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13 - The Invisible Man - H G Wells · Daily Classic Sci Fi Books

0:00
Speaker 1: Chapter twenty seven, The Siege of Kemp's House. Kemp read
0:08
Speaker 1: a strange missive written in pencil on a greasy sheet
0:11
Speaker 1: of paper. You have been amazingly energetic and clever. This
0:15
Speaker 1: letter ran though what you stand again by it, I
0:18
Speaker 1: cannot imagine. You are against me. For a whole day.
0:22
Speaker 1: You have chased me. You have tried to rob me
0:24
Speaker 1: of a night's rest. But I have had food in
0:27
Speaker 1: spite of you. I have slept in spite of you.
0:29
Speaker 1: And the game is only beginning. The game is only beginning.
0:34
Speaker 1: There is nothing for it but to start the terror.
0:37
Speaker 1: This announces the first day of the terror. Port Burdock
0:40
Speaker 1: is no longer under the Queen. Tell your colonel of
0:42
Speaker 1: police and the rest of them. It is under me
0:46
Speaker 1: the terror. This is day one of year one of
0:50
Speaker 1: the new Epoch, the epoch of the Invisible Man. I
0:53
Speaker 1: am invisible man, the first to begin with. The rule
0:57
Speaker 1: will be easy. The first day there will be one execution.
1:01
Speaker 1: For the sake of example, a man named Kemp. Death
1:05
Speaker 1: starts for him to day. He may lock himself away,
1:09
Speaker 1: hide himself away, get guards about him, put on armor.
1:12
Speaker 1: If he likes death, the unseen death is coming, let
1:17
Speaker 1: him take precautions. It will impress my people. Death starts
1:22
Speaker 1: from the pillar box. By midday the letter will fall
1:25
Speaker 1: in as the postman comes along. Then off the game begins.
1:28
Speaker 1: Death starts. Help him, not my people. Let death fall
1:31
Speaker 1: upon you also today Kemp is to die. Kemp read
1:39
Speaker 1: this letter twice. It's no hoax, he said. That's his voice,
1:43
Speaker 1: and he means it. He turned the folded sheet over
1:46
Speaker 1: and saw on the addressed side of it the postmark
1:49
Speaker 1: Hinton Dean and the prosaic detail two pence to pay.
1:54
Speaker 1: He got up slowly, leaving his lunch unfinished the letter
1:57
Speaker 1: had come by the one o'clock post, and went into
2:00
Speaker 1: his study. He rang for his housekeeper and told her
2:03
Speaker 1: to go round the house at once, examining all the
2:06
Speaker 1: fastenings of the windows and closing all the shutters. He
2:10
Speaker 1: closed the shutters of his study himself. From a locked
2:13
Speaker 1: strawer in his bedroom, he took a little revolver, examined
2:16
Speaker 1: it carefully, and put it into the pocket of his
2:18
Speaker 1: lounge jacket. He wrote a number of brief notes, one
2:22
Speaker 1: to Colonel Adye, gave them to his servant to take
2:25
Speaker 1: with explicit instructions as to her way of leaving the house.
2:29
Speaker 1: There is no danger, he said, and added a mental
2:32
Speaker 1: reservation to you. He remained meditative for a space after
2:37
Speaker 1: doing this, and then returned to his cooling lunch. He
2:41
Speaker 1: ate with gaps of thought. Finally he struck the table sharply.
2:45
Speaker 1: We will have him, he said, and I am the bait.
2:49
Speaker 1: He will come too far. He went up to the belvidere,
2:54
Speaker 1: carefully shutting every door after him. It's a game, he said,
2:57
Speaker 1: an odd game, but the chances are all for me. Me,
3:00
Speaker 1: mister Griffin, in spite of your invisibility, Gryffin contremundum with
3:05
Speaker 1: a vengeance. He stood at the window, staring at the
3:09
Speaker 1: hot hillside. He must get food every day, and I
3:13
Speaker 1: don't envy him. Did he really sleep last night out
3:17
Speaker 1: in the open, somewhere secure from collisions? I wish we
3:20
Speaker 1: could get some good, cold, wet weather instead of the heat.
3:25
Speaker 1: He may be watching me now. He went to close
3:29
Speaker 1: the window. Something rapped smartly against the brickwork over the
3:32
Speaker 1: frame and made him start violently back. I'm getting nervous,
3:37
Speaker 1: said Kemp. But it was five minutes before he went
3:40
Speaker 1: to the window again. It must have been a sparrow,
3:43
Speaker 1: he said, Presently, he heard the front door bell ringing,
3:47
Speaker 1: and hurried downstairs. He unbolted and unlocked the door, examined
3:51
Speaker 1: the chain, put it up, and opened cautiously, without showing himself.
3:56
Speaker 1: A familiar voice hailed him. It was aide. Your servant's
4:01
Speaker 1: been assaulted, Kemp, He said, round the door, what exclaimed Kemp?
4:06
Speaker 1: Had that note of yours taken away from her? He's
4:09
Speaker 1: close about here, Let me in. Kemp released the chain
4:14
Speaker 1: and ad I entered through as narrow an opening as possible.
4:17
Speaker 1: He stood in the hall, looking with infinite relief at
4:20
Speaker 1: Kemp refastening the door. Note was snatched out of her hand.
4:24
Speaker 1: Scared her horribly. She's down at the station hysterics. He's
4:28
Speaker 1: close here. What was it about? Kemp swore? What a
4:34
Speaker 1: fool I was, said Kemp. I might have known. It's
4:37
Speaker 1: not an hour's walk from Hinton Dean already. What's up?
4:41
Speaker 1: Said ad I? Look here, said Kemp, and led the
4:45
Speaker 1: way into his study. He handed Ady the Invisible Man's letter.
4:49
Speaker 1: Ad I read it and whistled softly, And you, said
4:52
Speaker 1: ad I proposed a trap like a fool, said Kemp,
4:57
Speaker 1: and sent my proposal out by a maid servant to hear.
5:01
Speaker 1: Ad I followed Kemp's profanity. He'll clear out, said ad I.
5:06
Speaker 1: Not he, said Kemp. A resounding smash of glass came
5:11
Speaker 1: from upstairs. Adi had a silvery glimpse of a little
5:15
Speaker 1: revolver half out of Kemp's pocket. It's a window upstairs,
5:19
Speaker 1: said Kemp, and led the way up. There came a
5:22
Speaker 1: second smash while they were still on the staircase. When
5:24
Speaker 1: they reached the study, they found two of the three
5:27
Speaker 1: windows smashed, half the room littered with splendid glass, and
5:30
Speaker 1: one big flint lying on the writing table. The two
5:34
Speaker 1: men stopped in the doorway, contemplating the wreckage. Kemp swore again,
5:38
Speaker 1: and as he did so, the third window went with
5:40
Speaker 1: a snap like a pistol, hung starred for a moment,
5:44
Speaker 1: and collapsed in jagged, shivering triangles into the room. What's
5:49
Speaker 1: this for, said ad I. It's a beginning, said Kemp.
5:54
Speaker 1: There's no way of climbing up here, Not for a cat,
5:57
Speaker 1: said Kemp. No shutters, not here all the downstairs room.
6:03
Speaker 1: Hullo smash and then whack of boards hit hard came
6:08
Speaker 1: from downstairs. Confound him, said Kemp. That must be yes,
6:13
Speaker 1: it's one of the bedrooms. He's going to do all
6:15
Speaker 1: the house. But he's a fool. The shutters are up
6:19
Speaker 1: and the glass will fall outside. He'll cut his feet.
6:24
Speaker 1: Another window proclaimed its destruction. The two men stood on
6:27
Speaker 1: the landing, perplexed. I have it, said Ady. Let me
6:31
Speaker 1: have a stick or something. I'll go down to the
6:33
Speaker 1: station and get their bloodhounds put on. That ought to
6:36
Speaker 1: settle him. They're hard by not ten minutes, another window
6:40
Speaker 1: went the way of its fellows. You haven't a revolver,
6:43
Speaker 1: asked ad I. Kemp's hand went to his pocket. Then
6:47
Speaker 1: he hesitated, I haven't one, at least to spare. I'll
6:53
Speaker 1: bring it back, said Ade. You'll be safe here. Kemp,
6:56
Speaker 1: ashamed of his momentary lapse from truthfulness, and him the weapon.
7:02
Speaker 1: Now for the door, said Ada. As they stood hesitating
7:06
Speaker 1: in the hall, they heard one of the first floor
7:08
Speaker 1: bedroom windows crack and clash. Kemp went to the door
7:12
Speaker 1: and began to slip the bolts as silently as possible.
7:15
Speaker 1: His face was a little paler than usual. You must
7:19
Speaker 1: step straight out, said Kemp. In another moment, ad I
7:23
Speaker 1: was on the doorstep and the bolts were dropping back
7:24
Speaker 1: into the stables. He hesitated for a moment, feeling more
7:28
Speaker 1: comfortable with his back against the door. Then he marched
7:32
Speaker 1: upright and square down the steps. He crossed the lawn
7:35
Speaker 1: and approached the gate. A little breeze seemed to ripple
7:39
Speaker 1: over the grass. Something moved near him. Stop a bit,
7:44
Speaker 1: said a voice, and Ada stopped dead, and his hand
7:48
Speaker 1: tightened on the revolver. Well, said ad I, white and
7:53
Speaker 1: grim and every nerve tense, oblige me by going back
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Speaker 1: to the house, said the voice, as tense and grim
8:01
Speaker 1: as Adeyes, sorry, said Adi a little hoarsely, and moistened
8:06
Speaker 1: his lips with his tongue. The voice was on his
8:09
Speaker 1: left front. He thought, supposed he were to take his
8:12
Speaker 1: luck with a shot? What are you going for? Said
8:14
Speaker 1: the voice, and there was a quick movement of the
8:17
Speaker 1: two and a flash of sunlight from the open lip
8:20
Speaker 1: of Adi's pocket. Ada I desisted and thought, where I go,
8:26
Speaker 1: he said, slowly, is my own business. The words were
8:31
Speaker 1: still on his lips when an arm came round his neck.
8:33
Speaker 1: His back fell to knee, and he was sprawling backward.
8:36
Speaker 1: He drew clumsily and fired absurdly, and in another moment
8:40
Speaker 1: he was struck in the mouth, and the revolver rested
8:42
Speaker 1: from his grip. He made a vain clutch at a
8:45
Speaker 1: slippery limb, tried to struggle up and fell back. Damn,
8:49
Speaker 1: said Ada. The voice laughed, I'd kill you now if
8:53
Speaker 1: it wasn't the waist of a bullet, he said. He
8:56
Speaker 1: saw the revolver in mid air six feet off, covering
8:59
Speaker 1: him well, said ad I, sitting up, Get up, said
9:05
Speaker 1: the voice. Adi stood up. Attention, said the voice, and
9:10
Speaker 1: then fiercely. Don't try any games. Remember I can see
9:14
Speaker 1: your face if you can't see mine. You've got to
9:17
Speaker 1: go back to the house. He won't let me in,
9:21
Speaker 1: said ad I. That's a pity, said the invisible man.
9:26
Speaker 1: I've got no quarrel with you. Ada moistened his lips again.
9:31
Speaker 1: He glanced away from the barrel of the revolver and
9:34
Speaker 1: saw the sea far off, very blue and dark under
9:36
Speaker 1: the midday sun, the smooth green down, the white cliff
9:40
Speaker 1: of the head, and the multitudinous town, and suddenly he
9:43
Speaker 1: knew that life was very sweet. His eyes came back
9:47
Speaker 1: to this little metal thing hanging between heaven and earth
9:49
Speaker 1: six yards away. What am I to do? He said, sullenly.
9:55
Speaker 1: What am I to do? Asked the invisible man. You
9:58
Speaker 1: will get help. The only thing is for you to
10:00
Speaker 1: go back. I will try if he lets me in.
10:04
Speaker 1: Will you promise not to rush the door. I've got
10:08
Speaker 1: no quarrel with you, said the voice. Kemp had hurried
10:13
Speaker 1: upstairs after letting Adi out, and now crouching among the
10:16
Speaker 1: broken glass and peering cautiously over the edge of the
10:18
Speaker 1: study window sill, he saw Adi stand parleying with the unseen.
10:23
Speaker 1: Why doesn't he fire, whispered Kemp to himself. Then the
10:28
Speaker 1: revolver moved a little, and the glint of the sunlight
10:30
Speaker 1: flashed in Kemp's eyes. He shaded his eyes and tried
10:34
Speaker 1: to see the source of the blinding beam. Surely, he said,
10:37
Speaker 1: Ade has given up the revolver. Promise not to rush
10:41
Speaker 1: the door. Adi was saying, don't push a winning game
10:44
Speaker 1: too far. Give a man a chance. You go back
10:48
Speaker 1: to the house. I tell you flatly, I will not
10:51
Speaker 1: promise anything. Ada's decision seemed suddenly made. He turned towards
10:57
Speaker 1: the house, walking slowly with his hands behind him. Kemp
11:00
Speaker 1: watched him, puzzled. The revolver vanished, flashed again into sight,
11:05
Speaker 1: vanished again, and became evident on a closer scrutiny as
11:08
Speaker 1: a little dark object following Adey. Then things happened very quickly.
11:13
Speaker 1: Ad I leapt backwards, swung around, clutched at this little object,
11:17
Speaker 1: missed it, threw up his hands and fell forward on
11:19
Speaker 1: his face, leaving a little puff of blue in the air.
11:23
Speaker 1: Kemp did not hear the sound of the shot. Ady writhed,
11:27
Speaker 1: raised himself on one arm, fell forward, and lay still
11:36
Speaker 1: for a space. Kemp remained staring at the quiet carelessness
11:39
Speaker 1: of Ady's attitude. The afternoon was very hot, and still
11:43
Speaker 1: nothing seemed stirring in all the world, save a couple
11:46
Speaker 1: of yellow butterflies chasing each other through the shrubbery between
11:49
Speaker 1: the house and the road gate. Aide I lay on
11:52
Speaker 1: the lawn near the gate. The blinds of all the
11:55
Speaker 1: villas down the hill road were drawn, but in one
11:58
Speaker 1: little green summer house was a white figure, apparently an
12:01
Speaker 1: old man asleep. Kemp scrutinized the surroundings of the house
12:05
Speaker 1: for a glimpse of the revolver, but it had vanished.
12:08
Speaker 1: His eyes came back to Adai. The game was opening well.
12:16
Speaker 1: Then came a ringing and knocking at the front door
12:19
Speaker 1: that grew at last tumultuous, but pursuant to Kemp's instructions,
12:23
Speaker 1: the servant had locked themselves into their rooms. This was
12:26
Speaker 1: followed by a silence. Kemp sat listening, and then began
12:30
Speaker 1: peering cautiously out of the three windows, one after another.
12:35
Speaker 1: He went to the staircase head and stood listening uneasily.
12:39
Speaker 1: He armed himself with his bedroom poker and went to
12:41
Speaker 1: examine the interior fastenings of the ground floor windows. Again
12:45
Speaker 1: everything was safe and quiet. He returned to the Belvidere ad.
12:50
Speaker 1: I lay motionless over the edge of the gravel, just
12:53
Speaker 1: as he had fallen. Coming along the road by the
12:56
Speaker 1: villas with the house maid and two policemen. Everything was
13:00
Speaker 1: deadly still. The three people seemed very slow in approaching.
13:05
Speaker 1: He wondered what his antagonist was doing. He started, There
13:10
Speaker 1: was a smash from below. He hesitated and went downstairs again.
13:14
Speaker 1: Suddenly the house resounded with heavy blows and the splintering
13:17
Speaker 1: of wood. He heard a smash and the destructive clang
13:20
Speaker 1: of the iron fastenings of the shutters. He turned the
13:23
Speaker 1: key and opened the kitchen door. As he did so,
13:26
Speaker 1: the shutters split and splintering came flying inward. He stood aghast.
13:31
Speaker 1: The window frame, save for one crossbar, were still intact,
13:35
Speaker 1: but only little teeth of glass remained in the frame.
13:38
Speaker 1: The shutters had been driven in with an axe, and
13:41
Speaker 1: now the axe was descending in sweeping blows upon the
13:43
Speaker 1: window frame and the iron bars defending it. Then suddenly
13:47
Speaker 1: it leapt aside and vanished. He saw the revolver lying
13:52
Speaker 1: on the path outside, and then the little weapon sprang
13:54
Speaker 1: into the air. He dodged back. The revolver cracked just
13:59
Speaker 1: too late, and a splinter from the edge of the
14:01
Speaker 1: closing door flashed over his head. He slammed and locked
14:04
Speaker 1: the door, and as he stood outside he heard Griffin
14:07
Speaker 1: shouting and laughing. Then the blows of the axe, with
14:10
Speaker 1: its splitting and smashing consequences, were resumed. Kemp stood in
14:15
Speaker 1: the passage, trying to think. In a moment, the invisible
14:19
Speaker 1: man would be in the kitchen. This door would not
14:22
Speaker 1: keep him a moment, and then a ringing came at
14:26
Speaker 1: the front door. Again, it would be the policeman. He
14:29
Speaker 1: ran into the hall, put up the chain and drew
14:31
Speaker 1: the bolts. He made the girl speak before he dropped
14:34
Speaker 1: the chain, and the three people blundered into the house
14:36
Speaker 1: in a heap, and Kemp slammed the door again. The
14:39
Speaker 1: invisible man said Kemp, he has a revolver with two
14:43
Speaker 1: shots left. He's killed. ADI shot him anyhow, didn't you
14:47
Speaker 1: see him on the lawn. He's lying there. Who said
14:51
Speaker 1: one of the policemen. A die, said Kemp. We came
14:55
Speaker 1: in the back way, said the girl. What's that smashing,
14:58
Speaker 1: asked one of the policemen. He's in the kitchen, or
15:01
Speaker 1: will be. He's found an axe. Suddenly the house was
15:05
Speaker 1: full of the invisible man's resounding blows on the kitchen door.
15:09
Speaker 1: The girl stared towards the kitchen, shuddered, and retreated into
15:12
Speaker 1: the dining room. Kemp tried to explain in broken sentences.
15:16
Speaker 1: They heard the kitchen door. Give this way, said Kemp,
15:20
Speaker 1: starting into activity, and bundled the policeman into the dining room.
15:23
Speaker 1: Doorway poker, said Kemp, and rushed to the fender. He
15:27
Speaker 1: handed the poker he had carried to the policeman and
15:30
Speaker 1: the dining room, one to the other. He suddenly flung
15:32
Speaker 1: himself backward. Whoop, said one policeman ducked and caught the
15:36
Speaker 1: axe on his poker. The pistol snapped his penultimate shot
15:40
Speaker 1: and ripped a valuable Sidney cooper. The second policeman brought
15:44
Speaker 1: his poker down on the little weapon as one might
15:46
Speaker 1: knock down a wasp, and sent it rattling to the floor.
15:51
Speaker 1: At the first clash, the girl screamed, stood screaming for
15:54
Speaker 1: a moment by the fireplace, and then ran to open
15:57
Speaker 1: the shutters, possibly with an idea of escaping by the
15:59
Speaker 1: shutter window. The axe receded into the passage and fell
16:04
Speaker 1: to a position about two feet from the ground. They
16:07
Speaker 1: could hear the invisible man breathing, stand away, you two.
16:12
Speaker 1: I want that man, Kemp, We want you, said the
16:16
Speaker 1: first policeman, making a quick step forward and wiping with
16:19
Speaker 1: his poker at the voice. The invisible man must have
16:22
Speaker 1: started back, and he blundered into the umbrella stand. Then,
16:26
Speaker 1: as the policeman staggered with the swing of the blow
16:28
Speaker 1: he had aimed, the invisible man countered with the axe.
16:31
Speaker 1: The helmet crumbled like paper, and the blow sent the
16:34
Speaker 1: man spinning to the floor at the head of the
16:35
Speaker 1: kitchen stairs. But the second policeman, aiming behind the axe
16:40
Speaker 1: with his poker, hid something soft that snapped. There was
16:44
Speaker 1: a sharp exclamation of pain, and then the axe fell
16:47
Speaker 1: to the ground. The policeman wiped again at vacancy and
16:50
Speaker 1: hid nothing. He put his foot on the axe and
16:53
Speaker 1: struck again. Then he stood poker clubbed, listening intent for
16:57
Speaker 1: the slightest movement. He heard the dining room window open
17:03
Speaker 1: and a quick rush of feet within. His companion rolled
17:06
Speaker 1: over and sat up, with blood running down between his
17:09
Speaker 1: eye and ear. Where is he asked the man on
17:12
Speaker 1: the floor. Don't know I've hit him. He's standing somewhere
17:16
Speaker 1: in the hall unless he slipped past you. Doctor Kemp.
17:19
Speaker 1: Sir pause. Doctor Kemp, cried the policeman again. The second
17:27
Speaker 1: policeman began struggling to his feet. He stood up. Suddenly,
17:32
Speaker 1: the faint pad of bare feet on the kitchen stairs
17:34
Speaker 1: could be heard. Yap, cried the first policeman, and incontinently
17:38
Speaker 1: flung his poker. It smashed a little gas bracket. He
17:43
Speaker 1: made as if he would pursue the invisible man downstairs.
17:46
Speaker 1: Then he thought better of it and stepped into the
17:48
Speaker 1: dining room. Doctor Kemp, he began and stopped short. Doctor
17:55
Speaker 1: Kemp's a hero, he said, as his companion looked over
17:58
Speaker 1: his shoulder. The dining room window was wide open, and
18:02
Speaker 1: neither housemaid nor Kemp was to be seen. The second
18:06
Speaker 1: policeman's opinion of Kemp was Terson Vivid, chapter twenty eight.
18:17
Speaker 1: The Hunter hunted. Mister Helas, mister Kemp's nearest neighbor among
18:24
Speaker 1: the villa holders, was asleep in his summer house when
18:27
Speaker 1: the siege of Kemp's house began. Mister Helas was one
18:30
Speaker 1: of the sturdy minority who refused to believe in all
18:33
Speaker 1: this nonsense about an invisible man. His wife, However, as
18:39
Speaker 1: he was subsequently to be reminded did he insisted on
18:43
Speaker 1: walking about his garden just as if nothing was the matter,
18:46
Speaker 1: and he went asleep in the afternoon, in accordance with
18:48
Speaker 1: the custom of years. He slept through the smashing of
18:51
Speaker 1: the windows, and then woke up suddenly, with a curious
18:54
Speaker 1: persuasion of something wrong. He looked across at Kemp's house,
18:59
Speaker 1: rubbed his eyes, and look again. Then he put his
19:01
Speaker 1: feet to the ground and sat listening. He said he
19:04
Speaker 1: was damned, but still the strange thing was visible. The
19:07
Speaker 1: house looked as though it had been deserted for weeks
19:09
Speaker 1: after a violent riot. Every window was broken, and every
19:13
Speaker 1: window save those of the belvedere study was blinded by
19:16
Speaker 1: the internal shutters. I could have sworn it was all right.
19:21
Speaker 1: He looked at his watch. Twenty minutes ago he became
19:26
Speaker 1: aware of a measured concussion and the clash of glass
19:29
Speaker 1: far away in the distance. And then as he sat
19:32
Speaker 1: open mouthed, came a still more wonderful thing. The shutters
19:35
Speaker 1: of the drawing room window were flung open violently, and
19:38
Speaker 1: the housemaid, in her outdoor hat and garments, appeared, struggling
19:42
Speaker 1: in a frantic manner to throw up the sash. Suddenly
19:45
Speaker 1: a man appeared beside her, helping her, doctor Kemp. In
19:49
Speaker 1: another moment, the window was open and the housemaid was
19:51
Speaker 1: struggling out. She pitched forward and vanished among the shrubs.
19:55
Speaker 1: Mister Heelas stood up, exclaiming vaguely and vehemently at all
19:58
Speaker 1: these wonderful things. He saw Kemp stand on the sill,
20:02
Speaker 1: spring from the window, and reappear almost instantaneously, running along
20:06
Speaker 1: a path in the shrubbery, and stooping as he ran
20:09
Speaker 1: like a man who evades observation. He vanished behind a
20:13
Speaker 1: laburnum and appeared again, clambering over a fence that had
20:16
Speaker 1: butted on the open down. In a second he had
20:19
Speaker 1: tumbled over and was running at tremendous pace down the
20:22
Speaker 1: slope towards mister Helas. Lord cried. Mister Helas struck with
20:28
Speaker 1: an idea. It's thy invisible man, brute. It's right after
20:32
Speaker 1: all with mister Helas. To think things like that was
20:37
Speaker 1: to act. And his cook, watching him from the top window,
20:40
Speaker 1: was amazed to see him come pelting towards the house
20:42
Speaker 1: at a good nine miles an hour. There was a
20:45
Speaker 1: slamming of doors, a ringing of bells, and the voice
20:47
Speaker 1: of mister Helas bellowing like a bull. Shut the doors, shut,
20:51
Speaker 1: the windows, shut everything. The invisible man is coming. Instantly
20:56
Speaker 1: the house was full of screams and directions and scurrying feet.
21:00
Speaker 1: He ran himself to shut the French windows that opened
21:02
Speaker 1: on the verandah. As he did so, Kemp's head and
21:05
Speaker 1: shoulders and knee appeared over the edge of the garden fence.
21:08
Speaker 1: In another moment, Kemp had plowed through the esparagus and
21:11
Speaker 1: was running across the tennis lawn to the house. You
21:15
Speaker 1: can't come in, said mister Helas, shutting the bolts. I
21:18
Speaker 1: am very sorry if he's after you, but you can
21:20
Speaker 1: come in. Kemp appeared with a face of terror, close
21:24
Speaker 1: to the glass, rapping and then shaking frantically at the
21:27
Speaker 1: French window. Then, seeing his efforts were useless, he ran
21:32
Speaker 1: along the verandah vaulted the end and went to hammer
21:34
Speaker 1: at the side door. Then he ran around by the
21:36
Speaker 1: side gate to the front of the house, and so
21:38
Speaker 1: into the hill road. And mister Helas, staring from his
21:42
Speaker 1: window a face of horror, had scarcely witnessed Kemp vanish ere.
21:47
Speaker 1: The asparagus was being trampled this way and that by
21:50
Speaker 1: feet unseen at that mister Helas fled precipitately upstairs, and
21:56
Speaker 1: the rest of the chases beyond his purview. But as
21:59
Speaker 1: he pass thust the staircase window, he heard the side
22:01
Speaker 1: gate slam. Emerging into the hill road, Kemp naturally took
22:08
Speaker 1: the downward direction, and so it was he came to
22:11
Speaker 1: run in his own person the very race he had
22:13
Speaker 1: washed with such a critical eye from the Belvedere study
22:15
Speaker 1: only four days ago. He ran it well for a
22:18
Speaker 1: man out of training, and though his face was white
22:21
Speaker 1: and wet, his wits were cool. To the last. He
22:24
Speaker 1: ran with wide strides, and wherever a patch of rough
22:27
Speaker 1: ground intervened. Wherever there came a patch of raw flints
22:30
Speaker 1: or a bit of broken glass shone dazzling, he crossed
22:33
Speaker 1: it and left the bare, invisible feet that followed to
22:36
Speaker 1: take what line they would. For the first time in
22:40
Speaker 1: his life, Kemp discovered that the hill road was indescribably
22:44
Speaker 1: vast and desolate, and that the beginnings of the town
22:48
Speaker 1: far below at the hill foot were strangely remote. Never
22:51
Speaker 1: had there been a slower or more painful method of
22:54
Speaker 1: progression than running. All the gaunt villas sleeping in the
22:57
Speaker 1: afternoon sun looked locked and barred. No doubt they were
23:01
Speaker 1: locked and barred by his own orders, but at any
23:05
Speaker 1: rate they might have kept a look out for an
23:07
Speaker 1: eventuality like this. The town was rising up now, the
23:11
Speaker 1: sea had dropped out of sight behind it, and people
23:14
Speaker 1: down below were stirring. A tram was just arriving at
23:17
Speaker 1: the hill foot. Beyond that was the police station. Was
23:22
Speaker 1: that footsteps he heard behind him spurret. The people below
23:28
Speaker 1: were staring at him, One or two were running, and
23:31
Speaker 1: his breath was beginning to soar in his throat. The
23:34
Speaker 1: tram was quite near now, and the jolly cricketers was
23:36
Speaker 1: noisily barring its doors. Beyond the tram were posts and
23:40
Speaker 1: heaps of gravel the drainage works. He had a transitory
23:44
Speaker 1: idea of jumping into the tram and slamming the doors,
23:47
Speaker 1: and then he resolved to go for the police station.
23:50
Speaker 1: In another moment, he had passed the door of the
23:52
Speaker 1: Jolly Cricketers and was in the blistering fag end of
23:54
Speaker 1: the street, with human beings about him. The tram driver
23:58
Speaker 1: and his helper, arrested by the sight of his furious haste,
24:01
Speaker 1: stood staring with the tram horses unhitched. Further on, the
24:05
Speaker 1: astonished features of navvies appeared above the mounds of gravel.
24:09
Speaker 1: His pace broke a little, and then he heard the
24:12
Speaker 1: swift pad of his pursuer, and leaped forward again the
24:16
Speaker 1: invisible man. He cried to the navvies with a vague
24:18
Speaker 1: indicative gesture, and by an inspiration leaped the excavation and
24:22
Speaker 1: placed a burly group between him and the chase. Then,
24:25
Speaker 1: abandoning the idea of the police station, he turned into
24:28
Speaker 1: a little side street, rushed by a green grocer's cart,
24:31
Speaker 1: hesitated for the tenth of a second at the door
24:33
Speaker 1: of a sweet stuff shop, and then made for the
24:35
Speaker 1: mouth of an alley that ran back into the main
24:37
Speaker 1: Hill street again. Two or three little children were playing
24:41
Speaker 1: here and shrieked and scattered at his apparition, and forthwith
24:44
Speaker 1: doors and windows opened, and excited mothers revealed their hearts out.
24:50
Speaker 1: He shot into Hill Street again, three hundred yards from
24:52
Speaker 1: the tram line end, and immediately he became aware of
24:55
Speaker 1: a tumultuous vociferation and running people. He glanced up the
25:01
Speaker 1: street towards the hill. Hardly a dozen yards off ran
25:06
Speaker 1: a huge navvy, cursing in fragments and slashing viciously with
25:09
Speaker 1: a spade and hard. Behind him came the tram conductor,
25:12
Speaker 1: with his fists clenched up the street. Others followed these two,
25:16
Speaker 1: striking and shouting down towards the town. Men and women
25:19
Speaker 1: were running, and he noticed clearly one man coming out
25:22
Speaker 1: of a shop door with a stick in his hand,
25:25
Speaker 1: spread out, spread out, cried some one. Kemp suddenly grasped
25:29
Speaker 1: the altered condition of the chase. He stopped and looked around, panting,
25:34
Speaker 1: He's close here, he cried, form a line across. He
25:37
Speaker 1: was hit hard under the ear and went reeling, trying
25:40
Speaker 1: to face round towards his unseen antagonist. He just managed
25:44
Speaker 1: to keep his feet and he struck a vain counter
25:46
Speaker 1: in the air. Then he was hit again under the
25:49
Speaker 1: jaw and sprawled headlong on the ground. In another moment,
25:53
Speaker 1: a knee compressed his diaphragm, and a couple of eager
25:55
Speaker 1: hands gripped his throat, but the grip of one was
25:58
Speaker 1: weaker than the other. He grasped the wrists, heard a
26:02
Speaker 1: cry of pain from his assailant, and then the spade
26:04
Speaker 1: of the navvy came whirling through the air above him
26:07
Speaker 1: and struck something with a dull thud. He felt a
26:10
Speaker 1: drop of moisture on his face. The grip at his
26:14
Speaker 1: throat suddenly relaxed, and with a convulsive effort, Kemp loosed himself,
26:18
Speaker 1: grasped a limp shoulder and rolled uppermost. He gripped the
26:22
Speaker 1: unseen elbows near the ground. I've got him, screamed Kemp.
26:27
Speaker 1: Help help hold he's down, hold his feet. In another second,
26:34
Speaker 1: there was a simultaneous rush upon the struggle, and a
26:36
Speaker 1: stranger coming into the road suddenly might have thought an
26:39
Speaker 1: exceptionally savage game of rugby football was in progress, and
26:43
Speaker 1: there was no shouting after Kemp's cry, only a sound
26:46
Speaker 1: of blows and feet and heavy breathing. Then came a
26:51
Speaker 1: mighty effort, and the invisible man threw off a couple
26:53
Speaker 1: of his antagonists and rose to his knees. Kemp clung
26:56
Speaker 1: to him in front like a hound to a stag,
26:59
Speaker 1: and a dozen hands gripped, clutched and tore at the unseen.
27:02
Speaker 1: The tram conductor suddenly got the neck and shoulders and
27:05
Speaker 1: lugged him back. Down went the heap of struggling men
27:09
Speaker 1: again and rolled over. There was I am afraid, some
27:13
Speaker 1: savage kicking, and then suddenly a wild scream of mercy,
27:17
Speaker 1: mercy that died down swiftly to a sound like choking.
27:22
Speaker 1: Get back, you fools, cried the muffled voice of Kemp,
27:25
Speaker 1: and there was a vigorous shoving back of stalwart forms.
27:29
Speaker 1: He's hurt. I till you stand back. There was a
27:33
Speaker 1: brief struggle to clear a space, and then the circle
27:36
Speaker 1: of eager faces saw the doctor kneeling, as it seemed
27:39
Speaker 1: fifteen inches in the air and holding invisible arms to
27:42
Speaker 1: the ground. Behind him, a constable gripped invisible ankles. Don't
27:48
Speaker 1: you leave goavin, cried the big navvy, holding a blood
27:51
Speaker 1: stained spade. He's shamming. He's not shamming, said the doctor, cautiously,
27:57
Speaker 1: raising his knee, and I'll hold him. His face was
28:01
Speaker 1: bruised and already going red. He spoke thickly because of
28:04
Speaker 1: a bleeding lip. He released one hand and seemed to
28:07
Speaker 1: be feeling at the face. The mouth's all wet, he said,
28:11
Speaker 1: and then, good God. He stood up abruptly, and then
28:18
Speaker 1: knelt down on the ground by the side of the
28:20
Speaker 1: thing unseen. There was a pushing and shuffling, a sound
28:23
Speaker 1: of heavy feet as fresh people turned up to increase
28:25
Speaker 1: the pressure of the crowd. People were coming out of
28:28
Speaker 1: the houses. Now the doors of the Jolly Cricketers stood
28:33
Speaker 1: suddenly wide open. Very little was said. Kemp felt about
28:41
Speaker 1: his hand, seeming to pass through empty air. He's not breathing,
28:45
Speaker 1: he said, And then I can't feel his heart his side. Uugh. Suddenly,
28:54
Speaker 1: an old woman peering under the arm of the big
28:56
Speaker 1: navvy screamed, sharply, lookye there, she said, and thrust out
29:01
Speaker 1: a wrinkled finger, and looking where she pointed, everyone saw
29:06
Speaker 1: faint and transparent, as though it were made of glass,
29:09
Speaker 1: so that veins and arteries and bones and nerves could
29:11
Speaker 1: be distinguished, the outline of a hand, a hand, limp
29:16
Speaker 1: and prone. It grew clouded and opaque. Even as they stared, Hello,
29:23
Speaker 1: cried the constable ears. His feet are showing, And so slowly,
29:30
Speaker 1: beginning at his hands and feet, and creeping along his
29:32
Speaker 1: limbs to the vital centers of his body, that strange
29:36
Speaker 1: change continued. It was like the slow spreading of a poison.
29:41
Speaker 1: First came the little white nerves, a hazy gray sketch
29:44
Speaker 1: of a limb, Then the glassy bones and intricate arteries.
29:48
Speaker 1: Then the flesh and skin, first a faint fogginess, and
29:51
Speaker 1: then growing rapidly dense and opaque. Presently they could see
29:56
Speaker 1: his crushed chest and his shoulders, and the dim outline
29:59
Speaker 1: of his drawn ear and battered features. When at last
30:03
Speaker 1: the crowd made way for Kemp to stand erect. There lay,
30:07
Speaker 1: naked and pitiful on the ground, the bruised and broken
30:10
Speaker 1: body of a young man about thirty. His hair and
30:13
Speaker 1: brow were white, not gray with age, but white with
30:17
Speaker 1: the whiteness of albinism, and his eyes were like garnets.
30:22
Speaker 1: His hands were clenched, his eyes wide open, and his
30:25
Speaker 1: expression was one of anger and dismay. Cover his face,
30:30
Speaker 1: said a man, for God's sake, cover that face, And
30:34
Speaker 1: three little children, pushing forward through the crowd, were suddenly
30:37
Speaker 1: twisted round and sent packing off again. Some one brought
30:42
Speaker 1: a sheet from the jolly cricketers, and having covered him,
30:46
Speaker 1: they carried him into the house. And there it was,
30:50
Speaker 1: on a shabby bed, in a tawdry, ill lighted bedroom,
30:52
Speaker 1: surrounded by a crowd of ignorant and excited people, broken
30:56
Speaker 1: and wounded, betrayed and unpitied, that Gryffin, the first of
31:01
Speaker 1: all men to make himself invisible. Gryffin, the most gifted
31:06
Speaker 1: physicist the world has ever seen, ended in infinite disaster
31:11
Speaker 1: his strange and terrible career. The epilogue so ends the
31:22
Speaker 1: story of the strange and evil experiments of the Invisible Man.
31:26
Speaker 1: And if you would learn more of him, you must
31:28
Speaker 1: go to a little inn near Port Stow and talk
31:30
Speaker 1: to the landlord. The sign of the inn is an
31:33
Speaker 1: empty board save for a hat and boots, and the
31:36
Speaker 1: name is the title of this story. The landlord is
31:39
Speaker 1: a short and corpulent little man with a nose of
31:41
Speaker 1: cylindrical proportions, wiry hair, and a sporadic rosiness of visage.
31:46
Speaker 1: Drink generously, and he will tell you generously of all
31:49
Speaker 1: the things that happened to him after that time, and
31:52
Speaker 1: of how the lawyers tried to do him out of
31:53
Speaker 1: the treasure found upon him when they found they couldn't
31:57
Speaker 1: prove whose money was, which I'm blessed, he says, if
32:00
Speaker 1: they didn't try to make me out a blooming treasure trove,
32:03
Speaker 1: do I look like a treasure trove? And then a
32:05
Speaker 1: gentleman gave me a guinea a night to tell a
32:07
Speaker 1: story at the Empire Music all just to tell him
32:09
Speaker 1: all in my own words, barring one. And if you
32:13
Speaker 1: want to cut off the flow of his reminiscences abruptly,
32:16
Speaker 1: you can always do so by asking if there weren't
32:19
Speaker 1: three manuscript books in the story. He admits there were,
32:23
Speaker 1: and proceeds to explain with asseverations that everybody thinks he
32:27
Speaker 1: has em but bless you, he hasn't. The invisible man
32:30
Speaker 1: it was took him off to Adam when I've cut
32:32
Speaker 1: and ran for Portstow. Is that mister Kemp put people
32:34
Speaker 1: on with the idea of my avindom. And then he
32:38
Speaker 1: subsides into a pensive state watches you furtively, bustles nervously
32:43
Speaker 1: with glasses, and presently leaves the bar. He is a
32:48
Speaker 1: bachelor man, his tastes were ever bachelor, and there are
32:51
Speaker 1: no women folk in the house. Outwardly he buttons, it
32:56
Speaker 1: is expected of him, but in his more vital privacies,
32:59
Speaker 1: in the manner of brace, for examples, he still turns
33:01
Speaker 1: to string. He conducts his house without enterprise, but with
33:05
Speaker 1: eminent decorum. His movements are slow, and he is a
33:09
Speaker 1: great thinker. But he has a reputation for wisdom and
33:12
Speaker 1: for a respectable parsi money in the village, and his
33:15
Speaker 1: knowledge of the roads of the south of England would
33:17
Speaker 1: beat copt And on Sunday mornings, every Sunday morning all
33:23
Speaker 1: the year round, while he is close to the outer world,
33:26
Speaker 1: and every night after ten he goes into his bar
33:29
Speaker 1: parlor bearing a glass of gin faintly tinged with water,
33:33
Speaker 1: and having placed this down, he locks the door and
33:36
Speaker 1: examines the blinds, and even looks under the table, and then,
33:40
Speaker 1: being satisfied of his solitude, he unlocks the cupboard, and
33:43
Speaker 1: a box in the cupboard, and a drawer in that box,
33:46
Speaker 1: and produces three volumes bound in brown leather and places
33:50
Speaker 1: them solemnly in the middle of the table. The covers
33:53
Speaker 1: are weather worn and tinged with an algal green, for
33:57
Speaker 1: once they sojourned in a ditch, and some of the
33:59
Speaker 1: pages of been washed blank by dirty water. The Landlord
34:04
Speaker 1: sits down in an arm chair fills a long clay pipe,
34:07
Speaker 1: slowly gloating over the books the while. Then he pulls
34:12
Speaker 1: one towards him and opens him and begins to study it,
34:16
Speaker 1: turning over the leaves backwards and forwards. His brows and knit,
34:22
Speaker 1: and his lips move painfully X A little two up
34:26
Speaker 1: in the air, cross and a fiddle deeded lord, what
34:30
Speaker 1: a one he was for intellect. Presently he relaxes and
34:36
Speaker 1: leans back and blinks through his smoke across the room
34:38
Speaker 1: at things invisible to other eyes. Full of secrets, he says,
34:45
Speaker 1: wonderful secrets. Once I get a war of them, short,
34:51
Speaker 1: I wouldn't do what he did. I just well, He
34:58
Speaker 1: pulls at his pipe, so he lapses into a dream,
35:03
Speaker 1: the undying, wonderful dream of life. And though Kemp has
35:07
Speaker 1: fished unceasingly, no human being save the Landlord, knows those
35:11
Speaker 1: books are there. With the subtle secret of Invisibility, and
35:15
Speaker 1: a dozen other strange secrets written therein, and none other
35:19
Speaker 1: will know of them until he dies. End of the
35:25
Speaker 1: Invisible Man by H. G. Wells