The Greatest Science Fiction Novels & Stories by H. G. Wells. Герберт Уэллс

his eye, presently wandering from his work, caught the sunset blazing at the back of the hill that is over against his own. For a minute perhaps he sat, pen in mouth, admiring the rich golden colour above the crest, and then his attention was attracted by the little figure of a man, inky black, running over the hill-brow towards him. He was a shortish little man, and he wore a high hat, and he was running so fast that his legs verily twinkled.

      “Another of those fools,” said Dr. Kemp. “Like that ass who ran into me this morning round a corner, with the ”Visible Man acoming, sir!’ I can’t imagine what possess people. One might think we were in the thirteenth century.”

      He got up, went to the window, and stared at the dusky hillside, and the dark little figure tearing down it. “He seems in a confounded hurry,” said Dr. Kemp, “but he doesn’t seem to be getting on. If his pockets were full of lead, he couldn’t run heavier.”

      “Spurted, sir,” said Dr. Kemp.

      In another moment the higher of the villas that had clambered up the hill from Burdock had occulted the running figure. He was visible again for a moment, and again, and then again, three times between the three detached houses that came next, and then the terrace hid him.

      “Asses!” said Dr. Kemp, swinging round on his heel and walking back to his writing-table.

      But those who saw the fugitive nearer, and perceived the abject terror on his perspiring face, being themselves in the open roadway, did not share in the doctor’s contempt. By the man pounded, and as he ran he chinked like a well-filled purse that is tossed to and fro. He looked neither to the right nor the left, but his dilated eyes stared straight downhill to where the lamps were being lit, and the people were crowded in the street. And his ill-shaped mouth fell apart, and a glairy foam lay on his lips, and his breath came hoarse and noisy. All he passed stopped and began staring up the road and down, and interrogating one another with an inkling of discomfort for the reason of his haste.

      And then presently, far up the hill, a dog playing in the road yelped and ran under a gate, and as they still wondered something — a wind — a pad, pad, pad, — a sound like a panting breathing, rushed by.

      People screamed. People sprang off the pavement: It passed in shouts, it passed by instinct down the hill. They were shouting in the street before Marvel was halfway there. They were bolting into houses and slamming the doors behind them, with the news. He heard it and made one last desperate spurt. Fear came striding by, rushed ahead of him, and in a moment had seized the town.

      “The Invisible Man is coming! The Invisible Man!”

      CHAPTER XVI

       IN THE “JOLLY CRICKETERS”

       Table of Contents

      The “Jolly Cricketers” is just at the bottom of the hill, where the tramlines begin. The barman leant his fat red arms on the counter and talked of horses with an anaemic cabman, while a black-bearded man in grey snapped up biscuit and cheese, drank Burton, and conversed in American with a policeman off duty.

      “What’s the shouting about!” said the anaemic cabman, going off at a tangent, trying to see up the hill over the dirty yellow blind in the low window of the inn. Somebody ran by outside. “Fire, perhaps,” said the barman.

      Footsteps approached, running heavily, the door was pushed open violently, and Marvel, weeping and dishevelled, his hat gone, the neck of his coat torn open, rushed in, made a convulsive turn, and attempted to shut the door. It was held half open by a strap.

      “Coming!” he bawled, his voice shrieking with terror. “He’s coming. The ‘Visible Man! After me! For Gawd’s sake! ‘Elp! ‘Elp! ‘Elp!”

      “Shut the doors,” said the policeman. “Who’s coming? What’s the row?” He went to the door, released the strap, and it slammed. The American closed the other door.

      “Lemme go inside,” said Marvel, staggering and weeping, but still clutching the books. “Lemme go inside. Lock me in — somewhere. I tell you he’s after me. I give him the slip. He said he’d kill me and he will.”

      “You’re safe,” said the man with the black beard. “The door’s shut. What’s it all about?”

      “Lemme go inside,” said Marvel, and shrieked aloud as a blow suddenly made the fastened door shiver and was followed by a hurried rapping and a shouting outside. “Hullo,” cried the policeman, “who’s there?” Mr. Marvel began to make frantic dives at panels that looked like doors. “He’ll kill me — he’s got a knife or something. For Gawd’s sake —!”

      “Here you are,” said the barman. “Come in here.” And he held up the flap of the bar.

      Mr. Marvel rushed behind the bar as the summons outside was repeated. “Don’t open the door,” he screamed. “Please don’t open the door. Where shall I hide?”

      “This, this Invisible Man, then?” asked the man with the black beard, with one hand behind him. “I guess it’s about time we saw him.”

      The window of the inn was suddenly smashed in, and there was a screaming and running to and fro in the street. The policeman had been standing on the settee staring out, craning to see who was at the door. He got down with raised eyebrows. “It’s that,” he said. The barman stood in front of the bar-parlour door which was now locked on Mr. Marvel, stared at the smashed window, and came round to the two other men.

      Everything was suddenly quiet. “I wish I had my truncheon,” said the policeman, going irresolutely to the door. “Once we open, in he comes. There’s no stopping him.”

      “Don’t you be in too much hurry about that door,” said the anaemic cabman, anxiously.

      “Draw the bolts,” said the man with the black beard, “and if he comes — ” He showed a revolver in his hand.

      “That won’t do,” said the policeman; “that’s murder.”

      “I know what country I’m in,” said the man with the beard. “I’m going to let off at his legs. Draw the bolts.”

      “Not with that blinking thing going off behind me,” said the barman, craning over the blind.

      “Very well,” said the man with the black beard, and stooping down, revolver ready, drew them himself. Barman, cabman, and policeman faced about.

      “Come in,” said the bearded man in an undertone, standing back and facing the unbolted doors with his pistol behind him. No one came in, the door remained closed. Five minutes afterwards when a second cabman pushed his head in cautiously, they were still waiting, and an anxious face peered out of the bar-parlour and supplied information. “Are all the doors of the house shut?” asked Marvel. “He’s going round — prowling round. He’s as artful as the devil.”

      “Good Lord!” said the burly barman. “There’s the back! Just watch them doors! I say —!” He looked about him helplessly. The bar-parlour door slammed and they heard the key turn. “There’s the yard door and the private door. The yard door — “

      He rushed out of the bar.

      In a minute he reappeared with a carving-knife in his hand. “The yard door was open!” he said, and his fat underlip dropped. “He may be in the house now!” said the first cabman.

      “He’s not in the kitchen,” said the barman. “There’s two women there, and I’ve stabbed every inch of it with this little beef slicer. And they don’t think he’s come in. They haven’t noticed — “

      “Have you fastened it?” asked the first cabman.

      “I’m out of frocks,” said the barman.

      The man with the beard replaced his revolver. And even as he did so the flap of the bar was shut down and the bolt clicked,