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.
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.
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.
Ere this, you must have plainly seen the truth of what I started with—that the Sperm Whale and the Right Whale have almost entirely different heads.
I began walking, therefore, in a big curve, seeking some point of vantage and continually looking at the sand.
Then, with the maul, after repeatedly smiting the upper end of this iron rod, he placed the blunted needle endwise on the top of it.
Whether indispensable to the magnetizing of the steel, or merely intended to augment the awe of the crew, is uncertain.
I and my wife stood amazed. Then I realised that the crest of Maybury Hill must be within range of the Martians. We can’t possibly stay here, I said; and as I spoke the firing reopened for a moment upon the common.
One after another they peered in, for nothing but their own eyes could persuade such ignorance as theirs.
The day advanced and the engine drivers and stokers refused to return to London, the pressure of the flight.
