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- Герберт Уеллс
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- Война миров
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'
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
in
-
convenience
.
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
nineteenthcentury
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
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
.
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
meteor
-
ites
,
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
,
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
.
