Война миров
On horsell common
Atthefirstglanceitwasreallynomoreexcitingthananoverturnedcarriageoratreeblownacrosstheroad. Notsomuchso,indeed. Itlookedlikearustygasfloat. ItrequiredacertainamountofscientificeducationtoperceivethatthegreyscaleoftheThingwasnocommonoxide,thattheyellowish-whitemetalthatgleamedinthecrackbetweenthelidandthecylinderhadanunfamiliarhue. ‘Extra-terrestrial’hadnomeaningformostoftheonlookers.
AtthattimeitwasquiteclearinmyownmindthattheThinghadcomefromtheplanetMars,butIjudgeditimprobablethatitcontainedanylivingcreature. Ithoughttheunscrewingmightbeautomatic. InspiteofOgilvy,IstillbelievedthatthereweremeninMars. Mymindranfancifullyonthepossibilitiesofitscontainingmanuscript,onthedifficultiesintranslationthatmightarise,whetherweshouldfindcoinsandmodelsinit,andsoforth. Yetitwasalittletoolargeforassuranceonthisidea. Ifeltanimpatiencetoseeitopened. Abouteleven,asnothingseemedhappening,Iwalkedback,fullofsuchthought,tomyhomeinMaybury. ButIfounditdifficulttogettoworkuponmyabstractinvestigations.
Intheafternoontheappearanceofthecommonhadalteredverymuch. TheearlyeditionsoftheeveningpapershadstartledLondonwithenormousheadlines:
‘AMESSAGERECEIVEDFROMMARS.’
‘REMARKABLESTORYFROMWOKING,’
andsoforth. Inaddition,Ogilvy’swiretotheAstronomicalExchangehadrousedeveryobservatoryinthethreekingdoms.
