugoga dana, već bio sposoban vrlo jasno razmotriti
naš položaj. Kapelan je, kako sam otkrio, bio sasvim
nesposoban za raspravu; taj novi i vrhunski užas oteo mu je
i posljednje ostatke razuma i promišljenosti. On se već bio
spustio praktički na razinu životinje. Ja sam, međutim, kako
veli izreka, stao s obje noge na zemlju. U glavi mi je rasla
misao, sad kad sam se napokon mogao suočiti s
činjenicama, da se, bez obzira na to u kako groznim
prilikama bili, stanje potpunog beznađa ipak ne može ničim
opravdati. Naša je glavna nada ležala u mogućnosti da
Marsijanci iz te jame prave tek privremeno boravište. No
čak i ako je odluče zadržati stalno, možda je ne budu
smatrali nužnim i čuvati, pa se tako može stvoriti prilika za
bijeg. Vrlo sam pažljivo odvagnuo i mogućnost da
pokušamo prokopati put izlaza u smjeru suprotnom od
jame, ali mi se opasnost da izađemo na svjetlo dana pred oči
kakva bojnog stroja na straži u prvi čas učinila prevelikom.
A osim toga bih sve to kopanje morao obaviti sam. Kapelan
bi me pritom izvjesno vrijeme ostavio na cjedilu.
Ubojstvo sam onoga momka, ako me sjećanje ne vara, vidio
trećega dana. Bio je to prvi i posljednji put da sam
Marsijance i stvarno vidio kako jedu. Nakon tog sam
doživljaja rupu u zidu izbjegavao veći dio dana. Otišao sam
u ostavu, maknuo vrata i proveo nekoliko sati u najtišem
mogućem kopanju sjekiricom; ali kad sam iskopao rupu
duboku otprilike dvije stope, zemlja se bučno urušila, pa se
nisam usudio nastaviti. Izgubio sam volju, pa dugo ostao
ležati na podu ostave, nemajući se volje ni pomaknuti.
Nakon toga sam se sasvim okanio misli da pobjegnem
kopanjem prolaza.
O dojmu što su ga Marsijanci ostavili na mene mnogo
govori i činjenica da ja u prvi čas nisam gajio gotovo
nikakvu ili baš nikakvu nadu da bismo se mogli izbaviti
ikakvim ljudskim nastojanjem koje bi ih izbacilo. Ipak sam
četvrte ili pete noći začuo zvukove nalik gruhanju teških
topova.
Bilo je već jako kasno, i na nebu je jasno blistao Mjesec.
Marsijanci su već bili sklonili kopačicu i napustili poprište,
ostavivši samo bojni stroj na suprotnom rubu jame kao i
manipulator što je rovao, izvan mog vidokruga, u kutu jame
odmah ispod moje špijunke. Izuzmemo li blijedi sjaj
manipulatora te pruge i pjege bijele mjesečine, jama je bila
sasvim u tami, kao što je - zanemarimo li zveckanje
manipulatora - bila i sasvim mirna. Noć je bila ispunjena
divnim spokojem; i da nije bilo još jednog planeta, Mjesec
bi imao nebo samo za sebe. Začuo sam zavijanje psa, i
baš me taj poznati zvuk natjerao da osluhnem. A onda sam
seemed to have the sky to herself. I heard a dog začuo, sasvim jasno, gruhanje nalik na glasanje teških
howling, and that familiar sound it was that made me topova. Izbrojio sam šest jasnih praskova, i nakon duge
listen. Then I heard quite distinctly a booming exactly stanke, još šest. I to je bilo sve.
like the sound of great guns. Six distinct reports I
counted, and after a long interval six again. And that
was all.
CHAPTER FOUR
THE DEATH OF THE CURATE
It was on the sixth day of our imprisonment that I
peeped for the last time, and presently found myself
alone. Instead of keeping close to me and trying to oust
me from the slit, the curate had gone back into the
scullery. I was struck by a sudden thought. I went back
quickly and quietly into the scullery. In the darkness I
heard the curate drinking. I snatched in the darkness,
and my fingers caught a bottle of burgundy.
For a few minutes there was a tussle. The bottle struck
the floor and broke, and I desisted and rose. We stood
panting and threatening each other. In the end I planted
myself between him and the food, and told him of my
determination to begin a discipline. I divided the food
in the pantry, into rations to last us ten days. I would
not let him eat any more that day. In the afternoon he
made a feeble effort to get at the food. I had been
dozing, but in an instant I was awake. All day and all
night we sat face to face, I weary but resolute, and he
weeping and complaining of his immediate hunger. It
was, I know, a night and a day, but to me it seemed--it
seems now--an interminable length of time.
And so our widened incompatibility ended at last in
open conflict. For two vast days we struggled in
undertones and wrestling contests. There were times
when I beat and kicked him madly, times when I
cajoled and persuaded him, and once I tried to bribe
him with the last bottle of burgundy, for there was a
rain-water pump from which I could get water. But
neither force nor kindness availed; he was indeed
beyond reason. He would neither desist from his
attacks on the food nor from his noisy babbling to
himself. The rudimentary precautions to keep our
imprisonment endurable he would not observe. Slowly
I began to realise the complete overthrow of his
intelligence, to perceive that my sole companion in this
close and sickly darkness was a man insane.
From certain vague memories I am inclined to think
my own mind wandered at times. I had strange and
hideous dreams whenever I slept. It sounds
paradoxical, but I am inclined to think that the
weakness and insanity of the curate warned me, braced
me, and kept me a sane man.
On the eighth day he began to talk aloud instead of
GLAVA 4.
KAPELANOVA SMRT
Posljednji sam put povirio šestog dana našeg zatočeništva i
smjesta ostao sam. Umjesto da se drži uz mene i pokušava
me odgurnuti s proreza, kapelan se vratio u ostavu.
Najednom mi je na um pala čudna misao. Sad sam i ja
pohitao u ostavu. U tami sam začuo kapelana kako pije.
Zagrabio sam u mrak i prsti su mi uhvatili bocu burgundca.
Uslijedilo je nekoliko trenutaka guranja. Boca je pala na
pod i razbila se, pa sam ga se okanio i ustao. Stajali smo,
teško disali i zasipali se prijetnjama. Na koncu sam se
postavio između njega i živeža, pa ga upoznao sa svojom
odlukom da uvedem stegu. Podijelio sam namirnice u
smočnici na obroke, tako da nam potraju deset dana. Taj mu
dan više nisam dao jesti. Popodne je uslijedio slabašan
pokušaj da se dočepa hrane. Baš sam bio zadrijemao, no
onda sam u trenutku već bio budan. Tako smo čitav dan i
čitavu noć sjedili gledajući se u oči, ja umoran no odlučan,
dok je on plakao i žalio se na silnu glad. Potrajalo je to,
znam, samo jednu noć i dan, no meni je izgledalo - i još mi
izgleda - kao beskrajno dugo vrijeme.
I tako je naša sve šira nesukladnost napokon završila
otvorenim sukobom. Dva smo se pogolema dana borili
poluglasom i hrvačkim nadmetanjima. Bilo je trenutaka kad
sam ga bijesno mlatio rukama i nogama, trenutaka kad sam
mu se umiljavao i pokušavao ga uvjeriti, a jednom sam ga
pokušao čak i podmititi posljednjom bocom burgundca, jer
je u kući bila i crpka s pomoću koje sam mogao doći do
kišnice. Ipak ni sila ni ljubaznost nisu urodili plodom; on je
doista bio onkraj razbora. Nije htio odustati ni od svojih
nasrtaja na hranu ni od bučnog mrmljanja u bradu. Nije bio
spreman udovoljiti ni rudimentarnim mjerama opreza, kako
bi naše zatočeništvo bar potrajalo. Polako sam počeo
shvaćati da je kod njega došlo do svrgnuća razuma, te
opažati da je moj jedini drug u toj tijesnoj i bolesnoj tami
sišao s uma.
Na temelju nekih maglovitih sjećanja sklon sam pomisliti da
je um povremeno znao odlutati i meni. Kad god bih zaspao,
pred oči bi mi dolazili čudni i strašni snovi. Zazvučat će
paradoksalno, ali sam sklon povjerovati da me je baš
kapelanovo ludilo upozorilo na opasnost i na nju me
pripremilo, te da sam baš zahvaljujući tome ostao pri sebi.
Osmog je dana prestao šaptati i progovorio glasno, i ništa
whispering, and nothing I could do would moderate his
speech.
"It is just, O God!" he would say, over and over again.
"It is just. On me and mine be the punishment laid. We
have sinned, we have fallen short. There was poverty,
sorrow; the poor were trodden in the dust, and I held
my peace. I preached acceptable folly--my God, what
folly!--when I should have stood up, though I died for
it, and called upon them to repent—repent! . . .
Oppressors of the poor and needy . . . ! The wine press
of God!" Then he would suddenly revert to the matter
of the food I withheld from him, praying, begging,
weeping, at last threatening. He began to raise his
voice--I prayed him not to. He perceived a hold on
me--he threatened he would shout and bring the
Martians upon us. For a time that scared me; but any
concession would have shortened our chance of escape
beyond estimating. I defied him, although I felt no
assurance that he might not do this thing. But that day,
at any rate, he did not. He talked with his voice rising
slowly, through the greater part of the eighth and ninth
days--threats, entreaties, mingled with a torrent of half-
sane and always frothy repentance for his vacant sham
of God's service, such as made me pity him. Then he
slept awhile, and began again with renewed strength, so
loudly that I must needs make him desist.
"Be still!" I implored.
He rose to his knees, for he had been sitting in the
darkness near the copper.
"I have been still too long," he said, in a tone that must
have reached the pit, "and now I must bear my witness.
Woe unto this unfaithful city! Woe! Woe! Woe! Woe!
Woe! To the inhabitants of the earth by reason of the
other voices of the trumpet----"
"Shut up!" I said, rising to my feet, and in a terror lest
the Martians should hear us. "For God's sake----"
"Nay," shouted the curate, at the top of his voice,
standing likewise and extending his arms. "Speak! The
word of the Lord is upon me!" In three strides he was at
the door leading into the kitchen.
"I must bear my witness! I go! It has already been too
long delayed."
I put out my hand and felt the meat chopper hanging to
the wall. In a flash I was after him. I was fierce with
fear. Before he was halfway across the kitchen I had
overtaken him. With one last touch of humanity I
turned the blade back and struck him with the butt. He
went headlong forward and lay stretched on the
ground. I stumbled over him and stood panting. He lay
still.
Suddenly I heard a noise without, the run and smash of
slipping plaster, and the triangular aperture in the wall
was darkened. I looked up and saw the lower surface of
a handling-machine coming slowly across the hole.
što sam mogao učiniti nije ga moglo natjerati da govori
umjerenije.
“To je pravedno, o Bože!” rekao bi on, pa to ponovio
bezbroj puta. “To je pravedno. Neka na mene i moje padne
kazna. Svi smo griješili, svi zatajili. Bio je jad, bila je
bijeda; siromaha su gazili u blato, a ja nisam ni zastao. Ja
sam propovijedao prihvatljive ludosti - moj Bože, kakve
ludosti! - a trebao sam ustati, pa makar zbog toga poginuo, i
pozvati ih da se pokaju - pokaju! ... Tlačitelje bijednih i
potrebitih ...! Božjega ti vinskog tijeska!” Onda bi
se najednom vratio na temu hrane koju sam mu uskraćivao,
pa bi se molio Bogu, moljakao, plakao, a na koncu i prijetio.
Počeo je i dizati glas - iako sam ga molio da to ne čini.
Opazio je da me time drži u šahu - pa zaprijetio da će se
zaderati i tako Marsijance dovesti na naš trag. To me je
neko vrijeme jako plašilo; ipak bi svaki ustupak neizmjerno
smanjio naše izglede za bijeg. Izazivao sam ga da to i učini,
iako baš nisam bio nimalo siguran da neće. On to ipak, bar
toga dana, nije učinio. Govorio je polako dižući glas, i tako
gotovo čitav osmi i deveti dan - bile su to prijetnje
i preklinjanja pomiješani s bujicom suludih i uvijek
zapjenjenih kajanja zbog svog ispraznog i lažnog slavljenja
Boga, tako da mi se upravo smilio. Tada je malo odspavao,
pa onda počeo s obnovljenom snagom, i to tako glasno da
sam ga morao natjerati da prestane.
“Dajte ušutite!” pokušao sam ga umoliti.
Uspravio se na koljena, jer je sjedio u mraku kraj kotla za
vodu.
“I predugo sam šutio,” rekao je tonom koji je zacijelo dopro
i do jame, “i sad moram svjedočiti istinu. Jao si ga ovom
bezbožnome gradu! Jao! Jao! Jao! Jao! Jao! I žiteljima
zemlje zbog drugih glasova trublje ...”
“Jezik za zube!” rekoh ustajući na noge, ispunjen strahom
da bi nas Marsijanci mogli čuti. “Za ime Božje ...”
“Ne”, uskliknuo je kapelan koliko ga grlo nosi, pa i on ustao
i podigao ruke. “Govorit ću! Iz mene govori Božja riječ!” I
u tri se koraka našao na vratima što vode u kuhinju.
“Moram svjedočiti istinu! Idem! I predugo sam to
odgađao.”
Ispružio sam ruku i napipao sataru što je visjela na zidu. U
tren oka već sam mu bio za petama. Podivljao sam od
straha. Prestigao sam ga prije nego što je prevalio i pola
puta preko kuhinje. U meni je još zaostala posljednja mrvica
ljudskosti, pa sam okrenuo sataru i udario ga tupim bridom.
Poletio je naglavce naprijed i rasprostro se po zemlji.
Spotakao sam se o nj i zastao sav zadihan. Ležao je mirno.
Najednom sam izvana začuo buku, opadanje i lomljenje
žbuke u padu, i onda se trokutasti otvor u zidu zamračio.
Podigao sam pogled i opazio kako na rupu polako dolazi
niža površina manipulatora. Jedan je od njegovih hvatača
One of its gripping limbs curled amid the debris;
another limb appeared, feeling its way over the fallen
beams. I stood petrified, staring. Then I saw through a
sort of glass plate near the edge of the body the face, as
we may call it, and the large dark eyes of a Martian,
peering, and then a long metallic snake of tentacle
came feeling slowly through the hole.
I turned by an effort, stumbled over the curate, and
stopped at the scullery door. The tentacle was now
some way, two yards or more, in the room, and twisting
and turning, with queer sudden movements, this way
and that. For a while I stood fascinated by that slow,
fitful advance. Then, with a faint, hoarse cry, I forced
myself across the scullery. I trembled violently; I could
scarcely stand upright. I opened the door of the coal
cellar, and stood there in the darkness staring at the
faintly lit doorway into the kitchen, and listening. Had
the Martian seen me? What was it doing now?
Something was moving to and fro there, very quietly;
every now and then it tapped against the wall, or
started on its movements with a faint metallic ringing,
like the movements of keys on a split-ring. Then a
heavy body--I knew too well what--was dragged across
the floor of the kitchen towards the opening.
Irresistibly attracted, I crept to the door and peeped into
the kitchen. In the triangle of bright outer sunlight I
saw the Martian, in its Briareus of a handling-machine,
scrutinizing the curate's head. I thought at once that it
would infer my presence from the mark of the blow I
had given him.
I crept back to the coal cellar, shut the door, and began
to cover myself up as much as I could, and as
noiselessly as possible in the darkness, among the
firewood and coal therein. Every now and then I
paused, rigid, to hear if the Martian had thrust its
tentacles through the opening again.
Then the faint metallic jingle returned. I traced it
slowly feeling over the kitchen. Presently I heard it
nearer--in the scullery, as I judged. I thought that its
length might be insufficient to reach me. I prayed
copiously. It passed, scraping faintly across the cellar
door. An age of almost intolerable suspense intervened;
then I heard it fumbling at the latch! It had found the
door! The Martians understood doors!
It worried at the catch for a minute, perhaps, and then
the door opened.
In the darkness I could just see the thing--like an
elephant's trunk more than anything else--waving
towards me and touching and examining the wall,
coals, wood and ceiling. It was like a black worm
swaying its blind head to and fro.
Once, even, it touched the heel of my boot. I was on
the verge of screaming; I bit my hand. For a time the
tentacle was silent. I could have fancied it had been
zavijugao kroz krš; potom se pojavio još jedan ud, pa počeo
pipati put preko srušenih greda. Stajao sam skamenjen i
zapiljen. Tada sam kroz nekakvo staklo uz rub tijela ugledao
nekakvo, recimo, lice, kao i krupne crne Marsijančeve oči
zapiljene u mene, a onda se kroz rupu, polako pipkajući,
provukla duga metalna zmija kraka.
S naporom sam se okrenuo, spotakao o kapelana i zastao na
vratima ostave. Krak je već bio donekle uznapredovao,
možda dva jarda, možda i više, u sobu, pa se izvijao i
okretao, čudnim i naglim pokretima, sad na ovu, sad na onu
stranu. Na trenutak sam zastao, fasciniran tim sporim,
isprekidanim napredovanjem. A onda sam, ispustivši tihi,
promukli krik, poletio preko ostave. Divlje sam se tresao;
jedva sam se i držao na nogama. Otvorio sam vrata
podruma za ugljen i ostao tako stajati u mraku, zapiljen
u slabašno osvijetljena vrata što su vodila u kuhinju, pa
osluhnuo. Je li me Marsijanac vidio? I što sad radi?
Nešto se micalo amo-tamo, i to vrlo tiho; svako bi malo
tucnulo o zid, ili ponovno, uz tihi metalni zvek, započelo
gibanje kao kad pomičemo ključeve na kolutu. A onda je
nešto preko kuhinjskoga poda prema otvoru povuklo
nekakvo teško tijelo - znao sam i predobro koje. Neodoljivo
privučen, zapuzao sam do vrata i povirio u kuhinju. U
trokutu sam sjajnog vanjskog sunca ugledao Marsijanca, u
kabini njegova manipulator, kako kapelanu pažljivo
pregledava glavu. Smjesta sam pomislio kako bi po
tragu udarca što sam mu ga bio zadao mogao zaključiti da
tu ima još nekoga.
Vratio sam se puzeći u podrum za ugljen, zatvorio vrata, pa
se počeo prekrivati, što sam bolje mogao, i najtiše koliko se
moglo u tami, cjepanicama i ugljenom što sam ih tu
zatekao. Svako bih malo zastao i ukočio se pa osluhnuo da
Marsijanac nije opet kroz otvor protisnuo krakove.
A onda se opet začulo tihano kovinsko zveckanje. Slijedio
sam ga kako polako prepipava kuhinju. Ubrzo zatim sam ga
začuo i bliže - u ostavi, kako sam procijenio. Pomislio sam
kako je možda prekratak da me dosegne. Iz mene su potekle
molitve. Potom je prošao i lagano zastrugao o vrata
podruma. Uslijedila je čitava era gotovo neizdržljive
napetosti, i tada sam začuo prtljanje oko kvake! Krak je
pronašao vrata! Marsijanci su razumjeli čemu služe!
Mučio se možda minutu oko zasuna, a onda su se vrata
otvorila.
U mraku sam razabrao krak - od svega je na svijetu
najsličniji bio slonovoj surli - kako maše prema meni pa
dotiče i ispituje zid, ugljen, drva i strop. Nalikovao je crnom
crvu što slijepom glavom maše sad na jednu, sad na drugu
stranu.
Jednom mi je čak dotakao i petu na cipeli. Manjkala mi je
još samo dlaka pa da kriknem; ujeo sam se za ruku. A onda
je krak na neko vrijeme umukao. Povjerovao sam da se
withdrawn. Presently, with an abrupt click, it gripped
something--I thought it had me!--and seemed to go out
of the cellar again. For a minute I was not sure.
Apparently it had taken a lump of coal to examine.
I seized the opportunity of slightly shifting my
position, which had become cramped, and then
listened. I whispered passionate prayers for safety.
Then I heard the slow, deliberate sound creeping
towards me again. Slowly, slowly it drew near,
scratching against the walls and tapping the furniture.
While I was still doubtful, it rapped smartly against the
cellar door and closed it. I heard it go into the pantry,
and the biscuit-tins rattled and a bottle smashed, and
then came a heavy bump against the cellar door. Then
silence that passed into an infinity of suspense.
Had it gone? At last I decided that it had.
It came into the scullery no more; but I lay all the tenth
day in the close darkness, buried among coals and
firewood, not daring even to crawl out for the drink for
which I craved. It was the eleventh day before I
ventured so far from my security.
CHAPTER FIVE
THE STILLNESS
My first act before I went into the pantry was to fasten
the door between the kitchen and the scullery. But the
pantry was empty; every scrap of food had gone.
Apparently, the Martian had taken it all on the previous
day. At that discovery I despaired for the first time. I
took no food, or no drink either, on the eleventh or the
twelfth day.
At first my mouth and throat were parched, and my
strength ebbed sensibly. I sat about in the darkness of
the scullery, in a state of despondent wretchedness. My
mind ran on eating. I thought I had become deaf, for
the noises of movement I had been accustomed to hear
from the pit had ceased absolutely. I did not feel strong
enough to crawl noiselessly to the peephole, or I would
have gone there.
On the twelfth day my throat was so painful that,
taking the chance of alarming the Martians, I attacked
the creaking rain-water pump that stood by the sink,
and got a couple of glassfuls of blackened and tainted
rain water. I was greatly refreshed by this, and
emboldened by the fact that no enquiring tentacle
povukao. A onda je, uz nagli škljocaj, uhvatio nešto -
pomislio sam da sam to ja! - pa se očito povukao iz
podruma. Na trenutak nisam bio siguran što. Očito je uzeo
grumen ugljena na ispitivanje.
Iskoristio sam priliku da se malo pomaknem, jer sam se već
počeo grčiti, pa osluhnuo. I počeo šaptom i strastveno moliti
Boga da me spasi.
A onda sam ponovno začuo taj zvuk kako polagano i
odmjereno opet klizi prema meni. Polako mi se, polako,
primicao sve bliže, grebući zidove i lupkajući o namještaj.
Još dok su mene mučile sumnje, krak je vješto udario o
vrata podruma i zatvorio ih. Čuo sam ga kako je ušao u
smočnicu, te zveket limenki s dvopekom i razbijanje boca, a
onda se začuo teški prasak o podrumska vrata. Nakon toga
se tišina pretvorila u beskrajnu napetost.
Je li otišao? Napokon sam zaključio da jest.
Više nije zalazio u ostavu; ipak sam čitav deseti dan ostao
ležati u tom tijesnom mraku, zakopan sred ugljena i
ogrjevnog drveta, ne usuđujući se otpuzati ni da se
napijem vode, a za čim sam izgarao. Kad sam se
napokon odvažio odmaknuti od sigurnosti, bio je već
i jedanaesti dan.
GLAVA 5.
MIR I TIŠINA
Prije nego što sam ušao u smočnicu, zakračunao sam vrata
između kuhinje i ostave. U smočnici, međutim, nije bilo
ničega: nestala je i zadnja mrvica hrane. Marsijanac je,
očito, još jučer sve bio pokupio. Kad sam to otkrio, po prvi
me je put uhvatio očaj. Čitav jedanaesti i dvanaesti dan
nisam, naime, ništa ni pojeo ni popio.
U prvi sam čas osjetio kako mi se grlo suši, a osjetno mi je
istekla i snaga. Sjedio sam u mraku ostave, u stanju
malodušne ojađenosti. U mislima nisam prestajao jesti.
Pomislio sam da sam oglušio, jer su šumovi gibanja iz jame,
a na koje sam se već bio naviknuo, sasvim prestali. Osjećao
sam da nemam dovoljno snage da nečujno otpužem do
špijunke, jer da se nisam tako osjećao, nedvojbeno bih to
učinio.
U dvanaesti dan grlo me je već tako boljelo da sam,
izloživši se opasnosti da uzbunim Marsijance, izvršio
prepad na škripavu crpku iz gustijerne, postavljenu uz
sudoper, pa iz nje izvukao dvije čaše pocrnjele i obojene
kišnice. To me uveliko osvježilo, a uvelike me je ohrabrila i
činjenica da iza mog bučnog pumpanja nije uslijedio
followed the noise of my pumping.
During these days, in a rambling, inconclusive way, I
thought much of the curate and of the manner of his
death.
On the thirteenth day I drank some more water, and
dozed and thought disjointedly of eating and of vague
impossible plans of escape. Whenever I dozed I dreamt
of horrible phantasms, of the death of the curate, or of
sumptuous dinners; but, asleep or awake, I felt a keen
pain that urged me to drink again and again. The light
that came into the scullery was no longer grey, but red.
To my disordered imagination it seemed the colour of
blood.
On the fourteenth day I went into the kitchen, and I was
surprised to find that the fronds of the red weed had
grown right across the hole in the wall, turning the
half-light of the place into a crimson-coloured
obscurity.
It was early on the fifteenth day that I heard a curious,
familiar sequence of sounds in the kitchen, and,
listening, identified it as the snuffing and scratching of
a dog. Going into the kitchen, I saw a dog's nose
peering in through a break among the ruddy fronds.
This greatly surprised me. At the scent of me he barked
shortly.
I thought if I could induce him to come into the place
quietly I should be able, perhaps, to kill and eat him;
and in any case, it would be advisable to kill him, lest
his actions attracted the attention of the Martians.
I crept forward, saying "Good dog!" very softly; but he
suddenly withdrew his head and disappeared.
I listened--I was not deaf--but certainly the pit was still.
I heard a sound like the flutter of a bird's wings, and a
hoarse croaking, but that was all.
For a long while I lay close to the peephole, but not
daring to move aside the red plants that obscured it.
Once or twice I heard a faint pitter-patter like the feet
of the dog going hither and thither on the sand far
below me, and there were more birdlike sounds, but
that was all. At length, encouraged by the silence, I
looked out.
Except in the corner, where a multitude of crows
hopped and fought over the skeletons of the dead the
Martians had consumed, there was not a living thing in
the pit.
I stared about me, scarcely believing my eyes. All the
machinery had gone. Save for the big mound of
greyish-blue powder in one corner, certain bars of
aluminium in another, the black birds, and the skeletons
of the killed, the place was merely an empty circular pit
in the sand.
Slowly I thrust myself out through the red weed, and
nikakav radoznali krak.
Tih sam dana, pomalo kaotično i bez pravog zaključka,
mnogo razmišljao i o kapelanu i tome kako je umro.
Trinaestog sam dana popio još malo vode, pa zadrijemao i
nevezano razmišljao o jelu i mutnim i nemogućim
planovima bijega. Kad god bih zadrijemao, sanjao sam
užasne fantazije na temu kapelanove pogibije i preobilnih
večera; pa ipak, u snu ili budan, stalno sam osjećao oštar bol
koji me je tjerao da ne prestajem piti i piti.
Svjetlo što je ulazilo u ostavu nije više bilo sivo nego
crveno. Mojoj se poremećenoj mašti činilo da je obojeno
krvlju.
Četrnaestog sam dana otišao u kuhinju, pa se iznenadio
otkrivši da su preko rupe u zidu izrasle vlati crvene trave, te
tako polusvjetlo u prostoriji pretvorile u grimiznu tamu. Na
početku sam petnaestog dana iz kuhinje začuo neobičan no
poznat mi slijed zvukova, pa sam u njemu, osluhnuvši,
prepoznao pseće njuškanje i grebanje. Kad sam ušao u
kuhinju, ugledao sam pseću njušku kako viri kroz procjep
između rumenih resica. Tome sam se jako iznenadio. Kad
mi je osjetio miris, kratko je zalajao.
Pomislio sam, kad bih ga mogao navesti da tiho uđe unutra,
možda bih ga mogao ubiti i pojesti; ubiti ga u svakom bi
slučaju bilo preporučljivo, da ne bi time što radi privukao
Marsijance.
Zapuzao sam prema njemu i rekao “Dobar pas!”, i to vrlo
tiho; on je, međutim, najednom povukao glavu i nestao.
Osluhnuo sam - nisam bio gluh - no u jami su nedvojbeno
vladali mir i tišina. Začuo sam zvuk nalik lepetu ptičjih
krila, kao i hrapavo kriještanje, no to je bilo sve.
Dugo sam ležao uz rupicu, ali se nisam usuđivao odgurnuti
u stranu crvene biljke koje su je zatvarale. U jednom do dva
navrata začuo (o.b:ra;d,a b,o.d;en) sam i tihi tapa-tapa, nalik
na korake psećih nogu dok hoda amo-tamo po pijesku
duboko ispod mene, a začulo se i još ptičjega glasanja, no to
je bilo sve. Napokon sam, ohrabren tišinom, pogledao van.
Osim u kutu, gdje je mnoštvo gavranova poskakivalo po
kosturima ljudi koje su Marsijanci konzumirali, i otimalo se
za kosti, u čitavoj jami nije bilo ni živoga stvora.
Zagledao sam se posvuda oko sebe, jedva vjerujući očima.
Sva je mašinerija iščezla. Izuzmemo li veliki humak
sivkastomodrog praha u jednom kutu, te određen broj
aluminijskih poluga u drugom, pa crnih ptičurina i kostura
ubijenih, to preda mnom je bila naprosto prazna kružna rupa
u pijesku.
Polako sam se protisnuo kroz crvenu travu pa se uspravio na
stood upon the mound of rubble. I could see in any
direction save behind me, to the north, and neither
Martians nor sign of Martians were to be seen. The pit
dropped sheerly from my feet, but a little way along the
rubbish afforded a practicable slope to the summit of
the ruins. My chance of escape had come. I began to
tremble.
I hesitated for some time, and then, in a gust of
desperate resolution, and with a heart that throbbed
violently, I scrambled to the top of the mound in which
I had been buried so long.
I looked about again. To the northward, too, no Martian
was visible.
When I had last seen this part of Sheen in the daylight
it had been a straggling street of comfortable white and
red houses, interspersed with abundant shady trees.
Now I stood on a mound of smashed brickwork, clay,
and gravel, over which spread a multitude of red
cactus-shaped plants, knee-high, without a solitary
terrestrial growth to dispute their footing. The trees
near me were dead and brown, but further a network of
red thread scaled the still living stems.
The neighbouring houses had all been wrecked, but
none had been burned; their walls stood, sometimes to
the second story, with smashed windows and shattered
doors. The red weed grew tumultuously in their
roofless rooms. Below me was the great pit, with the
crows struggling for its refuse. A number of other birds
hopped about among the ruins. Far away I saw a gaunt
cat slink crouchingly along a wall, but traces of men
there were none.
The day seemed, by contrast with my recent
confinement, dazzlingly bright, the sky a glowing blue.
A gentle breeze kept the red weed that covered every
scrap of unoccupied ground gently swaying. And oh!
the sweetness of the air!
CHAPTER SIX
THE WORK OF FIFTEEN DAYS
For some time I stood tottering on the mound
regardless of my safety. Within that noisome den from
which I had emerged I had thought with a narrow
intensity only of our immediate security. I had not
realised what had been happening to the world, had not
anticipated this startling vision of unfamiliar things. I
had expected to see Sheen in ruins--I found about me
the landscape, weird and lurid, of another planet.
For that moment I touched an emotion beyond the
common range of men, yet one that the poor brutes we
dominate know only too well. I felt as a rabbit might
feel returning to his burrow and suddenly confronted
by the work of a dozen busy navvies digging the
humku krša. Odatle mi se otvarao pogled na sve strane osim
iza leđa, na sjever, no nigdje na pogledu nije bilo nijednog
Marsijanca, a ni ikakva njihova traga. Jama mi se pod
nogama oštro rušila, ali se nakon nekoliko koraka kroz
krš otvarala sasvim upotrebljiva strmina što je vodila do
vrha ruševina. Napokon se pojavila prilika za bijeg. Počeo
sam se tresti.
Neko sam vrijeme oklijevao, no onda sam se, u zapuhu
očajničke odlučnosti, dok mi je srce divlje udaralo,
uspentrao na vrh humka pod kojim sam tako dugo bio
zakopan.
Još sam se jednom osvrnuo svud oko sebe. Ni na sjeveru
nigdje nije bilo nijednog Marsijanca.
Kad sam posljednji put u svjetlu dana vidio taj dio Sheena,
pred očima mi je bila raštrkana ulica puna udobnih bijelih i
crvenih kuća, protkana obiljem sjenovitih stabala. Sad sam
stajao na humku slupanih cigala, gline i šljunka, nad kojim
se širilo mnoštvo crvenih, kaktusu sličnih biljaka, visokih
do koljena, bez ijedne jedine usamljene zemaljske biljčice
koja bi im osporila mjesto. Stabla su kraj mene bila mrtva i
smeđa, ali je malo dalje mreža crvene pređe stvarala krljušt
na još živom potoku.
Sve su kuće u susjedstvu bile porušene, no nijedna nije bila
spaljena; zidovi su im još stajali, uzdižući se gdjekad i do
drugoga kata, ali su prozori bili razbijeni, a vrata razvaljena.
U njihovim je sobama bez krova sad bujno rasla crvena
trava. Ispod mene je bila velika jama i u njoj su se
gavranovi otimali za otpad. Kroz ruševine je skakutalo
mnoštvo drugih ptica. U daljini sam ugledao ispijenu mačku
kako se oprezno prikrada uza zid, ali od ljudi nigdje ni traga
ni glasa.
Dan je bio, u kontrastu s tek nedavno napuštenom
tamnicom, zasljepljujuće syijetao, a nebo blistavo modro.
Blagi je povjetarac neumorno lagano zibao vlatima crvene
trave što je pokrivala svaku krpicu slobodnoga tla. I da!
Kako je zrak bio sladak!
GLAVA 6.
PETNAESTODNEVNO DJELO
Neko sam vrijeme stajao klateći se na humku i nimalo ne
mareći za opasnost. U onom smradnom brlogu iz kojeg sam
upravo izronio, suženom sam koncentracijom mislio samo
na najneposredniju opasnost. Pritom nisam shvaćao što se
dogodilo sa svijetom, niti sam predvidio taj zapanjujući
pogled na neobične pojave. Očekivao sam da ću ugledati
Sheen u ruševinama - a oko sebe sam otkrio krajolik,
nastran i sablastan, s drugog planeta.
Na trenutak me je dotakao osjećaj izvan opsega onih među
ljudima uobičajenih, no koji sirote beštije kojima vladamo
poznaju i predobro. Osjećao sam se kao zec kad se vrati u
svoju rupu da bi se najednom zatekao pred djelom desetka
marljivih radnika koji kopaju temelje kuće. Tada sam osjetio
foundations of a house. I felt the first inkling of a thing
that presently grew quite clear in my mind, that
oppressed me for many days, a sense of dethronement,
a persuasion that I was no longer a master, but an
animal among the animals, under the Martian heel.
With us it would be as with them, to lurk and watch, to
run and hide; the fear and empire of man had passed
away.
But so soon as this strangeness had been realised it
passed, and my dominant motive became the hunger of
my long and dismal fast. In the direction away from the
pit I saw, beyond a red-covered wall, a patch of garden
ground unburied. This gave me a hint, and I went knee-
deep, and sometimes neck-deep, in the red weed. The
density of the weed gave me a reassuring sense of
hiding. The wall was some six feet high, and when I
attempted to clamber it I found I could not lift my feet
to the crest. So I went along by the side of it, and came
to a corner and a rockwork that enabled me to get to the
top, and tumble into the garden I coveted. Here I found
some young onions, a couple of gladiolus bulbs, and a
quantity of immature carrots, all of which I secured,
and, scrambling over a ruined wall, went on my way
through scarlet and crimson trees towards Kew--it was
like walking through an avenue of gigantic blood
drops--possessed with two ideas: to get more food, and
to limp, as soon and as far as my strength permitted,
out of this accursed unearthly region of the pit.
Some way farther, in a grassy place, was a group of
mushrooms which also I devoured, and then I came
upon a brown sheet of flowing shallow water, where
meadows used to be. These fragments of nourishment
served only to whet my hunger. At first I was surprised
at this flood in a hot, dry summer, but afterwards I
discovered that it was caused by the tropical
exuberance of the red weed. Directly this extraordinary
growth encountered water it straightway became
gigantic and of unparalleled fecundity. Its seeds were
simply poured down into the water of the Wey and
Thames, and its swiftly growing and Titanic water
fronds speedily choked both those rivers.
At Putney, as I afterwards saw, the bridge was almost
lost in a tangle of this weed, and at Richmond, too, the
Thames water poured in a broad and shallow stream
across the meadows of Hampton and Twickenham. As
the water spread the weed followed them, until the
ruined villas of the Thames valley were for a time lost
in this red swamp, whose margin I explored, and much
of the desolation the Martians had caused was
concealed. In the end the red weed succumbed almost
as quickly as it had spread. A cankering disease, due, it
is believed, to the action of certain bacteria, presently
seized upon it. Now by the action of natural selection,
all terrestrial plants have acquired a resisting power
prvu slutnju misli koja mi se brzo sasvim izbistrila u glavi, a
koja će me tištiti još mnoge dane, naime slutnju da smo
svrgnuti s prijestolja, uvjerenje da više nisam gospodar,
nego tek životinja među životinjama, a pod marsijanskom
čizmom. S nama će biti kao i s njima, samo ćemo se
skrivati, viriti, sklanjati se i bježati; dođe kraj i ljudskome
carstvu.
Ipak, čim sam shvatio tu neobičnost, ona se izgubila, pa je,
nakon dugog i očajnog posta, među porivima prevladala
glad. Malo podalje od jame, iza zacrvenjela zida, ugledao
sam nezatrpanu krpicu povrtnjaka. To mi je prišapnulo što
mi je činiti, pa sam zagazio do koljena, a gdjekad i do vrata,
u crvenu travu. Gustoća je trave u meni pobudila umirujući
osjećaj skrivenosti. Zid je bio visok možda šest stopa, a kad
sam se preko njega pokušao uspentrati, otkrio sam da ne
mogu dići noge do njegova vrha. Zato sam pošao duž zida,
pa tako stigao i do kamenih ugaonika, koji su me iznijeli do
vrha, tako sam se svalio u vrt i prepustio užitku. U
povrtnjaku sam našao nešto mladog luka, par lukovica
perunike, kao i ponešto još zelene mrkve, što sam sve
redom pokupio, pa se poslije uzverao preko porušena zida i
krenuo na put prema Kewu između skrletnih i grimiznih
stabala - činilo mi se kao da koračam kroz aveniju
divovskih kapi krvi - opsjednut samo dvjema mislima: kako
da dođem do još hrane i kako da odšepesam, najbrže i
najdalje koliko su mi dopuštale snage, iz tog prokletog i
nezemaljskog predjela jame.
Malo podalje, na travnatome mjestu, pronašao sam i
skupinu gljiva koje sam doslovno požderao, a onda sam
stigao i do smeđeg sloja plitke i tekuće vode, na mjestu gdje
su nekad bile livade. Te su mi mrvice živeža samo podjarile
glad. U prvi me je čas iznenadila ta poplava usred vrućeg i
suhog ljeta, ali sam kasnije otkrio da ju je uzrokovala
tropska prebujnost crvene trave. Čim bi to krajnje neobično
raslinje naišlo na vodu, smjesta bi poprimilo divovske
razmjere i nečuvenu rodnost. Njegovo se sjeme
naprosto ulilo u vodu Weya i Temze, pa su njegove
brzorastuće i titanske vodene rese ubrzo zagušile obje te
rijeke.
Kod Putneyja, u što sam se kasnije uvjerio, most se gotovo
sasvim izgubio u spletu trave, dok je i u Richmondu Temza
tekla širokim i plitkim tokom preko livada Hamptona i
Twickenhama. Kako se voda širila, s njom se širila i trava,
tako da su se napokon porušene vile u dolini Temze
privremeno izgubile u crvenoj močvari, čiji sam rub
istražio, i koja je tako sakrila dobar dio pustoši što su je
stvorili Marsijanci. Na kraju je ta crvena trava podlegla
gotovo jednako brzo kao što se i raširila. Smjesta ju
je, naime, napala nekakva kancerozna bolest, izazvana,
kako se misli, djelovanjem izvjesne bakterije. Sve su
zemaljske biljke, zahvaljujući djelovanju prirodnog odabira,
stekle obrambenu moć prema bakterijskim zarazama -
against bacterial diseases--they never succumb without
a severe struggle, but the red weed rotted like a thing
already dead. The fronds became bleached, and then
shrivelled and brittle. They broke off at the least touch,
and the waters that had stimulated their early growth
carried their last vestiges out to sea.
My first act on coming to this water was, of course, to
slake my thirst. I drank a great deal of it and, moved by
an impulse, gnawed some fronds of red weed; but they
were watery, and had a sickly, metallic taste. I found
the water was sufficiently shallow for me to wade
securely, although the red weed impeded my feet a
little; but the flood evidently got deeper towards the
river, and I turned back to Mortlake. I managed to
make out the road by means of occasional ruins of its
villas and fences and lamps, and so presently I got out
of this spate and made my way to the hill going up
towards Roehampton and came out on Putney
Common.
Here the scenery changed from the strange and
unfamiliar to the wreckage of the familiar: patches of
ground exhibited the devastation of a cyclone, and in a
few score yards I would come upon perfectly
undisturbed spaces, houses with their blinds trimly
drawn and doors closed, as if they had been left for a
day by the owners, or as if their inhabitants slept
within. The red weed was less abundant; the tall trees
along the lane were free from the red creeper. I hunted
for food among the trees, finding nothing, and I also
raided a couple of silent houses, but they had already
been broken into and ransacked. I rested for the
remainder of the daylight in a shrubbery, being, in my
enfeebled condition, too fatigued to push on.
All this time I saw no human beings, and no signs of
the Martians. I encountered a couple of hungry-looking
dogs, but both hurried circuitously away from the
advances I made them. Near Roehampton I had seen
two human skeletons--not bodies, but skeletons, picked
clean--and in the wood by me I found the crushed and
scattered bones of several cats and rabbits and the skull
of a sheep. But though I gnawed parts of these in my
mouth, there was nothing to be got from them.
After sunset I struggled on along the road towards
Putney, where I think the Heat-Ray must have been
used for some reason. And in the garden beyond
Roehampton I got a quantity of immature potatoes,
sufficient to stay my hunger. From this garden one
looked down upon Putney and the river. The aspect of
the place in the dusk was singularly desolate:
blackened trees, blackened, desolate ruins, and down
the hill the sheets of the flooded river, red-tinged with
the weed. And over all--silence. It filled me with
indescribable terror to think how swiftly that desolating
change had come.
kojima nikad nisu podlijegle bez žestoke borbe - ali je zato
crvena trava trunula kao da je već mrtva. Rese bi joj
izblijedjele, pa se smežurale i postale krhke. Odlamale su
se i na najmanji dodir, a vode što su ih u početku tako
poticale na rast, sad su u more odnijele i posljednje njihove
ostatke.
Kad sam stigao do vode prvo mi je, dakako, bilo da utažim
žeđ. Popio sam je zaista podosta, a onda sam, čisto
nagonski, prožvakao nekoliko resa crvene trave; one su,
međutim, bile vodnjikave, i imale su bolestan, metalan
okus. Otkrio sam da je voda dovoljno plitka za gacanje bez
opasnosti, iako mi je crvena trava pomalo sputavala noge,
ipak je bujica - što sam se više primicao rijeci - postajala
sve dubljom, pa sam se okrenuo natrag prema Mortlakeu.
Uspio sam razabrati cestu prema povremenim
ruševinama vila, ograda i uličnih svjetiljaka, pa sam se tako
uskoro izvukao iz povodnja i probio se do brijega što se
uspinjao prema Roehamptonu, te tako izbio na Putney
Common.
Tu se prizor promijenio, pretvorivši se od čudnog i
nepoznatog u ruševinu poznatog: na krpicama su zemlje bili
izloženi tragovi pustošenja ciklona, a već nekoliko desetaka
jardi dalje naišao bih na savršeno neporemećena mjesta,
kuće s roletama uredno navučenim i vratima zatvorenim,
kao da su ih njihovi vlasnici napustili samo na dan, ili kao
da u njima njihovi stanovnici još spavaju. Crvena je trava tu
bila manje obilna; visoka su stabla duž puta bila slobodna
od crvenih puzavica. Pošao sam u lov na hranu između
stabala, no kako nisam našao ništa, krenuo sam u pljačkaški
pohod na dvije utihle kuće, no one su već bile i provaljene i
opljačkane. Dok je još bilo dana ostao sam u grmlju,
jer sam, u svom oslabljenom tjelesnom stanju, bio
preiscrpljen za daljnje napredovanje.
Za sve to vrijeme nisam vidio ni čovjeka, ali isto tako ni
traga ni glasa od Marsijanaca. Sreo sam par očito gladnih
pasa, ali kad sam pošao prema njima, oba su me brzo
zaobišla u širokom luku. Kad Roehamptona sam ugledao
dva ljudska kostura - ne tijela, baš kostura, očišćena do gole
kosti - a u obližnjoj sam šumi našao zdrobljene i razbacane
kosti nekoliko mačaka i zečeva, kao i ovčju glavu. Iako sam
neke od njih dugo glodao i žvakao, iz njih ipak nisam
mogao ništa iscijediti.
Nakon što je zašlo sunce, nastavio sam se probijati cestom
prema Putneyju, gdje je, slutim, zbog nekog razloga bila
primijenjena Toplinska zraka. A u nekom povrtnjaku iza
Roehamptona naišao sam na veću količinu još zelenih
krumpira, kojima sam bar donekle odagnao glad. Iz tog se
povrtnjaka pogled spuštao na Putney i rijeku. Izgled je tog
mjesta u sumraku bio doista neobično pust: pocrnjela
stabla, pocrnjele, opustjele ruševine, a nizbrdo se ruše
ponjave poplavnih voda, s crvenim obrubom trave. A preko
svega toga - tišina. Sama misao kako je brzo došlo do takve
promjene u pustoš ispunjavala me je neopisivim užasom.
For a time I believed that mankind had been swept out
of existence, and that I stood there alone, the last man
left alive. Hard by the top of Putney Hill I came upon
another skeleton, with the arms dislocated and removed
several yards from the rest of the body. As I proceeded
I became more and more convinced that the
extermination of mankind was, save for such stragglers
as myself, already accomplished in this part of the
world. The Martians, I thought, had gone on and left
the country desolated, seeking food elsewhere. Perhaps
even now they were destroying Berlin or Paris, or it
might be they had gone northward.
CHAPTER SEVEN
THE MAN ON PUTNEY HILL
I spent that night in the inn that stands at the top of
Putney Hill, sleeping in a made bed for the first time
since my flight to Leatherhead. I will not tell the
needless trouble I had breaking into that house--
afterwards I found the front door was on the latch--nor
how I ransacked every room for food, until just on the
verge of despair, in what seemed to me to be a servant's
bedroom, I found a rat-gnawed crust and two tins of
pineapple. The place had been already searched and
emptied. In the bar I afterwards found some biscuits
and sandwiches that had been overlooked. The latter I
could not eat, they were too rotten, but the former not
only stayed my hunger, but filled my pockets. I lit no
lamps, fearing some Martian might come beating that
part of London for food in the night. Before I went to
bed I had an interval of restlessness, and prowled from
window to window, peering out for some sign of these
monsters. I slept little. As I lay in bed I found myself
thinking consecutively--a thing I do not remember to
have done since my last argument with the curate.
During all the intervening time my mental condition
Na neko sam vrijeme čak bio povjerovao da je ljudski rod
zbrisan s lica zemlje, te da stojim sasvim sam, kao
posljednji preživjeli čovjek. Tik uz vrh Putney Hilla naišao
sam na još jedan kostur, s rukama otkinutim i bačen
nekoliko jardi od ostatka tijela. Što sam dalje napredovao,
sve sam dublje vjerovao u to da je u ovom dijelu svijeta već
provedeno istrebljenje ljudskoga roda, te da je još samo tu i
tamo zaostala poneka lutalica poput mene. Marsijanci su,
pomislio sam, otišli potražiti hranu na nekom drugom
mjestu, a za sobom ostavili pustoš. Možda baš u ovom
času razaraju Berlin ili Pariz, a moguće je i da su krenuli na
sjever.
GLAVA 7.
ČOVJEK NA PUTNEY HILLU
Tu sam noć proveo u gostionici podignutoj na vrhu Putney
Hilla, i tako po prvi put, sve od bijega u Leatherhead,
prespavao u posteljini. Neću ni pričati o suvišnom trudu što
sam ga uložio provaljujući u kuću - kasnije sam otkrio da su
ulazna vrata bila samo pritvorena - niti kako sam u potrazi
za hranom isprevrtao sve sobe, da bih na kraju, već na
samom rubu očaja, u - po svemu sudeći - služavkinoj
spavaonici, pronašao koricu kruha, koju su već oglodali
štakori, te dvije limenke ananasa. Gostionica je već bila
pretražena i ispražnjena. Kasnije sam u baru našao
nešto dvopeka i sendviča koji su im promakli. Potonje
nisam mogao jesti, jer su već bili napola truli, ali su mi zato
prvi ne samo utažili glad, nego sam njima i napunio
džepove. Nisam palio svjetiljke, jer sam se bojao da bi neki
Marsijanac mogao noću obilaziti taj dio Londona u potrazi
za hranom. Prije nego što sam pošao u postelju proživio
sam razdoblje nervoze, pa sam lutao od prozora do prozora,
pa virio van, ne bih li ugledao kakvu slutnju tih
čudovišta. Spavao sam malo. Dok sam tako ležao u postelji,
dao sam se u konzekutivno razmišljanje - što nisam, koliko
se sjećam, učinio sve od posljednje prepirke s kapelanom.
had been a hurrying succession of vague emotional
states or a sort of stupid receptivity. But in the night my
brain, reinforced, I suppose, by the food I had eaten,
grew clear again, and I thought.
Three things struggled for possession of my mind: the
killing of the curate, the whereabouts of the Martians,
and the possible fate of my wife. The former gave me
no sensation of horror or remorse to recall; I saw it
simply as a thing done, a memory infinitely
disagreeable but quite without the quality of remorse. I
saw myself then as I see myself now, driven step by
step towards that hasty blow, the creature of a sequence
of accidents leading inevitably to that. I felt no
condemnation; yet the memory, static, unprogressive,
haunted me. In the silence of the night, with that sense
of the nearness of God that sometimes comes into the
stillness and the darkness, I stood my trial, my only
trial, for that moment of wrath and fear. I retraced
every step of our conversation from the moment when I
had found him crouching beside me, heedless of my
thirst, and pointing to the fire and smoke that streamed
up from the ruins of Weybridge. We had been incapable
of co-operation--grim chance had taken no heed of that.
Had I foreseen, I should have left him at Halliford. But
I did not foresee; and crime is to foresee and do. And I
set this down as I have set all this story down, as it was.
There were no witnesses--all these things I might have
concealed. But I set it down, and the reader must form
his judgment as he will.
And when, by an effort, I had set aside that picture of a
prostrate body, I faced the problem of the Martians and
the fate of my wife. For the former I had no data; I
could imagine a hundred things, and so, unhappily, I
could for the latter. And suddenly that night became
terrible. I found myself sitting up in bed, staring at the
dark. I found myself praying that the Heat-Ray might
have suddenly and painlessly struck her out of being.
Since the night of my return from Leatherhead I had
not prayed. I had uttered prayers, fetish prayers, had
prayed as heathens mutter charms when I was in
extremity; but now I prayed indeed, pleading
steadfastly and sanely, face to face with the darkness of
God. Strange night! Strangest in this, that so soon as
dawn had come, I, who had talked with God, crept out
of the house like a rat leaving its hiding place--a
creature scarcely larger, an inferior animal, a thing that
for any passing whim of our masters might be hunted
and killed. Perhaps they also prayed confidently to
God. Surely, if we have learned nothing else, this war
has taught us pity--pity for those witless souls that
suffer our dominion.
The morning was bright and fine, and the eastern sky
glowed pink, and was fretted with little golden clouds.
Kroz sve međuvrijeme moje je mentalno stanje bilo tek
žuran slijed nejasnih emotivnih stanja ili nekakvog glupog
prihvaćanja svega. Te mi se noći, međutim, um opet
razbistrio, pretpostavljam zato što se okrijepio hranom, pa
se prihvatio razmišljanja.
Za moje su se misli otimale tri teme: kapelanova pogibija,
pitanje gdje su trenutno Marsijanci, i moguća sudbina moje
žene. Prisjećanje na ono prvo nije u meni budilo ni osjećaj
užasnutosti ni kajanje; u tome sam vidio naprosto svršenu
stvar, uspomenu beskrajno odbojnu no ipak lišenu ikakva
grizodušja. Na svoj sam postupak tada gledao kao što to
činim i sada, te smatrao da sam na taj nepromišljen udarac
bio natjeran sve korak po korak, da je on samo plod slijeda
slučajnih zbivanja koja su do njega neizbježno dovela. Sebe
nisam osuđivao; ipak me je stalno progonilo sjećanje, pa
makar i statičko, neprogresivno. U tišini noći, uz taj
osjećaj blizine Boga što ponekad znade doći u miru i tami,
sudilo mi se, ali samo sudilo, za taj trenutak straha i bijesa.
Prešao sam svaki korak našeg razgovora sve od trenutka
kad sam ga zatekao kako kleči kraj mene, nimalo ne mareći
za moju žeđ, i prstom pokazuje na vatru i dim što su se
dizali iz ruševina Weybridgea. Bio je sasvim nesposoban za
suradnju - no zlosretni se slučaj na to nije obazirao. Da sam
sve to bio predvidio, bio bih ga ostavio u Hallifordu. Ali ja
nisam ništa predvidio; zločin je predvidjeti, pa učiniti. A to
sam zapisao kao i čitavu ovu priču, to jest baš kako je bilo.
Nije bilo svjedoka - sve sam to mogao i prikriti. Pa ipak
sam to zapisao, a čitatelj neka po vlastitoj volji donese sud.
A kada sam, s teškom mukom, od sebe odgurnuo tu sliku
prostrtoga tijela, okrenuo sam se pitanju Marsijanaca i
ženine sudbine. Što se tiče prvoga, nisam imao nikakvih
podataka; mogao sam zamisliti stotinu različitih odgovora, a
to sam, na svoju nesreću, mogao učiniti i u potonjem
slučaju. A onda je noć najednom postala strašna. Otkrio sam
da sjedim u krevetu i zurim u mrak. I da se molim da me
Toplinska zraka iznenadnim i bezbolnim udarcem preseli u
nepostojanje. Nisam se molio sve od one noći kad sam se
vratio iz Leatherheada. Izgovarao sam molitve, fetiške
molitve, onako kako se u velikoj nevolji mole pogani; ali
sad sam se molio zaista, preklinjao Boga uporno i pri
zdravoj svijesti, licem u lice s Božjom tamom. Čudne li
noći! A najčudnije po tome što sam, čim je svanula zora, ja
koji sam razgovarao s Bogom, ispuzao iz kuće kao štakor
kad bježi iz skrovišta - kao stvor jedvice veći od njega,
inferiorna životinja, stvorenje kojega naši gospodari mogu
loviti i ubiti iz čistog prolaznog hira. Možda su se i oni s
pouzdanjem molili Bogu. Naravno, ako ništa drugo, ovaj
nas je rat naučio milosrđu - milosrđu prema svim onim
neumnim stvorovima koji trpe našu dominaciju.
Jutro je bilo bistro i jasno, i nebo je na istoku blistalo
rumenilom, iscifrano zelenim oblačićima. Na cesti što teče s
In the road that runs from the top of Putney Hill to
Wimbledon was a number of poor vestiges of the panic
torrent that must have poured Londonward on the
Sunday night after the fighting began. There was a little
two-wheeled cart inscribed with the name of Thomas
Lobb, Greengrocer, New Malden, with a smashed
wheel and an abandoned tin trunk; there was a straw
hat trampled into the now hardened mud, and at the top
of West Hill a lot of blood-stained glass about the
overturned water trough. My movements were languid,
my plans of the vaguest. I had an idea of going to
Leatherhead, though I knew that there I had the poorest
chance of finding my wife. Certainly, unless death had
overtaken them suddenly, my cousins and she would
have fled thence; but it seemed to me I might find or
learn there whither the Surrey people had fled. I knew I
wanted to find my wife, that my heart ached for her and
the world of men, but I had no clear idea how the
finding might be done. I was also sharply aware now of
my intense loneliness. From the corner I went, under
cover of a thicket of trees and bushes, to the edge of
Wimbledon Common, stretching wide and far.
That dark expanse was lit in patches by yellow gorse
and broom; there was no red weed to be seen, and as I
prowled, hesitating, on the verge of the open, the sun
rose, flooding it all with light and vitality. I came upon
a busy swarm of little frogs in a swampy place among
the trees. I stopped to look at them, drawing a lesson
from their stout resolve to live. And presently, turning
suddenly, with an odd feeling of being watched, I
beheld something crouching amid a clump of bushes. I
stood regarding this. I made a step towards it, and it
rose up and became a man armed with a cutlass. I
approached him slowly. He stood silent and motionless,
regarding me.
As I drew nearer I perceived he was dressed in clothes
as dusty and filthy as my own; he looked, indeed, as
though he had been dragged through a culvert. Nearer,
I distinguished the green slime of ditches mixing with
the pale drab of dried clay and shiny, coaly patches. His
black hair fell over his eyes, and his face was dark and
dirty and sunken, so that at first I did not recognise
him. There was a red cut across the lower part of his
face.
"Stop!" he cried, when I was within ten yards of him,
and I stopped. His voice was hoarse. "Where do you
come from?" he said.
I thought, surveying him.
"I come from Mortlake," I said. "I was buried near the
pit the Martians made about their cylinder. I have
worked my way out and escaped."
"There is no food about here," he said. "This is my
country. All this hill down to the river, and back to
Clapham, and up to the edge of the common. There is
vrha Putney Hilla do Wimbledona vidjeli su se mnogobrojni
jadni ostaci panične bujice što je zacijelo potekla prema
Londonu u nedjelju uvečer, kad su počele borbe. Tako su tu
bila kolica na dva kotača, na kojima je bilo ispisano ime
Thomasa Lobba, piljara iz New Maldena, sa smrskanim
kotačem i napuštenim limenim kovčegom; bio je tu i
slamnati šešir utaban nogama u sad već stvrdnuto blato, a na
vrhu je West Hilla, oko prevrnuta pojila, bilo mnogo krvlju
obojenog stakla. Pokreti su mi bili tromi, a planovi
najmaglovitiji. Kanio sam poći do Leatherheada, iako sam
znao da tu imam najmanje izgleda da nađem ženu. Naravno,
ako ih nije zatekla nagla smrt, moji su rođaci i ona zacijelo
pobjegli otamo; ipak mi se činilo da bih tu mogao otkriti ili
doznati kamo su pobjegli stanovnici Surreyja. Znao sam da
želim naći ženu, da me srce boli i za njom i za ljudskim
svijetom, ali nisam imao nimalo jasne predodžbe o tome
kako da to i ostvarim. Osim toga sam sad i postao jasno
svjestan svoje silne samoće. I tako sam krenuo s ugla, kroz
zaklon gustiša stabala i grmlja, i stigao do ruba Wimbledon
Commona, što se sterao na sve strane.
Mračno je prostranstvo bilo osvijetljeno krpicama žute
klekovine i žutilovke; nigdje se nije vidjela crvena trava, i
dok sam tako lutao, neodlučan, rubom otvorenog prostora,
diglo se i Sunce, te ga čitavog preplavilo svjetlom i
životom. Tada sam u močvarnom zakutku između stabala
naišao i na marljiv roj žabica. Zastao sam i pogledao ih, i
tako iz njihove stamene odlučnosti da opstanu stekao
pouku. A onda sam se najednom okrenuo, jer me obuzeo
čudan osjećaj da me netko motri, te opazio kako nešto čuči
u klupku grmlja. Zastao sam i zagledao se u to. Zakoračio
sam prema tome, i onda je to ustalo i pretvorilo se u čovjeka
naoružana mačetom. Polako sam mu prišao. On je stajao
nijem i nepomičan, i gledao me.
Kad sam mu prišao bliže, opazio sam da je odjeven u ruho
prašnjavo i blatno kao i moje; izgledao je zapravo kao da su
ga upravo provukli kroz odvodni kanal. Prišavši mu još
bliže, razabrao sam zelenu rovovsku sluz pomiješanu s
blijedim okerom sasušene zemlje i sjajnih, ugljenastih
pjega. Crna mu je kosa padala na oči, a lice mu je bilo
pocrnjelo, prljavo i upalo, tako da ga u prvi mah nisam ni
prepoznao. A onda sam preko donjeg dijela lica opazio
crvenu posjekotinu.
“Stoj!” uzviknuo je kad sam mu se našao na deset jardi, i ja
sam stao. Glas mu je bio hrapav. “Odakle dolazite?” upitao
je.
Pažljivo sam ga promatrao i razmišljao.
“Dolazim iz Mortlakea”, rekoh napokon. “Ostao sam
zakopan kraj jame što su je Marsijanci iskopali oko
svog valjka. Uspio sam se iskopati i pobjeći.”
“Tu nema ništa za jesti”, odgovorio je on. “Ovo je moja
zemlja. Čitav taj brijeg sve do rijeke, pa natrag do
Claphama, i sve do ruba pašnjaka. Tu ima hrane samo
only food for one. Which way are you going?" I
answered slowly.
"I don't know," I said. "I have been buried in the ruins
of a house thirteen or fourteen days. I don't know what
has happened." He looked at me doubtfully, then
started, and looked with a changed expression.
"I've no wish to stop about here," said I. "I think I shall
go to Leatherhead, for my wife was there." He shot out
a pointing finger.
"It is you," said he; "the man from Woking. And you
weren't killed at Weybridge?" I recognised him at the
same moment.
"You are the artilleryman who came into my garden."
"Good luck!" he said. "We are lucky ones! Fancy you!"
He put out a hand, and I took it. "I crawled up a drain,"
he said. "But they didn't kill everyone. And after they
went away I got off towards Walton across the fields.
But---- It's not sixteen days altogether--and your hair is
grey." He looked over his shoulder suddenly. "Only a
rook," he said. "One gets to know that birds have
shadows these days. This is a bit open. Let us crawl
under those bushes and talk."
"Have you seen any Martians?" I said. "Since I crawled
out----"
"They've gone away across London," he said. "I guess
they've got a bigger camp there. Of a night, all over
there, Hampstead way, the sky is alive with their lights.
It's like a great city, and in the glare you can just see
them moving. By daylight you can't. But nearer--I
haven't seen them--" (he counted on his fingers) "five
days. Then I saw a couple across Hammersmith way
carrying something big. And the night before last"--he
stopped and spoke impressively--"it was just a matter
of lights, but it was something up in the air. I believe
they've built a flying-machine, and are learning to fly."
I stopped, on hands and knees, for we had come to the
bushes.
"Fly!"
"Yes," he said, "fly." I went on into a little bower, and
sat down.
"It is all over with humanity," I said. "If they can do
that they will simply go round the world." He nodded.
"They will. But---- It will relieve things over here a bit.
And besides----" He looked at me. "Aren't you satisfied
it is up with humanity? I am. We're down; we're beat." I
stared. Strange as it may seem, I had not arrived at this
fact--a fact perfectly obvious so soon as he spoke. I had
still held a vague hope; rather, I had kept a lifelong
habit of mind. He repeated his words, "We're beat."
They carried absolute conviction.
za jednog. Kamo idete?” Na to sam mu odgovorio
polako.
“Ne znam”, rekoh. “Proveo sam trinaest ili četrnaest dana
zatrpan pod ruševinama kuće. I ne znam što se dogodilo.”
On me pogledao sumnjičavo, pa se trgnuo, i onda me
pogledao s promijenjenim izrazom na licu.
“Nemam nikakve želje da se tu zadržavam”, rekoh. “Mislim
da ću otići u Leatherhead, jer mi je tamo žena.” Njemu je na
to izletio palac i pokazao na mene.
“To ste dakle vi,” rekao je, “taj čovjek iz Wokinga. I niste
poginuli kod Weybridgea?” Istog sam časa i ja prepoznao
njega.
“Vi ste onaj topnik koji je ušao u moj vrt.”
“Kakva sreća!” odgovorio je on. “Baš smo je imali!
Zamislite, vi!” Pružio je ruku, i ja sam je prihvatio.
“Uspuzao sam uz oluk”, rekao je. “Ali oni nisu
pobili baš sve. A nakon što su otišli, krenuo sam
preko polja prema Waltonu. Ali - ukupno nije prošlo
ni šesnaest dana - a kosa vam je već posijedila.”
Najednom je pogledao preko ramena. “Samo vrana”,
rekao je. “Danas čovjek mora naučiti da i ptice
imaju sjenu. Ovdje smo malo previše na otvorenom.
Dajte da otpužemo tamo pod grmlje i
porazgovaramo.”
“Jeste li vidjeli kojeg Marsijanca?” upitao sam ga. “Otkako
sam otpuzao ...”
“Otišli su sve do Londona i preko”, odgovorio je on.
“Pretpostavljam da su ondje digli veći logor. A noću,
posvuda tamo, prema Hampsteadu, nebo je živo od njihova
svjetla. Kao u kakvom velikom gradu, i u tom sjaju možete
razabrati kako se kreću. Pri danjem svjetlu to ne ide. Ali
bliže - ne, nisam ih vidio - (počeo je brojiti na prste) pet
dana. Onda sam vidio dva, prema Hammersmithu, kako
nose nešto veliko. A preksinoć” - zastao je i onda
progovorio očito duboko dojmljen - “to je bilo samo
zbog svjetla, ali je to bilo nešto u zraku. Vjerujem da su
napravili leteći stroj, i da sad uče letjeti.” Ja sam zastao,
onako četveronoške, jer smo stigli do grmlja.
“Letjeti!”
“Da,” odgovorio je on, “letjeti.” Produžio sam u malu
sjenicu i sjeo.
“Gotovo je s čovječanstvom”, rekoh. “Ako uspiju i u tome,
naprosto će obletjeti svijet.” On je zakimao glavom.
“I hoće. Ali - to bi nama ovdje bar malo olakšalo situaciju.
A osim toga ...” Pogledao me. “Jeste li sigurni da je s
ljudskim rodom gotovo? Ja jesam. Mi smo gotovi;
potučeni.” Ja sam se zapiljio. Možda će zazvučati čudno, ali
ja još nisam bio stigao do te činjenice - do činjenice koja mi
je, čim je progovorio, postala savršeno očitom. Mene još
nije napuštala neka nejasna nada; ili bolje, nije me napustila
umna navika koja me držala čitav život. On je ponovio
svoje riječi: “Potučeni.” U njima se osjećala savršena
uvjerenost.
"It's all over," he said. "They've lost one--just one. And
they've made their footing good and crippled the
greatest power in the world. They've walked over us.
The death of that one at Weybridge was an accident.
And these are only pioneers. They kept on coming.
These green stars--I've seen none these five or six days,
but I've no doubt they're falling somewhere every
night. Nothing's to be done. We're under! We're beat!" I
made him no answer. I sat staring before me, trying in
vain to devise some countervailing thought.
"This isn't a war," said the artilleryman. "It never was a
war, any more than there's war between man and ants."
Suddenly I recalled the night in the observatory.
"After the tenth shot they fired no more--at least, until
the first cylinder came."
"How do you know?" said the artilleryman. I
explained. He thought. "Something wrong with the
gun," he said. "But what if there is? They'll get it right
again. And even if there's a delay, how can it alter the
end? It's just men and ants. There's the ants builds their
cities, live their lives, have wars, revolutions, until the
men want them out of the way, and then they go out of
the way. That's what we are now--just ants. Only----"
"Yes," I said.
"We're eatable ants." We sat looking at each other.
"And what will they do with us?" I said.
"That's what I've been thinking," he said; "that's what
I've been thinking. After Weybridge I went south--
thinking. I saw what was up. Most of the people were
hard at it squealing and exciting themselves. But I'm
not so fond of squealing. I've been in sight of death
once or twice; I'm not an ornamental soldier, and at the
best and worst, death--it's just death. And it's the man
that keeps on thinking comes through. I saw everyone
tracking away south. Says I, 'Food won't last this way,'
and I turned right back. I went for the Martians like a
sparrow goes for man. All round"--he waved a hand to
the horizon--"they're starving in heaps, bolting,
treading on each other. . . ." He saw my face, and halted
awkwardly.
"No doubt lots who had money have gone away to
France," he said. He seemed to hesitate whether to
apologise, met my eyes, and went on: "There's food all
about here. Canned things in shops; wines, spirits,
mineral waters; and the water mains and drains are
empty. Well, I was telling you what I was thinking.
'Here's intelligent things,' I said, 'and it seems they
want us for food. First, they'll smash us up--ships,
machines, guns, cities, all the order and organisation.
All that will go. If we were the size of ants we might
pull through. But we're not. It's all too bulky to stop.
That's the first certainty.' Eh?"
“Sve je gotovo”, rekao je. “Oni su izgubili jednog - samo
jednog. A ipak su osigurali mostobran i obogaljili najveću
svjetsku velesilu. Naprosto su nas pregazili. A pogibija onog
u Weybridgeu bila je sasvim slučajna. I ovi su samo pioniri.
Jer stalno dolaze sve novi i novi. Te zelene zvijezde - već
pet-šest dana nisam vidio nijedne, ali ne sumnjam da svake
noći padaju amo ili tamo. I tu se ništa ne da učiniti. Mi smo
pregaženi! Mi smo potučeni!” Nisam mu odgovorio. Sjedio
sam i gledao pred sebe, i uzalud pokušavao doći do nekakve
misli koja bi to poništila.
“To i nije rat”, rekao je topnik. “To nikad i nije bio rat, kao
što nema ni rata između čovjeka i mrava.” Najednom sam
se prisjetio one noći na zvjezdarnici.
“Nakon desetog hica oni više nisu ispalili nijedan - mislim,
bar prije nego što je stigao prvi valjak.”
“Otkud vi to znate?” upitao je topnik. Objasnio sam mu. On
se zamislio. “Onda očito nešto nije u redu s topom”, rekao
je. “No što ako je i tako? Oni će ga opet popraviti. No čak i
ako dođe do odgode, kako to može promijeniti krajnji
ishod? To je naprosto rat ljudi i mrava. Tako i mravi grade
svoje gradove, žive svoje živote, ratuju svoje ratove, dižu
svoje revolucije, sve dok ih ljudi ne požele skloniti s puta, i
onda ih sklone. Eto, mi smo sada baš to - naprosto
mravi. Samo ...”
“Da?” rekoh.
“Mi smo jestivi mravi.” Sjedili smo i gledali se.
“I što će oni učiniti s nama?” upitao sam.
“Baš o tome i razmišljam,” odgovorio je, “baš o tome i
razmišljam. Nakon Weybridgea sam krenuo na jug -
razmišljajući. Vidio sam što je došlo. Ljudi su to većinom
dočekali teško, pa počeli cviliti i uzbuđivati se. Ali ja baš ne
volim cviliti. Jednom sam, možda i dvaput, pogledao smrti
u oči; ja baš nisam vojnik za paradu, a smrt je, i u najboljem
i u najgorem slučaju - samo smrt. A izvuče se onaj tko ne
prestane misliti. Vidio sam kako se svi vuku na jug. Pa
rekoh: ‘Tako im hrana baš neće potrajati’, i smjesta okrenuo
natrag. Ja Marsijancima dođem što i vrabac ljudima. A
okolo” - mahnuo je rukom prema obzoru - “sad hrpimice
umiru od gladi, bezglavo bježe, i gaze jedni
preko drugih ...” Ugledao mi je lice pa nespretno zastao.
“Ne dvojim da su mnogi parajlije pobjegli u Francusku”,
rekao je. Kao da je zastao, ne znajući da li da mi se ispriča,
no onda mi je susreo pogled, pa nastavio: “Tu posvuda ima
hrane. Konzervi koječega po dućanima; vina, žestica,
mineralne vode; a glavne vodovodne cijevi i oluci su
presušili. Mislim, govorim vam što sam mislio. ‘Oni su
razumna bića,’ rekoh, ‘i čini se da nas žele jesti. Zato će
najprije sve razbiti - brodove, strojeve, topove, gradove, sav
poredak i organizaciju. Sve će to otići. Da smo sitni kao
mravi, mogli bismo se provući. Ali to nismo. Sve je to
preveliko da bi se moglo zaustaviti. To je prvo što je sasvim
izvjesno.’ A?”
I assented.
"It is; I've thought it out. Very well, then--next; at
present we're caught as we're wanted. A Martian has
only to go a few miles to get a crowd on the run. And I
saw one, one day, out by Wandsworth, picking houses
to pieces and routing among the wreckage. But they
won't keep on doing that. So soon as they've settled all
our guns and ships, and smashed our railways, and
done all the things they are doing over there, they will
begin catching us systematic, picking the best and
storing us in cages and things. That's what they will
start doing in a bit. Lord! They haven't begun on us yet.
Don't you see that?"
"Not begun!" I exclaimed.
"Not begun. All that's happened so far is through our
not having the sense to keep quiet--worrying them with
guns and such foolery. And losing our heads, and
rushing off in crowds to where there wasn't any more
safety than where we were. They don't want to bother
us yet. They're making their things--making all the
things they couldn't bring with them, getting things
ready for the rest of their people. Very likely that's why
the cylinders have stopped for a bit, for fear of hitting
those who are here. And instead of our rushing about
blind, on the howl, or getting dynamite on the chance
of busting them up, we've got to fix ourselves up
according to the new state of affairs. That's how I
figure it out. It isn't quite according to what a man
wants for his species, but it's about what the facts point
to. And that's the principle I acted upon. Cities, nations,
civilisation, progress--it's all over. That game's up.
We're beat."
"But if that is so, what is there to live for?"
The artilleryman looked at me for a moment.
"There won't be any more blessed concerts for a
million years or so; there won't be any Royal Academy
of Arts, and no nice little feeds at restaurants. If it's
amusement you're after, I reckon the game is up. If
you've got any drawing-room manners or a dislike to
eating peas with a knife or dropping aitches, you'd
better chuck 'em away. They ain't no further use."
"You mean----"
"I mean that men like me are going on living--for the
sake of the breed. I tell you, I'm grim set on living. And
if I'm not mistaken, you'll show what insides you've
got, too, before long. We aren't going to be
exterminated. And I don't mean to be caught either, and
tamed and fattened and bred like a thundering ox. Ugh!
Fancy those brown creepers!"
"You don't mean to say----"
"I do. I'm going on, under their feet. I've got it planned;
I've thought it out. We men are beat. We don't know
enough. We've got to learn before we've got a chance.
And we've got to live and keep independent while we
Potvrdio sam.
“I jest, sve sam to promislio. No onda dobro - dalje; za sada
smo uhvaćeni baš po planu. Marsijanac treba prevaliti tek
nekoliko milja pa da dostigne masu u bijegu. A vidio sam
jednoga, neki dan, negdje oko Wandswortha, kako razbija
kuće na komade i kopa kroz ruševine. Ali oni neće dugo
tako. Čim nam srede sve brodove i topove, i razbiju sve
pruge, i učine sve što već čine, počet će nas loviti
sistematski, pa će probrati najbolje i uskladištiti nas
u kaveze i slično. Još malo, pa će početi činiti baš to. O
Bože! Oni s nama još nisu ni počeli. Zar vam to nije jasno?”
“Ni počeli!” uskliknuo sam.
“Ni počeli. A sve što se dogodilo do sada, to je zato što
nismo znali pognuti glavu pa jezik za zube - nego smo ih
gnjavili topovima i sve te gluposti. Pa smo onda izgubili
glavu i u gomilama nagrnuli amo i tamo, iako tamo nije bilo
ništa sigurnije nego amo. Oni nas još nisu kanili gnjaviti.
Oni su pravili te svoje sprave - sve što nisu mogli donijeti sa
sobom, i sve to pripremali za dolazak ostalih. Valjda su zato
valjci malo i prestali dolaziti, da ne pogode one koji su već
tu. I umjesto da bježimo kao muha bez glave, tulimo od
straha, i bacamo dinamit sve u nadi da ćemo ih raznijeti,
morali bismo se prilagoditi novom stanju stvari. Tako
bar mislim. Nije to baš nešto što bi čovjek poželio vlastitoj
vrsti, ali zato jest nešto na što upućuju sve činjenice. I to je
načelo po kojem sam djelovao. Gradovi, države,
civilizacija, napredak - sa svime je time gotovo. Ta je igra
gotova. Mi smo potučeni.”
“Ali ako je zaista tako, zašto uopće i živjeti?”
Topnik se na trenutak zagledao u mene.
“Bar milijun godina neće biti nikakvih prokletih koncerata;
neće biti ni Kraljevske akademije lijepih umjetnosti, niti
poslastica po restoranima. Ako vam je do zabave, onda
mislim da je igra gotova. Ako patite od salonskih manira, ili
vam je mrsko grašak jesti nožem, ili gutati samoglasnike -
pustite sve to. Sve to više ne služi ničemu.”
“Vi mislite ...”
“Mislim da će ljudi poput mene nastaviti živjeti - da se
nastavi rasa. Velim vam, ja sam baš zapeo da preživim. A
ako se ne varam, i vi ćete, i to ne zadugo, pokazati što vam
je pod kožom. Ne, neće nas istrijebiti. A ne mislim se ni dati
uhvatiti, pa da me pripitome i tove i uzgajaju kao glupe
volove. Uf! Zamislite samo te smeđe puzavice!”
“Ne mislite valjda ...”
“Upravo to. Ja idem dalje. Pod njihovim nogama. Sve sam
to isplanirao; sve sam dobro promislio. Mi smo ljudi
potučeni. Zato što ne znamo dovoljno. A da bismo dobili
šansu, moramo učiti. A dok učimo, moramo živjeti i
learn. See! That's what has to be done." I stared,
astonished, and stirred profoundly by the man's
resolution.
"Great God!" cried I. "But you are a man indeed!" And
suddenly I gripped his hand.
"Eh!" he said, with his eyes shining. "I've thought it
out, eh?"
"Go on," I said.
"Well, those who mean to escape their catching must
get ready. I'm getting ready. Mind you, it isn't all of us
that are made for wild beasts; and that's what it's got to
be. That's why I watched you. I had my doubts. You're
slender. I didn't know that it was you, you see, or just
how you'd been buried. All these--the sort of people
that lived in these houses, and all those damn little
clerks that used to live down that way--they'd be no
good. They haven't any spirit in them--no proud dreams
and no proud lusts; and a man who hasn't one or the
other--Lord! What is he but funk and precautions?
They just used to skedaddle off to work--I've seen
hundreds of 'em, bit of breakfast in hand, running wild
and shining to catch their little season-ticket train, for
fear they'd get dismissed if they didn't; working at
businesses they were afraid to take the trouble to
understand; skedaddling back for fear they wouldn't be
in time for dinner; keeping indoors after dinner for fear
of the back streets, and sleeping with the wives they
married, not because they wanted them, but because
they had a bit of money that would make for safety in
their one little miserable skedaddle through the world.
Lives insured and a bit invested for fear of accidents.
And on Sundays--fear of the hereafter. As if hell was
built for rabbits! Well, the Martians will just be a
godsend to these. Nice roomy cages, fattening food,
careful breeding, no worry. After a week or so chasing
about the fields and lands on empty stomachs, they'll
come and be caught cheerful. They'll be quite glad after
a bit. They'll wonder what people did before there were
Martians to take care of them. And the bar loafers, and
mashers, and singers--I can imagine them. I can
imagine them," he said, with a sort of sombre
gratification. "There'll be any amount of sentiment and
religion loose among them. There's hundreds of things
I saw with my eyes that I've only begun to see clearly
these last few days. There's lots will take things as they
are--fat and stupid; and lots will be worried by a sort of
feeling that it's all wrong, and that they ought to be
doing something. Now whenever things are so that a lot
of people feel they ought to be doing something, the
weak, and those who go weak with a lot of complicated
thinking, always make for a sort of do-nothing religion,
very pious and superior, and submit to persecution and
the will of the Lord. Very likely you've seen the same
thing. It's energy in a gale of funk, and turned clean
sačuvati neovisnost. Vidite! Eto što treba učiniti.” Zapiljio
sam se, zapanjen, duboko potresen njegovom odlučnošću.
“Milostivi Bože!” uskliknuh. “Zaista ste pravi čovjek!” I
najednom sam ga zgrabio za ruku.
“Eh!” rekao je, a oči su mu zablistale. “Dobro sam to
smislio, ha?”
“Nastavite”, rekoh.
“Mislim, tko ne želi da ga uhvate, mora biti spreman. A ja
već jesam. Dajte vidite, nismo baš svi stvoreni da budemo
divlje zvijeri; a baš će se to dogoditi. Zato sam vas i motrio.
I vi ste se meni učinili odnekud poznati. Ali kako ste
smršavili. Shvaćate, ja nisam znao da ste to vi, niti kako vas
je zatrpalo. A svi ti ljudi - takvi koji su živjeli u tim kućama,
i svi ti prokleti sitni činovnici što su nekad živjeli tamo -
ništa to nije valjalo. U njima nije bilo ni trunke duha - ni
gordih snova ni gordih žudnji; a čovjek koji nema ni jedno
ni drugo - Bože! Što je on drugo doli skup prpe i
opreza? Oni bi samo giljali na posao - vidio sam ih na
stotine, s malo užine u ruci, kako bjesomučno zajapureni
žure da uhvate vlak i povezu se sezonskom kartom, u strahu
da će dobiti otkaz ako im pobjegne; kako rade posao, i
pritom se boje potruditi da ga i shvate; kako onda giljaju
natrag, jer se boje da će zakasniti na večeru; kako poslije
večere ostaju u kući jer se boje sporednih ulica, i kako
spavaju sa ženom kojom su se oženili, ali ne zato što ga ona
želi, nego zato što on ima onu mrvicu novca koji im
jamči bar kakvu-takvu sigurnost u njihovu bijednom
giljanju kroz svijet. Životi su im osigurani, a nešto su, u
strahu od nesreće, i investirali. A u nedjelju - strah od onog
poslije. Pakao je stvoren za zečeve! Mislim, Marsijanci će
za takve biti pravi dar Božji. Prekrasni prostrani kavezi,
kalorična hrana, pažljiv uzgoj, nikakve brige. Nakon što
tjedan dana budu jurcali po livadama i poljima, sve
na prazan želudac, doći će sami i svi sretni se dati uhvatiti.
Nakon malo vremena bit će im baš drago. Pa će se pitati
čime su se to ljudi bavili dok još nije bilo Marsijanaca da se
o njima brinu. A rulja iz kafića, i fuliranti, i pjevači - sve ih
mogu zamisliti. Sve ih mogu zamisliti”, rekao je sa
svojevrsnim sumornim zadovoljstvom. “Među njima će
doći do prave provale sentimenta i religijskih priča.
Rođenim sam očima vidio na stotine stvari koje sam počeo
jasno sagledavati tek u tih posljednjih nekoliko dana.
Postoje gomile ljudi koji stvari prihvaćaju onakvima kakve
jesu - debele i glupe gomile; a gomile njih će mučiti i
nekakav osjećaj da sve to ne valja, i da bi trebali nešto
poduzeti. I sad, kad god mnogi ljudi osjećaju da bi trebali
nešto poduzeti, onda oni slabi, kao i oni koji
takvima postaju zbog previše prekompliciranog
razmišljanja, uvijek izmudrijaju nekakvu religiju
nedjelovanja, vrlo pobožnu i uzvišenu, pa se predaju u ruke
progoniteljima i volji Božjoj. Vrlo je vjerojatno da ste to i
sami opazili. To je energija oslobođena provalama prpe, kad
se ljudi okrenu kao rukavice. Ti će kavezi biti puni psalama
inside out. These cages will be full of psalms and
hymns and piety. And those of a less simple sort will
work in a bit of--what is it?--eroticism."
He paused.
"Very likely these Martians will make pets of some of
them; train them to do tricks--who knows?--get
sentimental over the pet boy who grew up and had to
be killed. And some, maybe, they will train to hunt us."
"No," I cried, "that's impossible! No human being----"
"What's the good of going on with such lies?" said the
artilleryman. "There's men who'd do it cheerful. What
nonsense to pretend there isn't!" And I succumbed to
his conviction.
"If they come after me," he said; "Lord, if they come
after me!" and subsided into a grim meditation.
I sat contemplating these things. I could find nothing to
bring against this man's reasoning. In the days before
the invasion no one would have questioned my
intellectual superiority to his--I, a professed and
recognised writer on philosophical themes, and he, a
common soldier; and yet he had already formulated a
situation that I had scarcely realised.
"What are you doing?" I said presently. "What plans
have you made?" He hesitated.
"Well, it's like this," he said. "What have we to do? We
have to invent a sort of life where men can live and
breed, and be sufficiently secure to bring the children
up. Yes--wait a bit, and I'll make it clearer what I think
ought to be done. The tame ones will go like all tame
beasts; in a few generations they'll be big, beautiful,
rich-blooded, stupid--rubbish! The risk is that we who
keep wild will go savage--degenerate into a sort of big,
savage rat. . . . You see, how I mean to live is
underground. I've been thinking about the drains. Of
course those who don't know drains think horrible
things; but under this London are miles and miles--
hundreds of miles--and a few days rain and London
empty will leave them sweet and clean. The main
drains are big enough and airy enough for anyone.
Then there's cellars, vaults, stores, from which bolting
passages may be made to the drains. And the railway
tunnels and subways. Eh? You begin to see? And we
form a band--able-bodied, clean-minded men. We're
not going to pick up any rubbish that drifts in.
Weaklings go out again."
"As you meant me to go?"
"Well--I parleyed, didn't I?"
"We won't quarrel about that. Go on."
"Those who stop obey orders. Able-bodied, clean-
minded women we want also--mothers and teachers.
No lackadaisical ladies--no blasted rolling eyes. We
can't have any weak or silly. Life is real again, and the
i himni i pobožnosti. A oni malo manje jednostavnog soja
bavit će se - kako se to veli - erotikom.”
Zastao je.
“Vrlo je vjerojatno da će Marsijanci neke od njih pretvoriti
u kućne ljubimce; uvježbati ih da izvode svakojake
majstorije, i - tko zna? - postajati sentimentalni zbog kakvog
dječaka mezimca, zato što je u međuvremenu odrastao pa ga
valja ubiti. A neke će možda čak i uvježbati da nas love.”
“Ne,” uskliknuo sam, “to je nemoguće! Nijedan ljudski
stvor ...”
“Kakva korist od ustrajavanja u lažima?” upitao je topnik.
“Ima ljudi koji bi to činili vrlo rado. Zaista je glupo
pretvarati se da nije tako!” Morao sam popustiti pred
njegovim uvjerenjem.
“Ako samo krenu za mnom,” rekao je, “Bože, ako samo
krenu za mnom!” i tu se prepustio mračnom mozganju.
Ja sam sjedio i duboko razmišljao o svemu. Nisam
uspijevao naći ništa što bih suprotstavio njegovu
zaključivanju. U dane prije najezde nitko ne bi osporio da
sam mu intelektualno nadmoćan - ja, samoproglašeni i
priznati pisac filozofskog usmjerenja, prema njemu,
prostom vojniku; pa ipak je on situaciju u kojoj sam se
ja jedva snalazio, uspio već i formulirati.
“Pa što poduzimate?” smjesta sam ga upitao. “Kakvi su vam
planovi?” On je oklijevao.
“Pa mislim, otprilike ovakvi”, odgovorio je. “Što nam je
činiti? Najprije moramo izmisliti način života koji bi
čovjeku omogućio život i razmnožavanje, dovoljno siguran
za podizanje djece. Da - strpite se čas, pa ću vam razjasniti
što to, po mojemu mnijenju, treba učiniti. Pitomi će
nastaviti kao sve pitome životinje; za nekoliko će naraštaja
postati krupni, lijepi, plemenite krvi, glupavi -
smeće! Postoji opasnost da ćemo mi koji ostanemo divlji
sasvim podivljati - degenerirati do svojevrsnog velikog i
divljeg štakora ... Vidite, evo kako ja mislim živjeti - u
podzemlju. Pritom mislim na kanalizaciju. Naravno, oni
koji je ne poznaju pomišljaju na strahote; ali pod Londonom
je toga na milje i stotine milja - ali nekoliko dana kiše i
London bez stanovnika, pa će postati udobna i čista.
Glavni su kanali dovoljno i veliki i zračni za svakoga. A
onda su tu i podrumi, trezori, skladišta, iz kojih se do
kanalizacije mogu probiti brzi prolazi. A tu su i tuneli
željeznice i podzemne željeznice. Ha? Postaje vam jasno? I
onda stvorimo družinu - tjelesno sposobnih ljudi jasnih
ideja. Nećemo uzimati nikakav otpad što ga voda donese.
Slabići opet odlaze na površinu.”
“Kao primjerice ja?”
“Mislim - pregovarali smo, zar nismo?”
“Oko toga se nismo prepirali. Nastavite.”
“Oni koji nam priđu slušaju zapovijedi. Trebaju nam i
tjelesno sposobne žene jasnih ideja - majke i učiteljice.
Nikakve melankolične damice - nikakvog prokletog
prevrtanja očima. Među nama nema mjesta ni slabom ni
useless and cumbersome and mischievous have to die.
They ought to die. They ought to be willing to die. It's a
sort of disloyalty, after all, to live and taint the race.
And they can't be happy. Moreover, dying's none so
dreadful; it's the funking makes it bad. And in all those
places we shall gather. Our district will be London.
And we may even be able to keep a watch, and run
about in the open when the Martians keep away. Play
cricket, perhaps. That's how we shall save the race. Eh?
It's a possible thing? But saving the race is nothing in
itself. As I say, that's only being rats. It's saving our
knowledge and adding to it is the thing. There men like
you come in. There's books, there's models. We must
make great safe places down deep, and get all the
books we can; not novels and poetry swipes, but ideas,
science books. That's where men like you come in. We
must go to the British Museum and pick all those books
through. Especially we must keep up our science--learn
more. We must watch these Martians. Some of us must
go as spies. When it's all working, perhaps I will. Get
caught, I mean. And the great thing is, we must leave
the Martians alone. We mustn't even steal. If we get in
their way, we clear out. We must show them we mean
no harm. Yes, I know. But they're intelligent things, and
they won't hunt us down if they have all they want, and
think we're just harmless vermin."
The artilleryman paused and laid a brown hand upon
my arm.
"After all, it may not be so much we may have to learn
before--Just imagine this: four or five of their fighting
machines suddenly starting off--Heat-Rays right and
left, and not a Martian in 'em. Not a Martian in 'em, but
men--men who have learned the way how. It may be in
my time, even--those men. Fancy having one of them
lovely things, with its Heat-Ray wide and free! Fancy
having it in control! What would it matter if you
smashed to smithereens at the end of the run, after a
bust like that? I reckon the Martians'll open their
beautiful eyes! Can't you see them, man? Can't you see
them hurrying, hurrying--puffing and blowing and
hooting to their other mechanical affairs? Something
out of gear in every case. And swish, bang, rattle,
swish! Just as they are fumbling over it, swish comes
the Heat-Ray, and, behold! man has come back to his
own."
For a while the imaginative daring of the artilleryman,
and the tone of assurance and courage he assumed,
completely dominated my mind. I believed
unhesitatingly both in his forecast of human destiny
and in the practicability of his astonishing scheme, and
the reader who thinks me susceptible and foolish must
contrast his position, reading steadily with all his
thoughts about his subject, and mine, crouching
fearfully in the bushes and listening, distracted by
blesavom. Život opet postaje stvaran, pa suvišni i nezgrapni
i zločesti trebaju umrijeti. Oni moraju umrijeti. I moraju biti
spremni umrijeti. Na koncu konca, živjeti i kaljati rasu na
neki je način izdaja. I oni ne mogu biti sretni. Osim toga,
poginuti i nije tako strašno; strašno je samo zbog prpe pred
smrću. I na svim ćemo se tim mjestima skupljati. Naše će
područje biti London. A možda uspijemo čak i držati stražu,
pa izlijetati na otvoreno čim Marsijanci okrenu leđa. Možda
ćemo čak i igrati kriket. Eto kako ćemo spasiti rasu. Ha? Je
li to moguće? Ali spasiti rasu samo po sebi nije ništa. Kao
što rekoh, to samo znači da ćemo biti štakori. Bitno je
sačuvati znanje, i još ga i proširiti. Tu u igru ulaze ljudi
poput vas. Postoje knjige, postoje i modeli. Moramo duboko
dolje napraviti velik i siguran prostor, i u nj dovući što je
moguće više knjiga; ne romane i pjesničku prozu, nego
ideje, znanstvene knjige. Eto gdje ljudi kao vi ulaze u igru.
Moramo otići u British Museum i pokupiti sve te knjige.
Napose moramo održavati znanost - učiti sve više. I
moramo promatrati te Marsijance. Neki od nas moraju
postati uhode. Kad se stvar uhoda, možda pođem i
ja. Mislim, da me uhvate. I što je najvažnije, moramo
Marsijance pustiti na miru. Ne smijemo čak ni krasti. Ako
im se nađemo na putu, mičemo se. Moramo im pokazati da
ne smišljamo nikakvo zlo. Da, znam. Ali oni su razumna
bića, pa nas neće loviti ako imaju sve što im treba, a nas
smatraju samo bezopasnom gamadi.”
Topnik je zastao i položio mi na mišicu svoju smeđu šaku.
“Na koncu konca, možda prije i ne moramo toliko toga
naučiti - dajte zamislite ovo; četiri-pet njihovih bojnih
strojeva najednom kreće - toplinske zrake i lijevo i desno, a
u njima nema živog Marsijanca. U njima nisu Marsijanci,
nego ljudi - ljudi koji su doznali kako se to radi. To bi se
moglo dogoditi još za mog života - ti ljudi. Zamislite, imati
jednu takvu ljepoticu, s Toplinskom zrakom čistom i
slobodnom! Zamislite imati to u svojoj vlasti! Pa što ako te
na kraju puta i razbiju u prah, nakon takvog juriša?
Mislim da bi Marsijanci razrogačili svoje lijepe oči! Možete
li ih zamisliti, čovječe? Vidite li ih kako jure, žure - dašću i
sviraju i huču drugim mehaničkim stvorovima? U svakom
slučaju, nešto je pošlo po krivom. I onda zviz, bum, ta-ta-ta,
tres! Još dok oni mozgaju oko toga, zviz, eto ti Toplinske
zrake, i gle! čovjek se vratio na svoje.”
Na trenutak su maštovita odvažnost topnika, baš kao i
samouvjereni i kuražni ton kojim je govorio, posve ovladali
mojim umom. Bez krzmanja sam povjerovao i u njegovu
prognozu ljudske sudbine, i u praktičnu ostvarivost njegova
zapanjujućeg plana, a čitatelj koji pomisli da sam bio
podložan tuđem mišljenju i glup, ipak bi morao postaviti u
kontrast svoj položaj, dok sve ovo mirno čita, a sve su mu
misli na predmetu, i moj, dok ustrašeno čučim u grmlju i
osluškujem, a zabrinutost mi stalno skreće misli.
apprehension.
We talked in this manner through the early morning
time, and later crept out of the bushes, and, after
scanning the sky for Martians, hurried precipitately to
the house on Putney Hill where he had made his lair. It
was the coal cellar of the place, and when I saw the
work he had spent a week upon--it was a burrow
scarcely ten yards long, which he designed to reach to
the main drain on Putney Hill--I had my first inkling of
the gulf between his dreams and his powers. Such a
hole I could have dug in a day. But I believed in him
sufficiently to work with him all that morning until past
midday at his digging. We had a garden barrow and
shot the earth we removed against the kitchen range.
We refreshed ourselves with a tin of mock-turtle soup
and wine from the neighbouring pantry. I found a
curious relief from the aching strangeness of the world
in this steady labour. As we worked, I turned his project
over in my mind, and presently objections and doubts
began to arise; but I worked there all the morning, so
glad was I to find myself with a purpose again. After
working an hour I began to speculate on the distance
one had to go before the cloaca was reached, the
chances we had of missing it altogether. My immediate
trouble was why we should dig this long tunnel, when
it was possible to get into the drain at once down one of
the manholes, and work back to the house. It seemed to
me, too, that the house was inconveniently chosen, and
required a needless length of tunnel. And just as I was
beginning to face these things, the artilleryman stopped
digging, and looked at me.
"We're working well," he said. He put down his spade.
"Let us knock off a bit" he said. "I think it's time we
reconnoitred from the roof of the house." I was for
going on, and after a little hesitation he resumed his
spade; and then suddenly I was struck by a thought. I
stopped, and so did he at once.
"Why were you walking about the common," I said,
"instead of being here?"
"Taking the air," he said. "I was coming back. It's safer
by night."
"But the work?"
"Oh, one can't always work," he said, and in a flash I
saw the man plain. He hesitated, holding his spade.
"We ought to reconnoitre now," he said, "because if any
come near they may hear the spades and drop upon us
unawares." I was no longer disposed to object. We went
together to the roof and stood on a ladder peeping out
of the roof door. No Martians were to be seen, and we
ventured out on the tiles, and slipped down under
shelter of the parapet.
From this position a shrubbery hid the greater portion
of Putney, but we could see the river below, a bubbly
U tom smo stilu razgovarali čitavo rano jutro, a onda smo
ispuzali iz grmlja pa, nakon što smo pregledali nebo i
uvjerili se da na njemu nema Marsijanaca, strelovito
požurili do kuće na Putney Hillu gdje je on uredio svoj log.
Smjestio ga je u drvarnicu kuće, a kad sam promotrio djelo
u koje je utrošio tjedan dana rada - bio je to rov dug jedva
deset metara, a njime je kanio stići do
glavnog kanalizacijskog voda Putney Hilla - prvi sam put
naslutio koliki jaz stoji između njegovih snova i snaga.
Takvu bih ja rupu iskopao za dan. Ipak sam u nj vjerovao
toliko da sam mu čitavo to jutro, sve do iza podneva,
pomagao u kopanju. Imali smo vrtlarska kolica, pa smo
iskopanu zemlju nabacivali uz štednjak. Okrijepili smo
se konzervom lažne kornjačine juhe i vinom iz susjedne
ostave. U tom sam upornom trudu našao neobično olakšanje
od bolne neobičnosti svijeta. Dok smo tako radili, ja sam po
glavi okretao taj njegov projekt, pa su se smjesta počeli
pojavljivati i prigovori i sumnje; ipak sam radio čitavo jutro,
toliko mi je bilo drago što sam ponovno našao nekakvu
svrhu u životu. Nakon što sam tako radio jedan sat, počeo
sam nagađati o tome koliku udaljenost treba prevaliti
da stignemo do kloake, kao i o tome koliki su izgledi da je
sasvim promašimo. U tom me je času najviše mučilo pitanje
zašto da uopće kopamo taj dugački tunel, kad bi se bilo
moguće u kanal spustiti izravno kroz šaht, pa iz njega početi
probijati prema kući. Osim toga mi se činilo da je i kuća
loše izabrana, tako da moramo probiti nezgodnu dužinu
tunela. No baš kad sam se počeo baviti dm pitanjima, topnik
je prekinuo kopanje i pogledao me.
“Dobro smo zapeli”, rekao je. Odložio je lopatu. “Dajte da
malo predahnemo”, rekao je. “Čini mi se da bismo
sad mogli s krova malo izvidjeti situaciju.” Ja sam
bio za to da nastavimo, pa se on, nakon malo
krzmanja, opet prihvatio lopate; a onda mi je
najednom nešto proletjelo kroz glavu. Zastao sam, a
tako je smjesta učinio i on.
“Zašto ste šetali po pašnjaku,” rekoh, “umjesto da ste bili
tu?”
“Pošao sam udahnuti malo zraka”, odgovorio je on. “Kanio
sam se vratiti. Ali je noću manje opasno.”
A posao:
“O, pa ne može se stalno raditi”, odgovorio je on, i
najednom mi se u bljesku sasvim izbistrio. Zastao je, držeći
lopatu. “Sad bismo morali malo promotriti okoliš, jer ako
nam se koji približi, mogao bi čuti lopate, pa nas
iznenaditi.” Nisam više bio raspoložen za protivljenje.
Zajedno smo se uspeli na krov i stali na ljestve što su virile
iz tavanskih vrata. Nikakva Marsijanca nigdje se nije moglo
vidjeti, pa smo se odvažili izaći na crjepove, i kliznuti dolje
zaklonjeni krovnim zidićem.
Iz tog je motrišta grmlje skrivalo veći dio Putneyja, ali smo
ipak mogli vidjeti rijeku što dolje teče, pjenastu masu
mass of red weed, and the low parts of Lambeth
flooded and red. The red creeper swarmed up the trees
about the old palace, and their branches stretched gaunt
and dead, and set with shrivelled leaves, from amid its
clusters. It was strange how entirely dependent both
these things were upon flowing water for their
propagation. About us neither had gained a footing;
laburnums, pink mays, snowballs, and trees of arbor-
vitae, rose out of laurels and hydrangeas, green and
brilliant into the sunlight. Beyond Kensington dense
smoke was rising, and that and a blue haze hid the
northward hills. The artilleryman began to tell me of
the sort of people who still remained in London.
"One night last week," he said, "some fools got the
electric light in order, and there was all Regent Street
and the Circus ablaze, crowded with painted and
ragged drunkards, men and women, dancing and
shouting till dawn. A man who was there told me. And
as the day came they became aware of a fighting-
machine standing near by the Langham and looking
down at them. Heaven knows how long he had been
there. It must have given some of them a nasty turn. He
came down the road towards them, and picked up
nearly a hundred too drunk or frightened to run away."
Grotesque gleam of a time no history will ever fully
describe!
From that, in answer to my questions, he came round to
his grandiose plans again. He grew enthusiastic. He
talked so eloquently of the possibility of capturing a
fighting-machine that I more than half believed in him
again. But now that I was beginning to understand
something of his quality, I could divine the stress he
laid on doing nothing precipitately. And I noted that
now there was no question that he personally was to
capture and fight the great machine. After a time we
went down to the cellar. Neither of us seemed disposed
to resume digging, and when he suggested a meal, I
was nothing loath. He became suddenly very generous,
and when we had eaten he went away and returned
with some excellent cigars. We lit these, and his
optimism glowed. He was inclined to regard my
coming as a great occasion.
"There's some champagne in the cellar," he said.
"We can dig better on this Thames-side burgundy," said
I.
"No," said he; "I am host today. Champagne! Great
God! We've a heavy enough task before us! Let us take
a rest and gather strength while we may. Look at these
blistered hands!" And pursuant to this idea of a holiday,
he insisted upon playing cards after we had eaten. He
taught me euchre, and after dividing London between
us, I taking the northern side and he the southern, we
played for parish points. Grotesque and foolish as this
will seem to the sober reader, it is absolutely true, and
crvene trave, kao i niže dijelove Lambetha, poplavljene i
crvene. Crvene su se puzavice rojile uz stabla oko staroga
dvorca, a grane su im se pružale iskrivljene i mrtve,
pokrivene smežuranim lišćem, iz grozdova crvenih biljaka.
Bilo je neobično koliko obje te biljke u širenju ovise o
tekućoj vodi. Oko nas se nijedna od njih nije
uspjela učvrstiti; zanovijeti, šareni karanfili, kalinovina i
stabalca klekovine dizali su se iz lovora i ponad hortenzija,
zeleni i blistavi na suncu. Iza Kensingtona se dizao gust
dim, pa su on i modra izmaglica skrivali brda na sjeveru.
Topnik mi je počeo pričati kakvi su to ljudi još ostali u
Londonu.
“Prošli tjedan, jedne noći,” rekao mi je on, “neke su budale
dovele u red električno svjetlo, tako da su zablistali čitav
Regent Street i Circus, prepuni obojenih i odrpanih
pijanaca, kako muških, tako i ženskih, koji su plesali i vikali
sve do zore. To mi je ispričao jedan koji je bio tamo. A kad
je svanuo dan, tek su tada shvatili da kraj Langhama stoji
bojni stroj i gleda ih. Sam Bog zna kako je već dugo stajao
tako. Bome su se naužili strave. Krenuo je cestom prema
njima, pa pokupio gotovo stotinu njih, tako što pijanih, što
uplašenih, da nisu znali ni pobjeći.” Groteskni odbljesak
vremena koji nikakva povijest nikad neće moći dokraja
opisati!
Od toga se, kao odgovor na moje pitanje, opet u krugu
vratio na svoje grandiozne planove. Sav se oduševio. O
tome kako bi se mogao zarobiti bojni stroj govorio je tako
elokventno da sam mu opet više no napola povjerovao. Ipak
sada, kad sam već počeo donekle shvaćati kakvoga je kova,
postalo mi je jasnije i njegovo stalno isticanje kako ni u
čemu ne treba žuriti. A opazio sam i da sad više ni ne
spominje da bi taj silni stroj zarobio on sam pa s njim
krenuo u boj. Nakon nekog smo se vremena spustili u
podrum. Čini se da ni meni ni njemu nije baš bilo do
nastavka kopanja, a kad mi je predložio da nešto pojedemo,
to mi nije bilo nimalo mrsko. Najednom je postao jako
velikodušan, a kad je pojeo svoje, otišao je i vratio se s
nekoliko sjajnih cigara. Zapalili smo ih, a on je upravo
zablistao od optimizma. Bio je sklon u mom dolasku vidjeti
sjajnu priliku.
“U podrumu ima i šampanjca”, rekao je.
“Bolje ćemo kopati na ovom burgundcu izraslom oko
Temze”, odgovorih ja.
“Ne,” reče on, “danas sam ja domaćin. Šampanjac!
Svemogući Bože! Pred nama je zaista silno naporan posao!
Dajte da se, dok možemo, malo odmorimo i skupimo snagu.
Pogledajte mi samo žuljeve!” I zatim je, u skladu sa svojom
predodžbom praznika, navalio da poslije jela zaigramo na
karte. Naučio me je kako se igra vist, i nakon što smo
podijelili London tako da je on uzeo sjeverni, a ja južni dio,
zaigrali smo u njegove župe. Makar to trezvenom čitatelju i
izgledalo groteskno i budalasto, ipak je sve to živa istina, i
what is more remarkable, I found the card game and što će vas začuditi još i više, ja sam tu kartašku igru, kao i
several others we played extremely interesting. još nekoliko njih koje smo zaigrali, našao krajnje
zanimljivom.
Strange mind of man! that, with our species upon the Čudan li je ljudski um! Naša se vrsta našla na rubu
edge of extermination or appalling degradation, with no istrebljenja ili bar jezivog pada, bez jasne perspektive
clear prospect before us but the chance of a horrible izuzmemo li moguću jezivu smrt, a mi smo kraj svega toga
death, we could sit following the chance of this painted mogli sjediti i trčati za srećom koju su nam donosili ti šareni
pasteboard, and playing the "joker" with vivid delight. kartončići, i sa živim zadovoljstvom igrati “jokera”. Kasnije
Afterwards he taught me poker, and I beat him at three me naučio igrati i poker, a ja sam ga potukao i u tri napete
tough chess games. When dark came we decided to partije šaha. Kad se spustio mrak, odlučili smo riskirati i
take the risk, and lit a lamp. zapaliti svjetiljku.
After an interminable string of games, we supped, and Nakon beskonačnog niza partija, priredili smo si kasnu
the artilleryman finished the champagne. We went on večeru, a topnik je dovršio šampanjac. Nastavili smo pušiti
smoking the cigars. He was no longer the energetic cigare. On više nije bio onaj energični regenerator ljudske
regenerator of his species I had encountered in the vrste što sam ga sreo ujutro. I dalje je bio optimist, no sad je
morning. He was still optimistic, but it was a less taj optimizam bio manje poletan, a promišljeniji. Sjećam se
kinetic, a more thoughtful optimism. I remember he kako je na koncu došao i do mojega zdravlja, dotakavši ga
wound up with my health, proposed in a speech of se govorom koji je bio siromašan raznovrsnošću i bogat
small variety and considerable intermittence. I took a prekidima. Uzeo sam cigaru, pa se uspeo na kat da
cigar, and went upstairs to look at the lights of which pogledam svjetla o kojima je govorio, a koja su blistala
he had spoken that blazed so greenly along the tako zelena duž gorja Highgate.
Highgate hills.
At first I stared unintelligently across the London U prvi sam mah zurio preko Londonske doline baš ništa ne
valley. The northern hills were shrouded in darkness; shvaćajući. Brda na sjeveru bila su ovijena tamom; vatre
the fires near Kensington glowed redly, and now and kad Kensingtona blistale su crvenim sjajem, a tu i tamo bi
then an orange-red tongue of flame flashed up and uvis bljesnuo narančastocrveni jezik dima i nestao u
vanished in the deep blue night. All the rest of London tamnomodroj noći. Sav je ostatak Londona bio crn. A onda
was black. Then, nearer, I perceived a strange light, a sam, nešto bliže, opazio neobično svjetlo, blijed,
pale, violet-purple fluorescent glow, quivering under ljubičastopurpurni fluorescentni sjaj, kako treperi na
the night breeze. For a space I could not understand it, noćnom povjetarcu. Neko vrijeme nisam znao što bi
and then I knew that it must be the red weed from to moglo biti, a onda sam shvatio da to slabašno zračenje
which this faint irradiation proceeded. With that zacijelo potječe od crvene trave. Kad mi je to postalo jasno,
realisation my dormant sense of wonder, my sense of u meni se ponovno probudio zadrijemali osjećaj čuđenja,
the proportion of things, awoke again. I glanced from kao i osjećaj za razmjer. Pogled mi je s toga skrenuo na
that to Mars, red and clear, glowing high in the west, Mars, crven i bistar, koji je blistao visoko na zapadu, a onda
and then gazed long and earnestly at the darkness of sam pogledao dugo i žudno u tamu Hampsteada i
Hampstead and Highgate. Highgatea.
I remained a very long time upon the roof, wondering Na krovu sam tako ostao jako dugo, i u čudu prometao
at the grotesque changes of the day. I recalled my groteskne promjene što ih je donio dan. Prisjećao sam se
mental states from the midnight prayer to the foolish svih svojih duševnih stanja od ponoćne molitve do
card-playing. I had a violent revulsion of feeling. I budalastog kartanja. Sjećam se nagle i divlje promjene
remember I flung away the cigar with a certain osjećaja. Sjećam se kako sam otfrknuo cigaru, i kako je u
wasteful symbolism. My folly came to me with glaring tome bilo nekakve rasipne simbolike. Moja mi je ludost
exaggeration. I seemed a traitor to my wife and to my došla pred oči u svoj svojoj kričavoj pretjeranosti. Činilo mi
kind; I was filled with remorse. I resolved to leave this se da sam izdao i svoju ženu i svoju vrstu; najednom me
strange undisciplined dreamer of great things to his sveg ispunilo kajanje. Zato sam odlučio tog čudnog
drink and gluttony, and to go on into London. There, it i neobuzdanog sanjara, fantasta velikih podviga prepustiti
seemed to me, I had the best chance of learning what njegovu žderanju i lokanju, pa krenuti za London. Tu ću,
the Martians and my fellowmen were doing. I was still vjerovao sam, najbrže doznati što čine i Marsijanci i moji
upon the roof when the late moon rose. suvrsnici. Kad se na nebo uspeo kasni Mjesec, još sam bio
na krovu.

CHAPTER EIGHT GLAVA 8.

 DEAD LONDON
After I had parted from the artilleryman, I went down
the hill, and by the High Street across the bridge to
Fulham. The red weed was tumultuous at that time, and
nearly choked the bridge roadway; but its fronds were
already whitened in patches by the spreading disease
that presently removed it so swiftly.
At the corner of the lane that runs to Putney Bridge
station I found a man lying. He was as black as a sweep
with the black dust, alive, but helplessly and
speechlessly drunk. I could get nothing from him but
curses and furious lunges at my head. I think I should
have stayed by him but for the brutal expression of his
face.
There was black dust along the roadway from the
bridge onwards, and it grew thicker in Fulham. The
streets were horribly quiet. I got food--sour, hard, and
mouldy, but quite eatable--in a baker's shop here. Some
way towards Walham Green the streets became clear of
powder, and I passed a white terrace of houses on fire;
the noise of the burning was an absolute relief. Going
on towards Brompton, the streets were quiet again.
Here I came once more upon the black powder in the
streets and upon dead bodies. I saw altogether about a
dozen in the length of the Fulham Road. They had been
dead many days, so that I hurried quickly past them.
The black powder covered them over, and softened
their outlines. One or two had been disturbed by dogs.
Where there was no black powder, it was curiously like
a Sunday in the City, with the closed shops, the houses
locked up and the blinds drawn, the desertion, and the
stillness. In some places plunderers had been at work,
but rarely at other than the provision and wine shops. A
jeweller's window had been broken open in one place,
but apparently the thief had been disturbed, and a
number of gold chains and a watch lay scattered on the
pavement. I did not trouble to touch them. Farther on
was a tattered woman in a heap on a doorstep; the hand
that hung over her knee was gashed and bled down her
rusty brown dress, and a smashed magnum of
champagne formed a pool across the pavement. She
seemed asleep, but she was dead.
The farther I penetrated into London, the profounder
grew the stillness. But it was not so much the stillness
of death--it was the stillness of suspense, of
expectation. At any time the destruction that had
already singed the northwestern borders of the
metropolis, and had annihilated Ealing and Kilburn,
might strike among these houses and leave them
smoking ruins. It was a city condemned and derelict. . .
.
In South Kensington the streets were clear of dead and
of black powder. It was near South Kensington that I
MRTVI LONDON
Pošto sam se rastao s topnikom, krenuo sam nizbrdo, pa
onda High Streetom i preko mosta do Fulhama. U to je doba
crvena trava bila već sasvim podivljala i gotovo zagušila
kolnik mosta; na vlatima je, međutim, već imala izblijedjele
krpice uzrokovane širenjem zaraze koja će je uskoro tako
brzo zbrisati s lica zemlje.
Na uglu puta što vodi do kolodvora Putney Bridge ležao je
čovjek Od crne je prašine bio crn kao dimnjačar, živ, ali
pijan do bespomoćnosti i nijemosti. Iz njega nisam uspio
izvući ništa osim psovki i srditih udaraca zamaha
usmjerenih na moju glavu. Mislim da sam trebao ostati s
njim, ali nisam zbog tog brutalnog izraza na licu.
Od mosta je dalje duž ceste ležala crna prašina, a u Fulhamu
je postala još gušćom. Ulice su bile užasno mirne. U
ovdašnjoj sam se pekarnici valjano okrijepio - kruh je bio
prokisao, tvrd i pljesniv, ali sasvim jestiv. Malo podalje od
Walham Greena ulice su se očistile od praška, pa sam
prošao preko terase obijeljene požarom okolnih kuća; šum
vatre donio mi je silno olakšanje. Kad sam produžio prema
Bromptonu, ulice su ponovno utihnule.
Tu sam još jednom naišao na crnu prašinu po ulicama i
ljudska trupla. Duž Fulham Roada vidio sam ih desetak.
Ležala su tamo već mnogo dana, pa sam ih brzo obišao.
Čitava ih je prekrivao crni prašak i omekšavao im obrise.
Nekolicinu su već bili napali psi.
Gdje nije bilo crnoga praška, bilo je neobično kao nedjeljom
u gradu, jer su dućani bili zatvoreni, kuće zaključane i roloi
spušteni, sve je bilo napušteno i mirno. Na nekoliko su
mjesta već na djelu bili pljačkaši, ali su redovito plijenili
samo trgovine živeža i vina. Na jednom je mjestu bio
provaljen izlog draguljarnice, ali je lopova netko zacijelo
omeo u poslu, jer je na pločniku ležalo razbacano mnoštvo
lanaca i džepni sat. Nisam ih se potrudio ni dotaći. Malo
dalje na kućnim je stubama, na hrpi, ležala žena u
dronjcima; ruka što joj je visjela preko koljena bila je
zasječena i niz hrđavosmeđu haljinu curila joj je krv, dok je
razbijena dvolitrenka šampanjca na pločniku stvarala
lokvicu. Činilo se da spava, ali je bila mrtva.
Što sam dublje prodirao u London, tišina je bivala sve
dubljom. Ipak je to više od tišine smrti bila tišina napetog
iščekivanja. Razaranje koje je već oprljilo sjeverozapadnu
granicu metropole i anihiliralo Ealing i Kilburn, svakog je
časa moglo udariti i na te kuće i pretvoriti ih u zadimljene
ruševine. Bio je to grad osuđen na smrt i već napušten ...
U South Kensingtonu na ulicama više nije bilo ni mrtvaca ni
crnoga praška. I baš sam u njegovoj blizini prvi put začuo
first heard the howling. It crept almost imperceptibly
upon my senses. It was a sobbing alternation of two
notes, "Ulla, ulla, ulla, ulla," keeping on perpetually.
When I passed streets that ran northward it grew in
volume, and houses and buildings seemed to deaden
and cut it off again. It came in a full tide down
Exhibition Road. I stopped, staring towards Kensington
Gardens, wondering at this strange, remote wailing. It
was as if that mighty desert of houses had found a
voice for its fear and solitude.
"Ulla, ulla, ulla, ulla," wailed that superhuman note--
great waves of sound sweeping down the broad, sunlit
roadway, between the tall buildings on each side. I
turned northwards, marvelling, towards the iron gates
of Hyde Park. I had half a mind to break into the
Natural History Museum and find my way up to the
summits of the towers, in order to see across the park.
But I decided to keep to the ground, where quick
hiding was possible, and so went on up the Exhibition
Road. All the large mansions on each side of the road
were empty and still, and my footsteps echoed against
the sides of the houses. At the top, near the park gate, I
came upon a strange sight--a bus overturned, and the
skeleton of a horse picked clean. I puzzled over this for
a time, and then went on to the bridge over the
Serpentine. The voice grew stronger and stronger,
though I could see nothing above the housetops on the
north side of the park, save a haze of smoke to the
northwest.
"Ulla, ulla, ulla, ulla," cried the voice, coming, as it
seemed to me, from the district about Regent's Park.
The desolating cry worked upon my mind. The mood
that had sustained me passed. The wailing took
possession of me. I found I was intensely weary,
footsore, and now again hungry and thirsty.
It was already past noon. Why was I wandering alone
in this city of the dead? Why was I alone when all
London was lying in state, and in its black shroud? I
felt intolerably lonely. My mind ran on old friends that
I had forgotten for years. I thought of the poisons in the
chemists' shops, of the liquors the wine merchants
stored; I recalled the two sodden creatures of despair,
who so far as I knew, shared the city with myself. . . .
I came into Oxford Street by the Marble Arch, and here
again were black powder and several bodies, and an
evil, ominous smell from the gratings of the cellars of
some of the houses. I grew very thirsty after the heat of
my long walk. With infinite trouble I managed to break
into a public-house and get food and drink. I was weary
after eating, and went into the parlour behind the bar,
and slept on a black horsehair sofa I found there.
I awoke to find that dismal howling still in my ears,
"Ulla, ulla, ulla, ulla." It was now dusk, and after I had
zavijanje. Ono mi je gotovo neopazice dopuzalo do osjetila.
Bilo je to jecavo izmjenjivanje dva tona, “ulla, ulla, ulla”,
što se nastavljalo bez prestanka. Kad sam pošao ulicama što
vode na sjever, zavijanje se pojačalo, a onda su ga umrtvile i
odsjekle kuće i zgrade. Zato je niz Exhibition Road
zavijanje opet poteklo bujicom. Zastao sam i zapiljio se
prema Kensington Gardens, pitajući otkud to neobično,
daleko jadikovanje. Činilo se kao da je ta moćna pustinja
kuća napokon stekla glas da izrazi svoj strah i samoću.
“Ulla, ulla, ulla, ulla”, jaukao je taj nadljudski ton - silni su
se valovi zvuka valjali niz široku, osunčanu cestu, između
visokih zgrada s obje strane. Okrenuo sam na sjever, sav
začuđen, prema željeznim dverima Hyde Parka. Napola sam
već bio odlučio provaliti u Prirodoslovni muzej i uspeti se
na vrh njegovih tornjeva, da vidim što je s druge strane
parka. Ipak sam se odlučio držati tla, gdje bih se mogao
brzo sakriti, i tako sam produžio Exhibition Roadom. Sve su
velike kućerine s obje strane ceste bile bez stanovnika i tihe,
i moji su koraci odzvanjali od njihovih stijenki. Negdje pri
vrhu, kraj ulaza u park, naišao sam na čudan prizor -
prevaljeni omnibus i konjsko truplo oglodano do kosti. Na
trenutak sam zbunjeno zastao, pa nastavio prema mostu
preko Serpentinea. Onaj je glas stalno sve više jačao, iako
iznad krošanja na sjevernoj strani parka nisam uspijevao
razabrati ništa osim sumaglice dima na sjeverozapadu.
“Ulla, ulla, ulla, ulla”, urlao je glas dopirući, ili mi se tako
bar činilo, iz predjela oko Regent’s Parka. Taj mi je
neutješni samotni krik počeo djelovati na misli.
Raspoloženje koje me držalo sad me je prošlo. To me je
jaukanje cijelog obuzelo. Otkrio sam da sam silno umoran,
da me bole noge, te da sam opet i gladan i žedan.
Već je bilo prošlo i podne. Zašto uopće lutam sam tim
gradom mrtvaca? Zašto sam ja sam kad čitav London leži
na odru, pokriven crnim pokrovom? Osjetio sam se
nepodnošljivo sam. U misli su mi počeli dolaziti stari, već
tolike godine zaboravljeni prijatelji. Pomišljao sam na
otrove u apoteci, na žestice što ih u svojim podrumima
čuvaju vinari; prisjetio sam se i dva stalno pijana i očajna
stvorenja, koja su, koliko mi je poznato, bila stanovnici toga
istog grada ...
Stigao sam u Oxford Street kraj Marble Archa, i tu su opet
bili i crni prašak i nekoliko lešina, a iz podrumskih se
prozorčića pojedinih kuća dizao opak, zloslutan smrad.
Zagrijan dugim hodom počeo sam osjećati sve jaču žeđ. Uz
beskrajan sam trud uspio provaliti u gostionicu i dokopati se
hrane i pića. Pošto sam se najeo, najednom me svladao
umor, pa sam otišao u salon iza bara i zaspao na sofi od
konjske dlake.
Probudio sam se i otkrio da mi je ono turobno tuljenje još u
ušima, taj “ulla, ulla, ulla, ulla”. Već se bila spustila večer, i
routed out some biscuits and a cheese in the bar--there
was a meat safe, but it contained nothing but maggots--
I wandered on through the silent residential squares to
Baker Street--Portman Square is the only one I can
name--and so came out at last upon Regent's Park. And
as I emerged from the top of Baker Street, I saw far
away over the trees in the clearness of the sunset the
hood of the Martian giant from which this howling
proceeded. I was not terrified. I came upon him as if it
were a matter of course. I watched him for some time,
but he did not move. He appeared to be standing and
yelling, for no reason that I could discover.
I tried to formulate a plan of action. That perpetual
sound of "Ulla, ulla, ulla, ulla," confused my mind.
Perhaps I was too tired to be very fearful. Certainly I
was more curious to know the reason of this
monotonous crying than afraid. I turned back away
from the park and struck into Park Road, intending to
skirt the park, went along under the shelter of the
terraces, and got a view of this stationary, howling
Martian from the direction of St. John's Wood. A
couple of hundred yards out of Baker Street I heard a
yelping chorus, and saw, first a dog with a piece of
putrescent red meat in his jaws coming headlong
towards me, and then a pack of starving mongrels in
pursuit of him. He made a wide curve to avoid me, as
though he feared I might prove a fresh competitor. As
the yelping died away down the silent road, the wailing
sound of "Ulla, ulla, ulla, ulla," reasserted itself.
I came upon the wrecked handling-machine halfway to
St. John's Wood station. At first I thought a house had
fallen across the road. It was only as I clambered
among the ruins that I saw, with a start, this mechanical
Samson lying, with its tentacles bent and smashed and
twisted, among the ruins it had made. The forepart was
shattered. It seemed as if it had driven blindly straight
at the house, and had been overwhelmed in its
overthrow. It seemed to me then that this might have
happened by a handling-machine escaping from the
guidance of its Martian. I could not clamber among the
ruins to see it, and the twilight was now so far
advanced that the blood with which its seat was
smeared, and the gnawed gristle of the Martian that the
dogs had left, were invisible to me.
Wondering still more at all that I had seen, I pushed on
towards Primrose Hill. Far away, through a gap in the
trees, I saw a second Martian, as motionless as the first,
standing in the park towards the Zoological Gardens,
and silent. A little beyond the ruins about the smashed
handling-machine I came upon the red weed again, and
found the Regent's Canal, a spongy mass of dark-red
vegetation.
As I crossed the bridge, the sound of "Ulla, ulla, ulla,
ulla," ceased. It was, as it were, cut off. The silence
nakon što sam potamanio nešto dvopeka i sira iz bara -
našao sam i ormarić s mesom, ali u njemu su bili samo crvi
- nastavio sam lutati kroz utihle stambene trgove sve do
Baker Streeta - od svih se poimence mogu sjetiti samo
Portman Squarea - i tako sam napokon stigao i do Regent’s
Parka. A kad sam izišao iz Baker Streeta, u bistrini sam
zalaska Sunca, i daleko preko krošanja, ugledao kukuljicu
marsijanskog diva iz kojeg je i dopiralo to tuljenje. Nisam
se užasnuo. Naišao sam na nj kao na nešto najnormalnije.
Promatrao sam ga neko vrijeme, ali se on nije ni pomakao.
Stajao je tako i urlao, a zbog razloga koji nikako nisam
mogao dokučiti.
Pokušao sam stvoriti nekakav plan djelovanja. Taj zvuk koji
se ponavljao, “ulla, ulla, ulla, ulla”, remetio mi je misli.
Možda sam bio i preumoran da bih se baš uplašio. Svakako
me mnogo više od straha mučila radoznalost da doznam
razlog tog monotonog vikanja. Okrenuo sam se od parka i
skrenuo u Park Road, kaneći zaobići perivoj, produžiti u
zaklonu terasa, te iz smjera St. John’s Wooda promotriti tog
Marsijanca koji stoji nepomično i urla. Možda dvije stotine
jardi od Baker Streeta začuo sam kor laveža, pa ugledao
najprije psa s komadom natrula crvenog mesa u raljama
kako ide ravno na mene, a potom i čitav čopor
izgladnjelih mješanaca koji mu je bio za petama. Obišao me
je u širokom luku, kao da se boji da bih mogao biti neki
novi takmac. Kad je lavež zamro niz utihlu ulicu, ponovno
se začulo ono jadikovanje: “Ulla, ulla, ulla, ulla”.
Na pola puta do kolodvora St. John’s Wood naišao sam na
pokvareni manipulator. U prvi sam mah pomislio da se to
kuća srušila na ulicu. Tek kad sam se proverao kroz
ruševine ugledao sam, zapanjen, tog mehaničkog Samsona
kako leži, krakova izvijenih, razbijenih i skovrljenih, sred
ruševina što ih je stvorio. Prednji mu je dio bio smrskan.
Dojam je bio da je slijepo naletio ravno na kuću, da bi ga
onda pobijedilo njezino rušenje. U tom mi se trenutku
učinilo da se to dogodilo zato što se naprava otela
marsijanskoj vlasti. Nisam se mogao verati kroz ruševine da
je pogledam, a sumrak je već bio toliko uznapredovao da
nisam mogao razabrati ni krv kojom je sjedalo bilo
zamrljano, kao ni izgrizenu hrskavicu Marsijanca, ono što je
ostalo iza pasa.
Čudeći se još više svemu što sam vidio, nastavio sam prema
Primrose Hillu. U velikoj daljini, kroz procjep među
stablima, ugledao sam drugog Marsijanca, nepomična kao i
prvog, kako stoji u parku pred Zoološkim vrtom, sasvim
nijem. Malo iza ruševina, oko razbijenog manipulatora opet
sam naišao na crvenu travu, a otkrio sam i Regent’s Canal,
spužvastu masu tamnocrvenog raslinja.
Kad sam prešao most, glasanje “ulla, ulla, ulla, ulla”
najednom se prekinulo. Naglo kao presječeno. Tišina je
came like a thunderclap.
The dusky houses about me stood faint and tall and
dim; the trees towards the park were growing black. All
about me the red weed clambered among the ruins,
writhing to get above me in the dimness. Night, the
mother of fear and mystery, was coming upon me. But
while that voice sounded the solitude, the desolation,
had been endurable; by virtue of it London had still
seemed alive, and the sense of life about me had upheld
me. Then suddenly a change, the passing of
something--I knew not what--and then a stillness that
could be felt. Nothing but this gaunt quiet.
London about me gazed at me spectrally. The windows
in the white houses were like the eye sockets of skulls.
About me my imagination found a thousand noiseless
enemies moving. Terror seized me, a horror of my
temerity. In front of me the road became pitchy black
as though it was tarred, and I saw a contorted shape
lying across the pathway. I could not bring myself to go
on. I turned down St. John's Wood Road, and ran
headlong from this unendurable stillness towards
Kilburn. I hid from the night and the silence, until long
after midnight, in a cabmen's shelter in Harrow Road.
But before the dawn my courage returned, and while
the stars were still in the sky I turned once more
towards Regent's Park. I missed my way among the
streets, and presently saw down a long avenue, in the
half-light of the early dawn, the curve of Primrose Hill.
On the summit, towering up to the fading stars, was a
third Martian, erect and motionless like the others.
An insane resolve possessed me. I would die and end it.
And I would save myself even the trouble of killing
myself. I marched on recklessly towards this Titan, and
then, as I drew nearer and the light grew, I saw that a
multitude of black birds was circling and clustering
about the hood. At that my heart gave a bound, and I
began running along the road.
I hurried through the red weed that choked St.
Edmund's Terrace (I waded breast-high across a torrent
of water that was rushing down from the waterworks
towards the Albert Road), and emerged upon the grass
before the rising of the sun. Great mounds had been
heaped about the crest of the hill, making a huge
redoubt of it--it was the final and largest place the
Martians had made--and from behind these heaps there
rose a thin smoke against the sky. Against the sky line
an eager dog ran and disappeared. The thought that had
flashed into my mind grew real, grew credible. I felt no
fear, only a wild, trembling exultation, as I ran up the
hill towards the motionless monster. Out of the hood
hung lank shreds of brown, at which the hungry birds
pecked and tore.
In another moment I had scrambled up the earthen
rampart and stood upon its crest, and the interior of the
došla kao udarac groma.
Sumračne su se kuće oko mene dizale blijede i visoke i
mračne; stabla prema parku naglo su crnjela. Posvuda oko
mene crvena se trava verala kroz mine, pa se izvijala u
mraku, u pokušaju da me nadraste. Na mene se spuštala
noć, majka straha i misterija. Ipak, dok se javljao onaj glas,
i samoća i pustoš bili su podnošljivi; zahvaljujući njemu
London se još doimao živim, i taj me osjećaj života i držao.
I onda najednom promjena, prolazak nečega - ne znam čega
- i onda se opet osjetio mir. Samo taj sablasni mir.
London oko mene gledao me očima utvare. Prozori su na
bijelim kućama bili nalik očnim dupljama lubanja. Oko
mene je mašta otkrivala gibanje tisuća nečujnih neprijatelja.
Obuzela me strava, užasnutost vlastitom drskošću. Cesta je
preda mnom postala mračna kao u rogu, kao da ju je netko
premazao katranom, i onda sam ugledao skovrljeni oblik
prevaljen preko pločnika. Nisam se mogao natjerati da
nastavim. Skrenuo sam St. John’s Wood Roadom, i potrčao
bezglavce, kroz njegov nesnosni mir, prema Kilburnu.
Potom sam se od noći i tišine, sve do dugo iza ponoći,
sakrio u kočijaškom skloništu na Harrow Roadu. Još
prije zore mi se, međutim, vratila hrabrost, pa sam, dok su
još zvijezde bile na nebu, još jednom krenuo prema
Regent’s Parku. Među ulicama sam izgubio put, a onda sam
na kraju duge avenije, u polusvjetlu ranog svitanja, ugledao
krivulju Primrose Hilla. Na njegovu je vrhu, uzdižući se
prema sve bljeđim zvijezdama, stajao treći Marsijanac,
uspravan i nepomičan kao i ostali.
Najednom me obuzela suluda odlučnost. Neka dođe smrt i
kraj svemu. A prištedjet ću sebi čak i trud oko ubijanja.
Nastavio sam drsko stupati prema tom titanu i tada sam, kad
sam mu prišao bliže, a svjetlo se pojačalo, opazio da mu
oko kukuljice kruži i skuplja se mnoštvo crnih ptičurina. Na
to mi je srce poskočilo, pa sam potrčao cestom.
Projurio sam kroz crvenu travu što je zagušila St. Edmund’s
Terrace (gacao sam, uronjen do prsa, kroz bujicu vode što je
iz vodovodnih cijevi jurila prema Albert Roadu), pa prije
nego što se diglo Sunce izbio na travu. Oko vrha su brda
bile naslagane velike humke, tvoreći golemi bedem - bio je
to zadnji i najveći tabor što su ga Marsijanci stvorili - a iza
tih se hrpa u nebo dizao tanak dim. Na pozadini obzora
pretrčao je i nestao oštar pas. Misao što mi je bljesnula u
glavi postajala je sve stvarnijom, sve uvjerljivijom. Nisam
osjećao strah, nego samo divlji, drhtavi ushit, dok sam
tako trčao uzbrdo prema nepomičnom čudovištu. Iz
kukuljice su visjele labave krpe smeđeg tkiva, koje su
gladne ptice kljucale i razdirale.
Sljedećeg sam se trenutka već uspentrao zemljanim
bedemom i uspravio mu se na hrptu, i sad se poda mnom
redoubt was below me. A mighty space it was, with
gigantic machines here and there within it, huge
mounds of material and strange shelter places. And
scattered about it, some in their overturned war-
machines, some in the now rigid handling-machines,
and a dozen of them stark and silent and laid in a row,
were the Martians--dead!--slain by the putrefactive and
disease bacteria against which their systems were
unprepared; slain as the red weed was being slain;
slain, after all man's devices had failed, by the
humblest things that God, in his wisdom, has put upon
this earth.
For so it had come about, as indeed I and many men
might have foreseen had not terror and disaster blinded
our minds. These germs of disease have taken toll of
humanity since the beginning of things--taken toll of
our prehuman ancestors since life began here. But by
virtue of this natural selection of our kind we have
developed resisting power; to no germs do we succumb
without a struggle, and to many--those that cause
putrefaction in dead matter, for instance--our living
frames are altogether immune. But there are no bacteria
in Mars, and directly these invaders arrived, directly
they drank and fed, our microscopic allies began to
work their overthrow. Already when I watched them
they were irrevocably doomed, dying and rotting even
as they went to and fro. It was inevitable. By the toll of
a billion deaths man has bought his birthright of the
earth, and it is his against all comers; it would still be
his were the Martians ten times as mighty as they are.
For neither do men live nor die in vain.
Here and there they were scattered, nearly fifty
altogether, in that great gulf they had made, overtaken
by a death that must have seemed to them as
incomprehensible as any death could be. To me also at
that time this death was incomprehensible. All I knew
was that these things that had been alive and so terrible
to men were dead. For a moment I believed that the
destruction of Sennacherib had been repeated, that God
had repented, that the Angel of Death had slain them in
the night.
I stood staring into the pit, and my heart lightened
gloriously, even as the rising sun struck the world to
fire about me with his rays. The pit was still in
darkness; the mighty engines, so great and wonderful
in their power and complexity, so unearthly in their
tortuous forms, rose weird and vague and strange out of
the shadows towards the light. A multitude of dogs, I
could hear, fought over the bodies that lay darkly in the
depth of the pit, far below me. Across the pit on its
farther lip, flat and vast and strange, lay the great
flying-machine with which they had been
experimenting upon our denser atmosphere when decay
and death arrested them. Death had come not a day too
otvorila unutrašnjost utvrde. A silan je to prostor bio, s
divovskim strojevima posvuda, s golemim humkama
materijala i čudnim skloništima. A među svime - neki u
prevrnutim bojnim strojevima, neki u već ukrućenim
manipulatorima, a desetak ih je bilo ukočenih i nijemih i
poslaganih u redu - bili su posijani Marsijanci - mrtvi! -
pomoreni bakterijama truljenja i zaraze na koje su njihovi
sustavi bili nepripravni; pomoreni kako je bila pomorena
i crvena trava; pomoreni, nakon što su sva ljudska sredstva
zakazala, pomoreni najskromnijim bićima što ih je Bog, u
mudrosti svojoj, dao na svijet.
Jer baš se to dogodilo, što su doista mnogi mogli i
predvidjeti, da im užas i katastrofa nisu zaslijepili um. Te su
zarazne klice u ljudskom rodu ubirale danak od početka
svijeta - ubirale danak i od naših predljudskih predaka i od
trenutka nastanka života na planetu. Zahvaljujući prirodnom
odabiru koji je stvorio našu vrstu, mi smo međutim razvili
otpornost; zato nijednoj klici ne podliježemo bez otpora, a
prema mnogima - primjerice onima koje izazivaju truljenje
mrtve materije - naša su tijela i posve imuna. Na Marsu,
međutim, nema bakterija, i čim su ti zavojevači stigli, čim
su počeli jesti i piti, naši su mikroskopski saveznici počeli
raditi na njihovu rušenju. Već kad sam ih prvi put
ugledao, oni su već bili nepovratno osuđeni na propast, jer
su umirali i trunuli još dok su hodali svijetom. Bilo je to
neizbježno. Čovjek je svoje nasljedno pravo na Zemlju
kupio milijardama smrti, i stoga je ona njegova, i ne da se
došljacima; ona bi njegovom i ostala sve da su Marsijanci i
deset puta moćniji nego što jesu. Jer ljudi uzalud niti žive
niti umiru.
Bili su tako razbacani, kud koji, njih gotovo pedeset na
broju, u tom velikom zaljevu što su ga sami stvorili,
svladani smrću koja im je zacijelo bila neshvatljiva
kao što je to svaka smrt. I meni je, u tom trenutku, ta
smrt bila podjednako neshvatljiva. Bilo mi je jasno
samo da su ta bića, za života tako strašna za ljude,
mrtva. Na trenutak sam pomislio da se ponovilo
uništenje Sanheribovo, da se Bog pokajao, i da ih je
Anđeo Smrti noću sve pobio.
Stajao sam tako i gledao u jamu, a srce mi se veličanstveno
ozarilo, baš dok se Sunce dizalo i svojim zrakama
svijet pretvaralo u plamen. Jama je još bila u mraku;
velebni strojevi, tako silni i čudesni u svojoj moći i
složenosti, tako nezemaljski u svojim zapletenim
oblicima, dizali su se nastrani i nejasni i strani iz
sjena prema svjetlu. Čuo sam kako se mnoštvo pasa
otimlje za trupla što su ležala u mraku dubina jame,
duboko ispod mene. A na drugoj strani jame, u
njezinu najdaljem izdanku, plosnat i golem i
stran, ležao je silan leteći stroj, s kojim su baš vršili
pokuse u našoj gušćoj atmosferi, u trenutku kad su
ih zaustavili raspadanje i smrt. Smrt nije došla ni dan
soon. At the sound of a cawing overhead I looked up at
the huge fighting-machine that would fight no more for
ever, at the tattered red shreds of flesh that dripped
down upon the overturned seats on the summit of
Primrose Hill.
I turned and looked down the slope of the hill to where,
enhaloed now in birds, stood those other two Martians
that I had seen overnight, just as death had overtaken
them. The one had died, even as it had been crying to
its companions; perhaps it was the last to die, and its
voice had gone on perpetually until the force of its
machinery was exhausted. They glittered now,
harmless tripod towers of shining metal, in the
brightness of the rising sun.
All about the pit, and saved as by a miracle from
everlasting destruction, stretched the great Mother of
Cities. Those who have only seen London veiled in her
sombre robes of smoke can scarcely imagine the naked
clearness and beauty of the silent wilderness of houses.
Eastward, over the blackened ruins of the Albert
Terrace and the splintered spire of the church, the sun
blazed dazzling in a clear sky, and here and there some
facet in the great wilderness of roofs caught the light
and glared with a white intensity.
Northward were Kilburn and Hampsted, blue and
crowded with houses; westward the great city was
dimmed; and southward, beyond the Martians, the
green waves of Regent's Park, the Langham Hotel, the
dome of the Albert Hall, the Imperial Institute, and the
giant mansions of the Brompton Road came out clear
and little in the sunrise, the jagged ruins of Westminster
rising hazily beyond. Far away and blue were the
Surrey hills, and the towers of the Crystal Palace
glittered like two silver rods. The dome of St. Paul's
was dark against the sunrise, and injured, I saw for the
first time, by a huge gaping cavity on its western side.
And as I looked at this wide expanse of houses and
factories and churches, silent and abandoned; as I
thought of the multitudinous hopes and efforts, the
innumerable hosts of lives that had gone to build this
human reef, and of the swift and ruthless destruction
that had hung over it all; when I realised that the
shadow had been rolled back, and that men might still
live in the streets, and this dear vast dead city of mine
be once more alive and powerful, I felt a wave of
emotion that was near akin to tears.
The torment was over. Even that day the healing would
begin. The survivors of the people scattered over the
country--leaderless, lawless, foodless, like sheep
without a shepherd--the thousands who had fled by sea,
would begin to return; the pulse of life, growing
stronger and stronger, would beat again in the empty
streets and pour across the vacant squares. Whatever
destruction was done, the hand of the destroyer was
prerano. Začuvši iznad sebe graktanje, podigao sam
pogled i ugledao golem bojni stroj koji više nikad
neće u boj, ugledao razderane crvene krpe mesa što
su kapale na prevrnuta sjedala na vrhu Primrose
Hilla.
Okrenuo sam se i pogledao nizbrdo gdje su bila ona dvojica
Marsijanca, sad okružena aureolom ptica, a koje sam
vidio noćas, i to baš kad ih je sustigla smrt. Onaj je
umro, baš dok je dovikivao svojim drugovima;
možda je baš on umro posljednji, no glas mu se
nastavio stalno javljati sve dok se nije iscrpila snaga
stroja. Sad su svjetlucali, kao bezopasni tronožni
tornjevi od sjajne kovine, u blještavilu Sunca na
izlasku.
A posvuda oko jame, i samo čudom spašena od vječnog
uništenja, prostirala se velika Majka Sviju Gradova. Oni
koji su London vidjeli samo uvijen u turobno ruho dima,
teško da mogu i zamisliti golu bistrinu i ljepotu nijeme
divljine njegovih kuća.
Na istoku, preko pocrnjelih ruševina Albert Terracea i
rascijepljenog crkvenog zvonika, na čistom je nebu
zasljepljujuće blistalo Sunce, a tu bi i tamo pokoji izbrusak
u toj velikoj divljini krovova uhvatio svjetlo i zasjao u
bijeloj žestini.
Na sjeveru su bili Kilburn i Hampstead, modri i prepuni
kuća; na zapadu je silni grad bio potamnjen; a na jugu, iza
Marsijanaca, zeleni valovi Regent’s Parka, Langham
Hotela, kupole Albert Halla, Imperial Institutea kao i
divovske privatne kuće na Brompton Roadu iznicali su
bistri i maleni u izlasku Sunca, a iza svega su se u izmaglici
dizale nazupčane ruševine Westminstera. U velikoj daljini i
modrini, bila su brda Surreyja, a tornjevi su Crystal Palacea
svjetlucali kao dva srebrna štapa. Kupola se St. Paula
ocrtavala mračna na pozadini izlaska Sunca, a sad sam i po
prvi put opazio da je i ranjena, i to golemom razjapljenom
rupom sa zapadne strane.
I dok sam gledao u to široko prostranstvo kuća i tvornica i
crkava, nijemo i napušteno; i dok sam mislio na mnoštvo
nada i silan trud, u bezbrojne vojske ljudskih života
utrošene na izgradnju toga golemog ljudskog koraljnog
grebena, kao i na brzo i nesmiljeno uništenje što je visjelo
nad njima; kad sam shvatio da je mračna sjena odbijena, i
da na tim ulicama mogu i dalje živjeti ljudi, i da je taj moj
mio i golem i mrtav grad opet i živ i moćan, osjetio
sam kako me je preplavio val osjećaja vrlo srodan suzama.
Mukama je došao kraj. Ozdravljenje će početi još istoga
dana. Preživjeli među ljudima što su se razbježali zemljom -
bez zemlje, zaklona, hrane, kao ovce bez pastira - i tisuće
onih koji su pobjegli preko mora, sad će se početi vraćati;
puls života, sve jači i jači, opet će zakucati praznim ulicama
i razliti se ispražnjelim trgovima. Bez obzira na sve što je
razaranje već učinilo, ruka je razarača ipak zaustavljena.
Sve te avetne olupine, ti pocrnjeli kosturi kuća što su zurili
stayed. All the gaunt wrecks, the blackened skeletons
of houses that stared so dismally at the sunlit grass of
the hill, would presently be echoing with the hammers
of the restorers and ringing with the tapping of their
trowels. At the thought I extended my hands towards
the sky and began thanking God. In a year, thought I--
in a year. . .
With overwhelming force came the thought of myself,
of my wife, and the old life of hope and tender
helpfulness that had ceased for ever.
CHAPTER NINE
WRECKAGE
And now comes the strangest thing in my story. Yet,
perhaps, it is not altogether strange. I remember, clearly
and coldly and vividly, all that I did that day until the
time that I stood weeping and praising God upon the
summit of Primrose Hill. And then I forget.
Of the next three days I know nothing. I have learned
since that, so far from my being the first discoverer of
the Martian overthrow, several such wanderers as
myself had already discovered this on the previous
night. One man--the first--had gone to St. Martin's-le-
Grand, and, while I sheltered in the cabmen's hut, had
contrived to telegraph to Paris. Thence the joyful news
had flashed all over the world; a thousand cities, chilled
by ghastly apprehensions, suddenly flashed into frantic
illuminations; they knew of it in Dublin, Edinburgh,
Manchester, Birmingham, at the time when I stood
upon the verge of the pit. Already men, weeping with
joy, as I have heard, shouting and staying their work to
shake hands and shout, were making up trains, even as
near as Crewe, to descend upon London. The church
bells that had ceased a fortnight since suddenly caught
the news, until all England was bell-ringing. Men on
cycles, lean-faced, unkempt, scorched along every
country lane shouting of unhoped deliverance, shouting
to gaunt, staring figures of despair. And for the food!
Across the Channel, across the Irish Sea, across the
Atlantic, corn, bread, and meat were tearing to our
relief. All the shipping in the world seemed going
Londonward in those days. But of all this I have no
memory. I drifted--a demented man. I found myself in a
house of kindly people, who had found me on the third
day wandering, weeping, and raving through the streets
of St. John's Wood. They have told me since that I was
singing some insane doggerel about "The Last Man
Left Alive! Hurrah! The Last Man Left Alive!"
Troubled as they were with their own affairs, these
people, whose name, much as I would like to express
my gratitude to them, I may not even give here,
nevertheless cumbered themselves with me, sheltered
tako sumorno u suncem obasjanu travu brda, uskoro
će odjekivati udarcima čekića obnavljača i odzvanjati
lupkanjem mistrija. To pomislivši, pružio sam ruke prema
nebu i počeo zahvaljivati Bogu. Za godinu dana, pomislio
sam - za godinu ...
I tada mi je, s razornom silinom, došla misao na samoga
sebe, na ženu, na stari život pun nada i nježne sreće, a koji
je zauvijek bio prestao.
GLAVA 9.
RUŠEVINE
A sad dolazi najčudniji dio moje priče. Iako, možda, i nije
baš sasvim čudan. Jer se sjećam, jasno i hladno i živo, svega
što sam tog dana učinio sve do trenutka kad sam na vrhu
Primrose Hilla stajao i plakao i zahvaljivao Bogu. Ali
potom slijedi zaborav.
O sljedeća tri dana ja ne znam ništa. U međuvremenu sam
doznao da nisam bio ni izdaleka prvi koji je otkrio
marsijanski slom, već da je to još prethodne noći shvatilo
nekoliko meni sličnih lutalica. Jedan je od njih - onaj prvi -
otišao u St. Martin’s-le-Grand, i dok sam ja spavao sklonjen
u fijakerašku kolibu, on je uspio poslati brzojav u Pariz.
Otuda su se vesele vijesti u bljesku proširile svijetom; tisuće
gradova, sleđene od jezivih slutnji, najednom su bljesnule u
frenetičnom osvjetljenju; za to su, u času kad sam ja tek
stao na rub jame, već znali u Dublinu, Edinburghu,
Manchesteru, Birminghamu. Već su mnogi, kako sam čuo,
plačući od sreće, vičući i ostavljajući posao da bi se
rukovali i kriknuli od sreće, već pravili kolone, čak i u
sasvim bliskom Creweu, da krenu za London. Crkvena
zvona koja su već dva tjedna šutjela, sad su najednom
uhvatila vijesti, i najednom je zazvonila čitava Engleska.
Ljudi na biciklima, ispijena lica, zapušteni, suludo su gazili
pedale po svim seoskim putovima i izvikivali vijesti o
nenadanom izbavljenju, izvikivali ih avetnim ljudima, od
nevjerice zapiljenim živim slikama očaja. A tek hrana!
Preko Kanala, preko Irskoga mora, preko Atlantika,
kukuruz, kruh i meso, sve nam je to hitalo u pomoć. Činilo
se da su tih dana svi brodovi svijeta krenuli put
Londona. Od svega se toga, međutim, ja ne sjećam baš
ničega. Ja sam samo plutao - kao dementan. Tako sam se
našao u kući ljubaznih ljudi, koji su me pronašli trećeg dana
mog lutanja, kako plačem i bjesnim kroz ulice St. John’s
Wooda. Kasnije su mi ispričali da sam pjevao nekakvu
suludu pjesmicu: “Posljednji čovjek ostavljen na životu!
Hura! Posljednji čovjek ostavljen na životu!” Unatoč
tome što su imali i drugih briga, ti su se ljudi, čije ime,
unatoč tome što bih im žarko želio izraziti zahvalnost, čak
ni ne mogu ovdje navesti, ipak baktali samnom, pružili mi
zaklon i zaštitili me od samog sebe. I očito je da su za tih
me, and protected me from myself. Apparently they
had learned something of my story from me during the
days of my lapse.
Very gently, when my mind was assured again, did they
break to me what they had learned of the fate of
Leatherhead. Two days after I was imprisoned it had
been destroyed, with every soul in it, by a Martian. He
had swept it out of existence, as it seemed, without any
provocation, as a boy might crush an ant hill, in the
mere wantonness of power.
I was a lonely man, and they were very kind to me. I
was a lonely man and a sad one, and they bore with me.
I remained with them four days after my recovery. All
that time I felt a vague, a growing craving to look once
more on whatever remained of the little life that
seemed so happy and bright in my past. It was a mere
hopeless desire to feast upon my misery. They
dissuaded me. They did all they could to divert me
from this morbidity. But at last I could resist the
impulse no longer, and, promising faithfully to return to
them, and parting, as I will confess, from these four-
day friends with tears, I went out again into the streets
that had lately been so dark and strange and empty.
Already they were busy with returning people; in
places even there were shops open, and I saw a
drinking fountain running water.
I remember how mockingly bright the day seemed as I
went back on my melancholy pilgrimage to the little
house at Woking, how busy the streets and vivid the
moving life about me. So many people were abroad
everywhere, busied in a thousand activities, that it
seemed incredible that any great proportion of the
population could have been slain. But then I noticed
how yellow were the skins of the people I met, how
shaggy the hair of the men, how large and bright their
eyes, and that every other man still wore his dirty rags.
Their faces seemed all with one of two expressions--a
leaping exultation and energy or a grim resolution.
Save for the expression of the faces, London seemed a
city of tramps. The vestries were indiscriminately
distributing bread sent us by the French government.
The ribs of the few horses showed dismally. Haggard
special constables with white badges stood at the
corners of every street. I saw little of the mischief
wrought by the Martians until I reached Wellington
Street, and there I saw the red weed clambering over
the buttresses of Waterloo Bridge.
At the corner of the bridge, too, I saw one of the
common contrasts of that grotesque time--a sheet of
paper flaunting against a thicket of the red weed,
transfixed by a stick that kept it in place. It was the
placard of the first newspaper to resume publication--
the Daily Mail. I bought a copy for a blackened shilling
izbrisanih dana doznali ponešto i o mojoj priči.
Kad mi se opet učvrstila svijest, oni su mi vrlo obzirno
ispričali što su doznali o sudbini Leatherheada. Dva dana
nakon što sam ja ostao zatočen, Marsijanac ga je uništio do
zadnje duše. Naprosto ga je zbrisao s lica zemlji, i to, kako
se čini, bez ikakva povoda, onako kako bi dječak zdrobio
mravinjak, zbog čistog ispraznog pokazivanja snage.
Ja sam bio čovjek samac, a oni su prema meni bili dobri.
Bio sam čovjek i sam i tužan, a oni su sa mnom imali
strpljenja. Pošto sam se oporavio, ostao sam s njima još
četiri dana. A za sve sam to vrijeme osjećao mutnu, i sve
jaču čežnju da još jednom pogledam što je ostalo od moga
sitnog života koji mi je sada, u prošlosti, izgledao tako
sretan i vedar. Bila je to naprosto beznadna čežnja da se
naslađujem vlastitom mizerijom. Oni su me od toga
odvratili. Učinili su sve što je bilo u njihovoj moći da me
skrenu s te morbidnosti. Ja se, međutim, na koncu više
nisam mogao oprijeti tom porivu pa sam se, vjerno im
obećavši da ću se vratiti, od tih četverodnevnih prijatelja
oprostio - priznajem - sa suzama i opet izišao na ulice što su
nedavno bile tako mračne i tuđe i prazne.
Sad su, međutim, već vrvjele od povratnika; ponegdje su se
već otvorili i dućani, a vidio sam i javnu česmu iz koje teče
voda.
Sjećam se kako je, kad sam krenuo na svoje sjetno
hodočašće u kućicu u Wokingu, dan bio podrugljivo vedar,
kako su žurne bile ulice i kako živ i gibljiv život oko mene.
Posvuda je na ulici bilo toliko ljudi, zauzetih tisućama
djelatnosti, da mi se činilo nevjerojatnim da je pobijen iole
znatniji dio pučanstva. Tad sam, međutim, počeo opažati
žutu kožu na ljudima koje bih susretao, i koliko im je
raščupana kosa, i kako su im oči krupne i svijetle, te da je
svaki drugi još u prljavim prnjama. Na licima su im
bila samo dva izraza - ili skakanje od ushita i energije ili
smrknuta odlučnost. Da nije bilo tih izraza, London bi
izgledao kao grad skitnica. Župe su srijedom dijelile kruh
što nam ga je poslala francuska vlada. Malobrojnim su se
konjima jezivo vidjela rebra. Na uglovima su svih ulica
stajali ispijeni specijalni redari s bijelim značkama. Od zla
što su nam ga nanijeli Marsijanci vidio sam malo sve dok
nisam stigao do Wellington Streeta, i tu ugledao crvenu
travu kako se vere stupovima Waterloo Bridgea.
A na uglu sam tog mosta ugledao i jedan od uobičajenih
kontrasta tog grotesknog vremena - list papira što je lepršao
na gustišu crvene trave, proboden štapićem koji ga je držao
na mjestu. Bio je to plakat prvih novina - Daily Maila - koje
su nastavile s izlaženjem. Odmah sam ih kupio za pocrnjeli
šiling što sam ga našao u džepu. Većinom su bile od čistih,
I found in my pocket. Most of it was in blank, but the
solitary compositor who did the thing had amused
himself by making a grotesque scheme of
advertisement stereo on the back page. The matter he
printed was emotional; the news organisation had not
as yet found its way back. I learned nothing fresh
except that already in one week the examination of the
Martian mechanisms had yielded astonishing results.
Among other things, the article assured me what I did
not believe at the time, that the "Secret of Flying," was
discovered. At Waterloo I found the free trains that
were taking people to their homes. The first rush was
already over. There were few people in the train, and I
was in no mood for casual conversation. I got a
compartment to myself, and sat with folded arms,
looking greyly at the sunlit devastation that flowed past
the windows. And just outside the terminus the train
jolted over temporary rails, and on either side of the
railway the houses were blackened ruins. To Clapham
Junction the face of London was grimy with powder of
the Black Smoke, in spite of two days of thunderstorms
and rain, and at Clapham Junction the line had been
wrecked again; there were hundreds of out-of-work
clerks and shopmen working side by side with the
customary navvies, and we were jolted over a hasty
relaying.
All down the line from there the aspect of the country
was gaunt and unfamiliar; Wimbledon particularly had
suffered. Walton, by virtue of its unburned pine woods,
seemed the least hurt of any place along the line. The
Wandle, the Mole, every little stream, was a heaped
mass of red weed, in appearance between butcher's
meat and pickled cabbage. The Surrey pine woods were
too dry, however, for the festoons of the red climber.
Beyond Wimbledon, within sight of the line, in certain
nursery grounds, were the heaped masses of earth
about the sixth cylinder. A number of people were
standing about it, and some sappers were busy in the
midst of it. Over it flaunted a Union Jack, flapping
cheerfully in the morning breeze. The nursery grounds
were everywhere crimson with the weed, a wide
expanse of livid colour cut with purple shadows, and
very painful to the eye. One's gaze went with infinite
relief from the scorched greys and sullen reds of the
foreground to the blue-green softness of the eastward
hills.
The line on the London side of Woking station was still
undergoing repair, so I descended at Byfleet station and
took the road to Maybury, past the place where I and
the artilleryman had talked to the hussars, and on by
the spot where the Martian had appeared to me in the
thunderstorm. Here, moved by curiosity, I turned aside
to find, among a tangle of red fronds, the warped and
broken dog cart with the whitened bones of the horse
jednostavnih slova, ali se jedincati slagar koji ih je napravio
zabavio pravljenjem grotesknog oglasnog sterea na zadnjoj
stranici. To što je otisnuo bilo je čisto emocionalno;
novinske organizacije još nisu našle put kući. Iz njih nisam
doznao ništa nova osim da je ispitivanje marsijanskog
mehanizma već nakon tjedan dana urodilo zapanjujućim
plodom. Članak me, između ostalog, uvjeravao u nešto u što
tada nisam povjerovao, naime da je otkrivena “tajna
letenja”. Na Waterloou sam zatekao besplatne vlakove koji
su ljude vraćali kući. Prva je navala već bila prošla. U vlaku
je bilo tek nekoliko ljudi, a nisam bio raspoložen za dokona
ćaskanja. Zauzeo sam čitav odjeljak, i sad sam sjedio ruku
složenih na prstima i tmurno gledao u suncem obasjanu
pustoš što je pretjecala pod prozorom. I baš pred
terminalom vlak je poskočio preko privremenih tračnica, a s
obiju strana pruge kuće su bile pocrnjele ruševine. Do
Clapham Junctiona lice je Londona bilo mračno od praha
Crnoga dima, usprkos tome što su dva dana padali
olujni pljuskovi, a kod Clapham Junctiona pruga je opet bila
uništena; tu su stotine nezaposlenih činovnika i trgovaca
radile rame uz rame s običnim pružnim radnicima, pa smo
poskočili preko na brzinu postavljenog spoja.
Čitavom prugom od tamo pa dalje izgled je zemlje bio
sumoran i nepoznat; napose je teško stradao Wimbledon.
Walton, zahvaljujući svojoj nezapaljenoj borovoj šumi, bio
je izgleda najmanje pogođen od svih mjesta duž pruge.
Wadle, Mole, sve sitne rječice, bile su tek nabacane mase
crvene trave, po izgledu nešto između svježeg mesa i
kiselog kupusa. Borici u Surreyju bili su, međutim, presuhi
da bi se na njih uhvatile girlande crvenih penjačica.
Iza Wimbledona, što se moglo vidjeti iz vlaka, na nekom su
rasadniku oko šestog valjka bile nabacane hrpe zemlje. Oko
njega je stajalo mnoštvo ljudi, a među njima su marljivo
radili inženjerci. Iznad svega se vijao Union Jack, i veselo
lepršao na jutarnjem povjetarcu. Rasadnik je bio posvuda
crven od trave; bilo je to široko prostranstvo živih boja
prosječeno purpurnim sjenama i vrlo bolno za oko. Pogled
je sam lutao, s beskrajnim olakšanjem, sa spaljenog sivila i
mrzovoljnog crvenila u prednjem planu sve do modrozelene
mekoće brda na istoku.
Pruga s londonske strane kolodvora u Wokingu još se
popravljala, pa sam stoga sišao na kolodvoru Byfleet i
krenuo cestom prema Mayburyju, kraj mjesta na kojem smo
topnik i ja razgovarali s husarima, kao i onoga na kojem mi
se, u olujnom pljusku, pred očima stvorio Marsijanac. Tu
sam se, pokrenut radoznalošću, okrenuo u stranu i otkrio, u
spletu crvenih vlati, iskrivljene i slomljene karuce, s konjem
pretvorenim u oglodane i obijeljene kosti. Zastao sam na
scattered and gnawed. For a time I stood regarding
these vestiges. . . .
Then I returned through the pine wood, neck-high with
red weed here and there, to find the landlord of the
Spotted Dog had already found burial, and so came
home past the College Arms. A man standing at an
open cottage door greeted me by name as I passed.
I looked at my house with a quick flash of hope that
faded immediately. The door had been forced; it was
unfast and was opening slowly as I approached.
It slammed again. The curtains of my study fluttered
out of the open window from which I and the
artilleryman had watched the dawn. No one had closed
it since. The smashed bushes were just as I had left
them nearly four weeks ago. I stumbled into the hall,
and the house felt empty. The stair carpet was ruffled
and discoloured where I had crouched, soaked to the
skin from the thunderstorm the night of the catastrophe.
Our muddy footsteps I saw still went up the stairs.
I followed them to my study, and found lying on my
writing-table still, with the selenite paper weight upon
it, the sheet of work I had left on the afternoon of the
opening of the cylinder. For a space I stood reading
over my abandoned arguments. It was a paper on the
probable development of Moral Ideas with the
development of the civilising process; and the last
sentence was the opening of a prophecy: "In about two
hundred years," I had written, "we may expect----" The
sentence ended abruptly. I remembered my inability to
fix my mind that morning, scarcely a month gone by,
and how I had broken off to get my Daily Chronicle
from the newsboy. I remembered how I went down to
the garden gate as he came along, and how I had
listened to his odd story of "Men from Mars." I came
down and went into the dining room. There were the
mutton and the bread, both far gone now in decay, and
a beer bottle overturned, just as I and the artilleryman
had left them. My home was desolate. I perceived the
folly of the faint hope I had cherished so long. And
then a strange thing occurred. "It is no use," said a
voice. "The house is deserted. No one has been here
these ten days. Do not stay here to torment yourself. No
one escaped but you."
I was startled. Had I spoken my thought aloud? I To me je prenulo. Jesam li to sam glasno izgovorio svoje
turned, and the French window was open behind me. I misli? Okrenuo sam se, i iza mene je bio otvoren francuski
made a step to it, and stood looking out. prozor. Zakoračio sam prema njemu, zastao i zagledao se.
And there, amazed and afraid, even as I stood amazed I tu su, zapanjene i u strahu, baš kao što sam i ja stajao
and afraid, were my cousin and my wife--my wife
white and tearless. She gave a faint cry.
"I came," she said. "I knew--knew----" She put her “Došla sam”, rekla je. “Znala sam ... znala ...” Stavila je
hand to her throat--swayed. I made a step forward, and
caught her in my arms.
trenutak i zagledao se u te ostatke ...
Onda sam se vratio kroz borik, kroz crvenu travu ponegdje
visoku i do vrata, da bih otkrio da je vlasnik Pjegavog psa
već našao svoj grob, i tako sam, prošavši kraj College
Armsa, stigao kući. U prolazu me imenom nazvao i
pozdravio čovjek što je stajao na otvorenim vratima seoske
kuće.
Pogledao sam svoju kuću s brzim bljeskom nade koji je
smjesta i utrnuo. Vrata su bila provaljena; bila su otvorena i
dok sam im prilazio polako su se otvarala.
Onda su opet tresnula. Zavjese na mojoj radnoj sobi
zalepršale su kroz otvoren prozor s kojeg smo ja i topnik
promatrali zoru. Od tada ga nitko više nije zatvorio.
Zgaženo je grmlje bilo baš kakvim sam ga i ostavio prije
gotovo četiri tjedna. Posrćući sam ušao u predvorje i osjetio
da u kući nema nikoga. Sag na stepenicama bio je zgužvan i
zamrljan na mjestu gdje sam se bio skutrio, promočen do
kože od olujnog pljuska u toj noći katastrofe. Naši su se
blatnjavi tragovi još uspinjali stubama.
Krenuo sam za njima do svoje radne sobe, i na pisaćem
stolu, pritisnut alabasternim pritiskivačem, zatekao list s
radom što sam ga ostavio onog popodneva kad se otvorio
valjak. Trenutak sam stajao tako i čitao svoje napuštene
argumente. Bio je to ogled o vjerojatnom razvoju moralnih
ideja usporedo s razvojem stupnja civiliziranosti; i zadnja je
rečenica u njemu bila baš početak proročanstva: “Za oko
dvije stotine godina”, napisao sam, “mogli bismo
očekivati...” I tu se rečenica naglo prekidala. Sjetio sam
se kako tog jutra, od kojeg je prošlo jedva mjesec dana,
nisam nikako mogao sabrati misli, te kako sam prekinuo
pisanje da od malog kolportera uzmem Daily Chronicle.
Sjećam se kako sam, kad je on naišao, sišao do vrtnih vrata,
i poslušao njegovu čudnu priču o “Ljudima s Marsa”. Sišao
sam i pošao u blagovaonicu. Na stolu su bili ovčetina i kruh,
u već uznapredovalom stanju raspadanja, kao i prevrnuta
boca piva, sve baš onako kako ih je ostavio topnik. Moj je
dom bio pust. Shvatio sam koliko je luda bila ona
slabašna nada što sam je tako dugo bio gajio. A onda se
dogodilo nešto čudno. “Sve je to uzalud”, rekao je glas.
“Kuća je napuštena. Tih deset dana tu nije bilo nikoga.
Nemoj tu ostati, samo ćeš se mučiti. Ti si se jedini spasio.”
zapanjen i u strahu, stajale moja rođakinja i žena -
moja žena blijeda no bez suze u oku. Tiho je
kriknula.
ruku na grlo - i zaljuljala se. Zakoračio sam prema
njoj i dočekao je u naručje.
 CHAPTER TEN
THE EPILOGUE
I cannot but regret, now that I am concluding my story,
how little I am able to contribute to the discussion of
the many debatable questions which are still unsettled.
In one respect I shall certainly provoke criticism. My
particular province is speculative philosophy. My
knowledge of comparative physiology is confined to a
book or two, but it seems to me that Carver's
suggestions as to the reason of the rapid death of the
Martians is so probable as to be regarded almost as a
proven conclusion. I have assumed that in the body of
my narrative.
At any rate, in all the bodies of the Martians that were
examined after the war, no bacteria except those
already known as terrestrial species were found. That
they did not bury any of their dead, and the reckless
slaughter they perpetrated, point also to an entire
ignorance of the putrefactive process. But probable as
this seems, it is by no means a proven conclusion.
Neither is the composition of the Black Smoke known,
which the Martians used with such deadly effect, and
the generator of the Heat-Rays remains a puzzle. The
terrible disasters at the Ealing and South Kensington
laboratories have disinclined analysts for further
investigations upon the latter. Spectrum analysis of the
black powder points unmistakably to the presence of an
unknown element with a brilliant group of three lines
in the green, and it is possible that it combines with
argon to form a compound which acts at once with
deadly effect upon some constituent in the blood. But
such unproven speculations will scarcely be of interest
to the general reader, to whom this story is addressed.
None of the brown scum that drifted down the Thames
after the destruction of Shepperton was examined at the
time, and now none is forthcoming.
The results of an anatomical examination of the
Martians, so far as the prowling dogs had left such an
examination possible, I have already given. But
everyone is familiar with the magnificent and almost
complete specimen in spirits at the Natural History
Museum, and the countless drawings that have been
made from it; and beyond that the interest of their
physiology and structure is purely scientific.
A question of graver and universal interest is the
possibility of another attack from the Martians. I do not
think that nearly enough attention is being given to this
aspect of the matter. At present the planet Mars is in
conjunction, but with every return to opposition I, for
one, anticipate a renewal of their adventure. In any
GLAVA 10.
EPILOG
Ne mogu, a da ne požalim, sad kad zaključujem svoju priču,
zbog toga što raspravi o mnogim spornim, još
nerazjašnjenim pitanjima, mogu doprinijeti samo tako malo.
Zbog jednog ću zacijelo zaraditi ukor. Moje je kraljevstvo
spekulativna filozofija. Moje je poznavanje komparativne
fiziologije ograničeno na jednu do dvije knjige, no ipak mi
se čini da je Carverova hipoteza o uzrocima brzog pomora
Marsijanaca toliko vjerojatna da je možemo prihvatiti
gotovo kao već dokazani zaključak. Stoga sam je kao takvu
u glavnini svoje priče i prihvatio.
U svakom slučaju, u svim tijelima Marsijanaca koja su
ispitana poslije rata, nije pronađena nijedna bakterija koja
ne pripada već poznatim zemaljskim vrstama. Činjenica da
oni ne pokapaju svoje mrtve, kao i nemilosrdni pokolj što su
ga počinili, također upućuju na zaključak da oni žive u
potpunom neznanju o procesu truljenja. To, međutim,
usprkos svem prividu uvjerljivosti, ipak još nije i dokazan
zaključak.
Isto je tako nepoznat i sastav Crnog dima, onog kojim su se
Marsijanci poslužili s tako smrtonosnom djelotvornošću,
a zagonetkom ostaje i generator Toplinskih zraka. Užasne
nesreće u laboratorijima u Ealingu i South Kensingtonu
odvratile su analitičare od daljnjih istraživanja na tom
području. Spektralna analiza crnoga praška nedvojbeno
upućuje na nazočnost nekog nepoznatog elementa, koji
karakterizira skupina od tri briljantne linije u zelenom, i
sasvim je moguće da se on s argonom spaja u tvar koja na
neki sastojak krvi djeluje smrtonosno. Ipak će
takva nedokazana nagađanja teško zanimati neupućenog
čitatelja, kome je ova priča i namijenjena. Ništa od smeđe
pjene što ju je nakon uništenja Sheppertona nosila Temza
nije bilo ispitano na vrijeme, a nove neće biti.
Rezultate anatomskog ispitivanja Marsijanaca, u mjeri u
kojoj su ga dopustili psi lutalice, već sam bio iznio. Ipak je
svima poznat onaj veličanstveni i gotovo potpuno sačuvan
primjerak što se u špiritu čuva u Prirodoslovnom muzeju,
kao što su poznati i bezbrojni po njemu rađeni crteži;
zanimanje za njihovu fiziologiju i građu, koja ide dalje od
ovog, samo je sasvim znanstvene naravi.
Mnogo je ozbiljnije i općenito zanimljivije pitanje koliko je
moguće da Marsijanci ponove svoj napad. Ne vjerujem da
je tom aspektu dosad bio posvećeno iole dovoljno
zanimanja. U ovom je trenutku planet Mars u konjukciji ali
- bar ja tako očekujem - svaki njegov povratak u opoziciju
dovest će do ponavljanja njihove pustolovine. U svakom
case, we should be prepared. It seems to me that it
should be possible to define the position of the gun
from which the shots are discharged, to keep a
sustained watch upon this part of the planet, and to
anticipate the arrival of the next attack.
In that case the cylinder might be destroyed with
dynamite or artillery before it was sufficiently cool for
the Martians to emerge, or they might be butchered by
means of guns so soon as the screw opened. It seems to
me that they have lost a vast advantage in the failure of
their first surprise. Possibly they see it in the same
light.
Lessing has advanced excellent reasons for supposing
that the Martians have actually succeeded in effecting a
landing on the planet Venus. Seven months ago now,
Venus and Mars were in alignment with the sun; that is
to say, Mars was in opposition from the point of view
of an observer on Venus. Subsequently a peculiar
luminous and sinuous marking appeared on the
unillumined half of the inner planet, and almost
simultaneously a faint dark mark of a similar sinuous
character was detected upon a photograph of the
Martian disk. One needs to see the drawings of these
appearances in order to appreciate fully their
remarkable resemblance in character.
At any rate, whether we expect another invasion or not,
our views of the human future must be greatly
modified by these events. We have learned now that we
cannot regard this planet as being fenced in and a
secure abiding place for Man; we can never anticipate
the unseen good or evil that may come upon us
suddenly out of space. It may be that in the larger
design of the universe this invasion from Mars is not
without its ultimate benefit for men; it has robbed us of
that serene confidence in the future which is the most
fruitful source of decadence, the gifts to human science
it has brought are enormous, and it has done much to
promote the conception of the commonweal of
mankind. It may be that across the immensity of space
the Martians have watched the fate of these pioneers of
theirs and learned their lesson, and that on the planet
Venus they have found a securer settlement. Be that as
it may, for many years yet there will certainly be no
relaxation of the eager scrutiny of the Martian disk, and
those fiery darts of the sky, the shooting stars, will
bring with them as they fall an unavoidable
apprehension to all the sons of men.
The broadening of men's views that has resulted can
scarcely be exaggerated. Before the cylinder fell there
was a general persuasion that through all the deep of
space no life existed beyond the petty surface of our
minute sphere. Now we see further. If the Martians can
reach Venus, there is no reason to suppose that the
thing is impossible for men, and when the slow cooling
slučaju, morali bismo ih dočekati spremni. Meni se čini da
bi bilo moguće odrediti položaj topa iz kojeg su ispaljeni
hici, pa taj dio planeta držati pod stalnom prismotrom, eda
bismo mogli predvidjeti dolazak sljedećeg napada.
U tom bi slučaju bilo moguće uništiti valjak dinamitom ili
topovima prije nego što se toliko ohladi da Marsijanci mogu
izaći, a možda bi se dali, čim se odvrne poklopac, pobiti
topovima. Meni se čini da su oni, zbog neuspjeha prvog
iznenađenja, izgubili silnu prednost. Možda i oni to pitanje
promatraju u istom svjetlu.
Lessing je iznio sjajne razloge u prilog pretpostavci da su
Marsijanci već uspjeli sletjeti na planet Veneru. Prije sedam
mjeseci Venera i Mars su se našli na istoj crti sa Suncem; to
će reći da se Mars, za promatrača na Veneri, našao u
opoziciji. Nakon toga se na neosvijetljenoj polovici tog
unutrašnjeg planeta pojavila svijetla i zavojita šara, a gotovo
je istog časa slabašna tamna šara sličnog zavojitog oblika
detektirana i na fotografiji Marsova diska. Dovoljno je samo
pogledati crteže tih pojava pa da potpuno shvatimo koliko
su te šare upadljivo slične prirodnima.
U svakom slučaju, bez obzira na to očekivali mi sljedeću
invaziju ili ne, ti će događaji zacijelo uvelike promijeniti
naše gledanje na budućnost ljudskoga roda. Sad smo
doznali da ne smijemo smatrati da je naš planet sigurno i
ograđeno stanište Čovjekovo; i da ne možemo predvidjeti
ono nevidljivo ni dobro ni zlo koje bi nam moglo najednom
doći iz svemira. Sasvim je moguće da u nekom većem
svemirskom planu ta invazija s Marsa nije lišena neke
krajnje koristi za ljude; ona nam je otela spokojnu
samouvjerenost o budućnosti, taj najplodniji izvor
dekadencije, a darovi što ih je donijela čovjekovoj znanosti
upravo su pregolemi, a osim toga je učinila mnogo i za
promicanje ideje zajedništva čitavog čovječanstva. Sasvim
je moguće da su Marsijanci, s druge strane svemirskog
beskraja, vidjeli sudbinu što je snašla te njihove pionire, te
tako izvukli pouku koja veli da će na planetu Veneri
naći sigurnije stanište. No bilo kako mu drago, još mnoge
godine neće nimalo sustati gorljivo i pedantno pretraživanje
Marsova diska, a te plamene nebeske strelice, zvijezde
padalice, svojim će padom u sinovima ljudskim neizbježno
izazivati tjeskobu. Širenje pak čovjekova pogleda na svijet,
izazvano tim zbivanjima, teško da se može precijeniti.
Prije nego što je pao taj valjak vladalo je opće uvjerenje da
u čitavoj dubini svemira ne postoji nikakav život, osim ovog
na sićušnoj površini naše majušne sfere. Danas mi vidimo
dalje. Ako Marsijanci mogu stići do Venere, onda nemamo
razloga pretpostaviti da bi tako nešto bilo nemoguće
čovjeku, a kad polagano hlađenje Sunca ovu našu Zemlju
učini neprikladnom za život - a što se napokon mora
of the sun makes this earth uninhabitable, as at last it dogoditi - sasvim je moguće da će se nit života, koja se
must do, it may be that the thread of life that has begun počela odmotavati ovdje, protegnuti i naš sestrinski planet
here will have streamed out and caught our sister planet uhvatiti u svoju zamku.
within its toils.
Dim and wonderful is the vision I have conjured up in Nejasna je i čudesna vizija što sam je smislio u glavi, vizija
my mind of life spreading slowly from this little seed života što se polako širi od ovog malenog rasadišta u
bed of the solar system throughout the inanimate Sunčevu sustavu kroz neživa prostranstva zvjezdanog
vastness of sidereal space. But that is a remote dream. prostora. Ipak je to tek daleki san. S druge je strane sasvim
It may be, on the other hand, that the destruction of the moguće da je uništenje Marsijanaca samo kratak predah.
Martians is only a reprieve. To them, and not to us, Možda su oni, a ne mi, pomazanici budućnosti.
perhaps, is the future ordained.
I must confess the stress and danger of the time have Ovdje moram priznati da su napori i opasnosti vremena u
left an abiding sense of doubt and insecurity in my mom umu ostavili trajan osjećaj dvojbe i nesigurnosti.
mind. I sit in my study writing by lamplight, and Sjedim u svojoj radnoj sobi i pišem uz svjetlost svjetiljke,
suddenly I see again the healing valley below set with kad pred sobom tu mirnu dolinu pod prozorom najednom
writhing flames, and feel the house behind and about opet ugledam svu ispunjenu palucanjem platnenih jezika, i
me empty and desolate. I go out into the Byfleet Road, tada kuća oko mene opet postaje i prazna i pusta. Izlazim na
and vehicles pass me, a butcher boy in a cart, a cabful Byfleet Road, a kraj mene prolaze vozila, mesarski
of visitors, a workman on a bicycle, children going to pomoćnik u malenim kolima, fijaker pun posjetitelja, radnik
school, and suddenly they become vague and unreal, na biciklu, djeca što odlaze u školu, i najednom se svi oni
and I hurry again with the artilleryman through the hot, zamagle i postanu nestvarni, i ja opet žurim s topnikom kroz
brooding silence. Of a night I see the black powder vruću, mračnim mislima ispunjenu tišinu. A noću
darkening the silent streets, and the contorted bodies vidim kako crni prašak potamnjuje tihe ulice, i kako su
shrouded in that layer; they rise upon me tattered and njegovim slojem, kao mrtvačkim pokrovom, prekrivena
dog-bitten. They gibber and grow fiercer, paler, uglier, zgrčena tijela; tad ustanu na mene, iskidana i izgrizena od
mad distortions of humanity at last, and I wake, cold pasa. Pa buncaju i raspaljuju se, postaju sve bljeđa, ružnija,
and wretched, in the darkness of the night. luđa iskrivljenja čovjeka, da bih se napokon probudio, sav
promrzao i ojađen, u tami noći.
I go to London and see the busy multitudes in Fleet Odlazim u London pogledati užurbana mnoštva na Fleet
Street and the Strand, and it comes across my mind that Streetu i Strandu, pa mi dolazi na um kako su to samo
they are but the ghosts of the past, haunting the streets duhovi prošlosti, što sad opsjedaju ulice koje sam gledao
that I have seen silent and wretched, going to and fro, nijeme i poharane, te da koračaju sad amo sad tamo,
phantasms in a dead city, the mockery of life in a fantazmi u mrtvom gradu, poruga životu u naelektriziranom
galvanised body. And strange, too, it is to stand on tijelu. A neobično je i stajati na Primrose Hillu, kao što sam
Primrose Hill, as I did but a day before writing this last to učinio samo dan prije nego što sam napisao ovo
chapter, to see the great province of houses, dim and posljednje poglavlje, i gledati to veličanstveno carstvo kuća,
blue through the haze of the smoke and mist, vanishing tamno i modro kroz izmaglicu dima i magle, gledati kako
at last into the vague lower sky, to see the people se naposljetku gubi u rasplinuti donji dio neba, gledati ljude
walking to and fro among the flower beds on the hill, to kako koračaju sad amo sad tamo između cvjetnih lijeha na
see the sight-seers about the Martian machine that brdu, gledati posjetitelje okupljene oko marsijanskog stroja
stands there still, to hear the tumult of playing children, koji tu još stoji, slušati halabuku razigrane djece, i prisjećati
and to recall the time when I saw it all bright and clear- se doba kad sam sve to gledao bistro i jasno ocrtano, kruto i
cut, hard and silent, under the dawn of that last great nijemo, u zori posljednjega velikog dana ...
day. . . .
And strangest of all is it to hold my wife's hand again, A najčudnije je od svega kad svoju ženu opet držim za ruku
and to think that I have counted her, and that she has i razmišljam kako sam je već, kao i ona mene, bio proglasio
counted me, among the dead. mrtvom.