Next morning, a crowd gathered on the Common
Hypnotized by the unscrewing of the cylinder
Two feet of shining screw projected
When suddenly, the lid fell off
Two luminous disc-like eyes appeared above the rim
A huge, rounded bulk, larger than a bear rose up
Slowly, glistening like wet leather
Its lipless mouth quivered and slathered
And snake-like tentacles writhed
As the clumsing body heaved and pulsated
A few young men crept closer to the pit
A tall funnel rose
Then an invisible ray of heat leapt from man to man
And there was a bright glare
As each was instantly turned to fire
Every tree and bush became a mass of flames
At the touch of this savage, unearthly heat ray
People clawed their way off the Common
And I ran too
I felt I was being toyed with
That when I was on the very verge of safety
This mysterious death would leap after me and strike me down
At last I reached Maybury Hill
And I looked in astonishment at the tranquility of the scene
Yet once inside the dim coolness of my home
I wrote an account for my newspaper
Before I sank into a restless, haunted sleep
I woke to alien sounds of hammering from the pit
And hurried to the railway station to buy the paper
(Morning paper, men from Mars! Men from Mars)
Newsboys explained that one or two adventurous souls
Had crawled near the Martians of the night
Never to be seen again. Yet around me, the daily routine of life
Working, eating, sleeping
Was continuing serenely as it had for countless years
On Horsell Common, the Martians continued hammering and stirring
Sleepless, indefatigable
At work upon the machines they were making
Now and again, a light, like the beam of a warship's searchlight
Swept the Common - and the Heat Ray was ready to follow
In the afternoon, a company of soldiers came through
And deployed along the edge of the Common
To form a cordon.
That evening, there was a violent crash
And I realized with horror
That my home was now within range of the Martian's Heat Ray.
At dawn, a falling star with a trail of green mist
Landed with a flash, like summer lightning
This was the second cylinder