The First Men in the Moon by H.G. Wells
Section [1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29]
. its work was_done, and it_was brittle and ready to_fall and crumple under the freezing air, so soon as_the nightfall came . and_the huge cacti, that had swollen as_we watched them, had long since burst and scattered their spores to_the four quarters of_the moon .Amazing little corner in_the universe - the landing place of men !

some day, thought I, i_will_have an inscription standing there right in_the midst of_the hollow . it came to_me, if only this teeming world within knew of_the full import of_the moment, how furious its tumult would become !

but as_yet it could scarcely be dreaming of_the significance of_our coming . for if_it did, the crater would surely be an uproar of pursuit, instead of as still as death ! I looked about for some place from_which I_might signal Cavor, and saw that same patch of rock to_which he had leapt from my present standpoint, still bare and barren in_the sun . for a moment I hesitated at going so_far from_the sphere . then with a pang of shame at_that hesitation, I leapt .. ..

from_this vantage point I surveyed the crater again . far away at_the top of_the enormous shadow I cast was_the little white handkerchief fluttering on_the bushes . it_was very little and very far, and Cavor was not in sight . it seemed to_me that by_this_time he ought_to_be looking for_me . that was_the agreement . but he_was nowhere to_be seen .

I stood waiting and watching, hands shading my eyes, expecting every moment to distinguish him . very probably I stood there for quite a long_time .I tried to shout, and was reminded of_the thinness of_the air . I_made an undecided step back towards the sphere . but alurking dread of_the Selenites made me hesitate to signal my whereabouts by hoisting one_of_our sleeping-blankets on to_the adjacent scrub .I searched the crater again .

it had an effect of emptiness that chilled me . and it_was still; any sound from_the Selenites in_the_world beneath, even had died away . it_was as still as death . save for_the faint stir of_the shrub about me in_the little breeze that was rising, there_was no sound nor shadow of a sound . and_the breeze blew chill .

confound Cavor !

i_took a deep breath .I put my hands to_the sides of_my mouth ."Cavor ! " I bawled, and_the sound was like some manikin shouting far away .

I looked at_the handkerchief, I looked behind me at_the broadening shadow of_the westward cliff I looked under my hand at_the sun . it seemed to_me that almost visibly it_was creeping down the sky . I_felt I_must act instantly if i_was to save Cavor .I whipped off my vest and flung it as a mark on_the sere bayonets of_the shrubs behind me, and then set off in a straight line towards the handkerchief . perhaps it_was a couple of miles away - a matter of a few hundred leaps and strides . I_have already told how one seemed to hang through those lunar leaps . in each suspense I sought Cavor, and marvelled why he_should_be hidden . in each leap I_could feel the sun setting behind me . each_time I touched the ground i_was tempted to_go back .

a last leap and i_was in_the depression below our handkerchief, a stride, and I stood on_our former vantage point within arms' reach of it .I stood up straight and scanned the world about me, between its lengthening bars of shadow . far away, down a long declivity, was_the opening of_the tunnel up which we had fled, and my shadow reached towards it, stretched towards it, and touched it, like a finger of_the night .

not a sign of Cavor, not a sound in all the stillness, only the stir and waving of_the scrub and of_the shadows increased . and suddenly and violently I shivered ."Cav-" I began, and realised once more the uselessness of_the human voice in_that thin air . silence . the silence of death .

then it_was my eye caught something - a little thing lying, perhaps fifty yards away down the slope, amidst a litter of bent and broken branches . what_was it ? I_knew, and yet for some reason i_would_not know .I went nearer to_it . it was_the little cricket-cap Cavor had worn . I_did_not touch it, I stood looking at it .

I_saw then that_the scattered branches about_it had_been forcibly smashed and trampled .I hesitated, stepped forward, and picked it up .

I stood with Cavor's cap in my hand, staring at_the trampled reeds and thorns about me . on some, of_them were little smears of something dark, something that I dared not touch .a dozen yards away, perhaps, the rising breeze dragged something into view, something small and vividly white .

it_was a little piece of paper crumpled tightly, as_though it had_been clutched tightly .I picked it up, and on_it were smears of red . my eye caught faint pencil marks .I smoothed it out, and saw uneven and broken writing ending at last in a crooked streak up on_the paper .

I set myself to decipher this .

" I_have_been injured about_the knee, i_think my kneecap is hurt, and I_cannot run or crawl," it began - pretty distinctly written .

then less legibly: " they_have been chasing me for some_time, and it_is only a question of" - the word " time" seemed to_have_been written here and erased in favour of something illegible - " before_they get me . they_are beating all about me ."

then the writing became convulsive ." I_can hear them," I guessed the tracing meant, and then it_was quite unreadable for a space . then came a little string of words that were quite distinct: "a different sort of selenite altogether, who appears to_be directing the" the writing became amere hasty confusion again .

" they_have larger brain cases - much larger, and slenderer bodies, and very short legs . they make gentle noises, and move with organized deliberation .. .

" and though I_am wounded and helpless here, their appearance still gives me hope " that was like Cavor ." they_have not shot at me or attempted .. . injury .I intend -"

then came the sudden streak of_the pencil across the paper, and on_the back and edges - blood !

and as I stood there stupid, and perplexed, with_this dumbfounding relic in my hand, something very soft and light and chill touched my hand for a moment and ceased to_be, and then a thing, a little white speck, drifted athwart a shadow . it_was a tiny snowflake, the first snowflake, the herald of_the night .

I looked up with a start, and_the sky had darkened almost to blackness, and was thick with agathering multitude of coldly watchful stars .I looked eastward, and_the light of_that shrivelled world was touched with sombre bronze; westward, and_the sun robbed now by athickening white mist of half its heat and splendour, was touching the crater rim, was sinking out of sight, and all the shrubs and jagged and tumbled rocks stood out against it in abristling disorder of black shapes . into_the great lake of darkness westward, a vast wreath of mist was sinking .a cold wind set all the crater shivering . suddenly, for a moment, i_was in a puff of falling snow, and all the world about me gray and dim .

and then it_was I heard, not loud and penetrating as at first, but faint and dim like adying voice, that tolling, that same tolling that had welcomed the coming of_the day: boom ! .. . boom ! .. . boom ! .. .

it echoed about_the crater, it seemed to throb with_the throbbing of_the greater stars, the blood- red crescent of_the sun's disc sank as it tolled out: boom ! .. . boom ! .. . boom ! .. .

what had happened to Cavor ? all through_that tolling I stood there stupidly, and at last the tolling ceased .

and suddenly the open mouth of_the tunnel down below there, shut like an eye and vanished out of sight .

then indeed was I alone .

over me, around me, closing in on me, embracing me ever nearer, was_the eternal; that which_was before_the beginning, and_that which triumphs over the end; that enormous void in_which all light and life and being is but the thin and vanishing splendour of afalling star, the cold, the stillness, the silence - the infinite and final night of space .

the sense of solitude and desolation became the sense of an overwhelming presence that stooped towards me, that almost touched me .

" no," I cried ." no ! not yet ! not yet ! wait ! wait ! Oh, wait ! " my voice went up_to a shriek .I flung the crumpled paper from me, scrambled back to_the crest to_take my bearings, and then, with all the will that was in me, leapt out towards the mark I had left, dim and distant now in_the very margin of_the shadow .

leap, leap, leap, and each leap was seven ages .

before me the pale serpent- girdled section of_the sun sank and sank, and_the advancing shadow swept to seize the sphere before I_could reach it . i_was two miles away, a hundred leaps or more, and_the air about me was thinning out as it thins under an air- pump, and_the cold was gripping at my joints . but had I died, i_should_have died leaping . once, and then again my foot slipped on_the gathering snow as I leapt and shortened my leap; once I fell short into bushes that crashed and smashed into dusty chips and nothingness, and once I stumbled as I dropped and rolled head over heels into a gully, and rose bruised and bleeding and confused as_to my direction .

but such incidents were as nothing to_the intervals, those awful pauses when one drifted through_the air towards that pouring tide of night . my breathing made apiping noise, and it_was as_though knives were whirling in my lungs . my heart seemed to beat against the top of_my brain ." shall I reach it ? O heaven ! shall I reach it ? "

my whole being became anguish .

" lie down ! " screamed my pain and despair; " lie down ! "

the near I struggled, the more awfully remote it seemed . i_was numb, I stumbled, I bruised and cut myself and did_not bleed .

it_was in sight .

I fell on all fours, and my lungs whooped .

I crawled . the frost gathered on my lips, icicles hung from my moustache, i_was white with_the freezing atmosphere .

i_was a dozen yards from_it . my eyes had become dim ." lie down ! " screamed despair; " lie down ! "

I touched it, and halted ." too late ! " screamed despair; " lie down ! "

I fought stiffly with it . i_was on_the manhole lip, a stupefied, half- dead being . the snow was all about me .I pulled myself in . there lurked within a little warmer air .

the snowflakes - the airflakes - danced in about me, as I tried with chilling hands to thrust the valve in and spun it tight and hard .I sobbed ." i_will," I chattered in my teeth . and then, with fingers that quivered and felt brittle, I turned to_the shutter studs .

as I fumbled with_the switches - for I had never controlled them before - I could_see dimly through_the steaming glass the blazing red streamers of_the sinking sun, dancing and flickering through_the snowstorm, and_the black forms of_the scrub thickening and bending and breaking beneath the accumulating snow . thicker whirled the snow and thicker, black against the light . what if even now the switches overcame me ? then something clicked under my hands, and in an instant that last vision of_the moon world was hidden from my eyes . i_was in_the silence and darkness the inter- planetary sphere .

chapter 20

Mr Bedford in infinite space

it_was almost as_though I had_been killed . indeed, I_could imagine a man suddenly and violently killed would feel very_much as I_did . one moment, a passion of agonising existence and fear; the next darkness and stillness, neither light nor life nor sun, moon nor stars, the blank infinite . although the thing was_done by my own act, although I had already tasted this very of effect in Cavor's company, I_felt astonished, dumbfounded, and overwhelmed .I seemed to_be borne upward into an enormous darkness . my fingers floated off the studs, I hung as_if I were annihilated, and at last very softly and gently I_came against the bale and_the golden chain, and_the crowbars that had drifted to_the middle of_the sphere .

I_do_not know how long that drifting took . in_the sphere of_course, even more than on_the moon, one's earthly time sense was ineffectual . at_the touch of_the bale it_was as_if I had awakened from a dreamless sleep .I immediately perceived that if i_wanted to_keep awake and alive I_must get a light or open a window, so as to_get a grip of something with my eyes . and besides, i_was cold .I kicked off from_the bale, therefore, clawed on to_the thin cords within_the glass, crawled along until I got to_the manhole rim, and so got my bearings for_the light and blind studs, took a shove off, and flying once round the bale, and getting a scare from something big and flimsy that was drifting loose, I got my hand on_the cord quite close to_the studs, and reached them .I lit the little lamp first of all to_see what it_was I had collided with, and discovered that old copy of Lloyd's News had slipped its moorings, and was adrift in_the void . that brought me out_of_the infinite to my own proper dimensions again . it made me laugh and pant for a time, and suggested the idea of a little oxygen from one_of_the cylinders . after_that I lit the heater until I_felt warm, and then i_took food .

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