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621
On
Wednesday
the
three
fugitives
--
they
had
passed
the
night
in
a
field
of
unripe
wheat
--
reached
Chelmsford
,
and
there
a
body
of
the
inhabitants
,
calling
itself
the
Committee
of
Public
Supply
,
seized
the
pony
as
provisions
,
and
would
give
nothing
in
exchange
for
it
but
the
promise
of
a
share
in
it
the
next
day
.
Here
there
were
rumours
of
Martians
at
Epping
,
and
news
of
the
destruction
of
Waltham
Abbey
Powder
Mills
in
a
vain
attempt
to
blow
up
one
of
the
invaders
.
622
People
were
watching
for
Martians
here
from
the
church
towers
.
My
brother
,
very
luckily
for
him
as
it
chanced
,
preferred
to
push
on
at
once
to
the
coast
rather
than
wait
for
food
,
although
all
three
of
them
were
very
hungry
.
By
midday
they
passed
through
Tillingham
,
which
,
strangely
enough
,
seemed
to
be
quite
silent
and
deserted
,
save
for
a
few
furtive
plunderers
hunting
for
food
.
Near
Tillingham
they
suddenly
came
in
sight
of
the
sea
,
and
the
most
amazing
crowd
of
shipping
of
all
sorts
that
it
is
possible
to
imagine
.
623
For
after
the
sailors
could
no
longer
come
up
the
Thames
,
they
came
on
to
the
Essex
coast
,
to
Harwich
and
Walton
and
Clacton
,
and
afterwards
to
Foulness
and
Shoebury
,
to
bring
off
the
people
.
They
lay
in
a
huge
sickle-shaped
curve
that
vanished
into
mist
at
last
towards
the
Naze
.
Отключить рекламу
624
Close
inshore
was
a
multitude
of
fishing
smacks
--
English
,
Scotch
,
French
,
Dutch
,
and
Swedish
;
steam
launches
from
the
Thames
,
yachts
,
electric
boats
;
and
beyond
were
ships
of
large
burden
,
a
multitude
of
filthy
colliers
,
trim
merchantmen
,
cattle
ships
,
passenger
boats
,
petroleum
tanks
,
ocean
tramps
,
an
old
white
transport
even
,
neat
white
and
grey
liners
from
Southampton
and
Hamburg
;
and
along
the
blue
coast
across
the
Blackwater
my
brother
could
make
out
dimly
a
dense
swarm
of
boats
chaffering
with
the
people
on
the
beach
,
a
swarm
which
also
extended
up
the
Blackwater
almost
to
Maldon
.
625
About
a
couple
of
miles
out
lay
an
ironclad
,
very
low
in
the
water
,
almost
,
to
my
brother
's
perception
,
like
a
water-logged
ship
.
This
was
the
ram
Thunder
Child
.
It
was
the
only
warship
in
sight
,
but
far
away
to
the
right
over
the
smooth
surface
of
the
sea
--
for
that
day
there
was
a
dead
calm
--
lay
a
serpent
of
black
smoke
to
mark
the
next
ironclads
of
the
Channel
Fleet
,
which
hovered
in
an
extended
line
,
steam
up
and
ready
for
action
,
across
the
Thames
estuary
during
the
course
of
the
Martian
conquest
,
vigilant
and
yet
powerless
to
prevent
it
.
626
At
the
sight
of
the
sea
,
Mrs.
Elphinstone
,
in
spite
of
the
assurances
of
her
sister-in-law
,
gave
way
to
panic
.
She
had
never
been
out
of
England
before
,
she
would
rather
die
than
trust
herself
friendless
in
a
foreign
country
,
and
so
forth
.
She
seemed
,
poor
woman
,
to
imagine
that
the
French
and
the
Martians
might
prove
very
similar
.
She
had
been
growing
increasingly
hysterical
,
fearful
,
and
depressed
during
the
two
days
'
journeyings
.
Her
great
idea
was
to
return
to
Stanmore
.
Things
had
been
always
well
and
safe
at
Stanmore
.
They
would
find
George
at
Stanmore
.
627
It
was
with
the
greatest
difficulty
they
could
get
her
down
to
the
beach
,
where
presently
my
brother
succeeded
in
attracting
the
attention
of
some
men
on
a
paddle
steamer
from
the
Thames
.
They
sent
a
boat
and
drove
a
bargain
for
thirty-six
pounds
for
the
three
.
The
steamer
was
going
,
these
men
said
,
to
Ostend
.
Отключить рекламу
628
It
was
about
two
o'clock
when
my
brother
,
having
paid
their
fares
at
the
gangway
,
found
himself
safely
aboard
the
steamboat
with
his
charges
.
There
was
food
aboard
,
albeit
at
exorbitant
prices
,
and
the
three
of
them
contrived
to
eat
a
meal
on
one
of
the
seats
forward
.
629
There
were
already
a
couple
of
score
of
passengers
aboard
,
some
of
whom
had
expended
their
last
money
in
securing
a
passage
,
but
the
captain
lay
off
the
Blackwater
until
five
in
the
afternoon
,
picking
up
passengers
until
the
seated
decks
were
even
dangerously
crowded
.
He
would
probably
have
remained
longer
had
it
not
been
for
the
sound
of
guns
that
began
about
that
hour
in
the
south
.
As
if
in
answer
,
the
ironclad
seaward
fired
a
small
gun
and
hoisted
a
string
of
flags
.
A
jet
of
smoke
sprang
out
of
her
funnels
.
630
Some
of
the
passengers
were
of
opinion
that
this
firing
came
from
Shoeburyness
,
until
it
was
noticed
that
it
was
growing
louder
.
At
the
same
time
,
far
away
in
the
southeast
the
masts
and
upperworks
of
three
ironclads
rose
one
after
the
other
out
of
the
sea
,
beneath
clouds
of
black
smoke
.
But
my
brother
's
attention
speedily
reverted
to
the
distant
firing
in
the
south
.
He
fancied
he
saw
a
column
of
smoke
rising
out
of
the
distant
grey
haze
.