I found a small crowd of about twenty people. They were standing around the huge hole where the cylinder lay. The grass and the sand around it were black. It looked like there was a big explosion when the object hit the ground. Henderson and Ogilvy were not there. They went to the house of Henderson to eat breakfast.
There were four or five boys sitting on the edge of the pit (a large, deep hole in the ground). They were throwing stones at the giant cylinder. I told them to stop, so they started playing games nearby. A few other people were watching the object. I saw a gardener, a girl with a baby, and a butcher with his son.
Most of these people did not know much about space. They stood quietly and looked at the end of the cylinder. They expected to see dead bodies, but the object did not move. Some people left and new people arrived. I climbed into the pit. I thought I heard a very faint noise under my feet, but the top was not turning anymore.
When I was close to the object, I saw how strange it was. At first, it looked like a broken carriage (a vehicle pulled by horses). It looked like a big, rusty metal tank. But the metal was a strange color. Most of the people there did not understand the word extra-terrestrial (something that comes from another planet).
I was sure the Thing came from the planet Mars. But I did not think there was anything alive inside. I thought the top moved because of a machine. I wondered if there were books or coins from Mars inside the cylinder. I wanted to see it open, but nothing happened. At eleven o'clock, I walked back to my home.
In the afternoon, the common was very different. The newspapers in London had big headlines about a "Message from Mars." Many people were excited by the story. All the scientists in the country heard the news too. Now, there were many more people near the sand-pits.
The weather was very hot and there were no clouds. I saw many bicycles and several different carriages (wagons for carrying people) near the road. The ground was still black and there was smoke in the air. A young boy was selling apples and cold drinks to the crowd.
I went to the edge of the pit. I saw Henderson, Ogilvy, and a tall man named Stent. Stent was the Astronomer Royal (the most important scientist who studies stars). He was standing on the cylinder. His face was red and he was very hot. He told the workmen to use their tools to dig around the object.
The workmen uncovered a large part of the cylinder. It was much cooler now. Ogilvy saw me and called to me. He asked me to find Lord Hilton. Lord Hilton was the owner of the land.
Ogilvy was worried because the crowd was too big. The boys were getting in the way of the work. Ogilvy wanted to build a fence to keep the people back. He said he still heard noises inside the cylinder. The workmen could not open the top because it was very smooth.
I was happy to help Ogilvy. I went to the house of Lord Hilton, but he was not there. A servant told me he was on a train from London. It was five o'clock, so I went home to have tea. Then I walked to the station to wait for him.