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The War of the Worlds, The War of the Worlds: Chapter 15 (1)

The War of the Worlds: Chapter 15 (1)

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 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 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.

“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 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.

The War of the Worlds: Chapter 15 (1) Der Krieg der Welten: Kapitel 15 (1) La guerra de los mundos: Capítulo 15 (1) La guerre des mondes : chapitre 15 (1) La guerra dei mondi: capitolo 15 (1) Війна світів: Розділ 15 (1)

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. Pelo que se pode verificar pelos relatos conflitantes que foram apresentados, a maioria deles permaneceu ocupada com os preparativos na mina de Horsell até as nove da noite, apressando-se em alguma operação que libertou enormes volumes de fumaça verde.

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. Mas três certamente saíram por volta das oito horas e, avançando lenta e cautelosamente, abriram caminho por Byfleet e Pyrford em direção a Ripley e Weybridge, e assim avistaram as baterias expectantes contra o sol poente. Но трое определенно вышли около восьми часов и, продвигаясь медленно и осторожно, пробились через Байфлит и Пирфорд в сторону Рипли и Вейбриджа и, таким образом, на фоне заходящего солнца увидели ожидающие батареи. These Martians did not advance in a body, but in a line, each perhaps a mile and a half from his nearest fellow. Эти марсиане продвигались не всем телом, а цепочкой, каждый примерно в полутора милях от ближайшего товарища. They communicated with one another by means of sirenlike howls, running up and down the scale from one note to another. Eles se comunicavam por meio de uivos de sereia, subindo e descendo a escala de uma nota a outra. Они общались друг с другом с помощью сиренообразного воя, бегущего вверх и вниз по гамме от одной ноты к другой.

It was this howling and firing of the guns at Ripley and St. Eram uivos e disparos de armas em Ripley e St. Это был вой и стрельба из орудий в Рипли и Сент-Луисе. George’s Hill that we had heard at Upper Halliford. George's Hill que ouvimos no 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. Os artilheiros Ripley, voluntários sem experiência da artilharia que nunca deveriam ter sido colocados em tal posição, dispararam uma rajada selvagem, prematura e ineficaz e dispararam a cavalo e a pé pela vila deserta, enquanto o marciano, sem usar seu raio de calor, caminhou serenamente sobre suas armas, caminhou cautelosamente entre eles, passou na frente deles e, então, deparou-se inesperadamente com as armas no Parque Painshill, que ele destruiu. Артиллеристы Рипли, неопытные артиллеристы-добровольцы, которых ни в коем случае нельзя было ставить на такую позицию, дали один безумный, преждевременный, безрезультатный залп и помчались на лошадях и пешком через опустевшую деревню, в то время как марсианин, не используя свой тепловой луч, безмятежно прошел мимо их орудий, осторожно шагнул между ними, прошел перед ними и так неожиданно наткнулся на орудия в Пейнсхилл-парке, которые он уничтожил.

The St. George’s Hill men, however, were better led or of a better mettle. Os homens de George's Hill, entretanto, eram mais bem liderados ou de melhor coragem. Однако люди из Джорджс-Хилла были лучше управляемы или обладали лучшим характером. Hidden by a pine wood as they were, they seem to have been quite unsuspected by the Martian nearest to them. Escondidos por uma floresta de pinheiros como estavam, eles parecem ter sido completamente insuspeitados pelo marciano mais próximo deles. They laid their guns as deliberately as if they had been on parade, and fired at about a thousand yards' range. Eles lançaram suas armas deliberadamente, como se estivessem em uma parada, e dispararam a cerca de mil metros de distância.

The shells flashed all round him, and he was seen to advance a few paces, stagger, and go down. Os projéteis brilharam ao seu redor e ele foi visto avançando alguns passos, cambaleando e caindo. Everybody yelled together, and the guns were reloaded in frantic haste. Todos gritaram juntos e as armas foram recarregadas com pressa frenética. The overthrown Martian set up a prolonged ululation, and immediately a second glittering giant, answering him, appeared over the trees to the south. O marciano derrubado deu um uivo prolongado e imediatamente um segundo gigante brilhante, respondendo a ele, apareceu sobre as árvores ao sul. Поверженный марсианин издал протяжный вопль, и тотчас же второй сверкающий великан, отвечая ему, появился из-за деревьев южнее. It would seem that a leg of the tripod had been smashed by one of the shells. Parece que uma perna do tripé foi esmagada por uma das conchas. The whole of the second volley flew wide of the Martian on the ground, and, simultaneously, both his companions brought their Heat-Rays to bear on the battery. Toda a segunda rajada voou longe do marciano no chão e, simultaneamente, seus dois companheiros trouxeram seus raios de calor para atacar a bateria. 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. A munição explodiu, os pinheiros ao redor dos canhões pegaram fogo e apenas um ou dois dos homens que já estavam correndo pelo topo da colina escaparam.

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. Depois disso, parece que os três se aconselharam e pararam, e os batedores que os observavam relataram que eles permaneceram absolutamente parados pela meia hora seguinte. После этого все трое, по-видимому, посовещались и остановились, а разведчики, наблюдавшие за ними, сообщают, что следующие полчаса они оставались совершенно неподвижными. 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. O marciano que havia sido derrubado rastejou tediosamente para fora de seu capuz, uma pequena figura marrom, estranhamente sugestiva de uma mancha de praga àquela distância, e aparentemente empenhado em reparar seu suporte. About nine he had finished, for his cowl was then seen above the trees again. Ele terminou por volta das nove, pois seu capuz foi visto novamente acima das árvores.

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. Passavam alguns minutos das nove da noite quando essas três sentinelas se juntaram a outros quatro marcianos, cada um carregando um tubo grosso preto. 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. Um tubo semelhante foi entregue a cada um dos três, e os sete passaram a se distribuir em distâncias iguais ao longo de uma linha curva entre St. George’s Hill, Weybridge, and the village of Send, southwest of Ripley. George's Hill, Weybridge e a aldeia de Send, a sudoeste de 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. Uma dúzia de foguetes saltou das colinas diante deles assim que começaram a se mover e avisaram as baterias que aguardavam sobre Ditton e Esher. Дюжина ракет вылетела из холмов перед ними, как только они начали двигаться, и предупредили ожидающие батареи о Диттоне и Эшере. 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. Ao mesmo tempo, quatro de suas máquinas de combate, igualmente armadas com tubos, cruzaram o rio, e duas delas, pretas contra o céu ocidental, avistaram eu e o cura enquanto corríamos cansados e dolorosamente ao longo da estrada que segue para o norte fora da 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. Eles se moviam, ao que nos parecia, sobre uma nuvem, pois uma névoa leitosa cobria os campos e chegava a um terço de sua altura.

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. Ao ver o cura, o cura chorou baixinho na garganta e começou a correr; mas eu sabia que não adiantava fugir de um marciano, virei para o lado e rastejei por entre as urtigas e arbustos orvalhados até a ampla vala ao lado da estrada. He looked back, saw what I was doing, and turned to join me. Ele olhou para trás, viu o que eu estava fazendo e se virou para se juntar a mim.

The two halted, the nearer to us standing and facing Sunbury, the remoter being a grey indistinctness towards the evening star, away towards Staines. Os dois pararam, o mais próximo de nós de pé e de frente para Sunbury, o mais remoto sendo uma indistinção cinza em direção à estrela da tarde, na direção de Staines. Оба остановились, причем тот, что был ближе к нам, стоял лицом к Санбери, а тот, что дальше, представлял собой серую неясность по направлению к вечерней звезде, к Стейнсу.

The occasional howling of the Martians had ceased; they took up their positions in the huge crescent about their cylinders in absolute silence. Os uivos ocasionais dos marcianos cessaram; eles assumiram suas posições no enorme crescente em torno de seus cilindros em silêncio absoluto. It was a crescent with twelve miles between its horns. Era uma lua crescente com 12 milhas entre os chifres. Never since the devising of gunpowder was the beginning of a battle so still. Nunca, desde o surgimento da pólvora, o início de uma batalha foi tão silencioso. Никогда еще с момента изобретения пороха начало битвы не было таким спокойным. 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. Para nós e para um observador de Ripley, teria exatamente o mesmo efeito - os marcianos pareciam em posse solitária da noite escura, iluminados apenas como estava pela lua delgada, as estrelas, o brilho posterior da luz do dia e o vermelho brilho de St. George’s Hill and the woods of Painshill. George's Hill e os bosques de Painshill.

But facing that crescent everywhere—at Staines, Hounslow, Ditton, Esher, Ockham, behind hills and 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. Mas enfrentando aquele crescente em todos os lugares - em Staines, Hounslow, Ditton, Esher, Ockham, atrás de colinas e bosques ao sul do rio, e através dos prados de grama plana ao norte dele, onde quer que um aglomerado de árvores ou casas de aldeia fornecessem cobertura suficiente - as armas estavam esperando. Но глядя на этот полумесяц везде — в Стейнсе, Хаунслоу, Диттоне, Эшере, Оккаме, за холмами и лесами к югу от реки и через плоские травяные луга к северу от нее, везде, где группа деревьев или деревенские дома давали достаточное укрытие — пушки ждали. 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. Os foguetes de sinalização estouraram e fizeram chover suas faíscas durante a noite e desapareceram, e o espírito de todas as baterias que assistiam aumentou a uma expectativa tensa. 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. Os marcianos tinham apenas que avançar para a linha de fogo, e instantaneamente aquelas formas negras imóveis de homens, aquelas armas brilhando tão sombriamente no início da noite, explodiriam em uma fúria estrondosa de batalha. Марсианам стоило только выйти на линию огня, и тотчас же эти неподвижные черные фигуры людей, эти орудия, так мрачно сверкавшие в ранней ночи, взорвались бы в оглушительной ярости битвы.

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. Sem dúvida, o pensamento que prevalecia em milhares daquelas mentes vigilantes, assim como era o que prevalecia na minha, era o enigma - o quanto eles entendiam de nós. Без сомнения, мыслью, преобладавшей в тысячах этих бдительных умов, как и в моем, была загадка: как много они поняли о нас. Did they grasp that we in our millions were organized, disciplined, working together? Eles perceberam que nós, em nossos milhões, éramos organizados, disciplinados, trabalhando juntos? 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? Ou interpretaram nossos jatos de fogo, a picada repentina de nossas conchas, nosso investimento constante em seu acampamento, como deveríamos interpretar a furiosa unanimidade de um ataque violento a uma colmeia de abelhas perturbada? Или они интерпретировали наши взрывы огня, внезапные укусы наших снарядов, наше постоянное обложение их лагеря, как мы должны были бы интерпретировать яростное единодушие нападения в потревоженном пчелином улье? Did they dream they might exterminate us? Eles sonharam que poderiam nos exterminar? (At that time no one knew what food they needed.) (Naquela época, ninguém sabia de que comida eles precisavam.) A hundred such questions struggled together in my mind as I watched that vast sentinel shape. Cem dessas perguntas lutavam juntas em minha mente enquanto eu observava aquela vasta forma de sentinela. And in the back of my mind was the sense of all the huge unknown and hidden forces Londonward. E no fundo da minha mente estava a sensação de todas as enormes forças desconhecidas e ocultas de Londonward. И в глубине моего разума было ощущение всех огромных неизвестных и скрытых сил, направленных в сторону Лондона. Had they prepared pitfalls? Eles prepararam armadilhas? Were the powder mills at Hounslow ready as a snare? Os moinhos de pólvora em Hounslow estavam prontos como uma armadilha? Были ли пороховые мельницы в Хаунслоу готовы к ловушке? Would the Londoners have the heart and courage to make a greater Moscow of their mighty province of houses? Teriam os londrinos o coração e a coragem de transformar sua poderosa província de casas em Moscou maior? Хватит ли у лондонцев мужества и мужества, чтобы превратить свою могучую провинцию в великую Москву?

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. Então, depois de um tempo interminável, ao que nos pareceu, agachados e espiando através da sebe, veio um som como o choque distante de uma arma. Another nearer, and then another. Outro mais próximo e depois outro. And then the Martian beside us raised his tube on high and discharged it, gunwise, with a heavy report that made the ground heave. E então o marciano ao nosso lado ergueu seu tubo bem alto e disparou, na direção de uma arma, com um estardalhaço pesado que fez o solo se erguer. А затем марсианин рядом с нами высоко поднял свою трубку и разрядил ее, стреляя по ружью, с таким громким звуком, что земля вздрогнула. The one towards Staines answered him. Aquele que estava voltado para Staines respondeu-lhe. Тот, что к Стейнсу, ответил ему. There was no flash, no smoke, simply that loaded detonation. Não houve nenhum flash, nenhuma fumaça, simplesmente aquela detonação carregada.

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. Fiquei tão excitado com essas armas pesadas de minuto que se sucederam que esqueci minha segurança pessoal e minhas mãos escaldadas a ponto de escalar a cerca viva e olhar na direção de Sunbury. As I did so a second report followed, and a big projectile hurtled overhead towards Hounslow. Ao fazer isso, um segundo relatório se seguiu e um grande projétil foi lançado acima de 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.

“What has happened?” said the curate, standing up beside me.

“Heaven knows!” said I. "O céu sabe!" disse eu

A bat flickered by and vanished. Летучая мышь промелькнула и исчезла. A distant tumult of shouting began and ceased. Далекий шум криков начался и прекратился. I looked again at the Martian, and saw he was now moving eastward along the riverbank, with a swift, rolling motion, Я снова взглянул на марсианина и увидел, что теперь он движется на восток вдоль берега реки быстрым, перекатывающим движением.

Every moment I expected the fire of some hidden battery to spring upon him; but the evening calm was unbroken. A cada momento eu esperava que o fogo de alguma bateria oculta saltasse sobre ele; mas a calma da noite não foi interrompida. The figure of the Martian grew smaller as he receded, and presently the mist and the gathering night had swallowed him up. A figura do marciano ficou menor à medida que ele recuou, e logo a névoa e a noite que se aproximava o engoliram. Фигура марсианина становилась все меньше по мере того, как он удалялся, и вскоре туман и сгущающаяся ночь поглотили его. By a common impulse we clambered higher. Por um impulso comum, subimos mais alto. 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. Em direção a Sunbury, havia uma aparência sombria, como se uma colina cônica tivesse surgido repentinamente ali, ocultando nossa visão da região distante; e então, do outro lado do rio, sobre Walton, vimos outro cume assim. Со стороны Санбери виднелся какой-то мрак, как будто там вдруг возник конический холм, закрывший нам вид на дальнюю местность; а затем, дальше, за рекой, над Уолтоном, мы увидели еще одну такую же вершину. These hill-like forms grew lower and broader even as we stared. Essas formas semelhantes a colinas tornaram-se mais baixas e mais largas, mesmo enquanto olhávamos.

Moved by a sudden thought, I looked northward, and there I perceived a third of these cloudy black kopjes had risen. Movido por um pensamento repentino, olhei para o norte e lá percebi que um terço desses kopjes negros e nublados havia surgido.

Everything had suddenly become very still. De repente, tudo ficou muito quieto. 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. Bem longe, a sudeste, marcando o silêncio, ouvimos os marcianos gritando uns para os outros, e então o ar estremeceu novamente com o baque distante de suas armas. But the earthly artillery made no reply. Mas a artilharia terrestre não respondeu.

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. Naquela época, não podíamos entender essas coisas, mas mais tarde eu deveria aprender o significado desses kopjes sinistros que se juntaram no crepúsculo. 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. Cada um dos marcianos, de pé na grande meia-lua que descrevi, havia descarregado, por meio do tubo semelhante a uma arma que carregava, uma enorme vasilha sobre qualquer colina, bosque, aglomerado de casas ou outra cobertura possível para armas que por acaso estivesse em Frente a ele. Каждый из марсиан, стоявший в описанном мною большом полумесяце, разрядил с помощью ружьеподобной трубы, которую он носил, огромную канистру над любым холмом, рощей, скоплением домов или другим возможным укрытием для орудий, которые случайно оказались в нем. перед ним. 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. Alguns dispararam apenas um destes, outros dois - como no caso do que tínhamos visto; o de Ripley teria dispensado nada menos que cinco naquela época. Кто-то стрелял только по одному, кто-то по два, как в случае с тем, что мы видели; говорят, что тот, что в Рипли, выписал в то время не менее пяти человек. 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. Essas latas se espatifaram ao atingir o solo - não explodiram - e soltaram incontinentemente um enorme volume de vapor pesado e escuro, enrolando-se e derramando-se em uma enorme nuvem cúmulus de ébano, uma colina gasosa que afundou e se espalhou lentamente sobre a região circundante . Эти канистры разбивались при ударе о землю — они не взорвались — и мгновенно высвобождали огромный объем тяжелого чернильного пара, который скручивался и изливался вверх огромным черным кучевым облаком, газообразным холмом, который опускался и медленно расползался по окрестностям. . And the touch of that vapour, the inhaling of its pungent wisps, was death to all that breathes. E o toque daquele vapor, a inalação de seus fiapos pungentes, foi a morte para tudo que respira. И прикосновение этого пара, вдыхание его едких струек было смертью для всего, что дышит.

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. Era pesado, esse vapor, mais pesado do que a fumaça mais densa, de modo que, após a primeira erupção tumultuada e vazamento de seu impacto, afundou no ar e se derramou sobre o solo de uma forma mais líquida do que gasosa, abandonando as colinas, e fluir para os vales, valas e cursos de água, mesmo que eu tenha ouvido falar que o gás carbônico que jorra das fendas vulcânicas costuma acontecer. Он был тяжел, этот пар, тяжелее самого густого дыма, так что после первого бурного взмаха и истечения его удара он опустился вниз по воздуху и полился на землю скорее жидким, чем газообразным образом, оставив холмы, и течет в долины, канавы и водотоки, как, я слышал, обычно поступает углекислый газ, выходящий из вулканических расселин. And where it came upon water some chemical action occurred, and the surface would be instantly covered with a powdery scum that sank slowly and made way for more. E onde se deparou com a água, alguma ação química ocorreu, e a superfície seria imediatamente coberta por uma espuma pulverulenta que afundou lentamente e abriu caminho para mais. 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. A espuma era absolutamente insolúvel, e é estranho, vendo o efeito instantâneo do gás, que se pudesse beber sem machucar a água da qual havia sido coada. Накипь была абсолютно нерастворима, и странно, учитывая мгновенное действие газа, что можно без вреда пить воду, из которой ее процедили. The vapour did not diffuse as a true gas would do. O vapor não se difundiu como um verdadeiro gás faria. 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. Pendurou-se junto nas margens, fluindo lentamente pela encosta da terra e dirigindo-se relutantemente ao vento, e muito lentamente se combinou com a névoa e a umidade do ar, e afundou na terra na forma de poeira. 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. За исключением того, что речь идет о неизвестном элементе, дающем группу из четырех линий в синей части спектра, мы до сих пор совершенно не знаем природу этого вещества.

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. Человек, сбежавший на прежнем месте, рассказывает удивительную историю о странности его извивающегося потока и о том, как он посмотрел вниз с церковного шпиля и увидел, как деревенские дома поднимаются, как призраки, из своего чернильного небытия.