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161
The
most
extraordinary
thing
to
my
mind
,
of
all
the
strange
and
wonderful
things
that
happened
upon
that
Friday
,
was
the
dovetailing
of
the
commonplace
habits
of
our
social
order
with
the
first
beginnings
of
the
series
of
events
that
was
to
topple
that
social
order
headlong
.
If
on
Friday
night
you
had
taken
a
pair
of
compasses
and
drawn
a
circle
with
a
radius
of
five
miles
round
the
Woking
sand
pits
,
I
doubt
if
you
would
have
had
one
human
being
outside
it
,
unless
it
were
some
relation
of
Stent
or
of
the
three
or
four
cyclists
or
London
people
lying
dead
on
the
common
,
whose
emotions
or
habits
were
at
all
affected
by
the
new-comers
.
Many
people
had
heard
of
the
cylinder
,
of
course
,
and
talked
about
it
in
their
leisure
,
but
it
certainly
did
not
make
the
sensation
that
an
ultimatum
to
Germany
would
have
done
.
162
In
London
that
night
poor
Henderson
's
telegram
describing
the
gradual
unscrewing
of
the
shot
was
judged
to
be
a
canard
,
and
his
evening
paper
,
after
wiring
for
authentication
from
him
and
receiving
no
reply
--
the
man
was
killed
--
decided
not
to
print
a
special
edition
.
163
Even
within
the
five-mile
circle
the
great
majority
of
people
were
inert
.
I
have
already
described
the
behaviour
of
the
men
and
women
to
whom
I
spoke
.
All
over
the
district
people
were
dining
and
supping
;
working
men
were
gardening
after
the
labours
of
the
day
,
children
were
being
put
to
bed
,
young
people
were
wandering
through
the
lanes
love-making
,
students
sat
over
their
books
.
Отключить рекламу
164
Maybe
there
was
a
murmur
in
the
village
streets
,
a
novel
and
dominant
topic
in
the
public-houses
,
and
here
and
there
a
messenger
,
or
even
an
eye-witness
of
the
later
occurrences
,
caused
a
whirl
of
excitement
,
a
shouting
,
and
a
running
to
and
fro
;
165
but
for
the
most
part
the
daily
routine
of
working
,
eating
,
drinking
,
sleeping
,
went
on
as
it
had
done
for
countless
years
--
as
though
no
planet
Mars
existed
in
the
sky
.
Even
at
Woking
station
and
Horsell
and
Chobham
that
was
the
case
.
166
In
Woking
junction
,
until
a
late
hour
,
trains
were
stopping
and
going
on
,
others
were
shunting
on
the
sidings
,
passengers
were
alighting
and
waiting
,
and
everything
was
proceeding
in
the
most
ordinary
way
.
A
boy
from
the
town
,
trenching
on
Smith
's
monopoly
,
was
selling
papers
with
the
afternoon
's
news
.
The
ringing
impact
of
trucks
,
the
sharp
whistle
of
the
engines
from
the
junction
,
mingled
with
their
shouts
of
"
Men
from
Mars
!
"
Excited
men
came
into
the
station
about
nine
o'clock
with
incredible
tidings
,
and
caused
no
more
disturbance
than
drunkards
might
have
done
.
People
rattling
Londonwards
peered
into
the
darkness
outside
the
carriage
windows
,
and
saw
only
a
rare
,
flickering
,
vanishing
spark
dance
up
from
the
direction
of
Horsell
,
a
red
glow
and
a
thin
veil
of
smoke
driving
across
the
stars
,
and
thought
that
nothing
more
serious
than
a
heath
fire
was
happening
.
It
was
only
round
the
edge
of
the
common
that
any
disturbance
was
perceptible
.
There
were
half
a
dozen
villas
burning
on
the
Woking
border
.
There
were
lights
in
all
the
houses
on
the
common
side
of
the
three
villages
,
and
the
people
there
kept
awake
till
dawn
.
167
A
curious
crowd
lingered
restlessly
,
people
coming
and
going
but
the
crowd
remaining
,
both
on
the
Chobham
and
Horsell
bridges
.
One
or
two
adventurous
souls
,
it
was
afterwards
found
,
went
into
the
darkness
and
crawled
quite
near
the
Martians
;
but
they
never
returned
,
for
now
and
again
a
light-ray
,
like
the
beam
of
a
warship
's
searchlight
swept
the
common
,
and
the
Heat-Ray
was
ready
to
follow
.
Отключить рекламу
168
Save
for
such
,
that
big
area
of
common
was
silent
and
desolate
,
and
the
charred
bodies
lay
about
on
it
all
night
under
the
stars
,
and
all
the
next
day
.
A
noise
of
hammering
from
the
pit
was
heard
by
many
people
.
169
So
you
have
the
state
of
things
on
Friday
night
.
In
the
centre
,
sticking
into
the
skin
of
our
old
planet
Earth
like
a
poisoned
dart
,
was
this
cylinder
.
But
the
poison
was
scarcely
working
yet
.
Around
it
was
a
patch
of
silent
common
,
smouldering
in
places
,
and
with
a
few
dark
,
dimly
seen
objects
lying
in
contorted
attitudes
here
and
there
.
Here
and
there
was
a
burning
bush
or
tree
.
Beyond
was
a
fringe
of
excitement
,
and
farther
than
that
fringe
the
inflammation
had
not
crept
as
yet
.
In
the
rest
of
the
world
the
stream
of
life
still
flowed
as
it
had
flowed
for
immemorial
years
.
The
fever
of
war
that
would
presently
clog
vein
and
artery
,
deaden
nerve
and
destroy
brain
,
had
still
to
develop
.
170
All
night
long
the
Martians
were
hammering
and
stirring
,
sleepless
,
indefatigable
,
at
work
upon
the
machines
they
were
making
ready
,
and
ever
and
again
a
puff
of
greenish-white
smoke
whirled
up
to
the
starlit
sky
.