II
WHAT WE SAW FROM THE RUINED HOUSE
After eating we crept back to the scullery,
and there I must have dozed again, for when
presently I stirred I was alone. The thudding
vibration continued with wearisome persistence. I whispered for the curate several times, and at last felt my way to the door of the
kitchen. It was still daylight, and I perceived
him across the room, lying against the triangular hole that looked out upon the Martians. His shoulders were hunched, so that his head
was hidden from me.
I could hear a number of noises, almost like those in an engine-shed, and the place rocked with that beating thud. Through the aperture in the wall I could see the top of a tree touched with gold, and the warm blue of a tranquil evening sky. For a minute or so I remained watching the curate, and then I advanced, crouching and stepping with extreme care amid the broken crockery that littered the floor.
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