The War of the Worlds

Cited transcript

But the Martian machine took no more notice for the moment of the people running this way and that than a man would of the confusion of ants in a nest against which his foot has kicked. When, half suffocated, I raised my head above water, the Martian's hood pointed at the batteries that were still firing across the river, and as it advanced it swung loose what must have been the generator of the heat ray. In another moment it was on the bank, and in a stride wading halfway across.

Cited transcript

But that crowd of people had a far narrower escape than mine. Only the fact that a hummock of heathery sand intercepted the lower part of the heat ray saved them. Had the elevation of the parabolic mirror been a few yards higher, none could have lived to tell the tale. They saw the flashes and the men falling, and an invisible hand, as it were, lit the bushes as it hurried towards them through the twilight.

Cited transcript

There were lights in all the houses on the common side of the three villages, and the people there kept awake till dawn. 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.

Cited transcript

He heard the maxims rattle for a time and then become still. The giant saved Woking station and its cluster of houses until the last. Then in a moment the heat ray was brought to bear, and the town became a heap of fiery ruins. Then the thing shut off the heat ray, and turning its back upon the artilleryman,

Cited transcript

Then, with a whistling note that rose above the droning of the pit, the beam swung close over their heads, lighting the tops of the beech trees that lined the road, and splitting the bricks, smashing the windows, firing the window frames, and bringing down in crumbling ruin a portion of the gable of the house nearest the corner. In the sudden thud, hiss, and glare of the igniting trees, the panic-stricken crowd seems to have swayed hesitatingly for some moments.

Cited transcript

It was as if some invisible jet impinged upon them and flashed into white flame. It was as if each man were suddenly and momentarily turned to fire. Then, by the light of their own destruction, I saw them staggering and falling, and their supporters turning to run. I stood staring, not as yet realizing that this was death leaping from man to man in that little distant crowd.

Cited transcript

I turned with the rush of the people, but I was not too terrified for thought. The terrible heat ray was in my mind. To get underwater, that was it. "Get underwater!" I shouted, unheeded. I faced about again and rushed towards the approaching Martian, rushed right down the gravelly beach and headlong into the water. Others did the same. A boatload of people putting back came leaping out as I rushed past.