×

Мы используем cookie-файлы, чтобы сделать работу LingQ лучше. Находясь на нашем сайте, вы соглашаетесь на наши правила обработки файлов «cookie».

Начать изучать этот урок прямо сейчас
image

The War of the Worlds, The War of the Worlds: Chapter 12 (1)

The War of the Worlds: Chapter 12 (1)

Chapter Twelve What I Saw of the Destruction of Weybridge and Shepperton

As the dawn grew brighter we withdrew from the window from which we had watched the Martians, and went very quietly downstairs.

The artilleryman agreed with me that the house was no place to stay in. He proposed, he said, to make his way Londonward, and thence rejoin his battery—No. 12, of the Horse Artillery. My plan was to return at once to Leatherhead; and so greatly had the strength of the Martians impressed me that I had determined to take my wife to Newhaven, and go with her out of the country forthwith. For I already perceived clearly that the country about London must inevitably be the scene of a disastrous struggle before such creatures as these could be destroyed.

Between us and Leatherhead, however, lay the third cylinder, with its guarding giants. Had I been alone, I think I should have taken my chance and struck across country. But the artilleryman dissuaded me: “It's no kindness to the right sort of wife,” he said, “to make her a widow”; and in the end I agreed to go with him, under cover of the woods, northward as far as Street Cobham before I parted with him. Thence I would make a big detour by Epsom to reach Leatherhead.

I should have started at once, but my companion had been in active service and he knew better than that. He made me ransack the house for a flask, which he filled with whiskey; and we lined every available pocket with packets of biscuits and slices of meat. Then we crept out of the house, and ran as quickly as we could down the ill-made road by which I had come overnight. The houses seemed deserted. In the road lay a group of three charred bodies close together, struck dead by the Heat-Ray; and here and there were things that people had dropped—a clock, a slipper, a silver spoon, and the like poor valuables. At the corner turning up towards the post office a little cart, filled with boxes and furniture, and horseless, heeled over on a broken wheel. A cash box had been hastily smashed open and thrown under the debris.

Except the lodge at the Orphanage, which was still on fire, none of the houses had suffered very greatly here. The Heat-Ray had shaved the chimney tops and passed. Yet, save ourselves, there did not seem to be a living soul on Maybury Hill. The majority of the inhabitants had escaped, I suppose, by way of the Old Woking road—the road I had taken when I drove to Leatherhead—or they had hidden.

We went down the lane, by the body of the man in black, sodden now from the overnight hail, and broke into the woods at the foot of the hill. We pushed through these towards the railway without meeting a soul. The woods across the line were but the scarred and blackened ruins of woods; for the most part the trees had fallen, but a certain proportion still stood, dismal grey stems, with dark brown foliage instead of green.

On our side the fire had done no more than scorch the nearer trees; it had failed to secure its footing. In one place the woodmen had been at work on Saturday; trees, felled and freshly trimmed, lay in a clearing, with heaps of sawdust by the sawing-machine and its engine. Hard by was a temporary hut, deserted. There was not a breath of wind this morning, and everything was strangely still. Even the birds were hushed, and as we hurried along I and the artilleryman talked in whispers and looked now and again over our shoulders. Once or twice we stopped to listen.

After a time we drew near the road, and as we did so we heard the clatter of hoofs and saw through the tree stems three cavalry soldiers riding slowly towards Woking. We hailed them, and they halted while we hurried towards them. It was a lieutenant and a couple of privates of the 8th Hussars, with a stand like a theodolite, which the artilleryman told me was a heliograph.

“You are the first men I've seen coming this way this morning,” said the lieutenant. “What's brewing?”

His voice and face were eager. The men behind him stared curiously. The artilleryman jumped down the bank into the road and saluted.

“Gun destroyed last night, sir. Have been hiding. Trying to rejoin battery, sir. You'll come in sight of the Martians, I expect, about half a mile along this road.”

“What the dickens are they like?” asked the lieutenant.

“Giants in armour, sir. Hundred feet high. Three legs and a body like 'luminium, with a mighty great head in a hood, sir.”

“Get out!” said the lieutenant. “What confounded nonsense!”

“You'll see, sir. They carry a kind of box, sir, that shoots fire and strikes you dead.”

“What d'ye mean—a gun?”

“No, sir,” and the artilleryman began a vivid account of the Heat-Ray. Halfway through, the lieutenant interrupted him and looked up at me. I was still standing on the bank by the side of the road.

“It's perfectly true,” I said.

“Well,” said the lieutenant, “I suppose it's my business to see it too. Look here”—to the artilleryman—“we're detailed here clearing people out of their houses. You'd better go along and report yourself to Brigadier-General Marvin, and tell him all you know. He's at Weybridge. Know the way?”

“I do,” I said; and he turned his horse southward again.

“Half a mile, you say?” said he.

“At most,” I answered, and pointed over the treetops southward. He thanked me and rode on, and we saw them no more.

Farther along we came upon a group of three women and two children in the road, busy clearing out a labourer's cottage. They had got hold of a little hand truck, and were piling it up with unclean-looking bundles and shabby furniture. They were all too assiduously engaged to talk to us as we passed.

By Byfleet station we emerged from the pine trees, and found the country calm and peaceful under the morning sunlight. We were far beyond the range of the Heat-Ray there, and had it not been for the silent desertion of some of the houses, the stirring movement of packing in others, and the knot of soldiers standing on the bridge over the railway and staring down the line towards Woking, the day would have seemed very like any other Sunday.

Several farm waggons and carts were moving creakily along the road to Addlestone, and suddenly through the gate of a field we saw, across a stretch of flat meadow, six twelve-pounders standing neatly at equal distances pointing towards Woking. The gunners stood by the guns waiting, and the ammunition waggons were at a business-like distance. The men stood almost as if under inspection.

“That's good!” said I. “They will get one fair shot, at any rate.”

The artilleryman hesitated at the gate.

“I shall go on,” he said.

Farther on towards Weybridge, just over the bridge, there were a number of men in white fatigue jackets throwing up a long rampart, and more guns behind.

“It's bows and arrows against the lightning, anyhow,” said the artilleryman. “They 'aven't seen that fire-beam yet.”

The officers who were not actively engaged stood and stared over the treetops southwestward, and the men digging would stop every now and again to stare in the same direction.

Byfleet was in a tumult; people packing, and a score of hussars, some of them dismounted, some on horseback, were hunting them about. Three or four black government waggons, with crosses in white circles, and an old omnibus, among other vehicles, were being loaded in the village street. There were scores of people, most of them sufficiently sabbatical to have assumed their best clothes. The soldiers were having the greatest difficulty in making them realise the gravity of their position. We saw one shrivelled old fellow with a huge box and a score or more of flower pots containing orchids, angrily expostulating with the corporal who would leave them behind. I stopped and gripped his arm.

“Do you know what's over there?” I said, pointing at the pine tops that hid the Martians.

“Eh?” said he, turning. “I was explainin' these is vallyble.”

“Death!” I shouted. “Death is coming! Death!” and leaving him to digest that if he could, I hurried on after the artilleryman. At the corner I looked back. The soldier had left him, and he was still standing by his box, with the pots of orchids on the lid of it, and staring vaguely over the trees.

No one in Weybridge could tell us where the headquarters were established; the whole place was in such confusion as I had never seen in any town before. Carts, carriages everywhere, the most astonishing miscellany of conveyances and horseflesh. The respectable inhabitants of the place, men in golf and boating costumes, wives prettily dressed, were packing, river-side loafers energetically helping, children excited, and, for the most part, highly delighted at this astonishing variation of their Sunday experiences. In the midst of it all the worthy vicar was very pluckily holding an early celebration, and his bell was jangling out above the excitement.

I and the artilleryman, seated on the step of the drinking fountain, made a very passable meal upon what we had brought with us. Patrols of soldiers—here no longer hussars, but grenadiers in white—were warning people to move now or to take refuge in their cellars as soon as the firing began. We saw as we crossed the railway bridge that a growing crowd of people had assembled in and about the railway station, and the swarming platform was piled with boxes and packages. The ordinary traffic had been stopped, I believe, in order to allow of the passage of troops and guns to Chertsey, and I have heard since that a savage struggle occurred for places in the special trains that were put on at a later hour.

We remained at Weybridge until midday, and at that hour we found ourselves at the place near Shepperton Lock where the Wey and Thames join. Part of the time we spent helping two old women to pack a little cart. The Wey has a treble mouth, and at this point boats are to be hired, and there was a ferry across the river. On the Shepperton side was an inn with a lawn, and beyond that the tower of Shepperton Church—it has been replaced by a spire—rose above the trees.

Here we found an excited and noisy crowd of fugitives. As yet the flight had not grown to a panic, but there were already far more people than all the boats going to and fro could enable to cross. People came panting along under heavy burdens; one husband and wife were even carrying a small outhouse door between them, with some of their household goods piled thereon. One man told us he meant to try to get away from Shepperton station.

There was a lot of shouting, and one man was even jesting. The idea people seemed to have here was that the Martians were simply formidable human beings, who might attack and sack the town, to be certainly destroyed in the end. Every now and then people would glance nervously across the Wey, at the meadows towards Chertsey, but everything over there was still.

Across the Thames, except just where the boats landed, everything was quiet, in vivid contrast with the Surrey side. The people who landed there from the boats went tramping off down the lane. The big ferryboat had just made a journey. Three or four soldiers stood on the lawn of the inn, staring and jesting at the fugitives, without offering to help. The inn was closed, as it was now within prohibited hours.

“What's that?” cried a boatman, and “Shut up, you fool!

The War of the Worlds: Chapter 12 (1) Der Krieg der Welten: Kapitel 12 (1) La guerra de los mundos: Capítulo 12 (1) La guerra dei mondi: capitolo 12 (1)

Chapter Twelve What I Saw of the Destruction of Weybridge and Shepperton

As the dawn grew brighter we withdrew from the window from which we had watched the Martians, and went very quietly downstairs. À medida que o amanhecer ficava mais claro, afastamo-nos da janela de onde havíamos visto os marcianos e descemos as escadas em silêncio.

The artilleryman agreed with me that the house was no place to stay in. O artilheiro concordou comigo que a casa não era lugar para ficar. He proposed, he said, to make his way Londonward, and thence rejoin his battery—No. Ele propôs, ele disse, seguir seu caminho para Londres, e daí voltar para sua bateria - Não. 12, of the Horse Artillery. 12, da Artilharia Montada. My plan was to return at once to Leatherhead; and so greatly had the strength of the Martians impressed me that I had determined to take my wife to Newhaven, and go with her out of the country forthwith. Meu plano era retornar imediatamente a Leatherhead; e a força dos marcianos me impressionou tanto que decidi levar minha esposa para Newhaven e ir com ela para fora do país imediatamente. For I already perceived clearly that the country about London must inevitably be the scene of a disastrous struggle before such creatures as these could be destroyed. Pois eu já percebi claramente que o país ao redor de Londres deve inevitavelmente ser palco de uma luta desastrosa antes que criaturas como essas possam ser destruídas.

Between us and Leatherhead, however, lay the third cylinder, with its guarding giants. Entre nós e Leatherhead, no entanto, estava o terceiro cilindro, com seus gigantes guardiões. Had I been alone, I think I should have taken my chance and struck across country. Se eu estivesse sozinho, acho que deveria ter aproveitado minha chance e atacado através do país. But the artilleryman dissuaded me: “It’s no kindness to the right sort of wife,” he said, “to make her a widow”; and in the end I agreed to go with him, under cover of the woods, northward as far as Street Cobham before I parted with him. Mas o artilheiro me dissuadiu: “Não é gentileza com o tipo certo de esposa”, disse ele, “torná-la viúva”; e no final concordei em ir com ele, sob a cobertura do bosque, para o norte, até a rua Cobham, antes de me separar dele. Thence I would make a big detour by Epsom to reach Leatherhead. Dali eu faria um grande desvio por Epsom para chegar a Leatherhead.

I should have started at once, but my companion had been in active service and he knew better than that. Eu deveria ter começado imediatamente, mas meu companheiro estava no serviço ativo e sabia que não era. He made me ransack the house for a flask, which he filled with whiskey; and we lined every available pocket with packets of biscuits and slices of meat. Ele me fez vasculhar a casa em busca de um cantil, que encheu de uísque; e forramos todos os bolsos disponíveis com pacotes de biscoitos e fatias de carne. Then we crept out of the house, and ran as quickly as we could down the ill-made road by which I had come overnight. Em seguida, saímos de casa e corremos o mais rápido que pudemos pela estrada malfeita pela qual vim durante a noite. The houses seemed deserted. As casas pareciam desertas. In the road lay a group of three charred bodies close together, struck dead by the Heat-Ray; and here and there were things that people had dropped—a clock, a slipper, a silver spoon, and the like poor valuables. Na estrada estava um grupo de três corpos carbonizados próximos uns dos outros, mortos pelo Raio de Calor; e aqui e ali havia coisas que as pessoas haviam deixado cair - um relógio, um chinelo, uma colher de prata e outros objetos de valor pobres. At the corner turning up towards the post office a little cart, filled with boxes and furniture, and horseless, heeled over on a broken wheel. Na esquina, virando em direção aos correios, um carrinho pequeno, cheio de caixas e móveis, e sem cavalos, tombou sobre uma roda quebrada. A cash box had been hastily smashed open and thrown under the debris. Uma caixa de dinheiro foi aberta às pressas e jogada sob os escombros.

Except the lodge at the Orphanage, which was still on fire, none of the houses had suffered very greatly here. Exceto o chalé do Orfanato, que ainda estava em chamas, nenhuma das casas havia sofrido muito aqui. The Heat-Ray had shaved the chimney tops and passed. O Heat-Ray raspou o topo da chaminé e passou. Yet, save ourselves, there did not seem to be a living soul on Maybury Hill. No entanto, salvo a nós mesmos, não parecia haver uma alma viva em Maybury Hill. The majority of the inhabitants had escaped, I suppose, by way of the Old Woking road—the road I had taken when I drove to Leatherhead—or they had hidden. A maioria dos habitantes havia escapado, suponho, pela estrada Old Woking - a estrada que eu havia tomado quando dirigi para Leatherhead - ou eles se esconderam.

We went down the lane, by the body of the man in black, sodden now from the overnight hail, and broke into the woods at the foot of the hill. Descemos a alameda, perto do corpo do homem de preto, agora encharcado com o granizo noturno, e invadimos a floresta ao pé da colina. We pushed through these towards the railway without meeting a soul. Nós avançamos por eles em direção à ferrovia sem encontrar ninguém. The woods across the line were but the scarred and blackened ruins of woods; for the most part the trees had fallen, but a certain proportion still stood, dismal grey stems, with dark brown foliage instead of green. Os bosques do outro lado da linha eram apenas ruínas enegrecidas e marcadas de bosques; a maior parte das árvores havia caído, mas uma certa proporção ainda se erguia, péssimos troncos cinza, com folhagem marrom-escura em vez de verde.

On our side the fire had done no more than scorch the nearer trees; it had failed to secure its footing. Do nosso lado, o fogo não fez mais do que queimar as árvores mais próximas; não havia conseguido firmar seus pés. In one place the woodmen had been at work on Saturday; trees, felled and freshly trimmed, lay in a clearing, with heaps of sawdust by the sawing-machine and its engine. Em um lugar, os lenhadores trabalharam no sábado; árvores, derrubadas e recém aparadas, ficavam em uma clareira, com montes de serragem pela máquina de serrar e seu motor. Hard by was a temporary hut, deserted. Perto estava uma cabana temporária, deserta. There was not a breath of wind this morning, and everything was strangely still. Não havia um sopro de vento esta manhã, e tudo estava estranhamente quieto. Even the birds were hushed, and as we hurried along I and the artilleryman talked in whispers and looked now and again over our shoulders. Até mesmo os pássaros silenciavam e, enquanto nos apressávamos, eu e o artilheiro conversávamos em sussurros e olhávamos de vez em quando por cima dos ombros. Once or twice we stopped to listen. Uma ou duas vezes paramos para escutar.

After a time we drew near the road, and as we did so we heard the clatter of hoofs and saw through the tree stems three cavalry soldiers riding slowly towards Woking. Depois de um tempo, nos aproximamos da estrada e, ao fazê-lo, ouvimos o barulho de cascos e vimos, por entre os caules das árvores, três soldados da cavalaria cavalgando lentamente em direção a Woking. We hailed them, and they halted while we hurried towards them. Nós os saudamos e eles pararam enquanto corríamos em sua direção. It was a lieutenant and a couple of privates of the 8th Hussars, with a stand like a theodolite, which the artilleryman told me was a heliograph. Era um tenente e um casal de soldados rasos do 8º Hussardos, com uma postura de teodolito, que o artilheiro me disse ser um heliógrafo.

“You are the first men I’ve seen coming this way this morning,” said the lieutenant. “Vocês são os primeiros homens que vi vindo para cá esta manhã”, disse o tenente. “What’s brewing?” "O que está acontecendo?"

His voice and face were eager. Sua voz e rosto estavam ansiosos. The men behind him stared curiously. Os homens atrás dele olharam com curiosidade. The artilleryman jumped down the bank into the road and saluted. O artilheiro saltou da margem para a estrada e fez uma continência.

“Gun destroyed last night, sir. - Arma destruída ontem à noite, senhor. Have been hiding. Tenho me escondido. Trying to rejoin battery, sir. Tentando reingressar na bateria, senhor. You’ll come in sight of the Martians, I expect, about half a mile along this road.” Você verá os marcianos, suponho, cerca de meia milha ao longo desta estrada. ”

“What the dickens are they like?” asked the lieutenant. "Como diabos eles são?" perguntou o tenente.

“Giants in armour, sir. - Gigantes de armadura, senhor. Hundred feet high. Com trinta metros de altura. Three legs and a body like 'luminium, with a mighty great head in a hood, sir.” Três pernas e um corpo como 'luminium, com uma cabeça grande e poderosa em um capuz, senhor. "

“Get out!” said the lieutenant. "Saia!" disse o tenente. "Убирайся!" — сказал лейтенант. “What confounded nonsense!” “Que absurdo!” «Что за гнусная чепуха!»

“You’ll see, sir. “Você verá, senhor. They carry a kind of box, sir, that shoots fire and strikes you dead.” Eles carregam uma espécie de caixa, senhor, que atira fogo e o mata.

“What d’ye mean—a gun?” "O que você quer dizer com uma arma?"

“No, sir,” and the artilleryman began a vivid account of the Heat-Ray. Halfway through, the lieutenant interrupted him and looked up at me. No meio do caminho, o tenente o interrompeu e olhou para mim. I was still standing on the bank by the side of the road. Eu ainda estava de pé na margem ao lado da estrada.

“It’s perfectly true,” I said. “É perfeitamente verdade,” eu disse.

“Well,” said the lieutenant, “I suppose it’s my business to see it too. “Bem”, disse o tenente, “suponho que também seja da minha conta vê-lo. Look here”—to the artilleryman—“we’re detailed here clearing people out of their houses. Olhe aqui ”- para o artilheiro -“ estamos detalhados aqui tirando as pessoas de suas casas. You’d better go along and report yourself to Brigadier-General Marvin, and tell him all you know. É melhor você ir junto e se apresentar ao Brigadeiro-General Marvin e contar a ele tudo o que sabe. He’s at Weybridge. Ele está em Weybridge. Know the way?” Conhece o caminho? ”

“I do,” I said; and he turned his horse southward again. “Sim,” eu disse; e ele voltou seu cavalo para o sul novamente.

“Half a mile, you say?” said he. "Meia milha, você disse?" disse ele.

“At most,” I answered, and pointed over the treetops southward. “No máximo”, respondi, e apontei para o sul das copas das árvores. He thanked me and rode on, and we saw them no more. Ele me agradeceu e seguiu em frente, e não os vimos mais.

Farther along we came upon a group of three women and two children in the road, busy clearing out a labourer’s cottage. Mais adiante, encontramos um grupo de três mulheres e duas crianças na estrada, ocupados limpando a casa de um trabalhador. They had got hold of a little hand truck, and were piling it up with unclean-looking bundles and shabby furniture. Eles pegaram um carrinho de mão e o empilharam com trouxas de aparência suja e móveis surrados. They were all too assiduously engaged to talk to us as we passed. Eles estavam todos ocupados demais para falar conosco enquanto passávamos.

By Byfleet station we emerged from the pine trees, and found the country calm and peaceful under the morning sunlight. Na estação de Byfleet emergimos dos pinheiros e encontramos a região calma e pacífica sob o sol da manhã. We were far beyond the range of the Heat-Ray there, and had it not been for the silent desertion of some of the houses, the stirring movement of packing in others, and the knot of soldiers standing on the bridge over the railway and staring down the line towards Woking, the day would have seemed very like any other Sunday. Estávamos muito além do alcance do Raio de Calor lá, e não fosse pela deserção silenciosa de algumas das casas, o movimento agitado de empacotar outras e o grupo de soldados em pé na ponte sobre a ferrovia olhando descendo a linha em direção a Woking, o dia teria se parecido com qualquer outro domingo.

Several farm waggons and carts were moving creakily along the road to Addlestone, and suddenly through the gate of a field we saw, across a stretch of flat meadow, six twelve-pounders standing neatly at equal distances pointing towards Woking. Várias carroças e carroças de fazendas se moviam rangendo ao longo da estrada para Addlestone e, de repente, através do portão de um campo, vimos, em um trecho de campina plana, seis caçadores de doze libras posicionados ordenadamente a distâncias iguais apontando para Woking. The gunners stood by the guns waiting, and the ammunition waggons were at a business-like distance. Os artilheiros aguardavam junto aos canhões e os vagões de munição estavam a uma distância comercial. The men stood almost as if under inspection. Os homens pararam quase como se estivessem sendo inspecionados.

“That’s good!” said I. "Isso é bom!" disse eu “They will get one fair shot, at any rate.” “Eles terão uma chance justa, de qualquer maneira.”

The artilleryman hesitated at the gate. O artilheiro hesitou no portão.

“I shall go on,” he said. “Eu devo continuar,” ele disse.

Farther on towards Weybridge, just over the bridge, there were a number of men in white fatigue jackets throwing up a long rampart, and more guns behind. Mais adiante, em direção a Weybridge, logo depois da ponte, havia vários homens em jaquetas brancas de cano alto jogando uma longa muralha e mais armas atrás.

“It’s bows and arrows against the lightning, anyhow,” said the artilleryman. “São arcos e flechas contra o raio, de qualquer maneira”, disse o artilheiro. “They 'aven’t seen that fire-beam yet.” "Eles ainda não viram aquele feixe de fogo."

The officers who were not actively engaged stood and stared over the treetops southwestward, and the men digging would stop every now and again to stare in the same direction. Os oficiais que não estavam ativamente engajados ficavam de pé e olhavam por cima das copas das árvores a sudoeste, e os homens que cavavam paravam de vez em quando para olhar na mesma direção.

Byfleet was in a tumult; people packing, and a score of hussars, some of them dismounted, some on horseback, were hunting them about. Byfleet estava em tumulto; pessoas fazendo as malas e vários hussardos, alguns apeados, outros a cavalo, os caçavam. Three or four black government waggons, with crosses in white circles, and an old omnibus, among other vehicles, were being loaded in the village street. Três ou quatro carroças negras do governo, com cruzes em círculos brancos, e um velho ônibus, entre outros veículos, estavam sendo carregados na rua da aldeia. There were scores of people, most of them sufficiently sabbatical to have assumed their best clothes. Havia um grande número de pessoas, a maioria delas suficientemente sabática para vestir suas melhores roupas. The soldiers were having the greatest difficulty in making them realise the gravity of their position. Os soldados estavam tendo muita dificuldade em fazê-los perceber a gravidade de sua posição. We saw one shrivelled old fellow with a huge box and a score or more of flower pots containing orchids, angrily expostulating with the corporal who would leave them behind. Vimos um velho enrugado com uma caixa enorme e vinte ou mais vasos de flores contendo orquídeas, protestando furiosamente com o cabo que os deixaria para trás. I stopped and gripped his arm. Parei e agarrei seu braço.

“Do you know what’s over there?” I said, pointing at the pine tops that hid the Martians. "Você sabe o que está ali?" Eu disse, apontando para os topos dos pinheiros que escondiam os marcianos.

“Eh?” said he, turning. "Eh?" disse ele, virando-se. “I was explainin' these is vallyble.” "Eu estava explicando que isso é vallyble."

“Death!” I shouted. "Morte!" Eu gritei. “Death is coming! "A morte está vindo! Death!” and leaving him to digest that if he could, I hurried on after the artilleryman. Morte!" e deixando-o digerir isso, se pudesse, corri atrás do artilheiro. At the corner I looked back. Na esquina, olhei para trás. The soldier had left him, and he was still standing by his box, with the pots of orchids on the lid of it, and staring vaguely over the trees. O soldado o havia deixado e ele ainda estava de pé ao lado de sua caixa, com os vasos de orquídeas na tampa, olhando vagamente para as árvores.

No one in Weybridge could tell us where the headquarters were established; the whole place was in such confusion as I had never seen in any town before. Ninguém em Weybridge poderia nos dizer onde a sede foi estabelecida; todo o lugar estava em uma confusão como eu nunca tinha visto em nenhuma cidade antes. Carts, carriages everywhere, the most astonishing miscellany of conveyances and horseflesh. Carruagens, carruagens por toda parte, a mais surpreendente miscelânea de meios de transporte e cavalos. The respectable inhabitants of the place, men in golf and boating costumes, wives prettily dressed, were packing, river-side loafers energetically helping, children excited, and, for the most part, highly delighted at this astonishing variation of their Sunday experiences. Os respeitáveis habitantes do lugar, homens em trajes de golfe e passeios de barco, esposas lindamente vestidas, faziam as malas, mocassins à beira do rio ajudando energicamente, crianças animadas e, na maior parte, muito felizes com essa variação surpreendente de suas experiências de domingo. In the midst of it all the worthy vicar was very pluckily holding an early celebration, and his bell was jangling out above the excitement. Em meio a tudo isso, o digno vigário celebrava com muita coragem uma comemoração antecipada, e seu sino tocava acima da agitação.

I and the artilleryman, seated on the step of the drinking fountain, made a very passable meal upon what we had brought with us. Eu e o artilheiro, sentados no degrau do bebedouro, fizemos uma refeição bastante aceitável com o que havíamos trazido conosco. Patrols of soldiers—here no longer hussars, but grenadiers in white—were warning people to move now or to take refuge in their cellars as soon as the firing began. Patrulhas de soldados - aqui não mais hussardos, mas granadeiros de branco - alertavam as pessoas para que se mudassem agora ou se refugiassem em seus porões assim que os disparos começassem. We saw as we crossed the railway bridge that a growing crowd of people had assembled in and about the railway station, and the swarming platform was piled with boxes and packages. Ao cruzarmos a ponte ferroviária, vimos que uma multidão crescente de pessoas havia se reunido dentro e ao redor da estação ferroviária, e a plataforma fervilhante estava cheia de caixas e pacotes. The ordinary traffic had been stopped, I believe, in order to allow of the passage of troops and guns to Chertsey, and I have heard since that a savage struggle occurred for places in the special trains that were put on at a later hour. O tráfego normal foi interrompido, creio eu, para permitir a passagem de tropas e armas para Chertsey, e ouvi dizer que uma luta selvagem ocorreu por lugares nos trens especiais que foram colocados em uma hora posterior.

We remained at Weybridge until midday, and at that hour we found ourselves at the place near Shepperton Lock where the Wey and Thames join. Permanecemos em Weybridge até o meio-dia, e nessa hora nos encontramos no lugar perto de Shepperton Lock, onde o Wey e o Tâmisa se juntam. Part of the time we spent helping two old women to pack a little cart. Passamos parte do tempo ajudando duas mulheres idosas a embalar um pequeno carrinho. The Wey has a treble mouth, and at this point boats are to be hired, and there was a ferry across the river. O Wey tem uma boca tripla, e neste ponto os barcos estão para ser alugados, e havia uma balsa atravessando o rio. On the Shepperton side was an inn with a lawn, and beyond that the tower of Shepperton Church—it has been replaced by a spire—rose above the trees. Do lado de Shepperton havia uma pousada com gramado e, além dela, a torre da Igreja Shepperton - que foi substituída por uma torre - erguia-se acima das árvores.

Here we found an excited and noisy crowd of fugitives. Aqui encontramos uma multidão animada e barulhenta de fugitivos. As yet the flight had not grown to a panic, but there were already far more people than all the boats going to and fro could enable to cross. O vôo ainda não havia chegado ao pânico, mas já havia muito mais pessoas do que todos os barcos que iam e vinham poderiam permitir a travessia. People came panting along under heavy burdens; one husband and wife were even carrying a small outhouse door between them, with some of their household goods piled thereon. As pessoas vinham ofegando sob fardos pesados; um marido e uma esposa estavam até carregando uma pequena porta de banheiro externa entre eles, com alguns de seus utensílios domésticos empilhados nela. One man told us he meant to try to get away from Shepperton station. Um homem nos disse que pretendia fugir da estação de Shepperton.

There was a lot of shouting, and one man was even jesting. Houve muitos gritos e um homem estava até brincando. The idea people seemed to have here was that the Martians were simply formidable human beings, who might attack and sack the town, to be certainly destroyed in the end. A ideia que as pessoas pareciam ter aqui era que os marcianos eram simplesmente seres humanos formidáveis, que poderiam atacar e saquear a cidade, para serem certamente destruídos no final. Every now and then people would glance nervously across the Wey, at the meadows towards Chertsey, but everything over there was still. De vez em quando, as pessoas olhavam nervosamente para o outro lado do Wey, para os prados na direção de Chertsey, mas tudo ali estava quieto.

Across the Thames, except just where the boats landed, everything was quiet, in vivid contrast with the Surrey side. Do outro lado do Tamisa, exceto apenas onde os barcos pousaram, tudo estava quieto, em nítido contraste com o lado de Surrey. The people who landed there from the boats went tramping off down the lane. As pessoas que desembarcaram dos barcos saíram vagando pela estrada. The big ferryboat had just made a journey. A grande balsa acabara de fazer uma viagem. Three or four soldiers stood on the lawn of the inn, staring and jesting at the fugitives, without offering to help. Três ou quatro soldados estavam no gramado da pousada, olhando e zombando dos fugitivos, sem oferecer ajuda. The inn was closed, as it was now within prohibited hours. A pousada estava fechada, pois agora estava dentro das horas proibidas.

“What’s that?” cried a boatman, and “Shut up, you fool! "O que é isso?" gritou um barqueiro, e “Cale a boca, seu idiota!