When I returned to the common, the sun was going down. The sky was a bright yellow color. I saw many groups of people walking toward the sand-pits. There were about two hundred people there now. They were shouting and pushing to see the hole. I heard the voice of Stent. He shouted, "Stay back! Stay back!"
A boy ran past me. He looked very afraid. "It is moving," the boy said to me. "The top is unscrewing. I do not like it. I am going home." He did not stop running.
I walked closer to the crowd. There were now almost three hundred people. They were pushing each other to get a better view. "A man fell into the pit!" someone cried. The crowd moved back and forth. I pushed through the people to reach the front.
I heard a strange humming (a low, steady sound like a bee) coming from the pit. Ogilvy was there and saw me. "Help me keep these people back," Ogilvy said. "We do not know what is inside that thing!"
I saw a young man from a shop in Woking. The crowd had pushed him into the hole. He was standing on the cylinder and trying to climb out. The end of the cylinder was turning. A long metal screw was coming out of the top.
Suddenly, the lid fell onto the ground with a loud noise. I looked at the dark opening of the cylinder. The sun was behind it, so the inside looked perfectly black. Everyone expected to see a man come out. I also thought a man was inside.
Then I saw something moving in the shadows. It was gray and it moved in circles. Then I saw two large, bright eyes. Something like a small gray snake came out of the hole. Then another one appeared. These were tentacles (long, thin parts of an animal’s body that can move and grab things).
I felt very cold. A woman behind me screamed loudly. I saw more tentacles coming out of the cylinder. The people around me were very afraid now. I saw horror on their faces. Everyone started to move away from the edge of the pit.
I stood still and stared. A big, gray body came out of the cylinder. It was as large as a bear. It moved slowly and it looked very heavy. Its skin was shiny like wet leather.
The creature had a large head and two big, dark eyes. It had a face, but it was not a human face. Under the eyes, there was a mouth without lips. The mouth was shaking and liquid came out of it. The whole body moved up and down as the creature breathed.
The Martian looked terrible. Its mouth was shaped like a V. It did not have a chin or a forehead. Its skin looked like a brown fungus (a soft living thing like a mushroom). I felt very sick and afraid when I looked at it.
Suddenly, the monster fell over the edge of the cylinder. It fell into the pit with a heavy sound. It made a strange, thick cry. Then another creature appeared in the dark opening.
I turned and I ran away. I ran toward some trees about a hundred yards away. I was running fast, but I still looked back at the pit. I could not stop looking at those monsters.
I stopped near some small trees. I was breathing very hard. Many people were standing on the common. They were also watching in terror. They all stared at the piles of sand at the edge of the pit.
Then I saw the head of the shopman. He was still trying to climb out of the pit. He got his shoulder up, but then he slipped back. Suddenly, he disappeared into the hole. I thought I heard a quiet scream. I wanted to help him, but I was too afraid to move.
The pit and the sand hid everything. People stood in a large circle. They stood in ditches and behind bushes. They shouted to each other and watched the sand. The carts and the horses stayed near the pit, but the people were gone.