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The War of the Worlds, The War of the Worlds: Chapter 24 (3)

The War of the Worlds: Chapter 24 (3)

I believed unhesitatingly both in his forecast of human destiny and in the practicability of his astonishing scheme, and the reader who thinks me susceptible and foolish must contrast his position, reading steadily with all his thoughts about his subject, and mine, crouching fearfully in the bushes and listening, distracted by apprehension. We talked in this manner through the early morning time, and later crept out of the bushes, and, after scanning the sky for Martians, hurried precipitately to the house on Putney Hill where he had made his lair. It was the coal cellar of the place, and when I saw the work he had spent a week upon—it was a burrow scarcely ten yards long, which he designed to reach to the main drain on Putney Hill—I had my first inkling of the gulf between his dreams and his powers. Such a hole I could have dug in a day. But I believed in him sufficiently to work with him all that morning until past midday at his digging. We had a garden barrow and shot the earth we removed against the kitchen range. We refreshed ourselves with a tin of mock-turtle soup and wine from the neighbouring pantry. I found a curious relief from the aching strangeness of the world in this steady labour. As we worked, I turned his project over in my mind, and presently objections and doubts began to arise; but I worked there all the morning, so glad was I to find myself with a purpose again. After working an hour I began to speculate on the distance one had to go before the cloaca was reached, the chances we had of missing it altogether. My immediate trouble was why we should dig this long tunnel, when it was possible to get into the drain at once down one of the manholes, and work back to the house. It seemed to me, too, that the house was inconveniently chosen, and required a needless length of tunnel. And just as I was beginning to face these things, the artilleryman stopped digging, and looked at me.

"We're working well," he said. He put down his spade. "Let us knock off a bit" he said. "I think it's time we reconnoitred from the roof of the house." I was for going on, and after a little hesitation he resumed his spade; and then suddenly I was struck by a thought. I stopped, and so did he at once.

"Why were you walking about the common," I said, "instead of being here?"

"Taking the air," he said. "I was coming back. It's safer by night." "But the work?"

"Oh, one can't always work," he said, and in a flash I saw the man plain. He hesitated, holding his spade. "We ought to reconnoitre now," he said, "because if any come near they may hear the spades and drop upon us unawares."

I was no longer disposed to object. We went together to the roof and stood on a ladder peeping out of the roof door. No Martians were to be seen, and we ventured out on the tiles, and slipped down under shelter of the parapet.

From this position a shrubbery hid the greater portion of Putney, but we could see the river below, a bubbly mass of red weed, and the low parts of Lambeth flooded and red. The red creeper swarmed up the trees about the old palace, and their branches stretched gaunt and dead, and set with shrivelled leaves, from amid its clusters. It was strange how entirely dependent both these things were upon flowing water for their propagation. About us neither had gained a footing; laburnums, pink mays, snowballs, and trees of arbor-vitæ, rose out of laurels and hydrangeas, green and brilliant into the sunlight. Beyond Kensington dense smoke was rising, and that and a blue haze hid the northward hills.

The artilleryman began to tell me of the sort of people who still remained in London.

"One night last week," he said, "some fools got the electric light in order, and there was all Regent Street and the Circus ablaze, crowded with painted and ragged drunkards, men and women, dancing and shouting till dawn. A man who was there told me. And as the day came they became aware of a fighting-machine standing near by the Langham and looking down at them. Heaven knows how long he had been there. It must have given some of them a nasty turn. He came down the road towards them, and picked up nearly a hundred too drunk or frightened to run away."

Grotesque gleam of a time no history will ever fully describe!

From that, in answer to my questions, he came round to his grandiose plans again. He grew enthusiastic. He talked so eloquently of the possibility of capturing a fighting-machine that I more than half believed in him again. But now that I was beginning to understand something of his quality, I could divine the stress he laid on doing nothing precipitately. And I noted that now there was no question that he personally was to capture and fight the great machine.

After a time we went down to the cellar. Neither of us seemed disposed to resume digging, and when he suggested a meal, I was nothing loath. He became suddenly very generous, and when we had eaten he went away and returned with some excellent cigars. We lit these, and his optimism glowed. He was inclined to regard my coming as a great occasion.

"There's some champagne in the cellar," he said. "We can dig better on this Thames-side burgundy," said I.

"No," said he; "I am host today. Champagne! Great God! We've a heavy enough task before us! Let us take a rest and gather strength while we may. Look at these blistered hands!"

And pursuant to this idea of a holiday, he insisted upon playing cards after we had eaten. He taught me euchre, and after dividing London between us, I taking the northern side and he the southern, we played for parish points. Grotesque and foolish as this will seem to the sober reader, it is absolutely true, and what is more remarkable, I found the card game and several others we played extremely interesting.

Strange mind of man! that, with our species upon the edge of extermination or appalling degradation, with no clear prospect before us but the chance of a horrible death, we could sit following the chance of this painted pasteboard, and playing the "joker" with vivid delight. Afterwards he taught me poker, and I beat him at three tough chess games. When dark came we decided to take the risk, and lit a lamp.

After an interminable string of games, we supped, and the artilleryman finished the champagne. We went on smoking the cigars. He was no longer the energetic regenerator of his species I had encountered in the morning. He was still optimistic, but it was a less kinetic, a more thoughtful optimism. I remember he wound up with my health, proposed in a speech of small variety and considerable intermittence. I took a cigar, and went upstairs to look at the lights of which he had spoken that blazed so greenly along the Highgate hills.

At first I stared unintelligently across the London valley. The northern hills were shrouded in darkness; the fires near Kensington glowed redly, and now and then an orange-red tongue of flame flashed up and vanished in the deep blue night. All the rest of London was black. Then, nearer, I perceived a strange light, a pale, violet-purple fluorescent glow, quivering under the night breeze. For a space I could not understand it, and then I knew that it must be the red weed from which this faint irradiation proceeded. With that realisation my dormant sense of wonder, my sense of the proportion of things, awoke again. I glanced from that to Mars, red and clear, glowing high in the west, and then gazed long and earnestly at the darkness of Hampstead and Highgate.

I remained a very long time upon the roof, wondering at the grotesque changes of the day. I recalled my mental states from the midnight prayer to the foolish card-playing. I had a violent revulsion of feeling. I remember I flung away the cigar with a certain wasteful symbolism. My folly came to me with glaring exaggeration. I seemed a traitor to my wife and to my kind; I was filled with remorse. I resolved to leave this strange undisciplined dreamer of great things to his drink and gluttony, and to go on into London. There, it seemed to me, I had the best chance of learning what the Martians and my fellowmen were doing. I was still upon the roof when the late moon rose.

The War of the Worlds: Chapter 24 (3) Der Krieg der Welten: Kapitel 24 (3) La guerra de los mundos: capítulo 24 (3) La guerre des mondes : chapitre 24 (3) La guerra dei mondi: capitolo 24 (3) A Guerra dos Mundos: Capítulo 24 (3)

I believed unhesitatingly both in his forecast of human destiny and in the practicability of his astonishing scheme, and the reader who thinks me susceptible and foolish must contrast his position, reading steadily with all his thoughts about his subject, and mine, crouching fearfully in the bushes and listening, distracted by apprehension. We talked in this manner through the early morning time, and later crept out of the bushes, and, after scanning the sky for Martians, hurried precipitately to the house on Putney Hill where he had made his lair. It was the coal cellar of the place, and when I saw the work he had spent a week upon—it was a burrow scarcely ten yards long, which he designed to reach to the main drain on Putney Hill—I had my first inkling of the gulf between his dreams and his powers. Such a hole I could have dug in a day. Такую яму я мог бы вырыть за день. But I believed in him sufficiently to work with him all that morning until past midday at his digging. We had a garden barrow and shot the earth we removed against the kitchen range. У нас была садовая тачка, и мы расстреливали землю, которую мы убирали, против кухонной плиты. We refreshed ourselves with a tin of mock-turtle soup and wine from the neighbouring pantry. I found a curious relief from the aching strangeness of the world in this steady labour. Я нашел любопытное облегчение от ноющей чужеродности мира в этом постоянном труде. As we worked, I turned his project over in my mind, and presently objections and doubts began to arise; but I worked there all the morning, so glad was I to find myself with a purpose again. Пока мы работали, я прокручивал в уме его проект, и вскоре начали возникать возражения и сомнения; но я работал там все утро, так рад был, что я снова нашел цель. After working an hour I began to speculate on the distance one had to go before the cloaca was reached, the chances we had of missing it altogether. Проработав час, я начал размышлять о расстоянии, которое нужно пройти, прежде чем мы достигнем клоаки, о шансах вообще промахнуться. My immediate trouble was why we should dig this long tunnel, when it was possible to get into the drain at once down one of the manholes, and work back to the house. Моя непосредственная проблема заключалась в том, зачем нам копать этот длинный туннель, когда можно было сразу попасть в канализацию через один из люков и вернуться к дому. It seemed to me, too, that the house was inconveniently chosen, and required a needless length of tunnel. And just as I was beginning to face these things, the artilleryman stopped digging, and looked at me.

"We’re working well," he said. He put down his spade. "Let us knock off a bit" he said. «Давайте немного помолчим», — сказал он. "I think it’s time we reconnoitred from the roof of the house." «Я думаю, пришло время провести разведку с крыши дома». I was for going on, and after a little hesitation he resumed his spade; and then suddenly I was struck by a thought. Я был за то, чтобы продолжать, и после небольшого колебания он снова взялся за лопату; и тут вдруг меня поразила мысль. I stopped, and so did he at once.

"Why were you walking about the common," I said, "instead of being here?" «Почему ты ходил по поляне, — сказал я, — вместо того, чтобы быть здесь?»

"Taking the air," he said. "I was coming back. It’s safer by night." "But the work?"

"Oh, one can’t always work," he said, and in a flash I saw the man plain. «О, не всегда можно работать», — сказал он, и в мгновение ока я увидел этого человека ясным. He hesitated, holding his spade. "We ought to reconnoitre now," he said, "because if any come near they may hear the spades and drop upon us unawares." «Мы должны провести разведку сейчас, — сказал он, — потому что, если кто-нибудь приблизится, они могут услышать пики и упасть на нас врасплох».

I was no longer disposed to object. We went together to the roof and stood on a ladder peeping out of the roof door. No Martians were to be seen, and we ventured out on the tiles, and slipped down under shelter of the parapet.

From this position a shrubbery hid the greater portion of Putney, but we could see the river below, a bubbly mass of red weed, and the low parts of Lambeth flooded and red. The red creeper swarmed up the trees about the old palace, and their branches stretched gaunt and dead, and set with shrivelled leaves, from amid its clusters. Красная лиана ползла по деревьям вокруг старого дворца, и их ветви тянулись изможденными и мертвыми, усеянными сморщенными листьями, среди его гроздей. It was strange how entirely dependent both these things were upon flowing water for their propagation. Удивительно, насколько обе эти вещи полностью зависели от проточной воды в своем размножении. About us neither had gained a footing; laburnums, pink mays, snowballs, and trees of arbor-vitæ, rose out of laurels and hydrangeas, green and brilliant into the sunlight. Beyond Kensington dense smoke was rising, and that and a blue haze hid the northward hills.

The artilleryman began to tell me of the sort of people who still remained in London.

"One night last week," he said, "some fools got the electric light in order, and there was all Regent Street and the Circus ablaze, crowded with painted and ragged drunkards, men and women, dancing and shouting till dawn. «Однажды ночью на прошлой неделе, — сказал он, — какие-то дураки привели в порядок электрический свет, и вся Риджент-стрит и Цирк были полны пламенем, забитые разукрашенными и оборванными пьяницами, мужчинами и женщинами, танцующими и кричащими до рассвета. A man who was there told me. And as the day came they became aware of a fighting-machine standing near by the Langham and looking down at them. И когда наступил день, они заметили боевую машину, стоящую рядом с «Лэнгэмом» и смотрящую на них сверху вниз. Heaven knows how long he had been there. It must have given some of them a nasty turn. Должно быть, это вызвало у некоторых из них неприятный осадок. He came down the road towards them, and picked up nearly a hundred too drunk or frightened to run away."

Grotesque gleam of a time no history will ever fully describe! Гротескный блеск времени, которое никакая история не сможет полностью описать!

From that, in answer to my questions, he came round to his grandiose plans again. He grew enthusiastic. He talked so eloquently of the possibility of capturing a fighting-machine that I more than half believed in him again. But now that I was beginning to understand something of his quality, I could divine the stress he laid on doing nothing precipitately. Но теперь, когда я начал кое-что понимать в его качествах, я мог угадать, какой упор он делал на то, чтобы ничего не делать поспешно. And I noted that now there was no question that he personally was to capture and fight the great machine. И я отметил, что теперь не могло быть и речи о том, чтобы он лично должен был захватить и сразиться с великой машиной.

After a time we went down to the cellar. Neither of us seemed disposed to resume digging, and when he suggested a meal, I was nothing loath. Ни один из нас, похоже, не был настроен возобновить копание, и когда он предложил поесть, я не возражал. He became suddenly very generous, and when we had eaten he went away and returned with some excellent cigars. We lit these, and his optimism glowed. He was inclined to regard my coming as a great occasion.

"There’s some champagne in the cellar," he said. "We can dig better on this Thames-side burgundy," said I. «Мы можем лучше копать на этом бордовом берегу Темзы», — сказал я.

"No," said he; "I am host today. "Нет," сказал он; «Сегодня я хозяин. Champagne! Great God! We’ve a heavy enough task before us! Перед нами стоит достаточно тяжелая задача! Let us take a rest and gather strength while we may. Look at these blistered hands!"

And pursuant to this idea of a holiday, he insisted upon playing cards after we had eaten. He taught me euchre, and after dividing London between us, I taking the northern side and he the southern, we played for parish points. Он научил меня юкеру, и после того, как мы разделили Лондон, я взял северную сторону, а он южную, мы играли на приходские очки. Grotesque and foolish as this will seem to the sober reader, it is absolutely true, and what is more remarkable, I found the card game and several others we played extremely interesting. Каким бы гротескным и глупым это ни казалось трезвому читателю, это совершенно верно, и что еще более примечательно, я нашел карточную игру и некоторые другие, в которые мы играли, чрезвычайно интересными.

Strange mind of man! that, with our species upon the edge of extermination or appalling degradation, with no clear prospect before us but the chance of a horrible death, we could sit following the chance of this painted pasteboard, and playing the "joker" with vivid delight. Afterwards he taught me poker, and I beat him at three tough chess games. When dark came we decided to take the risk, and lit a lamp.

After an interminable string of games, we supped, and the artilleryman finished the champagne. We went on smoking the cigars. He was no longer the energetic regenerator of his species I had encountered in the morning. Он больше не был энергичным регенератором своего вида, с которым я столкнулся утром. He was still optimistic, but it was a less kinetic, a more thoughtful optimism. I remember he wound up with my health, proposed in a speech of small variety and considerable intermittence. Я помню, как он кончил с моим здоровьем, произнеся речь с небольшим разнообразием и значительной прерывистостью. I took a cigar, and went upstairs to look at the lights of which he had spoken that blazed so greenly along the Highgate hills.

At first I stared unintelligently across the London valley. The northern hills were shrouded in darkness; the fires near Kensington glowed redly, and now and then an orange-red tongue of flame flashed up and vanished in the deep blue night. All the rest of London was black. Then, nearer, I perceived a strange light, a pale, violet-purple fluorescent glow, quivering under the night breeze. For a space I could not understand it, and then I knew that it must be the red weed from which this faint irradiation proceeded. With that realisation my dormant sense of wonder, my sense of the proportion of things, awoke again. С этим осознанием снова проснулось мое дремлющее чувство удивления, мое чувство пропорции вещей. I glanced from that to Mars, red and clear, glowing high in the west, and then gazed long and earnestly at the darkness of Hampstead and Highgate.

I remained a very long time upon the roof, wondering at the grotesque changes of the day. I recalled my mental states from the midnight prayer to the foolish card-playing. I had a violent revulsion of feeling. I remember I flung away the cigar with a certain wasteful symbolism. Помню, я выбросил сигару с некоторым расточительным символизмом. My folly came to me with glaring exaggeration. Моя глупость пришла ко мне с вопиющим преувеличением. I seemed a traitor to my wife and to my kind; I was filled with remorse. Я казался предателем своей жене и своему роду; Меня переполняло раскаяние. I resolved to leave this strange undisciplined dreamer of great things to his drink and gluttony, and to go on into London. Я решил оставить этого странного недисциплинированного мечтателя о великих делах наедине с его пьянством и обжорством и отправиться в Лондон. There, it seemed to me, I had the best chance of learning what the Martians and my fellowmen were doing. I was still upon the roof when the late moon rose.