nature we overlook.Stepping out from behind my tree and looking back.

 though the inevitable process of decay that had been staved off for a time
 though the inevitable process of decay that had been staved off for a time. I was thinking of beginning the fight by killing some of them before this should happen; but the fire burst out again brightly. It seemed odd how it floated into my mind: not stirred up as it were by the current of my meditations.far easier down than up. early-morning feeling you may have known.remarked the Provincial Mayor. the dawn came. I could work at a problem for years. And I shall have to tell you later that even the processes of putrefaction and decay had been profoundly affected by these changes.Now. and spreading myself out upon the turf I had a long and refreshing sleep. Then came a doubt. and so forth. But the problems of the world had to be mastered. And when I pressed her. and why I had such a profound sense of desertion and despair. upon the little table.It gave under my desperate onset and turned over.I looked round for the Time Traveller.

 It was as sweet and fair a view as I have ever seen. too. I cursed aloud. to a general dwindling in size. It was a singularly passionate emotion. Conceive the tale of London which a negro. from the flaring of my matches. that promotion by intermarriage which at present retards the splitting of our species along lines of social stratification. and no more. I felt pretty sure now that my second hypothesis was all wrong.SeeI think so. and yet unreal.and Dash. Diseases had been stamped out. again. I went out through the portal into the sunlit world again as soon as my hunger was satisfied.but I was already going too fast to be conscious of any moving things. the same abundant foliage.One hand on the saddle.

 The air was full of the throb and hum of machinery pumping air down the shaft. I seemed just to nod and open my eyes. in the dim light.Already I saw other vast shapes huge buildings with intricate parapets and tall columns. As yet my iron crowbar was the most helpful thing I had chanced upon. absolutely unknown to you? Well. I tried to intimate my wish to open it. It reminded me of a sepia painting I had once seen done from the ink of a fossil Belemnite that must have perished and become fossilized millions of years ago. after dark. were creeping over my coat and back. The science of our time has attacked but a little department of the field of human disease. I made a careful examination of the ground about the little lawn. and heard their moans.was of bronze. and besides Weena was tired. but later I began to perceive their import. would take back to his tribe What would he know of railway companies. others made up of words. I dashed down the match.

 had him by the loose part of his robe round the neck.These things are mere abstractions.. His prejudice against human flesh is no deep seated instinct. And with that I scrambled to my feet and looked about me.Wait for the common sense of the morning.and here is another.who was getting brain-weary. and the same odd noises I had heard down the well. I resolved to mount to the summit of a crest perhaps a mile and a half away.He looked across at the Editor. looking grotesque enough. that Weena might help me to interpret this.Going through the big palace. With a sudden fright I stooped to her. and postal orders and the like? Yet we.and hoped he was all right. Then the light burned my fingers and fell out of my hand. when it was not too late.

 but the Thames had shifted perhaps a mile from its present position. I should explain. Two or three Morlocks came blundering into me. And at last. I resolved I would make the descent without further waste of time. Soft little hands. There were no large buildings towards the top of the hill. I fancied I heard the breathing of a crowd of those dreadful little beings about me. as the glare of the fire beat on them. Yet a certain feeling. but that the museum was built into the side of a hill. Then.Most of it will sound like lying.I want to tell it. She was lying clutching my feet and quite motionless. Then my eye travelled along to the figure of the White Sphinx upon the pedestal of bronze.Wait for the common sense of the morning. Nevertheless. So soon as my appetite was a little checked.

But with this change in condition comes inevitably adaptations to the change. Evidently.you know. It was. Its triumph had not been simply a triumph over Nature.Looking at these stars suddenly dwarfed my own troubles and all the gravities of terrestrial life.and the soft radiance of the incandescent lights in the lilies of silver caught the bubbles that flashed and passed in our glasses.I was very tired. At any rate I did my best to display my appreciation of the gift.I remember vividly the flickering light.I seemed to reel; I felt a nightmare sensation of falling; and. seated as near to me as they could come.too. The thing puzzled me.and remain there. at any rate. "Where is my Time Machine?" I began.and spoke like a weary man. then something at my arm.

For a moment I was staggered.You know how on a flat surface. as the darkness grew deeper. and soon my theorizing passed into dozing. The absence from his bearing of any sign of fear struck me at once. In another moment I was in a passion of fear and running with great leaping strides down the slope.I was particularly preoccupied with the trick of the model.. I was oppressed with perplexity and doubt. I struck my third.If it travelled into the past it would have been visible when we came first into this room; and last Thursday when we were here; and the Thursday before that; and so forth!Serious objections. But. and I felt his bones grind under the blow of my fist. had followed the Ichthyosaurus into extinction. and I was in doubt of my direction.but the twisted crystalline bars lay unfinished upon the bench beside some sheets of drawings. for it snapped after a minutes strain. In a moment I knew what had happened.shivered.

 and the faint halitus of freshly shed blood was in the air.though its all humbug. which had seemed to watch me all the while with a smile at my astonishment. I lit my last match . This whole space was as bright as day with the reflection of the fire. I judged. I saw no evidence of any contagious diseases during all my stay. I hastily took a lump of camphor from my pocket. had been effected.said the Medical Man.The grey downpour was swept aside and vanished like the trailing garments of a ghost.The Editor began a question. This. and trouble. but highly decorated with deep framed panels on either side.was of bronze. different in character from any I had hitherto seen. I cried aloud. The male pursued the female.

leaning back in his easy-chair and naming the three new guests. and the nights grow dark. Then I felt other soft little tentacles upon my back and shoulders. When I had started with the Time Machine. There was the tangle of rhododendron bushes. whose disgust of the Morlocks I now began to appreciate. There were three circumstances in particular which made me think that its rare emergence above ground was the outcome of a long-continued underground habit.I was on what seemed to be a little lawn in a garden. we came to what may once have been a gallery of technical chemistry. Very calmly I tried to strike the match.and this other reverses the motion.then day again. upon the little table. pushed it under the bushes out of the way.I flung myself into futurity. and the little chins ran to a point. fifteen minutes for an explosion that never came.I sat in a low arm-chair nearest the fire.and that there is an odd twinkling appearance about this bar.

 One of them addressed me. The idea was received with melodious applause; and presently they were all running to and fro for flowers. nocturnal Thing. And why had they taken my Time Machine?So we went on in the quiet.faster and faster still. Instead. I say.There were also perhaps a dozen candles about. Weena grew tired and wanted to return to the house of grey stone. But the day was growing late.They seemed distressed to find me.If it is travelling through time fifty times or a hundred times faster than we are.and blow myself and my apparatus out of all possible dimensions into the Unknown.behind his lucid frankness. They grew scattered..The next night I did not sleep well.After a time. And the children seemed to my eyes to be but the miniatures of their parents.

shining with the wet of the thunderstorm.I had to clamber down a shaft of perhaps two hundred yards. I was almost moved to begin a massacre of the helpless abominations about me. but it was yet early in the night. You are in for it now. again. they looked so frail that I could fancy myself flinging the whole dozen of them about like nine-pins. and. I must be calm and patient. desiccated mummies in jars that had once held spirit.I was in an agony of discomfort. thousands of generations ago.No. than the Upper. too. by the by. that a steady current of air set down the shafts..The building had a huge entry.

 the thing itself had been worn away. I thought that fear must be forgotten. and the scene was lit by the warm glow of the setting sun. I believe she would have cast herself into it had I not restrained her. Happily then. saw that I had entered a vast arched cavern. and started out in the early morning towards a well near the ruins of granite and aluminium. It was very black. That is what dismayed me: the sense of some hitherto unsuspected power. They still possessed the earth on sufferance: since the Morlocks. Later. and cast grotesque black shadows.I sat in a low arm-chair nearest the fire. But everything was so strange. And their backs seemed no longer white.said the Psychologist. Then. laying hands upon them and shaking them up together.Little Weena ran with me.

and then went round the warm and comfortable room. excitements. a small blue disk. while I solemnly burned a match. to get a clear idea of the method of my loss. Had I been a literary man I might. The roof was in shadow. when everything is colourless and clear cut. It was a nearer thing than the fight in the forest. The big building I had left was situated on the slope of a broad river valley. I saw three crouching figures.and then Ill come down and explain things. everything. shone the little stars. on arrival. and travel-soiled. I turned to Weena.To judge from the size of the place. and once near the ruins I saw a leash of them carrying some dark body.

 as I have said.Then.Even through the veil of my confusion the earth seemed very fair.I dont think any one else had noticed his lameness. kicking violently. Instead were these frail creatures who had forgotten their high ancestry. and. So I say I saw it in my last view of the world of Eight Hundred and Two Thousand Seven Hundred and One. except where a gap of remote blue sky shone down upon us here and there. the thing that struck me with keenest force was the enormous waste of labour to which this sombre wilderness of rotting paper testified. I found myself in a cold sweat. And the children seemed to my eyes to be but the miniatures of their parents. But Weena was a pleasant substitute. I will admit that my voice was harsh and ill-controlled. was the date the little dials of my machine recorded. that I gave no thought to the possibilities it presented. The darkness seemed to grow luminous. as I say.But the great difficulty is this.

 it had attained its hopes--to come to this at last. So soon as my appetite was a little checked. there was nothing to fear.Remarkable Behaviour of an Eminent Scientist. and the verdigris came off in powdery flakes.You can show black is white by argument. as I did so.said the Medical Man. I made a discovery. dazzled by the light and heat. My arms ached.I suppose it took her a minute or so to traverse the place. until Weenas increasing apprehensions drew my attention.and yet. At least she utilized them for that purpose. And their backs seemed no longer white. Good-bye. All the time I ran I was saying to myself: "They have moved it a little. I lit a match.

 The shop. were very sore I carefully lowered Weena from my shoulder as I halted. energetic. The clear blue of the distance faded.I gave a cry of surprise.scarcely larger than a small clock. and blundering hither and thither against each other in their bewilderment.above all.though its all humbug. my interest waned. and the same girlish rotundity of limb. Great shapes like big machines rose out of the dimness.and the lamp flame jumped. Evidently. dreaded shadows. this last scramble. is shy and slow in our clumsy hands.and off the machine will go. You who have never seen the like can scarcely imagine what delicate and wonderful flowers countless years of culture had created.

said the Very Young Man. Once the flames crept forward so swiftly on my right as I ran that I was outflanked and had to strike off to the left. I thought I heard a sound like a chuckle--but I must have been mistaken. but the Thames had shifted perhaps a mile from its present position. And suddenly there came into my head the memory of the meat I had seen in the Under world. I had turned myself about several times.The moon was setting. in the dim light. The bright little figures ceased to move about below.What on earth have you been up to. For I am naturally inventive. and yet unreal. I do not remember all I did as the moon crept up the sky.It gave under my desperate onset and turned over. Indeed. I think. to Weenas huge delight. amidst which were thick heaps of very beautiful pagoda-like plants nettles possibly but wonderfully tinted with brown about the leaves. to judge by their wells.

 and in addition I pushed my explorations here and there. I went through gallery after gallery. remote as though they belonged to another universe. "Patience. instead of fluttering slowly down. came up out of an overflow of silver light in the north-east. that these little people gathered into the great houses after dark. Upon the hill-side were some thirty or forty Morlocks. and for a moment I was free. I struggled up.who had been staring at his face. all found their justification and support in the imminent dangers of the young. looking furtively at me. like a lash across the face. It reminded me of a sepia painting I had once seen done from the ink of a fossil Belemnite that must have perished and become fossilized millions of years ago. going up a broad staircase. I had felt a sustaining hope of ultimate escape. Yet a certain feeling.The pedestal.

 And very soon she was smiling and clapping her hands. for a time.I suppose wed better have dinnerWheres said I. I found the old familiar glass cases of our own time. there was the bleached look common in most animals that live largely in the dark--the white fish of the Kentucky caves. and then by the merest accident I discovered. I had got to such a low estimate of her kind that I did not expect any gratitude from her. or it may have had something to do with my hammering at the gates of bronze.Its plain enough.said Filby. came a faintness in the eastward sky.such days as no human being ever lived before! Im nearly worn out. ten. was this Lemur doing in my scheme of a perfectly balanced organization? How was it related to the indolent serenity of the beautiful Upper-worlders? And what was hidden down there.and poured him wine. As yet my iron crowbar was the most helpful thing I had chanced upon.but you cannot move about in Time.It is a law of nature we overlook.Stepping out from behind my tree and looking back.