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06 - The Time Machine - H G Wells · Science Fiction Books - Daily

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  Speaker 1: Chapter six. It may seem odd to you, but it
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: was two days before I could follow up the new
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  Speaker 1: found clue in what was manifestly the proper way. I
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  Speaker 1: felt a peculiar shrinking from those pallid bodies. They were
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  Speaker 1: just the half bleached color of the worms and things
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  Speaker 1: one sees preserved in spirit in a zoological museum, and
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  Speaker 1: they were filthily cold to the touch. Probably my shrinking
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  Speaker 1: was largely due to the sympathetic influence of the Eloi,
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  Speaker 1: whose disgust of the morlocks I now began to appreciate.
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  Speaker 1: The next night, I did not sleep well. Probably my
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  Speaker 1: health was a little disordered. I was oppressed with perplexity
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  Speaker 1: and doubt. Once or twice I had a feeling of
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  Speaker 1: intense fear for which I could perceive no definite reason.
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  Speaker 1: I remember creeping noiselessly into the Great Hall, where the
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  Speaker 1: little people were sleeping in the moonlight that night, Weena
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  Speaker 1: was among them, and being reassured by their presence. It
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  Speaker 1: occurred to me even then that in the course of
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  Speaker 1: a few days, the moon must pass through its last quarter,
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  Speaker 1: and the nights grow dark, when the appearances of these
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  Speaker 1: unpleasant creatures from below, these whitened lemurs. This new vermin
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  Speaker 1: that had replaced the old might be more abundant. And
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  Speaker 1: on both these days I had the restless feeling of
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  Speaker 1: one who shirks an inevitable duty. I felt assured that
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  Speaker 1: the time machine was only to be recovered by boldly
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  Speaker 1: penetrating these underground mysteries. Yet I could not face the mystery.
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  Speaker 1: If only I had had a companion, it would have
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  Speaker 1: been different. But I was so horribly alone, and even
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  Speaker 1: to clamber down into the darkness of the well appalled me.
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  Speaker 1: I don't know if you will understand my feeling, but
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  Speaker 1: I never felt quite safe at my back. It was
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  Speaker 1: this restlessness, this insecure perhaps, that drove me further and
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  Speaker 1: further afield in my exploring expeditions. Going to the southwestward
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  Speaker 1: towards the rising country that is now called combe Wood,
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  Speaker 1: I observed, far off in the direction of nineteenth century Banstead,
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  Speaker 1: a vast green structure, different in character from any I
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  Speaker 1: had hitherto seen. It was larger than the largest of
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  Speaker 1: the palaces or ruins I knew, and the facade had
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  Speaker 1: an oriental look, the face of it having the luster
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  Speaker 1: as well as the pale green tint a kind of
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  Speaker 1: bluish green of a certain type of Chinese porcelain. This
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  Speaker 1: difference in aspect suggested a difference in use, and I
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  Speaker 1: was minded to push on and explore. But the day
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  Speaker 1: was growing late, and I had come upon the site
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  Speaker 1: of the place after a long and tiring circuit. So
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  Speaker 1: I resolved to hold over the adventure for the following day,
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  Speaker 1: and I returned to the welcome and the caresses of
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  Speaker 1: Little But next morning I perceived clearly enough that my
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  Speaker 1: curiosity regarding the palace of green porcelain was a piece
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  Speaker 1: of self deception to enable me to shirk by another
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  Speaker 1: day and experience I dreaded. I resolved I would make
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  Speaker 1: the descent without further waste of time, and started out
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  Speaker 1: in the early morning towards a well near the ruins
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  Speaker 1: of granite and aluminium. Little Weena ran with me. She
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  Speaker 1: danced beside me to the well, but when she saw
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  Speaker 1: me lean over the mouth and look downward, she seemed
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  Speaker 1: strangely disconcerted. Good Bye, Little Weena, I said, kissing her,
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  Speaker 1: and then putting her down. I began to feel over
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  Speaker 1: the parapet for the climbing hooks rather hastily, I may
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  Speaker 1: as well confess, for I feared my courage might leak away.
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  Speaker 1: At first she watched me in amazement. Then she gave
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  Speaker 1: a most piteous cry, and running to me, she began
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  Speaker 1: to pull at me with her little hands. I think
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  Speaker 1: her opposition nerved me rather to proceed. I shook her off,
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  Speaker 1: perhaps a little roughly, and in another moment I was
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  Speaker 1: in the throat of the well. I saw her agonized
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  Speaker 1: face over the parapet, and smiled to reassure her. Then
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  Speaker 1: I clung to look down at the unstable hooks to
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  Speaker 1: which I clung. I had to clamber down a shaft
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  Speaker 1: of perhaps two hundred yards. The descent was effected by
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  Speaker 1: means of metallic bars projecting from the sides of the well,
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  Speaker 1: and these being adapted to the needs of a creature
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  Speaker 1: much smaller and lighter than myself. I was speedily cramped
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  Speaker 1: and fatigued by the descent, and not simply fatigued. One
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  Speaker 1: of the bars bent suddenly under my weight and almost
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  Speaker 1: swung me off into the blackness beneath. For a moment
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  Speaker 1: I hung by one hand, and after that experience I
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  Speaker 1: did not dare to rest again, though my arms and
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  Speaker 1: back were presently acutely painful. I I went on clambering
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  Speaker 1: down the sheer descent with as quick emotion as possible.
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  Speaker 1: Glancing upward, I saw the aperture a small blue disk
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  Speaker 1: in which a star was visible, while little Weena's head
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  Speaker 1: showed as a round black projection. The thudding sound of
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  Speaker 1: a machine below grew louder and more oppressive. Everything save
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  Speaker 1: that little disk above was profoundly dark, and when I
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  Speaker 1: looked up again, Weena had disappeared. I was in an
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  Speaker 1: agony of discomfort. I had some thought of trying to
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  Speaker 1: go up the shaft again and leave the underworld alone,
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  Speaker 1: But even while I turned this over in my mind,
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  Speaker 1: I continued to descend. At last, with intense relief, I
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  Speaker 1: saw dimly coming up a foot to the right of me,
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  Speaker 1: a slender loop hole in the wall. Swinging myself in,
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  Speaker 1: I found it was the aperture of a narrow, horizontal
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  Speaker 1: tunnel in which I could lie down and rest. It
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  Speaker 1: was not too soon. My arms ached, my back was cramped,
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  Speaker 1: and I was trembling with the prolonged terror of a fall.
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  Speaker 1: Besides this, the unbroken darkness had had a distressing effect
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  Speaker 1: upon my eyes. The air was full of the throb
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  Speaker 1: and hum of machinery pumping air down the shaft. I
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  Speaker 1: do not know how long I lay. I was roused
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  Speaker 1: by a soft hand touching my face. Starting up in
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  Speaker 1: the darkness, I snatched at my matches and hastily striking one,
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  Speaker 1: I saw three stooping white creatures similar to the one
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  Speaker 1: I had seen above ground in the ruin, hastily retreating
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  Speaker 1: before the light, living as they did in what appeared
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  Speaker 1: to me impenetrable darkness. Their eyes were abnormally large and sensitive,
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  Speaker 1: just as are the pupils of the abysmal fishes, and
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  Speaker 1: they reflected the light in the same way. I have
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  Speaker 1: no doubt they could see me in that rayless obscurity,
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  Speaker 1: and they did not seem to have any fear of
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  Speaker 1: me apart from the light. But so soon as I
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  Speaker 1: struck a match in order to see them, they fled incontinently,
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  Speaker 1: vanishing into dark gutters and tunnels, from which their eyes
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  Speaker 1: glared at me in the strangest fashion. I tried to
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  Speaker 1: call to them, but the language they had was apparently
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  Speaker 1: different from that of the overworld people, so that I
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  Speaker 1: was needs left to my own unaided efforts, and the
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  Speaker 1: thought of flight before exploration was even then in my mind,
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  Speaker 1: but I said to myself, you are in for it now,
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  Speaker 1: And feeling my way along the tunnel, I found the
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  Speaker 1: noise of machinery grow louder. Presently the walls fell away
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  Speaker 1: from me, and I came into a large open space, and,
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  Speaker 1: striking another match, saw that I had entered a vast,
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  Speaker 1: arched cavern which stretched into utter darkness beyond the range
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  Speaker 1: of my light. The view I had of it was
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  Speaker 1: as much as one could see in the burning of
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  Speaker 1: a match. Necessarily, my memory is vague. Great shapes, like
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  Speaker 1: big machines rose out of the dimness and cast grotesque
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  Speaker 1: black shadows in which dim spectral morlocks sheltered from the glare.
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  Speaker 1: The place by the by was very stuffy and oppressive,
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  Speaker 1: and a faint halitus of freshly shed blood was in
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  Speaker 1: the air. Some Way down the central vista was a
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  Speaker 1: little table of white metal laid with what seemed a meal.
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  Speaker 1: The morlocks, at any rate, were carnivorous. Even at the time,
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  Speaker 1: I remember wondering what large animal could have survived to
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  Speaker 1: furnish the red joint I saw. It was all very indistinct,
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  Speaker 1: the heavy smell, the big unmeaning shapes, the obscene figures
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  Speaker 1: lurking in the shadows, and only waiting for the darkness
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  Speaker 1: to come at me again. Then the match burned down
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  Speaker 1: and stung my fingers, and fell a wrigglar red spot
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  Speaker 1: in the blackness. I have thought since how particularly ill
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  Speaker 1: equipped I was for such an experience. When I had
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  Speaker 1: started with the time machine, I had started with the
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  Speaker 1: absurd assumption that the men of the future would certainly
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  Speaker 1: be infinitely ahead of ourselves in all their appliances. I
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  Speaker 1: had come without arms, without medicine, without anything to smoke.
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  Speaker 1: At times, I missed tobacco frightfully, even without enough matches.
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  Speaker 1: If only I had thought of a Kodak, I could
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  Speaker 1: have flashed that glimpse of the underworld in a second
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  Speaker 1: and examined it at leisure. But as it was, I
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  Speaker 1: stood there with only the weapons and the powers that
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  Speaker 1: nature had endowed me with hands, feet, and teeth, these
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  Speaker 1: and four safety matches that still remained to me. I
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  Speaker 1: was afraid to push my way in among all this
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  Speaker 1: machinery in the dark. And it was only with my
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  Speaker 1: last glimpse of light I discovered that my store of
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  Speaker 1: matches had run low. It had never occurred to me
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  Speaker 1: until that moment that there was any need to economize them,
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  Speaker 1: and I had wasted almost half the box in astonishing
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  Speaker 1: the upper worlders, to whom fire was a novelty. Now,
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  Speaker 1: as I say, I had four left, And while I
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  Speaker 1: stood in the dark, a hand touched mine. Lank fingers
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  Speaker 1: came feeling over my face, and I was sensible of
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  Speaker 1: a peculiar, unpleasant odor. I fancied. I heard the breathing
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  Speaker 1: of a crowd of these dreadful little beings about me.
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  Speaker 1: I felt the box of matches in my hand being
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  Speaker 1: gently disengaged, and other hands behind me plucking at my clothing.
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  Speaker 1: The sense of these unseen creatures examining me was indescribably unpleasant.
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  Speaker 1: The sudden realization of my ignorance of their ways of
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  Speaker 1: thinking and doing came home to me very vividly. In
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  Speaker 1: the darkness. I shouted at them as loudly as I could.
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  Speaker 1: They started away, and then I could feel them approaching
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  Speaker 1: me again. They clutched at me more boldly, whispering odd
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  Speaker 1: sounds to each other. I shivered violently and shouted again,
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  Speaker 1: rather discordantly. This time they were not so seriously alarmed,
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  Speaker 1: and they made a queer laughing noise as they came
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  Speaker 1: back at me. I will confess I was horribly frightened.
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  Speaker 1: I determined to strike another match and escape under the
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  Speaker 1: protection of its glare. I did so, and eking out
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  Speaker 1: the flicker with a scrap of paper from my pocket,
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  Speaker 1: I made good my retreat to the narrow tunnel. But
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  Speaker 1: I had scarce entered this when my light was blown
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  Speaker 1: out and in the darkness I could hear the morlocks
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  Speaker 1: rustling like wind among leaves and pattering like the rain
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  Speaker 1: as they hurried after me. In a moment, I was
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  Speaker 1: clutched by several hands, and there was no mistaking that
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  Speaker 1: they were trying to haul me back. I struck another
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  Speaker 1: light and waved it in their dazzled faces. You can
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  Speaker 1: scarce imagine how nauseatingly inhuman they looked, those pale, chinless
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  Speaker 1: faces and great, lidless, pinkish gray eyes as they stared
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  Speaker 1: in their blindness and bewilderment. But I did not stay
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  Speaker 1: to look, I promise you. I retreated again, and when
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  Speaker 1: my second match had ended, I struck my third. It
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  Speaker 1: had almost burned through. When I reached the opening into
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  Speaker 1: the shaft, I laid down on the edge for the
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  Speaker 1: throb of the great pump below made me giddy. Then
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  Speaker 1: I felt sideways for the projecting hooks, and as I
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  Speaker 1: did so, my feet were grass from behind, and I
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  Speaker 1: was violently tugged backward. I lit my last match, and
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  Speaker 1: it incontinently went out. But I had my hand on
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  Speaker 1: the climbing bars now and kicking violently. I disengaged myself
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  Speaker 1: from the clutches of the morlocks and was speedily clambering
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  Speaker 1: up the shaft, while they stayed peering and blinking up
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  Speaker 1: at me. All but one little wretch, who followed me
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  Speaker 1: for some way and well nigh secured my boot as
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  Speaker 1: a trophy. That climb seemed interminable to me. With the
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  Speaker 1: last twenty or thirty feet of it, a deadly nausea
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  Speaker 1: came upon me. I had the greatest difficulty in keeping
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  Speaker 1: my hold. The last few yards was a frightful struggle
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  Speaker 1: against this faintness. Several times my head swam, and I
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  Speaker 1: felt all the sensations a falling. At last, however, I
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  Speaker 1: got over the well mouth somehow and staggered out of
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  Speaker 1: the ruin into the blinding sunlight. I fell upon my face.
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  Speaker 1: Even the soil smelt sweet and clean. Then I remember
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  Speaker 1: Weena kissing my hands and ears, and the voices of
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  Speaker 1: others among the eloy Then, for a time I was insensible.
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  Speaker 1: End of chapter six