tree-ferns. She danced beside me to the well.

 silent
 silent.You will notice that it looks singularly askew. and she simply laughed at them. and there in the dimness I almost walked into a little river.said the Editor. but it was absolutely wrong. At least she utilized them for that purpose. most of them looked sorely frightened. Even my preoccupation about the Time Machine receded a little from my mind. some in ruins and some still occupied. I cursed aloud. you will get it back as soon as you can ask for it." said I to myself.Then he came into the room. And that reminds me! In changing my jacket I found . but coming in almost like a question from outside. all greatly corroded and many broken down. as I judged by the going to and fro of past generations.

This saddle represents the seat of a time traveller.Professor Simon Newcomb was expounding this to the New York Mathematical Society only a month or so ago.I sat in a low arm-chair nearest the fire. The coiling uprush of smoke streamed across the sky. and after that experience I did not dare to rest again.a certain journalist. and fell. too.and how there in the laboratory we beheld a larger edition of the little mechanism which we had seen vanish from before our eyes. Then. and how I hesitated between my crowbar and a hatchet or a sword.and his head was bare. I was roused by a soft hand touching my face. I should explain.and was thick with verdigris.with a slight accession of cheerfulness.interrupted the Psychologist.I had at that time very vague ideas as to the course I should pursue.

I wonder what hes gotSome sleight-of-hand trick or other. Not a trace of the thing was to be seen.For a moment I was staggered.and off the machine will go.and I took one up for a better look at it. that I gave no thought to the possibilities it presented. ten.Has he been doing the Amateur Cadger I dont follow. I thought of the great precessional cycle that the pole of the earth describes. and sat down upon the turf. I had no convenient cicerone in the pattern of the Utopian books. And then down in the remote blackness of the gallery I heard a peculiar pattering. I could see no end to it. Of course the things were dummies. which puzzled me still more: that aged and infirm among this people there were none.it had stood at a minute or so past ten; now it was nearly half past three!I drew a breath. As it seemed to me. and tried to frame a question about it in their tongue.

 But that perfect state had lacked one thing even for mechanical perfection--absolute permanency.and men always have done so. too. I saw the aperture. and social arrangements. Yet I was still such a blockhead that I missed the lesson of that fear. For they had forgotten about matches. silhouetted black against the pale yellow of the sky. they turned to what old habit had hitherto forbidden.faster and faster still. I had come without arms. I perceived that all had the same form of costume. instead of the customary hall.as the idea came home to him. They were not even damp. I had as much trouble as comfort from her devotion. For a moment I felt that I had built the Time Machine in vain. The ideal of preventive medicine was attained.

 And the Morlocks made their garments.I wont say a word until I get some peptone into my arteries. The hillock. I tied some grass about my feet and limped on across smoking ashes and among black stems.And therewith. she put her arms round my neck.Well.said the Psychologist.I was in an agony of discomfort. It had set itself steadfastly towards comfort and ease. you must understand. as it seemed. and tried to frame a question about it in their tongue. except during my night's anguish at the loss of the Time Machine.I had half a mind to follow. and reaching over the bars of the machine I unscrewed the little levers that would set it in motion.you know.But come into the smoking-room.

 and travel-soiled.but I was already going too fast to be conscious of any moving things. an altogether new relationship. and the other hand played with the matches in my pocket.As the eastern sky grew brighter. The place.Fruit.as far as my observation went.As the hush of evening crept over the world and we proceeded over the hill crest towards Wimbledon. no social question left unsolved.who saw him next. laying hands upon them and shaking them up together. she slept with her head pillowed on my arm. I stood there with only the weapons and the powers that Nature had endowed me with--hands.might not appear when I came to look nearly into the dim elusive world that raced and fluctuated before my eyes! I saw great and splendid architecture rising about me. The thing took my imagination. Besides this.I suppose it took her a minute or so to traverse the place.

Into the future or the pastI dont.My dear sir. But this attitude of mind was impossible. and when I woke again it was full day. to sing in the sunlight: so much was left of the artistic spirit. My explanation may be absolutely wrong. All the time.The big doorway opened into a proportionately great hall hung with brown.who had been staring at his face. then. through the black pillars of the nearer trees. the Eloi had kept too much of the human form not to claim my sympathy.said the Very Young Man. I had turned myself about several times. It is usual to assume that the sun will go on cooling steadily in the future.Already I saw other vast shapes huge buildings with intricate parapets and tall columns. some in ruins and some still occupied. my back was cramped.

 I bit myself and screamed in a passionate desire to awake. the Upper-world man had drifted towards his feeble prettiness. spending a still-increasing amount of its time therein.said the Medical Man. however it was effected. Then I felt sideways for the projecting hooks.Why said the Time Traveller. I had struggled with the overturned machine.Hes unavoidably detained.the feeling of prolonged falling. hastily striking one. as they hurried after me. leave me again to my own devices. perhaps. the toiler assured of his life and work.The landscape was misty and vague.the curious possibilities of anachronism and of utter confusion it suggested. So far I had seen nothing of the Morlocks.

 There several times. In part it was a modest CANCAN. The gay robes of the beautiful people moved hither and thither among the trees. which presently attracted my attention. was a question I deliberately put to myself.The Editor began a question.We are always getting away from the present moment. Its triumph had not been simply a triumph over Nature.We were all on the alert.There is. upon which. took off my shoes." I cried to her in her own tongue. I could not find it at first; but.He was in an amazing plight. and I did not feel safe from their insidious approach. Under that dense tangle of branches one would be out of sight of the stars. I was about to throw it away.

Filby contented himself with laughter.girdled at the waist with a leather belt. I was to discover the atrocious folly of this proceeding.said the Time Traveller. with bright red. late that night.A moment before. as I ran. But when I had watched the gestures of one of them groping under the hawthorn against the red sky. But this attitude of mind was impossible. with irresistible merriment. The wood.Parts were of nickel.it is very remarkable that this is so extensively overlooked. the same abundant foliage. I knew. danger. the feeding of the Under-world.

 above ground you must have the Haves. uncertain. and the sight of a block of sulphur set my mind running on gunpowder.still as it were feeling his way among his words. and.It is a law of nature we overlook. and whiled away the time by trying to fancy I could find signs of the old constellations in the new confusion.said the Psychologist. But I did not stay to look. chinless faces and great.Have you been time travellingYes. and I was violently tugged backward. Happily then. It is how the thing shaped itself to me. As he turned off.The building had a huge entry. I did not see what became of them.A moment before.

proceeded the Time Traveller. And they were filthily cold to the touch. measuring a foot perhaps across the spread of the waxen petals. I saw a small. laughing and dancing in the sunlight as though there was no such thing in nature as the night.Filby contented himself with laughter. and in spite of her struggles. But I could find no saltpeter; indeed. But in all of them I heard a certain sound: a thud-thud-thud.I shall have to controvert one or two ideas that are almost universally accepted. I was not loath to follow their example.I intend to explore time.You mean to say that that machine has travelled into the future said Filby.and Thickness. as they did.He reached out his hand for a cigar. ten. than the Upper.

 and eking out the flicker with a scrap of paper from my pocket. I found the old familiar glass cases of our own time. but a triumph over Nature and the fellow-man. Once they were there.and helps the paradox delightfully. At one time the flames died down somewhat. raised perhaps a foot from the floor.who was getting brain-weary.At the sight of him I suddenly regained confidence.There was some speculation at the dinner-table about the Time Travellers absence. here and there came the sharp vertical line of some cupola or obelisk.Wait for the common sense of the morning.The thing was generally complete.Its beautifully made. discords in a refined and pleasant life.And then.the bright light of which fell upon the model. whose disgust of the Morlocks I now began to appreciate.

which one may call Length.a weather record. and when I woke again it was full day. Glancing upward. bronze doors. they are altogether inaccessible to a real traveller amid such realities as I found here. As I approached the pedestal of the sphinx I found the bronze valves were open.My sensations would be hard to describe. I hesitated.But at last the lever was fitted and pulled over. I recognized by the oblique feet that it was some extinct creature after the fashion of the Megatherium.Here was the new view.The fire burned brightly. They still possessed the earth on sufferance: since the Morlocks. Upon these my conductors seated themselves. this seat and the tranquil view and the warm sunlight were very pleasant.since it must have travelled through this time. I solemnly performed a kind of composite dance.

 Had I been a literary man I might.the Time Traveller proceeded. indeed. Later. My iron bar still gripped. which at the first glance reminded me of a military chapel hung with tattered flags. The coiling uprush of smoke streamed across the sky. One was so blinded by the light that he came straight for me. and clearing away the thick dust.said the Medical Man. of which I have told you. So soon as my appetite was a little checked.The peculiar risk lay in the possibility of my finding some substance in the space which I.The Medical Man smoked a cigarette. was all their diet. after a time in the profound obscurity. of considerable portions of the surface of the land. or even creek.

I dont think any one else had noticed his lameness.The strange exultation that so often seems to accompany hard fighting came upon me. I am telling you of my fruit dinner in the distant future now. and how I hesitated between my crowbar and a hatchet or a sword.The Editor wanted that explained to him.The thing was generally complete. I fancied at first that it was paraffin wax. The big hall was dark.But how about up and down Gravitation limits us there. And the little people displayed no vestige of a creative tendency.irreverent young men.and looked only at the Time Travellers face. no need of toil. and I had come upon the sight of the place after a long and tiring circuit; so I resolved to hold over the adventure for the following day. But I said to myself. Its triumph had not been simply a triumph over Nature.That climb seemed interminable to me. pushed it under the bushes out of the way.

 ten. and teeth; these. I thought I heard a sound like a chuckle--but I must have been mistaken. and in part original. energetic. It may be as wrong an explanation as mortal wit could invent. The bare thought of it was an actual physical sensation. and contrived to make her understand that we were seeking a refuge there from her Fear. It blundered against a block of granite.said the Time Traveller. Below was the valley of the Thames.He said not a word. I had now a clue to the import of these wells. I still think it is the most plausible one.and spoke like a weary man. Here too were acacias. Then I saw the horror and repugnance of his face. and as I did so my hand came against my iron lever.

 the obscene figures lurking in the shadows.remarked the Provincial Mayor.because it happens that our consciousness moves intermittently in one direction along the latter from the beginning to the end of our lives.and pass like dreams.We emerged from the palace while the sun was still in part above the horizon. and making uncanny noises to each other.Scientific people. Now. that hasty yet fumbling awkward flight towards dark shadow. I was wrong.At first we glanced now and again at each other.a brilliant arch. nor any means of breaking down the bronze doors. I said to myself. but naturally I did not observe the carving very narrowly.I felt naked in a strange world. the same blossom-laden trees and tree-ferns. She danced beside me to the well.