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The War of the Worlds, The War of the Worlds: Chapter 12 (2)

The War of the Worlds: Chapter 12 (2)

“What's that?” cried a boatman, and “Shut up, you fool!” said a man near me to a yelping dog. Then the sound came again, this time from the direction of Chertsey, a muffled thud—the sound of a gun.

The fighting was beginning. Almost immediately unseen batteries across the river to our right, unseen because of the trees, took up the chorus, firing heavily one after the other. A woman screamed. Everyone stood arrested by the sudden stir of battle, near us and yet invisible to us. Nothing was to be seen save flat meadows, cows feeding unconcernedly for the most part, and silvery pollard willows motionless in the warm sunlight.

“The sojers'll stop 'em,” said a woman beside me, doubtfully. A haziness rose over the treetops.

Then suddenly we saw a rush of smoke far away up the river, a puff of smoke that jerked up into the air and hung; and forthwith the ground heaved under foot and a heavy explosion shook the air, smashing two or three windows in the houses near, and leaving us astonished.

“Here they are!” shouted a man in a blue jersey. “Yonder! D'yer see them? Yonder!”

Quickly, one after the other, one, two, three, four of the armoured Martians appeared, far away over the little trees, across the flat meadows that stretched towards Chertsey, and striding hurriedly towards the river. Little cowled figures they seemed at first, going with a rolling motion and as fast as flying birds.

Then, advancing obliquely towards us, came a fifth. Their armoured bodies glittered in the sun as they swept swiftly forward upon the guns, growing rapidly larger as they drew nearer. One on the extreme left, the remotest that is, flourished a huge case high in the air, and the ghostly, terrible Heat-Ray I had already seen on Friday night smote towards Chertsey, and struck the town.

At sight of these strange, swift, and terrible creatures the crowd near the water's edge seemed to me to be for a moment horror-struck. There was no screaming or shouting, but a silence. Then a hoarse murmur and a movement of feet—a splashing from the water. A man, too frightened to drop the portmanteau he carried on his shoulder, swung round and sent me staggering with a blow from the corner of his burden. A woman thrust at me with her hand and rushed past me. 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 under water! That was it!

“Get under water!” 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. The stones under my feet were muddy and slippery, and the river was so low that I ran perhaps twenty feet scarcely waist-deep. Then, as the Martian towered overhead scarcely a couple of hundred yards away, I flung myself forward under the surface. The splashes of the people in the boats leaping into the river sounded like thunderclaps in my ears. People were landing hastily on both sides of the river.

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. The knees of its foremost legs bent at the farther bank, and in another moment it had raised itself to its full height again, close to the village of Shepperton. Forthwith the six guns which, unknown to anyone on the right bank, had been hidden behind the outskirts of that village, fired simultaneously. The sudden near concussion, the last close upon the first, made my heart jump. The monster was already raising the case generating the Heat-Ray as the first shell burst six yards above the hood.

I gave a cry of astonishment. I saw and thought nothing of the other four Martian monsters; my attention was riveted upon the nearer incident. Simultaneously two other shells burst in the air near the body as the hood twisted round in time to receive, but not in time to dodge, the fourth shell.

The shell burst clean in the face of the Thing. The hood bulged, flashed, was whirled off in a dozen tattered fragments of red flesh and glittering metal.

“Hit!” shouted I, with something between a scream and a cheer.

I heard answering shouts from the people in the water about me. I could have leaped out of the water with that momentary exultation.

The decapitated colossus reeled like a drunken giant; but it did not fall over. It recovered its balance by a miracle, and, no longer heeding its steps and with the camera that fired the Heat-Ray now rigidly upheld, it reeled swiftly upon Shepperton. The living intelligence, the Martian within the hood, was slain and splashed to the four winds of heaven, and the Thing was now but a mere intricate device of metal whirling to destruction. It drove along in a straight line, incapable of guidance. It struck the tower of Shepperton Church, smashing it down as the impact of a battering ram might have done, swerved aside, blundered on and collapsed with tremendous force into the river out of my sight.

A violent explosion shook the air, and a spout of water, steam, mud, and shattered metal shot far up into the sky. As the camera of the Heat-Ray hit the water, the latter had immediately flashed into steam. In another moment a huge wave, like a muddy tidal bore but almost scaldingly hot, came sweeping round the bend upstream. I saw people struggling shorewards, and heard their screaming and shouting faintly above the seething and roar of the Martian's collapse.

For a moment I heeded nothing of the heat, forgot the patent need of self-preservation. I splashed through the tumultuous water, pushing aside a man in black to do so, until I could see round the bend. Half a dozen deserted boats pitched aimlessly upon the confusion of the waves. The fallen Martian came into sight downstream, lying across the river, and for the most part submerged.

Thick clouds of steam were pouring off the wreckage, and through the tumultuously whirling wisps I could see, intermittently and vaguely, the gigantic limbs churning the water and flinging a splash and spray of mud and froth into the air. The tentacles swayed and struck like living arms, and, save for the helpless purposelessness of these movements, it was as if some wounded thing were struggling for its life amid the waves. Enormous quantities of a ruddy-brown fluid were spurting up in noisy jets out of the machine.

My attention was diverted from this death flurry by a furious yelling, like that of the thing called a siren in our manufacturing towns. A man, knee-deep near the towing path, shouted inaudibly to me and pointed. Looking back, I saw the other Martians advancing with gigantic strides down the riverbank from the direction of Chertsey. The Shepperton guns spoke this time unavailingly.

At that I ducked at once under water, and, holding my breath until movement was an agony, blundered painfully ahead under the surface as long as I could. The water was in a tumult about me, and rapidly growing hotter.

When for a moment I raised my head to take breath and throw the hair and water from my eyes, the steam was rising in a whirling white fog that at first hid the Martians altogether. The noise was deafening. Then I saw them dimly, colossal figures of grey, magnified by the mist. They had passed by me, and two were stooping over the frothing, tumultuous ruins of their comrade.

The third and fourth stood beside him in the water, one perhaps two hundred yards from me, the other towards Lale- ham. The generators of the Heat-Rays waved high, and the hissing beams smote down this way and that.

The air was full of sound, a deafening and confusing conflict of noises—the clangorous din of the Martians, the crash of falling houses, the thud of trees, fences, sheds flashing into flame, and the crackling and roaring of fire. Dense black smoke was leaping up to mingle with the steam from the river, and as the Heat-Ray went to and fro over Weybridge its impact was marked by flashes of incandescent white, that gave place at once to a smoky dance of lurid flames. The nearer houses still stood intact, awaiting their fate, shadowy, faint and pallid in the steam, with the fire behind them going to and fro.

For a moment perhaps I stood there, breast-high in the almost boiling water, dumbfounded at my position, hopeless of escape. Through the reek I could see the people who had been with me in the river scrambling out of the water through the reeds, like little frogs hurrying through grass from the advance of a man, or running to and fro in utter dismay on the towing path.

Then suddenly the white flashes of the Heat-Ray came leaping towards me. The houses caved in as they dissolved at its touch, and darted out flames; the trees changed to fire with a roar. The Ray flickered up and down the towing path, licking off the people who ran this way and that, and came down to the water's edge not fifty yards from where I stood. It swept across the river to Shepperton, and the water in its track rose in a boiling weal crested with steam. I turned shoreward.

In another moment the huge wave, well-nigh at the boiling-point had rushed upon me. I screamed aloud, and scalded, half blinded, agonised, I staggered through the leaping, hissing water towards the shore. Had my foot stumbled, it would have been the end. I fell helplessly, in full sight of the Martians, upon the broad, bare gravelly spit that runs down to mark the angle of the Wey and Thames. I expected nothing but death.

I have a dim memory of the foot of a Martian coming down within a score of yards of my head, driving straight into the loose gravel, whirling it this way and that and lifting again; of a long suspense, and then of the four carrying the debris of their comrade between them, now clear and then presently faint through a veil of smoke, receding interminably, as it seemed to me, across a vast space of river and meadow. And then, very slowly, I realised that by a miracle I had escaped.

The War of the Worlds: Chapter 12 (2) Der Krieg der Welten: Kapitel 12 (2) La guerra de los mundos: capítulo 12 (2) La guerre des mondes : chapitre 12 (2) La guerra dei mondi: capitolo 12 (2)

“What’s that?” cried a boatman, and “Shut up, you fool!” said a man near me to a yelping dog. "O que é isso?" gritou um barqueiro, e "Cale a boca, seu idiota!" disse um homem perto de mim para um cachorro latindo. Then the sound came again, this time from the direction of Chertsey, a muffled thud—the sound of a gun. Então o som veio novamente, desta vez da direção de Chertsey, um baque abafado - o som de uma arma.

The fighting was beginning. A luta estava começando. Almost immediately unseen batteries across the river to our right, unseen because of the trees, took up the chorus, firing heavily one after the other. Quase imediatamente baterias invisíveis do outro lado do rio à nossa direita, invisíveis por causa das árvores, começaram o refrão, disparando pesadamente uma após a outra. A woman screamed. Uma mulher gritou. Everyone stood arrested by the sudden stir of battle, near us and yet invisible to us. Todos ficaram presos pela agitação repentina da batalha, perto de nós e ainda invisíveis para nós. Nothing was to be seen save flat meadows, cows feeding unconcernedly for the most part, and silvery pollard willows motionless in the warm sunlight. Não se via nada, exceto prados planos, vacas alimentando-se despreocupadamente em sua maior parte e salgueiros prateados imóveis sob a luz quente do sol.

“The sojers’ll stop 'em,” said a woman beside me, doubtfully. “Os peregrinos vão pará-los”, disse uma mulher ao meu lado, em dúvida. A haziness rose over the treetops. Uma névoa se ergueu sobre as copas das árvores.

Then suddenly we saw a rush of smoke far away up the river, a puff of smoke that jerked up into the air and hung; and forthwith the ground heaved under foot and a heavy explosion shook the air, smashing two or three windows in the houses near, and leaving us astonished. Então, de repente, vimos uma nuvem de fumaça bem longe rio acima, uma nuvem de fumaça que se ergueu no ar e ficou suspensa; e imediatamente o solo se ergueu sob os pés e uma forte explosão sacudiu o ar, quebrando duas ou três janelas nas casas próximas e nos deixando atônitos.

“Here they are!” shouted a man in a blue jersey. "Aqui estão eles!" gritou um homem em uma camisa azul. “Yonder! D’yer see them? D'yer vê-los? Yonder!” Lá! ”

Quickly, one after the other, one, two, three, four of the armoured Martians appeared, far away over the little trees, across the flat meadows that stretched towards Chertsey, and striding hurriedly towards the river. Rapidamente, um após o outro, um, dois, três, quatro dos marcianos blindados apareceram, bem longe, sobre as pequenas árvores, através dos prados planos que se estendiam em direção a Chertsey, e caminhando apressadamente em direção ao rio. Little cowled figures they seemed at first, going with a rolling motion and as fast as flying birds. Elas pareciam pequenas figuras encapuzadas a princípio, indo com um movimento giratório e tão rápido quanto pássaros voando.

Then, advancing obliquely towards us, came a fifth. Então, avançando obliquamente em nossa direção, veio um quinto. Their armoured bodies glittered in the sun as they swept swiftly forward upon the guns, growing rapidly larger as they drew nearer. One on the extreme left, the remotest that is, flourished a huge case high in the air, and the ghostly, terrible Heat-Ray I had already seen on Friday night smote towards Chertsey, and struck the town.

At sight of these strange, swift, and terrible creatures the crowd near the water’s edge seemed to me to be for a moment horror-struck. Ao ver essas criaturas estranhas, rápidas e terríveis, a multidão perto da beira da água pareceu-me por um momento tomada de terror. There was no screaming or shouting, but a silence. Não houve gritos ou berros, mas um silêncio. Then a hoarse murmur and a movement of feet—a splashing from the water. Em seguida, um murmúrio rouco e um movimento de pés - um respingo da água. A man, too frightened to drop the portmanteau he carried on his shoulder, swung round and sent me staggering with a blow from the corner of his burden. Um homem, assustado demais para largar a valise que carregava no ombro, deu meia-volta e me lançou cambaleando com um golpe da ponta de sua carga. A woman thrust at me with her hand and rushed past me. Uma mulher me empurrou com a mão e passou correndo por mim. I turned with the rush of the people, but I was not too terrified for thought. Eu me virei com a pressa das pessoas, mas não estava muito apavorado para pensar. The terrible Heat-Ray was in my mind. O terrível Raio de Calor estava em minha mente. To get under water! Para entrar na água! That was it! Foi só isso!

“Get under water!” I shouted, unheeded. “Mergulhe na água!” Eu gritei, desatento.

I faced about again, and rushed towards the approaching Martian, rushed right down the gravelly beach and headlong into the water. Eu olhei em volta novamente e corri em direção ao marciano que se aproximava, corri direto para a praia de cascalho e mergulhei de cabeça na água. Others did the same. Outros fizeram o mesmo. A boatload of people putting back came leaping out as I rushed past. Um barco cheio de pessoas colocando de volta saltou enquanto eu passava correndo. The stones under my feet were muddy and slippery, and the river was so low that I ran perhaps twenty feet scarcely waist-deep. As pedras sob meus pés eram lamacentas e escorregadias, e o rio era tão baixo que corri talvez seis metros e mal cheguei à cintura. Then, as the Martian towered overhead scarcely a couple of hundred yards away, I flung myself forward under the surface. Então, quando o marciano se ergueu no alto, a apenas algumas centenas de metros de distância, eu me lancei para frente sob a superfície. The splashes of the people in the boats leaping into the river sounded like thunderclaps in my ears. Os salpicos das pessoas nos barcos saltando no rio soaram como trovões em meus ouvidos. People were landing hastily on both sides of the river. As pessoas estavam pousando às pressas em ambos os lados do rio.

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. Mas a máquina marciana não deu mais atenção ao momento das pessoas correndo para um lado e para o outro do que um homem faria com a confusão de formigas em um ninho contra o qual seu pé chutou. 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. Quando, meio sufocado, levantei minha cabeça acima da água, o capô do marciano apontou para as baterias que ainda estavam disparando através do rio e, à medida que avançava, soltou o que deve ter sido o gerador do raio de calor. Когда, наполовину задыхаясь, я поднял голову над водой, капюшон марсианина указал на батареи, которые все еще стреляли через реку, и по мере продвижения он высвободил то, что, должно быть, было генератором теплового луча.

In another moment it was on the bank, and in a stride wading halfway across. Em outro momento, ele estava na margem e, a passos largos, vadeava até a metade do caminho. Через мгновение он уже был на берегу и быстрым шагом пробирался вброд на полпути. The knees of its foremost legs bent at the farther bank, and in another moment it had raised itself to its full height again, close to the village of Shepperton. Os joelhos de suas patas dianteiras dobraram-se na outra margem e, em outro momento, ele se ergueu em toda a sua altura novamente, perto da aldeia de Shepperton. Колени его передних ног согнулись на дальнем берегу, и через мгновение он снова поднялся во весь рост, недалеко от деревни Шеппертон. Forthwith the six guns which, unknown to anyone on the right bank, had been hidden behind the outskirts of that village, fired simultaneously. Em seguida, os seis canhões que, sem ninguém saber na margem direita, estavam escondidos atrás dos arredores daquela aldeia, dispararam simultaneamente. Тотчас же шесть орудий, неизвестные никому на правом берегу, спрятавшиеся за окраиной этой деревни, дали одновременный выстрел. The sudden near concussion, the last close upon the first, made my heart jump. A repentina quase concussão, a última perto da primeira, fez meu coração pular. Внезапное сотрясение мозга, последнее близкое к первому, заставило мое сердце подпрыгнуть. The monster was already raising the case generating the Heat-Ray as the first shell burst six yards above the hood. O monstro já estava levantando a caixa, gerando o Raio de Calor quando o primeiro projétil explodiu seis metros acima do capô. Монстр уже поднимал гильзу, генерируя тепловые лучи, когда первый снаряд разорвался в шести ярдах над капотом.

I gave a cry of astonishment. Eu dei um grito de espanto. I saw and thought nothing of the other four Martian monsters; my attention was riveted upon the nearer incident. Não vi e não pensei nada sobre os outros quatro monstros marcianos; minha atenção estava voltada para o incidente mais próximo. Я видел и не думал о других четырех марсианских чудовищах; мое внимание было приковано к ближайшему происшествию. Simultaneously two other shells burst in the air near the body as the hood twisted round in time to receive, but not in time to dodge, the fourth shell. Simultaneamente, duas outras cápsulas explodiram no ar perto do corpo quando o capô girou a tempo de receber, mas não a tempo de se esquivar, da quarta cápsula. Одновременно два других снаряда разорвались в воздухе рядом с телом, когда капот развернулся, чтобы вовремя принять, но не успеть уклониться от четвертого снаряда.

The shell burst clean in the face of the Thing. A casca explodiu em face da Coisa. Снаряд разорвался прямо перед лицом Существа. The hood bulged, flashed, was whirled off in a dozen tattered fragments of red flesh and glittering metal. Капюшон вздулся, вспыхнул, разлетелся дюжиной рваных кусков красной плоти и блестящего металла.

“Hit!” shouted I, with something between a scream and a cheer. "Bater!" gritei eu, com algo entre um grito e uma ovação. "Хит!" — закричал я чем-то средним между криком и аплодисментами.

I heard answering shouts from the people in the water about me. Eu ouvi gritos de resposta das pessoas na água ao meu redor. I could have leaped out of the water with that momentary exultation. Eu poderia ter saltado para fora da água com aquela exultação momentânea. Я мог бы выпрыгнуть из воды с этим мгновенным ликованием.

The decapitated colossus reeled like a drunken giant; but it did not fall over. O colosso decapitado cambaleou como um gigante bêbado; mas não caiu. It recovered its balance by a miracle, and, no longer heeding its steps and with the camera that fired the Heat-Ray now rigidly upheld, it reeled swiftly upon Shepperton. Ele recuperou o equilíbrio por um milagre e, não dando mais atenção aos seus passos e com a câmera que disparava o Raio de Calor agora rigidamente erguida, cambaleou rapidamente sobre Shepperton. Он чудом восстановил равновесие и, больше не обращая внимания на свои шаги и с жестко закрепленной камерой, стреляющей тепловым лучом, быстро повернулся к Шеппертону. The living intelligence, the Martian within the hood, was slain and splashed to the four winds of heaven, and the Thing was now but a mere intricate device of metal whirling to destruction. A inteligência viva, o marciano dentro do capô, foi morto e espalhado pelos quatro ventos do céu, e a Coisa agora era apenas um mero dispositivo intrincado de metal girando para a destruição. Живой разум, марсианин в капюшоне, был убит и развеян по четырем небесным ветрам, а Существо превратилось в простое замысловатое устройство из металла, вращающееся к разрушению. It drove along in a straight line, incapable of guidance. Ele dirigia em linha reta, incapaz de orientação. Он ехал по прямой линии, не в состоянии управлять. It struck the tower of Shepperton Church, smashing it down as the impact of a battering ram might have done, swerved aside, blundered on and collapsed with tremendous force into the river out of my sight. Ele atingiu a torre da Igreja Shepperton, derrubando-a como o impacto de um aríete, desviou para o lado, tropeçou e desabou com uma força tremenda no rio, fora da minha vista. Он врезался в башню Шеппертонской церкви, разрушив ее, как это мог бы сделать удар тарана, отклонился в сторону, споткнулся и с огромной силой рухнул в реку вне поля моего зрения.

A violent explosion shook the air, and a spout of water, steam, mud, and shattered metal shot far up into the sky. Uma explosão violenta sacudiu o ar, e um jato de água, vapor, lama e metal estilhaçado disparou para o céu. Мощный взрыв сотряс воздух, и далеко в небо взмыла струя воды, пара, грязи и осколков металла. As the camera of the Heat-Ray hit the water, the latter had immediately flashed into steam. Quando a câmera do Heat-Ray atingiu a água, o último imediatamente se transformou em vapor. In another moment a huge wave, like a muddy tidal bore but almost scaldingly hot, came sweeping round the bend upstream. Em outro momento, uma onda enorme, como um buraco de maré lamacento, mas quase escaldantemente quente, veio contornando a curva rio acima. I saw people struggling shorewards, and heard their screaming and shouting faintly above the seething and roar of the Martian’s collapse. Eu vi pessoas lutando para a costa e ouvi seus gritos e berros fracos acima da agitação e do rugido do colapso do marciano.

For a moment I heeded nothing of the heat, forgot the patent need of self-preservation. Por um momento, não dei atenção ao calor, esqueci a necessidade patente de autopreservação. I splashed through the tumultuous water, pushing aside a man in black to do so, until I could see round the bend. Eu espirrei na água tumultuada, empurrando para o lado um homem de preto para fazer isso, até que eu pudesse ver além da curva. Я плескался в бурлящей воде, отталкивая для этого человека в черном, пока не смог заглянуть за поворот. Half a dozen deserted boats pitched aimlessly upon the confusion of the waves. The fallen Martian came into sight downstream, lying across the river, and for the most part submerged.

Thick clouds of steam were pouring off the wreckage, and through the tumultuously whirling wisps I could see, intermittently and vaguely, the gigantic limbs churning the water and flinging a splash and spray of mud and froth into the air. Grossas nuvens de vapor saíam dos destroços e, através das nuvens tumultuosamente rodopiantes, pude ver, intermitente e vagamente, os galhos gigantescos agitando a água e lançando respingos e borrifos de lama e espuma no ar. The tentacles swayed and struck like living arms, and, save for the helpless purposelessness of these movements, it was as if some wounded thing were struggling for its life amid the waves. Enormous quantities of a ruddy-brown fluid were spurting up in noisy jets out of the machine. Quantidades enormes de um fluido marrom-avermelhado jorravam em jatos barulhentos para fora da máquina.

My attention was diverted from this death flurry by a furious yelling, like that of the thing called a siren in our manufacturing towns. Minha atenção foi desviada dessa onda de morte por um grito furioso, como o da coisa chamada sereia em nossas cidades manufatureiras. A man, knee-deep near the towing path, shouted inaudibly to me and pointed. Um homem, com a altura dos joelhos perto do caminho de reboque, gritou inaudivelmente para mim e apontou. Looking back, I saw the other Martians advancing with gigantic strides down the riverbank from the direction of Chertsey. Olhando para trás, vi os outros marcianos avançando com passos gigantescos pela margem do rio na direção de Chertsey. The Shepperton guns spoke this time unavailingly. Os canhões Shepperton falaram desta vez sem sucesso.

At that I ducked at once under water, and, holding my breath until movement was an agony, blundered painfully ahead under the surface as long as I could. Com isso, mergulhei imediatamente sob a água e, prendendo a respiração até que o movimento se tornasse uma agonia, tropecei dolorosamente sob a superfície por tanto tempo quanto pude. The water was in a tumult about me, and rapidly growing hotter. A água estava tumultuada ao meu redor e ficando cada vez mais quente.

When for a moment I raised my head to take breath and throw the hair and water from my eyes, the steam was rising in a whirling white fog that at first hid the Martians altogether. Quando, por um momento, levantei a cabeça para respirar e tirar o cabelo e a água dos olhos, o vapor estava subindo em uma névoa branca e rodopiante que, a princípio, escondeu os marcianos por completo. The noise was deafening. O barulho era ensurdecedor. Then I saw them dimly, colossal figures of grey, magnified by the mist. Então eu os vi vagamente, figuras colossais cinza, ampliadas pela névoa. They had passed by me, and two were stooping over the frothing, tumultuous ruins of their comrade. Eles haviam passado por mim, e dois estavam curvados sobre as ruínas espumosas e tumultuadas de seu camarada.

The third and fourth stood beside him in the water, one perhaps two hundred yards from me, the other towards Lale- ham. O terceiro e o quarto estavam ao lado dele na água, um a talvez duzentos metros de mim, o outro na direção de Laleham. The generators of the Heat-Rays waved high, and the hissing beams smote down this way and that. Os geradores dos raios de calor acenaram alto, e os raios sibilantes golpearam de um lado para outro.

The air was full of sound, a deafening and confusing conflict of noises—the clangorous din of the Martians, the crash of falling houses, the thud of trees, fences, sheds flashing into flame, and the crackling and roaring of fire. O ar estava cheio de som, um conflito ensurdecedor e confuso de ruídos - o barulho estrondoso dos marcianos, o estrondo de casas caindo, o baque de árvores, cercas, galpões queimando em chamas e o crepitar e rugir do fogo. Dense black smoke was leaping up to mingle with the steam from the river, and as the Heat-Ray went to and fro over Weybridge its impact was marked by flashes of incandescent white, that gave place at once to a smoky dance of lurid flames. Uma densa fumaça negra estava saltando para se misturar com o vapor do rio, e conforme o Heat-Ray ia e voltava sobre Weybridge, seu impacto foi marcado por flashes de um branco incandescente, que deu lugar imediatamente a uma dança esfumaçada de chamas lúridas. The nearer houses still stood intact, awaiting their fate, shadowy, faint and pallid in the steam, with the fire behind them going to and fro. As casas mais próximas ainda estavam intactas, aguardando seu destino, sombrias, fracas e pálidas no vapor, com o fogo atrás delas indo e vindo.

For a moment perhaps I stood there, breast-high in the almost boiling water, dumbfounded at my position, hopeless of escape. Por um momento, talvez, eu tenha ficado lá, na altura do peito na água quase fervente, estupefato com a minha posição, sem esperança de escapar. Through the reek I could see the people who had been with me in the river scrambling out of the water through the reeds, like little frogs hurrying through grass from the advance of a man, or running to and fro in utter dismay on the towing path. Através do fedor, eu podia ver as pessoas que estavam comigo no rio saindo da água por entre os juncos, como pequenos sapos correndo pela grama com o avanço de um homem, ou correndo para lá e para cá em total desânimo no caminho de reboque . Сквозь смрад я мог видеть, как люди, которые были со мной в реке, выбирались из воды сквозь камыши, как маленькие лягушки, спешащие по траве вслед за человеком или бегающие в полном смятении взад и вперед по буксирной тропе. .

Then suddenly the white flashes of the Heat-Ray came leaping towards me. Então, de repente, os flashes brancos do Raio de Calor vieram saltando em minha direção. The houses caved in as they dissolved at its touch, and darted out flames; the trees changed to fire with a roar. As casas desabaram à medida que se dissolviam ao seu toque e lançavam as chamas; as árvores mudaram para fogo com um rugido. The Ray flickered up and down the towing path, licking off the people who ran this way and that, and came down to the water’s edge not fifty yards from where I stood. O Ray oscilou para cima e para baixo no caminho de reboque, lambendo as pessoas que corriam para um lado e para o outro, e desceu até a beira da água a menos de cinquenta metros de onde eu estava. It swept across the river to Shepperton, and the water in its track rose in a boiling weal crested with steam. Ele varreu o rio até Shepperton, e a água em sua trilha subiu em um vergão fervente com a crista de vapor. I turned shoreward. Eu virei para a costa.

In another moment the huge wave, well-nigh at the boiling-point had rushed upon me. Em outro momento, a onda enorme, quase no ponto de ebulição, precipitou-se sobre mim. I screamed aloud, and scalded, half blinded, agonised, I staggered through the leaping, hissing water towards the shore. Gritei alto e escaldei, meio cego, agoniado, cambaleei pela água que saltou e assobiou em direção à costa. Had my foot stumbled, it would have been the end. Se meu pé tivesse tropeçado, teria sido o fim. I fell helplessly, in full sight of the Martians, upon the broad, bare gravelly spit that runs down to mark the angle of the Wey and Thames. Caí desamparado, à vista dos marcianos, sobre o largo espeto de cascalho nu que desce para marcar o ângulo do Wey e do Tâmisa. Я беспомощно упал на глазах у марсиан на широкую, голую, покрытую гравием косу, спускающуюся вниз, чтобы обозначить угол Вея и Темзы. I expected nothing but death. Eu não esperava nada além da morte.

I have a dim memory of the foot of a Martian coming down within a score of yards of my head, driving straight into the loose gravel, whirling it this way and that and lifting again; of a long suspense, and then of the four carrying the debris of their comrade between them, now clear and then presently faint through a veil of smoke, receding interminably, as it seemed to me, across a vast space of river and meadow. Tenho uma vaga lembrança do pé de um marciano descendo a poucos metros da minha cabeça, dirigindo direto para o cascalho solto, girando de um lado para o outro e levantando novamente; de um longo suspense, e depois dos quatro carregando os destroços de seu camarada entre eles, agora claros e então desmaiados através de um véu de fumaça, recuando interminavelmente, como me pareceu, através de um vasto espaço de rio e prado. Я смутно помню, как нога марсианина опустилась в десятке ярдов от моей головы, вонзилась прямо в рыхлый гравий, закрутила его туда-сюда и снова поднялась; долгой неизвестности, а затем четверых, несущих между собой обломки своего товарища, то ясного, то слабого сквозь пелену дыма, бесконечно удаляющегося, как мне казалось, через обширное пространство реки и луга. And then, very slowly, I realised that by a miracle I had escaped. E então, muito lentamente, percebi que por um milagre havia escapado.