The First Men in the Moon eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 255 pages of information about The First Men in the Moon.

The First Men in the Moon eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 255 pages of information about The First Men in the Moon.

Certainly I was intoxicated.

I embarked upon an argument to show the infinite benefits our arrival would confer on the moon.  I involved myself in a rather difficult proof that the arrival of Columbus was, on the whole, beneficial to America.  I found I had forgotten the line of argument I had intended to pursue, and continued to repeat “sim’lar to C’lumbus,” to fill up time.

From that point my memory of the action of that abominable fungus becomes confused.  I remember vaguely that we declared our intention of standing no nonsense from any confounded insects, that we decided it ill became men to hide shamefully upon a mere satellite, that we equipped ourselves with huge armfuls of the fungus—­whether for missile purposes or not I do not know—­and, heedless of the stabs of the bayonet scrub, we started forth into the sunshine.

Almost immediately we must have come upon the Selenites.  There were six of them, and they were marching in single file over a rocky place, making the most remarkable piping and whining sounds.  They all seemed to become aware of us at once, all instantly became silent and motionless, like animals, with their faces turned towards us.

For a moment I was sobered.

“Insects,” murmured Cavor, “insects!  And they think I’m going to crawl about on my stomach—­on my vertebrated stomach!

“Stomach,” he repeated slowly, as though he chewed the indignity.

Then suddenly, with a sort of fury, he made three vast strides and leapt towards them.  He leapt badly; he made a series of somersaults in the air, whirled right over them, and vanished with an enormous splash amidst the cactus bladders.  What the Selenites made of this amazing, and to my mind undignified irruption from another planet, I have no means of guessing.  I seem to remember the sight of their backs as they ran in all directions, but I am not sure.  All these last incidents before oblivion came are vague and faint in my mind.  I know I made a step to follow Cavor, and tripped and fell headlong among the rocks.  I was, I am certain, suddenly and vehemently ill.  I seem to remember, a violent struggle and being gripped by metallic clasps....

My next clear recollection is that we were prisoners at we knew not what depths beneath the moon’s surface; we were in darkness amidst strange distracting noises; our bodies were covered with scratches and bruises, and our heads racked with pain.

Chapter 12

The Selenite’s Face

I found myself sitting crouched together in a tumultuous darkness.  For a long time I could not understand where I was, nor how I had come to this perplexity.  I thought of the cupboard into which I had been thrust at times when I was a child, and then of a very dark and noisy bedroom in which I had slept during an illness.  But these sounds about me were not the noises I had known, and there was a thin flavour in the air like the wind of a stable.  Then I supposed we must still be at work upon the sphere, and that somehow I had got into the cellar of Cavor’s house.  I remembered we had finished the sphere, and fancied I must still be in it and travelling through space.

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The First Men in the Moon from Project Gutenberg. Public domain.