We left the palace before sunset. I planned to go through the wood that had stopped me before and to sleep beside a fire on the other side. As we walked, I picked up sticks and dry grass until my arms were full. This made us slow, and it was dark when we reached the wood. I had not slept for a night and two days, and I felt sleep coming over me.
Among the black bushes behind us I saw three crouching figures. I needed my hands free for the matches, so I put down my firewood. Then I had an idea: I would surprise our friends behind us by setting it on fire. Later I learnt how stupid this was.
Fire was something completely new to Weena, because in that world people had forgotten how to make it. She wanted to run and play with the red flames, and I had to hold her back. I picked her up and walked boldly into the wood. When I looked back, I saw that the fire had spread to some bushes and was creeping up the grass of the hill. I laughed and turned to the dark trees again. I carried Weena on my left arm and my iron bar in my right hand.
Then I heard a pattering behind me, and the same strange voices I had heard under the ground. Soon I felt a pull at my coat, then at my arm. Weena shivered violently and then went completely still.
It was time for a match. I put her down, and while I felt in my pocket, soft little hands crept over my coat and back, even touching my neck. Then the match flared, and I saw the white backs of the Morlocks as they ran away among the trees. I lit a piece of camphor and threw it on the ground, and I knelt and lifted Weena. She lay without moving. She seemed to have fainted.
Then I understood something terrible. I had turned round several times, and now I had no idea which way to go. So I decided to make a fire where we were. I put Weena down on the grass and quickly collected sticks and dry branches, while the Morlocks’ eyes shone like red jewels in the dark around me. Soon I had a smoky fire. I tried to wake Weena, but she lay like a dead thing.
The smoke and the smell of camphor made my head heavy. I sat down, and I seemed only to close my eyes for a moment. But when I opened them, everything was dark, and the Morlocks had their hands on me. I felt for my matches, and the box was gone! I had fallen asleep, and my fire had gone out. They caught me by the neck, the hair and the arms and pulled me down. It was horrible to feel all those soft creatures on top of me in the darkness, like being caught in a giant spider’s web. I felt little teeth biting my neck. Then my hand touched my iron bar. That gave me strength. I struggled up, shook them off and hit out where I thought their faces were, and for a moment I was free.
I knew that Weena and I were lost, but I decided to make the Morlocks pay for their meat. I stood with my back to a tree and swung the bar in front of me. Then, slowly, the darkness grew lighter. I could see the Morlocks around me, three of them lying at my feet, and all the others were running past me, away through the wood. Their backs were not white now, but red. A little red spark flew across a gap in the branches. Then I understood the smell of burning wood, the growing roar and the red light. My first fire was coming after me.
I looked for Weena, but she was gone. There was no time to think. I ran with the Morlocks, away from the flames, and came out into an open space.
Now I saw the most horrible thing of all that I saw in that future world. The open space was as bright as day. In the middle was a small hill, and all around it the forest was burning, like a wall of fire. On the hill were thirty or forty Morlocks, blinded by the light and heat, stumbling into each other. At first I did not understand that they were blind, and in my fear I hit them with my bar, killing one and hurting several more. But when I heard their moans, I understood how helpless they were in the light, and I hit no more of them.
I walked among them looking for Weena, but she was gone. At last I sat down on top of the hill and watched these blind creatures moving to and fro. For most of that night I believed it was a nightmare. I bit myself and screamed, wanting to wake up. Three times I saw Morlocks put down their heads and run into the flames. At last, above the dying fire and the black smoke, came the white light of day.
I searched again for Weena, but there was no sign of her. They must have left her poor little body in the forest. It was a comfort to think that she had escaped the end the Morlocks had planned for her. Through the smoke I could see the Palace of Green Porcelain, and from there I knew the way to the White Sphinx. I tied some grass around my feet and limped on over the smoking ashes, terribly sad about little Weena. Now, in this old room, it seems like the sadness of a dream. But that morning I was completely alone again, and I longed for this house, this fireside and all of you.
As I walked, I made a discovery. In my trouser pocket there were still some loose matches. Some matches must have fallen out of the box before I lost it.