People still wonder how the Martians kill so quickly and quietly. The Martians use a special machine to make a very strong heat. They send this heat in a straight line toward anything they want to hit. They use a mirror (a piece of glass that reflects light) to point the heat. This machine is like a light in a lighthouse (a tall tower with a strong light to help ships).
The heat is invisible. It is a type of light that no one can see. When the heat touches something, that thing catches fire. It can melt metal and it can break glass. When the heat touches water, the water quickly turns into steam.
That night, nearly forty people lay dead near the pit. The fire burned them so badly that no one could know who they were. All night, the land between Horsell and Maybury was empty. Fires burned everywhere under the stars.
The news of the deaths reached the nearby towns soon. In Woking, the shops were closed. Many people heard stories about the cylinder. They walked over the bridge and along the road to the common. Many young people went there after their work. They wanted to see the new thing from space. They walked and talked together in the evening light.
Most people in Woking did not know the cylinder was open. Henderson had sent a man on a bicycle to the post office. He wanted to send a telegram (a fast written message) to a newspaper. But the news was not in the town yet.
When the people arrived at the common, they saw many groups. People were talking with excitement. They looked at the spinning mirror above the sand-pits. The newcomers soon felt the same excitement.
By half-past eight, more than three hundred people were there. Some people left the road to walk closer to the Martians. Three policemen were there to help. One policeman was on a horse. They tried to keep the people back. Some people in the crowd were loud and rude.
Stent and Ogilvy were worried about the crowd. They sent a message to the barracks (a building where soldiers live). They asked for soldiers to help them. They wanted to protect the Martians from the people. Then Stent and Ogilvy walked toward the pit. The crowd saw them die. They saw the green smoke and the flashes of fire.
The crowd almost died too. A small hill of sand stopped the bottom part of the Heat-Ray. If the Heat-Ray was a little higher, everyone would be dead. The people saw the fire and the men falling. The Heat-Ray moved through the dark toward them.
The beam of heat moved over their heads with a whistling sound. it hit the tops of the trees. It broke the bricks and the windows of a house. The house began to fall down and burn.
The trees caught fire with a loud noise. Burning wood and leaves fell into the road. People's hats and dresses caught fire. Then there were loud screams from the common. A policeman on a horse ran through the crowd. He held his head with his hands and screamed in pain.
A woman screamed, "They are coming!" Everyone turned and pushed to run back to Woking. They ran like a group of scared sheep. The road was narrow and dark between high banks of earth. The crowd was very tight and people fought to move.
Not everyone escaped from the road. Two women and a little boy fell down. The crowd stepped on them and they died. They were left there in the terror and the darkness.