Philip Van Doren Stern (ed) (28 page)

"As
the
eastern
sky
grew
brighter,
and
the
light
of
the
day
came on
and
its
vivid
colouring
returned
upon
the
world
once
more,
I scanned
the
view
keenly.
But
I
saw
no
vestige
of
my
white
figures. They
were
mere
creatures
of
the
half-light.
'They
must
have
been ghosts,'
I
said;
'I
wonder
whence
they
dated.'
For
a
queer
notion
of Grant
Allen's
came
into
my
head,
and
amused
me.
If
each
generation die
and
leave
ghosts,
he
argued,
the
world
at
last
will
get
overcrowded with
them.
On
that
theory
they
would
have
grown
innumerable
some Eight
Hundred
Thousand
Years
hence,
and
it
was
no
great
wonder to
see
four
at
once.
But
the
jest
was
unsatisfying,
and
I
was
thinking of
these
figures
all
the
morning,
until
Weena's
rescue
drove
them out
of
my
head.
I
associated
them
in
some
indefinite
way
with
the white
animal
I
had
startled
in
my
first
passionate
search
for
the
Time Machine.
But
Weena
was
a
pleasant
substitute.
Yet
all
the
same,
they were
soon
destined
to
take
far
deadlier
possession
of
my
mind.

"I
think
I
have
said
how
much
hotter
than
our
own
was
the
weather of
this
Golden
Age.
I
cannot
account
for
it.
It
may
be
that
the
sun was
hotter,
or
the
earth
nearer
the
sun.
It
is
usual
to
assume
that
the sun
will
go
on
cooling
steadily
in
the
future.
But
people,
unfamiliar with
such
speculations
as
those
of
the
younger
Darwin,
forget
that
the planets
must
ultimately
fall
back
one
by
one
into
the
parent
body. As
these
catastrophes
occur,
the
sun
will
blaze
with
renewed
energy; and
it
may
be
that
some
inner
planet
had
suffered
this
fate.
Whatever
the
reason,
the
fact
remains
that
the
sun
was
very
much
hotter than
we
know
it.

"Well,
one
very
hot
morning—my
fourth,
I
think—as
I
was
seeking shelter
from
the
heat
and
glare
in
a
colossal
ruin
near
the
great
house where
I
slept
and
fed,
there
happened
this
strange
thing:
Clambering among
these
heaps
of
masonry,
I
found
a
narrow
gallery,
whose
end and
side
windows
were
blocked
by
fallen
masses
of
stone.
By
contrast with
the
brilliancy
outside,
it
seemed
at
first
impenetrably
dark
to me.
I
entered
it
groping,
for
the
change
from
light
to
blackness
made spots
of
colour
swim
before
me.
Suddenly
I
halted
spellbound.
A pair
of
eyes,
luminous
by
reflection
against
the
daylight
without,
was watching
me
out
of
the
darkness.

"The
old
instinctive
dread
of
wild
beasts
came
upon
me.
I clenched
my
hands
and
steadfastly
looked
into
the
glaring
eyeballs. I
was
afraid
to
turn.
Then
the
thought
of
the
absolute
security
in which
humanity
appeared
to
be
living
came
to
my
mind.
And
then I
remembered
that
strange
terror
of
the
dark.
Overcoming
my
fear to
some
extent,
I
advanced
a
step
and
spoke.
I
will
admit
that
my voice
was
harsh
and
ill-controlled.
I
put
out
my
hand
and
touched something
soft.
At
once
the
eyes
darted
sideways,
and
something white
ran
past
me.
I
turned
with
my
heart
in
my
mouth,
and
saw a
queer
little
ape-like
figure,
its
head
held
down
in
a
peculiar
manner, running
across
the
sunlit
space
behind
me.
It
blundered
against
a block
of
granite,
staggered
aside,
and
in
a
moment
was
hidden
in
a black
shadow
beneath
another
pile
of
ruined
masonry.