The Time Machine  An Invention  By  H .  G .  Wells  London  William Heinemann  MDCCCXCV  NOTE .  — The substance of the first chapter of this story and of several paragraphs from the context appeared in the ' National Observer ' in 1894. The " Time Traveller 'sStory " appeared , almost as it stands here , in the pages of the ' New Review .  ' The Author desires to make the customary acknowledgments .  To  WILLIAM ERNEST HENLEY  I INTRODUCTION  The Time Traveller ( for so it will be convenient to speak of him ) was expounding a recondite matter to us .  His grey eyes shone and twinkled , and his usually pale face was flushed and animated .  The fire burnt brightly , and the soft radiance of the incandescent lights in the lilies of silver caught the bubbles that flashed and passed in our glasses .  Our chairs , being his patents , embraced and caressed us rather than submitted to be sat upon , and there was that luxurious after-dinner atmosphere , when thought runs gracefully free of the trammels of precision .  And he put it to us in this way — marking the points with a lean forefinger — as we sat and lazily admired his earnestness over this new paradox ( as we thought it ) and his fecundity .  " You must follow me carefully .  I shall have to controvert one or two ideas that are almost universally accepted .  The geometry , for instance , they taught you at school is founded on a misconception .  "  " Is not that rather a large thing to expect us to begin upon ?  " said Filby , an argumentative person with red hair .  " I do not mean to ask you to accept anything without reasonable ground for it .  You will soon admit as much as I need from you .  You know of course that a mathematical line , a line of thickness nil , has no real existence .  They taught you that ?  Neither has a mathematical plane .  These things are mere abstractions .  "  " That is all right , " said the Psychologist .  " Nor , having only length , breadth , and thickness , can a cube have a real existence .  "  " There I object , " said Filby .  " Of course a solid body may exist .  All real things — "  " So most people think .  But wait a moment .  Can an instantaneous cube exist ?  "  " Do n't follow you , " said Filby .  " Can a cube that does not last for any time at all , have a real existence ?  "  Filby became pensive .  " Clearly , " the Time Traveller proceeded , " any real body must have extension in four directions : it must have Length , Breadth , Thickness , and — Duration .  But through a natural infirmity of the flesh , which I will explain to you in a moment , we incline to overlook this fact .  There are really four dimensions , three which we call the three planes of Space , and a fourth , Time .  There is , however , a tendency to draw an unreal distinction between the former three dimensions and the latter , because it happens that our consciousness moves intermittently in one direction along the latter from the beginning to the end of our lives .  "  " That , " said a very young man , making spasmodic efforts to relight his cigar over the lamp ; " that ... very clear indeed .  "  " Now , it is very remarkable that this is so extensively overlooked , " continued the Time Traveller , with a slight accession of cheerfulness .  " Really this is what is meant by the Fourth Dimension , though some people who talk about the Fourth Dimension do not know they mean it .  It is only another way of looking at Time .  There is no difference between Time and any of the three dimensions of Space except that our consciousness moves along it .  But some foolish people have got hold of the wrong side of that idea .  You have all heard what they have to say about this Fourth Dimension ?  "  " I have not , " said the Provincial Mayor .  " It is simply this .  That Space , as our mathematicians have it , is spoken of as having three dimensions , which one may call Length , Breadth , and Thickness , and is always definable by reference to three planes , each at right angles to the others .  But some philosophical people have been asking why three dimensions particularly — why not another direction at right angles to the other three ?  — and have even tried to construct a Four-Dimensional geometry .  Professor Simon Newcomb was expounding this to the New York Mathematical Society only a month or so ago .  You know how on a flat surface , which has only two dimensions , we can represent a figure of a three-dimensional solid , and similarly they think that by models of three dimensions they could represent one of four — if they could master the perspective of the thing .  See ?  "  " I think so , " murmured the Provincial Mayor ; and , knitting his brows , he lapsed into an introspective state , his lips moving as one who repeats mystic words .  " Yes , I think I see it now , " he said after some time , brightening in a quite transitory manner .  " Well , I do not mind telling you I have been at work upon this geometry of Four Dimensions for some time .  Some of my results are curious .  For instance , here is a portrait of a man at eight years old , another at fifteen , another at seventeen , another at twenty-three , and so on .  All these are evidently sections , as it were , Three-Dimensional representations of his Four-Dimensioned being , which is a fixed and unalterable thing .  "  " Scientific people , " proceeded the Time Traveller , after the pause required for the proper assimilation of this , " know very well that Time is only a kind of Space .  Here is a popular scientific diagram , a weather record .  This line I trace with my finger shows the movement of the barometer .  Yesterday it was so high , yesterday night it fell , then this morning it rose again , and so gently upward to here .  Surely the mercury did not trace this line in any of the dimensions of Space generally recognized ?  But certainly it traced such a line , and that line , therefore , we must conclude was along the Time-Dimension .  "  " But , " said the Medical Man , staring hard at a coal in the fire , " if Time is really only a fourth dimension of Space , why is it , and why has it always been , regarded as something different ?  And why cannot we move about in Time as we move about in the other dimensions of Space ?  "  The Time Traveller smiled .  " Are you so sure we can move freely in Space ?  Right and left we can go , backward and forward freely enough , and men always have done so .  I admit we move freely in two dimensions .  But how about up and down ?  Gravitation limits us there .  "  " Not exactly , " said the Medical Man .  " There are balloons .  "  " But before the balloons , save for spasmodic jumping and the inequalities of the surface , man had no freedom of vertical movement .  "  " Still they could move a little up and down , " said the Medical Man .  " Easier , far easier down than up .  "  " And you cannot move at all in Time , you cannot get away from the present moment .  "  " My dear sir , that is just where you are wrong .  That is just where the whole world has gone wrong .  We are always getting away from the present moment .  Our mental existences , which are immaterial and have no dimensions , are passing along the Time-Dimension with a uniform velocity from the cradle to the grave .  Just as we should travel down if we began our existence fifty miles above the earth 'ssurface .  "  " But the great difficulty is this , " interrupted the Psychologist .  " You can move about in all directions of Space , but you cannot move about in Time .  "  " That is the germ of my great discovery .  But you are wrong to say that we cannot move about in Time .  For instance , if I am recalling an incident very vividly I go back to the instant of its occurrence : I become absent-minded , as you say .  I jump back for a moment .  Of course we have no means of staying back for any length of Time , any more than a savage or an animal has of staying six feet above the ground .  But a civilized man is better off than the savage in this respect .  He can go up against gravitation in a balloon , and why should he not hope that ultimately he may be able to stop or accelerate his drift along the Time-Dimension , or even turn about and travel the other way ?  "  " Oh , this , " began Filby , " is all — "  " Why not ?  " said the Time Traveller .  " It 'sagainst reason , " said Filby .  " What reason ?  " said the Time Traveller .  " You can show black is white by argument , " said Filby , " but you will never convince me .  "  " Possibly not , " said the Time Traveller .  " But now you begin to see the object of my investigations into the geometry of Four Dimensions .  Long ago I had a vague inkling of a machine — "  " To travel through Time !  " exclaimed the Very Young Man .  " That shall travel indifferently in any direction of Space and Time , as the driver determines .  "  Filby contented himself with laughter .  " But I have experimental verification , " said the Time Traveller .  " It would be remarkably convenient for the historian , " the Psychologist suggested .  " One might travel back and verify the accepted account of the Battle of Hastings , for instance !  "  " Do n't you think you would attract attention ?  " said the Medical Man .  " Our ancestors had no great tolerance for anachronisms .  "  " One might get one 'sGreek from the very lips of Homer and Plato , " the Very Young Man thought .  " In which case they would certainly plough you for the Little-go .  The German scholars have improved Greek so much .  "  " Then there is the future , " said the Very Young Man .  " Just think !  One might invest all one 'smoney , leave it to accumulate at interest , and hurry on ahead !  "  " To discover a society , " said I , " erected on a strictly communistic basis .  "  " Of all the wild extravagant theories !  " began the Psychologist .  " Yes , so it seemed to me , and so I never talked of it until — "  " Experimental verification !  " cried I .  " You are going to verify that ? "  " The experiment !  " cried Filby , who was getting brain-weary .  " Let 'ssee your experiment anyhow , " said the Psychologist , " though it 'sall humbug , you know .  "  The Time Traveller smiled round at us .  Then , still smiling faintly , and with his hands deep in his trousers pockets , he walked slowly out of the room , and we heard his slippers shuffling down the long passage to his laboratory .  The Psychologist looked at us .  " I wonder what he 'sgot ?  "  " Some sleight-of-hand trick or other , " said the Medical Man , and Filby tried to tell us about a conjuror he had seen at Burslem , but before he had finished his preface the Time Traveller came back , and Filby 'sanecdote collapsed .  II THE MACHINE  The thing the Time Traveller held in his hand was a glittering metallic framework , scarcely larger than a small clock , and very delicately made .  There was ivory in it , and some transparent crystalline substance .  And now I must be explicit , for this that follows — unless his explanation is to be accepted — is an absolutely unaccountable thing .  He took one of the small octagonal tables that were scattered about the room , and set it in front of the fire , with two legs on the hearthrug .  On this table he placed the mechanism .  Then he drew up a chair , and sat down .  The only other object on the table was a small shaded lamp , the bright light of which fell full upon the model .  There were also perhaps a dozen candles about , two in brass candlesticks upon the mantel and several in sconces , so that the room was brilliantly illuminated .  I sat in a low arm-chair nearest the fire , and I drew this forward so as to be almost between the Time Traveller and the fireplace .  Filby sat behind him , looking over his shoulder .  The Medical Man and the Provincial Mayor watched him in profile from the right , the Psychologist from the left .  The Very Young Man stood behind the Psychologist .  We were all on the alert .  It appears incredible to me that any kind of trick , however subtly conceived and however adroitly done , could have been played upon us under these conditions .  The Time Traveller looked at us , and then at the mechanism .  " Well ?  " said the Psychologist .  " This little affair , " said the Time Traveller , resting his elbows upon the table and pressing his hands together above the apparatus , " is only a model .  It is my plan for a machine to travel through time .  You will notice that it looks singularly askew , and that there is an odd twinkling appearance about this bar , as though it was in some way unreal .  " He pointed to the part with his finger .  " Also , here is one little white lever , and here is another .  "  The Medical Man got up out of his chair and peered into the thing .  " It 'sbeautifully made , " he said .  " It took two years to make , " retorted the Time Traveller .  Then , when we had all imitated the action of the Medical Man , he said : " Now I want you clearly to understand that this lever , being pressed over , sends the machine gliding into the future , and this other reverses the motion .  This saddle represents the seat of a time traveller .  Presently I am going to press the lever , and off the machine will go .  It will vanish , pass into future time , and disappear .  Have a good look at the thing .  Look at the table too , and satisfy yourselves there is no trickery .  I do n't want to waste this model , and then be told I 'ma quack .  "  There was a minute 'spause perhaps .  The Psychologist seemed about to speak to me , but changed his mind .  Then the Time Traveller put forth his finger towards the lever .  " No , " he said suddenly .  " Lend me your hand .  " And turning to the Psychologist , he took that individual 'shand in his own and told him to put out his forefinger .  So that it was the Psychologist himself who sent forth the model Time Machine on its interminable voyage .  We all saw the lever turn .  I am absolutely certain there was no trickery .  There was a breath of wind , and the lamp flame jumped .  One of the candles on the mantel was blown out , and the little machine suddenly swung round , became indistinct , was seen as a ghost for a second perhaps , as an eddy of faintly glittering brass and ivory ; and it was gone — vanished !  Save for the lamp the table was bare .  Every one was silent for a minute .  Then Filby said he was damned .  The Psychologist recovered from his stupor , and suddenly looked under the table .  At that the Time Traveller laughed cheerfully .  " Well ?  " he said , with a reminiscence of the Psychologist .  Then , getting up , he went to the tobacco jar on the mantel , and with his back to us began to fill his pipe .  We stared at each other .  " Look here , " said the Medical Man , " are you in earnest about this ?  Do you seriously believe that that machine has travelled into time ?  "  " Certainly , " said the Time Traveller , stooping to light a spill at the fire .  Then he turned , lighting his pipe , to look at the Psychologist 'sface .  ( The Psychologist , to show that he was not unhinged , helped himself to a cigar and tried to light it uncut .  ) " What is more , I have a big machine nearly finished in there " — he indicated the laboratory — " and when that is put together I mean to have a journey on my own account .  "  " You mean to say that that machine has travelled into the future ?  " said Filby .  " Into the future or the past — I do n't , for certain , know which .  "  After an interval the Psychologist had an inspiration .  " It must have gone into the past if it has gone anywhere , " he said .  " Why ?  " said the Time Traveller .  " Because I presume that it has not moved in space , and if it travelled into the future it would still be here all this time , since it must have travelled through this time .  "  " But , " said I , " if it travelled into the past it would have been visible when we came first into this room ; and last Thursday when we were here ; and the Thursday before that ; and so forth !  "  " Serious objections , " remarked the Provincial Mayor , with an air of impartiality , turning towards the Time Traveller .  " Not a bit , " said the Time Traveller , and , to the Psychologist : " You think .  You can explain that .  It 'spresentation below the threshold , you know , diluted presentation .  "  " Of course , " said the Psychologist , and reassured us .  " That 'sa simple point in psychology .  I should have thought of it .  It 'splain enough , and helps the paradox delightfully .  We cannot see it , nor can we appreciate this machine , any more than we can the spoke of a wheel spinning , or a bullet flying through the air .  If it is travelling through time fifty times or a hundred times faster than we are , if it gets through a minute while we get through a second , the impression it creates will of course be only one-fiftieth or one-hundredth of what it would make if it were not travelling in time .  That 'splain enough .  " He passed his hand through the space in which the machine had been .  " You see ?  " he said , laughing .  We sat and stared at the vacant table for a minute or so .  Then the Time Traveller asked us what we thought of it all .  " It sounds plausible enough to-night , " said the Medical Man ; " but wait until to-morrow .  Wait for the common-sense of the morning .  "  " Would you like to see the Time Machine itself ?  " asked the Time Traveller .  And therewith , taking the lamp in his hand , he led the way down the long , draughty corridor to his laboratory .  I remember vividly the flickering light , his queer , broad head in silhouette , the dance of the shadows , how we all followed him , puzzled but incredulous , and how there in the laboratory we beheld a larger edition of the little mechanism which we had seen vanish from before our eyes .  Parts were of nickel , parts of ivory , parts had certainly been filed or sawn out of rock crystal .  The thing was generally complete , but the twisted crystalline bars lay unfinished upon the bench beside some sheets of drawings , and I took one up for a better look at it .  Quartz it seemed to be .  " Look here , " said the Medical Man , " are you perfectly serious ?  Or is this a trick — like that ghost you showed us last Christmas ?  "  " Upon that machine , " said the Time Traveller , holding the lamp aloft , " I intend to explore time .  Is that plain ?  I was never more serious in my life .  "  None of us quite knew how to take it .  I caught Filby 'seye over the shoulder of the Medical Man , and he winked at me solemnly .  III THE TIME TRAVELLER RETURNS  I think that at that time none of us quite believed in the Time Machine .  The fact is , the Time Traveller was one of those men who are too clever to be believed : you never felt that you saw all round him ; you always suspected some subtle reserve , some ingenuity in ambush , behind his lucid frankness .  Had Filby shown the model and explained the matter in the Time Traveller 'swords , we should have shown him far less scepticism .  For we should have perceived his motives : a pork-butcher could understand Filby .  But the Time Traveller had more than a touch of whim among his elements , and we distrusted him .  Things that would have made the fame of a less clever man seemed tricks in his hands .  It is a mistake to do things too easily .  The serious people who took him seriously never felt quite sure of his deportment : they were somehow aware that trusting their reputations for judgment with him was like furnishing a nursery with eggshell china .  So I do n't think any of us said very much about time travelling in the interval between that Thursday and the next , though its odd potentialities ran , no doubt , in most of our minds : its plausibility , that is , its practical incredibleness , the curious possibilities of anachronism and of utter confusion it suggested .  For my own part , I was particularly preoccupied with the trick of the model .  That I remember discussing with the Medical Man , whom I met on Friday at the Linnæan .  He said he had seen a similar thing at Tübingen , and laid considerable stress on the blowing-out of the candle .  But how the trick was done he could not explain .  The next Thursday I went again to Richmond — I suppose I was one of the Time Traveller 'smost constant guests — and , arriving late , found four or five men already assembled in his drawing-room .  The Medical Man was standing before the fire with a sheet of paper in one hand and his watch in the other .  I looked round for the Time Traveller , and — " It 'shalf-past seven now , " said the Medical Man .  " I suppose we 'dbetter have dinner ?  "  " Where 's— ?  " said I , naming our host .  " You 'vejust come ?  It 'srather odd .  He 'sunavoidably detained .  He asks me in this note to lead off with dinner at seven if he 'snot back .  Says he 'llexplain when he comes .  "  " It seems a pity to let the dinner spoil , " said the Editor of a well-known daily paper ; and thereupon the Doctor rang the bell .  The Psychologist was the only person besides the Doctor and myself who had attended the previous dinner .  The other men were Blank , the Editor afore-mentioned , a certain journalist , and another — a quiet , shy man with a beard — whom I did n't know , and who , as far as my observation went , never opened his mouth all the evening .  There was some speculation at the dinner-table about the Time Traveller 'sabsence , and I suggested time travelling , in a half jocular spirit .  The Editor wanted that explained to him , and the Psychologist volunteered a wooden account of the " ingenious paradox and trick " we had witnessed that day week .  He was in the midst of his exposition when the door from the corridor opened slowly and without noise .  I was facing the door , and saw it first .  " Hallo !  " I said .  " At last !  " And the door opened wider , and the Time Traveller stood before us .  I gave a cry of surprise .  " Good heavens !  man , what 'sthe matter ?  " cried the Medical Man , who saw him next .  And the whole tableful turned towards the door .  He was in an amazing plight .  His coat was dusty and dirty , and smeared with green down the sleeves ; his hair disordered , and as it seemed to me greyer — either with dust and dirt or because its colour had actually faded .  His face was ghastly pale ; his chin had a brown cut on it — a cut half-healed ; his expression was haggard and drawn , as by intense suffering .  For a moment he hesitated in the doorway , as if he had been dazzled by the light .  Then he came into the room .  He walked with just such a limp as I have seen in footsore tramps .  We stared at him in silence , expecting him to speak .  He said not a word , but came painfully to the table , and made a motion towards the wine .  The Editor filled a glass of champagne , and pushed it towards him .  He drained it , and it seemed to do him good : for he looked round the table , and the ghost of his old smile flickered across his face .  " What on earth have you been up to , man ?  " said the Doctor .  The Time Traveller did not seem to hear .  " Do n't let me disturb you , " he said , with a certain faltering articulation .  " I 'mall right .  " He stopped , held out his glass for more , and took it off at a draught .  " That 'sgood , " he said .  His eyes grew brighter , and a faint colour came into his cheeks .  His glance flickered over our faces with a certain dull approval , and then went round the warm and comfortable room .  Then he spoke again , still as it were feeling his way among his words .  " I 'mgoing to wash and dress , and then I 'llcome down and explain things .  ... Save me some of that mutton .  I 'mstarving for a bit of meat .  "  He looked across at the Editor , who was a rare visitor , and hoped he was all right .  The Editor began a question .  " Tell you presently , " said the Time Traveller .  " I 'm— funny !  Be all right in a minute .  "  He put down his glass , and walked towards the staircase door .  Again I remarked his lameness and the soft padding sound of his footfall , and standing up in my place , I saw his feet as he went out .  He had nothing on them but a pair of tattered , blood-stained socks .  Then the door closed upon him .  I had half a mind to follow , till I remembered how he detested any fuss about himself .  For a minute , perhaps , my mind was wool gathering .  Then , " Remarkable Behaviour of an Eminent Scientist , " I heard the Editor say , thinking ( after his wont ) in headlines .  And this brought my attention back to the bright dinner-table .  " What 'sthe game ?  " said the Journalist .  " Has he been doing the Amateur Cadger ?  I do n't follow .  " I met the eye of the Psychologist , and read my own interpretation in his face .  I thought of the Time Traveller limping painfully up-stairs .  I do n't think any one else had noticed his lameness .  The first to recover completely from this surprise was the Medical Man , who rang the bell — the Time Traveller hated to have servants waiting at dinner — for a hot plate .  At that the Editor turned to his knife and fork with a grunt , and the silent man followed suit .  The dinner was resumed .  Conversation was exclamatory for a little while , with gaps of wonderment ; and then the Editor got fervent in his curiosity .  " Does our friend eke out his modest income with a crossing ?  or has he his Nebuchadnezzar phases ?  " he inquired .  " I feel assured it 'sthis business of the Time Machine , " I said , and took up the Psychologist 'saccount of our previous meeting .  The new guests were frankly incredulous .  The Editor raised objections .  " What was this time travelling ?  A man could n't cover himself with dust by rolling in a paradox , could he ?  " And then , as the idea came home to him , he resorted to caricature .  Had n't they any clothes-brushes in the Future ?  The Journalist , too , would not believe at any price , and joined the Editor in the easy work of heaping ridicule on the whole thing .  They were both the new kind of journalist — very joyous , irreverent young men .  " Our Special Correspondent in the Day after To-morrow reports , " the Journalist was saying — or rather shouting — when the Time Traveller came back .  He was dressed in ordinary evening clothes , and nothing save his haggard look remained of the change that had startled me .  " I say , " said the Editor , hilariously , " these chaps here say you have been travelling into the middle of next week !  !  Tell us all about little Rosebery , will you ?  What will you take for the lot ?  "  The Time Traveller came to the place reserved for him without a word .  He smiled quietly , in his old way .  " Where 'smy mutton ?  " he said .  " What a treat it is to stick a fork into meat again !  "  " Story !  " cried the Editor .  " Story be damned !  " said the Time Traveller .  " I want something to eat .  I wo n't say a word until I get some peptone into my arteries .  Thanks .  And the salt .  "  " One word , " said I .  " Have you been time travelling ?  "  " Yes , " said the Time Traveller , with his mouth full , nodding his head .  " I 'dgive a shilling a line for a verbatim note , " said the Editor .  The Time Traveller pushed his glass towards the Silent Man and rang it with his finger nail ; at which the Silent Man , who had been staring at his face , started convulsively , and poured him wine .  The rest of the dinner was uncomfortable .  For my own part , sudden questions kept on rising to my lips , and I dare say it was the same with the others .  The Journalist tried to relieve the tension by telling anecdotes of Hettie Potter .  The Time Traveller devoted his attention to his dinner , and displayed the appetite of a tramp .  The Medical Man smoked a cigarette , and watched the Time Traveller through his eyelashes .  The Silent Man seemed even more clumsy than usual , and drank champagne with regularity and determination out of sheer nervousness .  At last the Time Traveller pushed his plate away , and looked round us .  " I suppose I must apologize , " he said .  " I was simply starving .  I 'vehad a most amazing time .  " He reached out his hand for a cigar , and cut the end .  " But come into the smoking-room .  It 'stoo long a story to tell over greasy plates , " And ringing the bell in passing , he led the way into the adjoining room .  " You have told Blank , and Dash , and Chose about the machine ?  " he said to me , leaning back in his easy-chair and naming the three new guests .  " But the thing 'sa mere paradox , " said the Editor .  " I ca n't argue to-night .  I do n't mind telling you the story , but I ca n't argue .  I will , " he went on , " tell you the story of what has happened to me , if you like , but you must refrain from interruptions .  I want to tell it .  Badly .  Most of it will sound like lying .  So be it !  It 'strue — every word of it , all the same .  I was in my laboratory at four o'clock , and since then ... I 'velived eight days ... such days as no human being ever lived before !  I 'mnearly worn out , but I sha' n't sleep till I 'vetold this thing over to you .  Then I shall go to bed .  But no interruptions !  Is it agreed ?  "  " Agreed , " said the Editor , and the rest of us echoed " Agreed .  " And with that the Time Traveller began his story as I have set it forth .  He sat back in his chair at first , and spoke like a weary man .  Afterwards he got more animated .  In writing it down I feel with only too much keenness the inadequacy of pen and ink — and , above all , my own inadequacy — to express its quality .  You read , I will suppose , attentively enough ; but you cannot see the speaker 'swhite , sincere face in the bright circle of the little lamp , nor hear the intonation of his voice .  You cannot know how his expression followed the turns of his story !  Most of us hearers were in shadow , for the candles in the smoking-room had not been lighted , and only the face of the Journalist and the legs of the Silent Man from the knees downward were illuminated .  At first we glanced now and again at each other .  After a time we ceased to do that , and looked only at the Time Traveller 'sface .  IV TIME TRAVELLING  " I told some of you last Thursday of the principles of the Time Machine , and showed you the actual thing itself , incomplete in the workshop .  There it is now , a little travel-worn , truly ; and one of the ivory bars is cracked , and a brass rail bent ; but the rest of it 'ssound enough .  I expected to finish it on Friday ; but on Friday , when the putting together was nearly done , I found that one of the nickel bars was exactly one inch too short , and this I had to get re-made ; so that the thing was not complete until this morning .  It was at ten o'clock to-day that the first of all Time Machines began its career .  I gave it a last tap , tried all the screws again , put one more drop of oil on the quartz rod , and sat myself in the saddle .  I suppose a suicide who holds a pistol to his skull feels much the same wonder at what will come next as I felt then .  I took the starting lever in one hand and the stopping one in the other , pressed the first , and almost immediately the second .  I seemed to reel ; I felt a nightmare sensation of falling ; and , looking round , I saw the laboratory exactly as before .  Had anything happened ?  For a moment I suspected that my intellect had tricked me .  Then I noted the clock .  A moment before , as it seemed , it had stood at a minute or so past ten ; now it was nearly half-past three !  " I drew a breath , set my teeth , gripped the starting lever with both hands , and went off with a thud .  The laboratory got hazy and went dark .  Mrs. Watchett came in , and walked , apparently without seeing me , towards the garden door .  I suppose it took her a minute or so to traverse the place , but to me she seemed to shoot across the room like a rocket .  I pressed the lever over to its extreme position .  The night came like the turning out of a lamp , and in another moment came to-morrow .  The laboratory grew faint and hazy , then fainter and ever fainter .  To-morrow night came black , then day again , night again , day again , faster and faster still .  An eddying murmur filled my ears , and a strange , dumb confusedness descended on my mind .  " I am afraid I cannot convey the peculiar sensations of time travelling .  They are excessively unpleasant .  There is a feeling exactly like that one has upon a switchback — of a helpless headlong motion !  I felt the same horrible anticipation , too , of an imminent smash .  As I put on pace , night followed day like the flapping of a black wing .  The dim suggestion of the laboratory seemed presently to fall away from me , and I saw the sun hopping swiftly across the sky , leaping it every minute , and every minute marking a day .  I supposed the laboratory had been destroyed , and I had come into the open air .  I had a dim impression of scaffolding , but I was already going too fast to be conscious of any moving things .  The slowest snail that ever crawled dashed by too fast for me .  The twinkling succession of darkness and light was excessively painful to the eye .  Then , in the intermittent darknesses , I saw the moon spinning swiftly through her quarters from new to full , and had a faint glimpse of the circling stars .  Presently , as I went on , still gaining velocity , the palpitation of night and day merged into one continuous greyness ; the sky took on a wonderful deepness of blue , a splendid luminous colour like that of early twilight ; the jerking sun became a streak of fire , a brilliant arch , in space , the moon a fainter fluctuating band ; and I could see nothing of the stars , save now and then a brighter circle flickering in the blue .  " The landscape was misty and vague .  I was still on the hill-side upon which this house now stands , and the shoulder rose above me grey and dim .  I saw trees growing and changing like puffs of vapour , now brown , now green : they grew , spread , shivered , and passed away .  I saw huge buildings rise up faint and fair , and pass like dreams .  The whole surface of the earth seemed changed — melting and flowing under my eyes .  The little hands upon the dials that registered my speed raced round faster and faster .  Presently I noted that the sun-belt swayed up and down , from solstice to solstice , in a minute or less , and that , consequently , my pace was over a year a minute ; and minute by minute the white snow flashed across the world , and vanished , and was followed by the bright , brief green of spring .  " The unpleasant sensations of the start were less poignant now .  They merged at last into a kind of hysterical exhilaration .  I remarked , indeed , a clumsy swaying of the machine , for which I was unable to account .  But my mind was too confused to attend to it , so with a kind of madness growing upon me , I flung myself into futurity .  At first I scarce thought of stopping , scarce thought of anything but these new sensations .  But presently a fresh series of impressions grew up in my mind — a certain curiosity and therewith a certain dread — until at last they took complete possession of me .  What strange developments of humanity , what wonderful advances upon our rudimentary civilization , I thought , might not appear when I came to look nearly into the dim elusive world that raced and fluctuated before my eyes !  I saw great and splendid architecture rising about me , more massive than any buildings of our own time , and yet , as it seemed , built of glimmer and mist .  I saw a richer green flow up the hill-side , and remain there without any wintry intermission .  Even through the veil of my confusion the earth seemed very fair .  And so my mind came round to the business of stopping .  " The peculiar risk lay in the possibility of my finding some substance in the space which I , or the machine , occupied .  So long as I travelled at a high velocity through time , this scarcely mattered : I was , so to speak , attenuated — was slipping like a vapour through the interstices of intervening substances !  But to come to a stop involved the jamming of myself , molecule by molecule , into whatever lay in my way : meant bringing my atoms into such intimate contact with those of the obstacle that a profound chemical reaction — possibly a far-reaching explosion — would result , and blow myself and my apparatus out of all possible dimensions — into the Unknown .  This possibility had occurred to me again and again while I was making the machine ; but then I had cheerfully accepted it as an unavoidable risk — one of the risks a man has got to take !  Now the risk was inevitable , I no longer saw it in the same cheerful light .  The fact is that , insensibly , the absolute strangeness of everything , the sickly jarring and swaying of the machine , above all , the feeling of prolonged falling , had absolutely upset my nerve .  I told myself that I could never stop , and with a gust of petulance I resolved to stop forthwith .  Like an impatient fool , I lugged over the lever , and incontinently the thing went reeling over , and I was flung headlong through the air .  " There was the sound of a clap of thunder in my ears .  I may have been stunned for a moment .  A pitiless hail was hissing round me , and I was sitting on soft turf in front of the overset machine .  Everything still seemed grey , but presently I remarked that the confusion in my ears was gone .  I looked round me .  I was on what seemed to be a little lawn in a garden , surrounded by rhododendron bushes , and I noticed that their mauve and purple blossoms were dropping in a shower under the beating of the hailstones .  The rebounding , dancing hail hung in a little cloud over the machine , and drove along the ground like smoke .  In a moment I was wet to the skin .  ' Fine hospitality , ' said I , ' to a man who has travelled innumerable years to see you .  '  " Presently I thought what a fool I was to get wet .  I stood up and looked round me .  A colossal figure , carved apparently in some white stone , loomed indistinctly beyond the rhododendrons through the hazy downpour .  But all else of the world was invisible .  " My sensations would be hard to describe .  As the columns of hail grew thinner , I saw the white figure more distinctly .  It was very large , for a silver birch tree touched its shoulder .  It was of white marble , in shape something like a winged sphinx , but the wings , instead of being carried vertically at the sides , were spread so that it seemed to hover .  The pedestal , it appeared to me , was of bronze , and was thick with verdigris .  It chanced that the face was towards me ; the sightless eyes seemed to watch me ; there was the faint shadow of a smile on the lips .  It was greatly weather-worn , and that imparted an unpleasant suggestion of disease .  I stood looking at it for a little space — half-a-minute , perhaps , or half-an-hour .  It seemed to advance and to recede as the hail drove before it denser or thinner .  At last I tore my eyes from it for a moment , and saw that the hail curtain had worn threadbare , and that the sky was lightening with the promise of the sun .  " I looked up again at the crouching white shape , and the full temerity of my voyage came suddenly upon me .  What might appear when that hazy curtain was altogether withdrawn ?  What might not have happened to men ?  What if cruelty had grown into a common passion ?  What if in this interval the race had lost its manliness , and had developed into something inhuman , unsympathetic , and overwhelmingly powerful ?  I might seem some old-world savage animal , only the more dreadful and disgusting for our common likeness — a foul creature to be incontinently slain .  " Already I saw other vast shapes — huge buildings with intricate parapets and tall columns , with a wooded hill-side dimly creeping in upon me through the lessening storm .  I was seized with a panic fear .  I turned frantically to the Time Machine , and strove hard to readjust it .  As I did so the shafts of the sun smote through the thunder-storm .  The grey downpour was swept aside and vanished like the trailing garments of a ghost .  Above me , in the intense blue of the summer sky , some faint brown shreds of cloud whirled into nothingness .  The great buildings about me stood out clear and distinct , shining with the wet of the thunderstorm , and picked out in white by the unmelted hailstones piled along their courses .  I felt naked in a strange world .  I felt as perhaps a bird may feel in the clear air , knowing the hawk wins above and will swoop .  My fear grew to frenzy .  I took a breathing space , set my teeth , and again grappled fiercely , wrist and knee , with the machine .  It gave under my desperate onset and turned over .  It struck my chin violently .  One hand on the saddle , the other on the lever , I stood panting heavily in attitude to mount again .  " But with this recovery of a prompt retreat my courage recovered .  I looked more curiously and less fearfully at this world of the remote future .  In a circular opening , high up in the wall of the nearer house , I saw a group of figures clad in rich soft robes .  They had seen me , and their faces were directed towards me .  " Then I heard voices approaching me .  Coming through the bushes by the White Sphinx were the heads and shoulders of men running .  One of these emerged in a pathway leading straight to the little lawn upon which I stood with my machine .  He was a slight creature — perhaps four feet high — clad in a purple tunic , girdled at the waist with a leather belt .  Sandals or buskins — I could not clearly distinguish which — were on his feet ; his legs were bare to the knees , and his head was bare .  Noticing that , I noticed for the first time how warm the air was .  " He struck me as being a very beautiful and graceful creature , but indescribably frail .  His flushed face reminded me of the more beautiful kind of consumptive — that hectic beauty of which we used to hear so much .  At the sight of him I suddenly regained confidence .  I took my hands from the machine .  V IN THE GOLDEN AGE  " In another moment we were standing face to face , I and this fragile thing out of futurity .  He came straight up to me and laughed into my eyes .  The absence from his bearing of any sign of fear struck me at once .  Then he turned to the two others who were following him and spoke to them in a strange and very sweet and liquid tongue .  " There were others coming , and presently a little group of perhaps eight or ten of these exquisite creatures were about me .  One of them addressed me .  It came into my head , oddly enough , that my voice was too harsh and deep for them .  So I shook my head , and pointing to my ears , shook it again .  He came a step forward , hesitated , and then touched my hand .  Then I felt other soft little tentacles upon my back and shoulders .  They wanted to make sure I was real .  There was nothing in this at all alarming .  Indeed , there was something in these pretty little people that inspired confidence — a graceful gentleness , a certain childlike ease .  And besides , they looked so frail that I could fancy myself flinging the whole dozen of them about like nine-pins .  But I made a sudden motion to warn them when I saw their little pink hands feeling at the Time Machine .  Happily then , when it was not too late , I thought of a danger I had hitherto forgotten , and reaching over the bars of the machine , I unscrewed the little levers that would set it in motion , and put these in my pocket .  Then I turned again to see what I could do in the way of communication .  " And then , looking more nearly into their features , I saw some further peculiarities in their Dresden china type of prettiness .  Their hair , which was uniformly curly , came to a sharp end at the neck and cheek ; there was not the faintest suggestion of it on the face , and their ears were singularly minute .  The mouths were small , with bright red , rather thin lips , and the little chins ran to a point .  The eyes were large and mild ; and — this may seem egotism on my part — I fancied even then that there was a certain lack of the interest I might have expected in them .  " As they made no effort to communicate with me , but simply stood round me smiling and speaking in soft cooing notes to each other , I begun the conversation .  I pointed to the Time Machine and to myself .  Then , hesitating for a moment how to express Time , I pointed to the sun .  At once a quaintly pretty little figure in chequered purple and white followed my gesture , and then astonished me by imitating the sound of thunder .  " For a moment I was staggered , though the import of his gesture was plain enough .  The question had come into my mind abruptly : were these creatures fools ?  You may hardly understand how it took me .  You see I had always anticipated that the people of the year Eight Hundred and Two Thousand odd would be incredibly in front of us in knowledge , art , everything .  Then one of them suddenly asked me a question that showed him to be on the intellectual level of one of our five-year-old children — asked me , in fact , if I had come from the sun in a thunderstorm !  It let loose the judgment I had suspended upon their clothes , their frail light limbs and fragile features .  A flow of disappointment rushed across my mind .  For a moment I felt that I had built the Time Machine in vain .  " I nodded , pointed to the sun , and gave them such a vivid rendering of a thunderclap as startled them .  They all withdrew a pace or so and bowed .  Then came one laughing towards me , carrying a chain of beautiful flowers altogether new to me , and put it about my neck .  The idea was received with melodious applause ; and presently they were all running to and fro for flowers , and laughingly flinging them upon me until I was almost smothered with blossom .  You who have never seen the like can scarcely imagine what delicate and wonderful flowers countless years of culture had created .  Then some one suggested that their plaything should be exhibited in the nearest building , and so I was led past the sphinx of white marble , which had seemed to watch me all the while with a smile at my astonishment , towards a vast grey edifice of fretted stone .  As I went with them the memory of my confident anticipations of a profoundly grave and intellectual posterity came , with irresistible merriment , to my mind .  " The building had a huge entry , and was altogether of colossal dimensions .  I was naturally most occupied with the growing crowd of little people , and with the big open portals that yawned before me shadowy and mysterious .  My general impression of the world I saw over their heads was of a tangled waste of beautiful bushes and flowers , a long-neglected and yet weedless garden .  I saw a number of tall spikes of strange white flowers , measuring a foot perhaps across the spread of the waxen petals .  They grew scattered , as if wild , among the variegated shrubs , but , as I say , I did not examine them closely at this time .  The Time Machine was left deserted on the turf among the rhododendrons .  " The arch of the doorway was richly carved , but naturally I did not observe the carving very narrowly , though I fancied I saw suggestions of old Phoenician decorations as I passed through , and it struck me that they were very badly broken and weather-worn .  Several more brightly-clad people met me in the doorway , and so we entered , I , dressed in dingy nineteenth-century garments , looking grotesque enough , garlanded with flowers , and surrounded by an eddying mass of bright , softcoloured robes and shining white limbs , in a melodious whirl of laughter and laughing speech .  " The big doorway opened into a proportionately great hall hung with brown .  The roof was in shadow , and the windows , partially glazed with coloured glass and partially unglazed , admitted a tempered light .  The floor was made up of huge blocks of some very hard white metal , not plates nor slabs — blocks , and it was so much worn , as I judged by the going to and fro of past generations , as to be deeply channelled along the more frequented ways .  Transverse to the length were innumerable tables made of slabs of polished stone , raised , perhaps , a foot from the floor , and upon these were heaps of fruits .  Some I recognized as a kind of hypertrophied raspberry and orange , but for the most part they were strange .  " Between the tables was scattered a great number of cushions .  Upon these my conductors seated themselves , signing for me to do likewise .  With a pretty absence of ceremony they began to eat the fruit with their hands , flinging peel and stalks , and so forth , into the round openings in the sides of the tables .  I was not loth to follow their example , for I felt thirsty and hungry .  As I did so I surveyed the hall at my leisure .  " And perhaps the thing that struck me most was its dilapidated look .  The stained-glass windows , which displayed only a geometrical pattern , were broken in many places , and the curtains that hung across the lower end were thick with dust .  And it caught my eye that the corner of the marble table near me was fractured .  Nevertheless , the general effect was extremely rich and picturesque .  There were , perhaps , a couple of hundred people dining in the hall , and most of them , seated as near to me as they could come , were watching me with interest , their little eyes shining over the fruit they were eating .  All were clad in the same soft , and yet strong , silky material .  " Fruit , by the bye , was all their diet .  These people of the remote future were strict vegetarians , and while I was with them , in spite of some carnal cravings , I had to be frugivorous also .  Indeed , I found afterwards that horses , cattle , sheep , dogs , had followed the Ichthyosaurus into extinction .  But the fruits were very delightful ; one , in particular , that seemed to be in season all the time I was there — a floury thing in a three-sided husk — was especially good , and I made it my staple .  At first I was puzzled by all these strange fruits , and by the strange flowers I saw , but later I began to perceive their import .  " However , I am telling you of my fruit dinner in the distant future now .  So soon as my appetite was a little checked , I determined to make a resolute attempt to learn the speech of these new men of mine .  Clearly that was the next thing to do .  The fruits seemed a convenient thing to begin upon , and holding one of these up I began a series of interrogative sounds and gestures .  I had some considerable difficulty in conveying my meaning .  At first my efforts met with a stare of surprise or inextinguishable laughter , but presently a fair-haired little creature seemed to grasp my intention and repeated a name .  They had to chatter and explain their business at great length to each other , and my first attempts to make their exquisite little sounds of the language caused an immense amount of genuine , if uncivil , amusement .  However , I felt like a school-master amidst children , and persisted , and presently I had a score of noun substantives at least at my command ; and then I got to demonstrative pronouns , and even the verb " to eat .  " But it was slow work , and the little people soon tired and wanted to get away from my interrogations , so I determined , rather of necessity , to let them give their lessons in little doses when they felt inclined .  And very little doses I found they were before long , for I never met people more indolent or more easily fatigued .  VI THE SUNSET OF MANKIND  " A Queer thing I soon discovered about my little hosts , and that was their lack of interest .  They would come to me with eager cries of astonishment , like children , but , like children , they would soon stop examining me , and wander away after some other toy .  The dinner and my conversational beginnings ended , I noted for the first time that almost all those who had surrounded me at first were gone .  It is odd , too , how speedily I came to disregard these little people .  I went out through the portal into the sunlit world again so soon as my hunger was satisfied .  I was continually meeting more of these men of the future , who would follow me a little distance , chatter and laugh about me , and , having smiled and gesticulated in a friendly way , leave me again to my own devices .  " The calm of evening was upon the world as I emerged from the great hall , and the scene was lit by the warm glow of the setting sun .  At first things were very confusing .  Everything was so entirely different from the world I had known — even the flowers .  The big building I had left was situate on the slope of a broad river valley , but the Thames had shifted , perhaps , a mile from its present position .  I resolved to mount to the summit of a crest , perhaps a mile and a half away , from which I could get a wider view of this our planet in the year Eight Hundred and Two Thousand Seven Hundred and One , A .  D .  For that , I should explain , was the date the little dials of my machine recorded .  " As I walked I was watchful for every impression that could possibly help to explain the condition of ruinous splendour in which I found the world — for ruinous it was .  A little way up the hill , for instance , was a great heap of granite , bound together by masses of aluminium , a vast labyrinth of precipitous walls and crumbled heaps , amidst which were thick heaps of very beautiful pagoda-like plants — nettles possibly — but wonderfully tinted with brown about the leaves , and incapable of stinging .  It was evidently the derelict remains of some vast structure , to what end built I could not determine .  It was here that I was destined , at a later date , to have a very strange experience — the first intimation of a still stranger discovery — but of that I will speak in its proper place .  " Looking round , with a sudden thought , from a terrace on which I rested for awhile , I realized that there were no small houses to be seen .  Apparently , the single house , and possibly even the household , had vanished .  Here and there among the greenery were palace-like buildings , but the house and the cottage , which form such characteristic features of our own English landscape , had disappeared .  " 'Communism , ' said I to myself .  " And on the heels of that came another thought .  I looked at the half-dozen little figures that were following me .  Then , in a flash , I perceived that all had the same form of costume , the same soft hairless visage , and the same girlish rotundity of limb .  It may seem strange , perhaps , that I had not noticed this before .  But everything was so strange .  Now , I saw the fact plainly enough .  In costume , and in all the differences of texture and bearing that now mark off the sexes from each other , these people of the future were alike .  And the children seemed to my eyes to be but the miniatures of their parents .  I judged then that the children of that time were extremely precocious , physically at least , and I found afterwards abundant verification of my opinion .  " Seeing the ease and security in which these people were living , I felt that this close resemblance of the sexes was after all what one would expect ; for the strength of a man and the softness of a woman , the institution of the family , and the differentiation of occupations are mere militant necessities of an age of physical force .  Where population is balanced and abundant , much child-bearing becomes an evil rather than a blessing to the State : where violence comes but rarely and offspring are secure , there is less necessity — indeed there is no necessity — of an efficient family , and the specialization of the sexes with reference to their children 'sneeds disappears .  We see some beginnings of this even in our own time , and in this future age it was complete .  This , I must remind you , was my speculation at the time .  Later , I was to appreciate how far it fell short of the reality .  " While I was musing upon these things , my attention was attracted by a pretty little structure , like a well under a cupola .  I thought in a transitory way of the oddness of wells still existing , and then resumed the thread of my speculations .  There were no large buildings towards the top of the hill , and as my walking powers were evidently miraculous , I was presently left alone for the first time .  With a strange sense of freedom and adventure I pushed on up to the crest .  " There I found a seat of some yellow metal that I did not recognize , corroded in places with a kind of pinkish rust and half-smothered in soft moss , the arm-rests cast and filed into the resemblance of griffins 'heads .  I sat down on it , and I surveyed the broad view of our old world under the sunset of that long day .  It was as sweet and fair a view as I have ever seen .  The sun had already gone below the horizon and the west was flaming gold , touched with some horizontal bars of purple and crimson .  Below was the valley of the Thames , in which the river lay like a band of burnished steel .  I have already spoken of the great palaces dotted about among the variegated greenery , some in ruins and some still occupied .  Here and there rose a white or silvery figure in the waste garden of the earth , here and there came the sharp vertical line of some cupola or obelisk .  There were no hedges , no signs of proprietary rights , no evidences of agriculture ; the whole earth had become a garden .  " So watching , I began to put my interpretation upon the things I had seen , and as it shaped itself to me that evening , my interpretation was something in this way .  ( Afterwards I found I had got only a half truth — or only a glimpse of one facet of the truth ) :  " It seemed to me that I had happened upon humanity upon the wane .  The ruddy sunset set me thinking of the sunset of mankind .  For the first time I began to realize an odd consequence of the social effort in which we are at present engaged .  And yet , come to think , it is a logical consequence enough .  Strength is the outcome of need : security sets a premium on feebleness .  The work of ameliorating the conditions of life — the true civilizing process that makes life more and more secure — had gone steadily on to a climax .  One triumph of a united humanity over Nature had followed another .  Things that are now mere dreams had become projects deliberately put in hand and carried forward .  And the harvest was what I saw !  " After all , the sanitation and the agriculture of to-day are still in the rudimentary stage .  The science of our time has attacked but a little department of the field of human disease , but , even so , it spreads its operations very steadily and persistently .  Our agriculture and horticulture destroy a weed just here and there and cultivate perhaps a score or so of wholesome plants , leaving the greater number to fight out a balance as they can .  We improve our favourite plants and animals — and how few they are — gradually by selective breeding ; now a new and better peach , now a seedless grape , now a sweeter and larger flower , now a more convenient breed of cattle .  We improve them gradually , because our ideals are vague and tentative , and our knowledge is very limited ; because Nature , too , is shy and slow in our clumsy hands .  Some day all this will be better organized , and still better .  That is the drift of the current in spite of the eddies .  The whole world will be intelligent , educated , and co-operating ; things will move faster and faster towards the subjugation of Nature .  In the end , wisely and carefully we shall readjust the balance of animal and vegetable life to suit our human needs .  " This adjustment , I say , must have been done , and done well : done indeed for all time , in the space of Time across which my machine had leapt .  The air was free from gnats , the earth from weeds or fungi ; everywhere were fruits and sweet and delightful flowers ; brilliant butterflies flew hither and thither .  The ideal of preventive medicine was attained .  Diseases had been stamped out .  I saw no evidence of any contagious diseases during all my stay .  And I shall have to tell you later that even the processes of putrefaction and decay had been profoundly affected by these changes .  " Social triumphs , too , had been effected .  I saw mankind housed in splendid shelters , gloriously clothed , and as yet I had found them engaged in no toil .  There were no signs of struggle , neither social nor economical struggle .  The shop , the advertisement , traffic , all that commerce which constitutes the body of our world , was gone .  It was natural on that golden evening that I should jump at the idea of a social paradise .  The difficulty of increasing population had been met , I guessed , and population had ceased to increase .  " But with this change in condition comes inevitably adaptations to the change .  What , unless biological science is a mass of errors , is the cause of human intelligence and vigour ?  Hardship and freedom : conditions under which the active , strong , and subtle survive and the weaker go to the wall ; conditions that put a premium upon the loyal alliance of capable men , upon self-restraint , patience , and decision .  And the institution of the family , and the emotions that arise therein , the fierce jealousy , the tenderness for offspring , parental self-devotion , all found their justification and support in the imminent dangers of the young .  Now , where are these imminent dangers ?  There is a sentiment arising , and it will grow , against connubial jealousy , against fierce maternity , against passion of all sorts ; unnecessary things now , and things that make us uncomfortable , savage survivals , discords in a refined and pleasant life .  " I thought of the physical slightness of the people , their lack of intelligence , and those big abundant ruins , and it strengthened my belief in a perfect conquest of Nature .  For after the battle comes Quiet .  Humanity had been strong , energetic , and intelligent , and had used all its abundant vitality to alter the conditions under which it lived .  And now came the reaction of the altered conditions .  " Under the new conditions of perfect comfort and security , that restless energy , that with us is strength , would become weakness .  Even in our own time certain tendencies and desires , once necessary to survival , are a constant source of failure .  Physical courage and the love of battle , for instance , are no great help — may even be hindrances — to a civilized man .  And in a state of physical balance and security , power , intellectual as well as physical , would be out of place .  For countless years I judged there had been no danger of war or solitary violence , no danger from wild beasts , no wasting disease to require strength of constitution , no need of toil .  For such a life , what we should call the weak are as well equipped as the strong , are indeed no longer weak .  Better equipped indeed they are , for the strong would be fretted by an energy for which there was no outlet .  No doubt the exquisite beauty of the buildings I saw was the outcome of the last surgings of the now purposeless energy of mankind before it settled down into perfect harmony with the conditions under which it lived — the flourish of that triumph which began the last great peace .  This has ever been the fate of energy in security ; it takes to art and to eroticism , and then come languor and decay .  " Even this artistic impetus would at last die away — had almost died in the Time I saw .  To adorn themselves with flowers , to dance , to sing in the sunlight ; so much was left of the artistic spirit , and no more .  Even that would fade in the end into a contented inactivity .  We are kept keen on the grindstone of pain and necessity , and , it seemed to me , that here was that hateful grindstone broken at last !  " As I stood there in the gathering dark I thought that in this simple explanation I had mastered the problem of the world — mastered the whole secret of these delicious people .  Possibly the checks they had devised for the increase of population had succeeded too well , and their numbers had rather diminished than kept stationary .  That would account for the abandoned ruins .  Very simple was my explanation , and plausible enough — as most wrong theories are !  VII A SUDDEN SHOCK  " As I stood there musing over this too perfect triumph of man , the full moon , yellow and gibbous , came up out of an overflow of silver light in the north-east .  The bright little figures ceased to move about below , a noiseless owl flitted by , and I shivered with the chill of the night .  I determined to descend and find where I could sleep .  " I looked for the building I knew .  Then my eye travelled along to the figure of the White Sphinx upon the pedestal of bronze , growing distinct as the light of the rising moon grew brighter .  I could see the silver birch against it .  There was the tangle of rhododendron bushes , black in the pale light , and there was the little lawn .  I looked at the lawn again .  A queer doubt chilled my complacency .  ' No , 'said I stoutly to myself , ' that was not the lawn .  '  " But it was the lawn .  For the white leprous face of the sphinx was towards it .  Can you imagine what I felt as this conviction came home to me ?  But you cannot .  The Time Machine was gone !  " At once , like a lash across the face , came the possibility of losing my own age , of being left helpless in this strange new world .  The bare thought of it was an actual physical sensation .  I could feel it grip me at the throat and stop my breathing .  In another moment I was in a passion of fear , and running with great leaping strides down the slope .  Once I fell headlong and cut my face ; I lost no time in stanching the blood , but jumped up and ran on , with a warm trickle down my cheek and chin .  All the time I ran I was saying to myself , ' They have moved it a little , pushed it under the bushes out of the way .  ' Nevertheless , I ran with all my might .  All the time , with the certainty that sometimes comes with excessive dread , I knew that such assurance was folly , knew instinctively that the machine was removed out of my reach .  My breath came with pain .  I suppose I covered the whole distance from the hill crest to the little lawn , two miles , perhaps , in ten minutes .  And I am not a young man .  I cursed aloud , as I ran , at my confident folly in leaving the machine , wasting good breath thereby .  I cried aloud , and none answered .  Not a creature seemed to be stirring in that moonlit world .  " When I reached the lawn my worst fears were realized .  Not a trace of the thing was to be seen .  I felt faint and cold when I faced the empty space , among the black tangle of bushes .  I ran round it furiously , as if the thing might be hidden in a corner , and then stopped abruptly , with my hands clutching my hair .  Above me towered the sphinx , upon the bronze pedestal , white , shining , leprous , in the light of the rising moon .  It seemed to smile in mockery of my dismay .  " I might have consoled myself by imagining the little people had put the mechanism in some shelter for me , had I not felt assured of their physical and intellectual inadequacy .  That is what dismayed me : the sense of some hitherto unsuspected power , through whose intervention my invention had vanished .  Yet , of one thing I felt assured : unless some other age had produced its exact duplicate , the machine could not have moved in time .  The attachment of the levers — I will show you the method later — prevented any one from tampering with it in that way when they were removed .  It had moved , and was hid , only in space .  But then , where could it be ?  " I think I must have had a kind of frenzy .  I remember running violently in and out among the moonlit bushes all round the sphinx , and startling some white animal that , in the dim light , I took for a small deer .  I remember , too , late that night , beating the bushes with my clenched fists until my knuckles were gashed and bleeding from the broken twigs .  Then , sobbing and raving in my anguish of mind , I went down to the great building of stone .  The big hall was dark , silent , and deserted .  I slipped on the uneven floor , and fell over one of the malachite tables , almost breaking my shin .  I lit a match and went on past the dusty curtains , of which I have told you .  " There I found a second great hall covered with cushions , upon which , perhaps , a score or so of the little people were sleeping .  I have no doubt they found my second appearance strange enough , coming suddenly out of the quiet darkness with inarticulate noises and the splutter and flare of a match .  For they had forgotten about matches .  ' Where is my Time Machine ?  ' I began , bawling like an angry child , laying hands upon them and shaking them up together .  It must have been very queer to them .  Some laughed , most of them looked sorely frightened .  When I saw them standing round me , it came into my head that I was doing as foolish a thing as it was possible for me to do under the circumstances , in trying to revive the sensation of fear .  For , reasoning from their daylight behaviour , I thought that fear must be forgotten .  " Abruptly , I dashed down the match , and knocking one of the people over in my course , went blundering across the big dining-hall again , out under the moonlight .  I heard cries of terror and their little feet running and stumbling this way and that .  I do not remember all I did as the moon crept up the sky .  I suppose it was the unexpected nature of my loss that maddened me .  I felt hopelessly cut off from my own kind — a strange animal in an unknown world .  I must have raved to and fro , screaming and crying upon God and Fate .  I have a memory of horrible fatigue , as the long night of despair wore away ; of looking in this impossible place and that ; of groping among moonlit ruins and touching strange creatures in the black shadows ; at last , of lying on the ground near the sphinx , and weeping with absolute wretchedness , even anger at the folly of leaving the machine having leaked away with my strength .  I had nothing left but misery .  Then I slept , and when I woke again it was full day , and a couple of sparrows were hopping round me on the turf within reach of my arm .  " I sat up in the freshness of the morning , trying to remember how I had got there , and why I had such a profound sense of desertion and despair .  Then things came clear in my mind .  With the plain , reasonable daylight , I could look my circumstances fairly in the face .  I saw the wild folly of my frenzy overnight , and I could reason with myself .  Suppose the worst ?  I said .  Suppose the machine altogether lost — perhaps destroyed ?  It behoves me to be calm and patient , to learn the way of the people , to get a clear idea of the method of my loss , and the means of getting materials and tools ; so that in the end , perhaps , I may make another .  That would be my only hope , a poor hope , perhaps , but better than despair .  And , after all , it was a beautiful and curious world .  " But probably the machine had only been taken away .  Still , I must be calm and patient , find its hiding-place , and recover it by force or cunning .  And with that I scrambled to my feet and looked about me , wondering where I could bathe .  I felt weary , stiff , and travel-soiled .  The freshness of the morning made me desire an equal freshness .  I had exhausted my emotion .  Indeed , as I went about my business , I found myself wondering at my intense excitement overnight .  I made a careful examination of the ground about the little lawn .  I wasted some time in futile questionings , conveyed , as well as I was able , to such of the little people as came by .  They all failed to understand my gestures : some were simply stolid ; some thought it was a jest , and laughed at me .  I had the hardest task in the world to keep my hands off their pretty laughing faces .  It was a foolish impulse , but the devil begotten of fear and blind anger was ill curbed , and still eager to take advantage of my perplexity .  The turf gave better counsel .  I found a groove ripped in it , about midway between the pedestal of the sphinx and the marks of my feet where , on arrival , I had struggled with the overturned machine .  There were other signs of removal about , with queer narrow footprints like those I could imagine made by a sloth .  This directed my closer attention to the pedestal .  It was , as I think I have said , of bronze .  It was not a mere block , but highly decorated with deep framed panels on either side .  I went and rapped at these .  The pedestal was hollow .  Examining the panels with care I found them discontinuous with the frames .  There were no handles or keyholes , but possibly the panels , if they were doors as I supposed , opened from within .  One thing was clear enough to my mind .  It took no very great mental effort to infer that my Time Machine was inside that pedestal .  But how it got there was a different problem .  " I saw the heads of two orange-clad people coming through the bushes and under some blossom-covered apple-trees towards me .  I turned smiling to them , and beckoned them to me .  They came , and then , pointing to the bronze pedestal , I tried to intimate my wish to open it .  But at my first gesture towards this they behaved very oddly .  I do n't know how to convey their expression to you .  Suppose you were to use a grossly improper gesture to a delicate-minded woman — it is how she would look .  They went off as if they had received the last possible insult .  I tried a sweet-looking little chap in white next , with exactly the same result .  Somehow , his manner made me feel ashamed of myself .  But , as you know , I wanted the Time Machine , and I tried him once more .  As he turned off , like the others , my temper got the better of me .  In three strides I was after him , had him by the loose part of his robe round the neck , and began dragging him towards the sphinx .  Then I saw the horror and repugnance of his face , and all of a sudden I let him go .  " But I was not beaten yet .  I banged with my fist at the bronze panels .  I thought I heard something stir inside — to be explicit , I thought I heard a sound like a chuckle — but I must have been mistaken .  Then I got a big pebble from the river , and came and hammered till I had flattened a coil in the decorations , and the verdigris came off in powdery flakes .  The delicate little people must have heard me hammering in gusty outbreaks a mile away on either hand , but nothing came of it .  I saw a crowd of them upon the slopes , looking furtively at me .  At last , hot and tired , I sat down to watch the place .  But I was too restless to watch long ; I am too Occidental for a long vigil .  I could work at a problem for years , but to wait inactive for twenty-four hours — that is another matter .  " I got up after a time , and began walking aimlessly through the bushes towards the hill again .  ' Patience , ' said I to myself .  ' If you want your machine again you must leave that sphinx alone .  If they mean to take your machine away , it 'slittle good your wrecking their bronze panels , and if they do n't , you will get it back as soon as you can ask for it .  To sit among all those unknown things before a puzzle like that is hopeless .  That way lies monomania .  Face this world .  Learn its ways , watch it , be careful of too hasty guesses at its meaning .  In the end you will find clues to it all .  ' Then suddenly the humour of the situation came into my mind : the thought of the years I had spent in study and toil to get into the future age , and now my passion of anxiety to get out of it .  I had made myself the most complicated and the most hopeless trap that ever a man devised .  Although it was at my own expense , I could not help myself .  I laughed aloud .  " Going through the big palace , it seemed to me that the little people avoided me .  It may have been my fancy , or it may have had something to do with my hammering at the gates of bronze .  Yet I felt tolerably sure of the avoidance .  I was careful , however , to show no concern , and to abstain from any pursuit of them , and in the course of a day or two things got back to the old footing .  I made what progress I could in the language , and , in addition , I pushed my explorations here and there .  Either I missed some subtle point , or their language was excessively simple — almost exclusively composed of concrete substantives and verbs .  There seemed to be few , if any , abstract terms , or little use of figurative language .  Their sentences were usually simple and of two words , and I failed to convey or understand any but the simplest propositions .  I determined to put the thought of my Time Machine , and the mystery of the bronze doors under the sphinx , as much as possible in a corner of memory , until my growing knowledge would lead me back to them in a natural way .  Yet a certain feeling , you may understand tethered me in a circle of a few miles round the point of my arrival .  VIII EXPLANATION  " So far as I could see , all the world displayed the same exuberant richness as the Thames valley .  From every hill I climbed I saw the same abundance of splendid buildings , endlessly varied in material and style ; the same clustering thickets of evergreens , the same blossom-laden trees and tree ferns .  Here and there water shone like silver , and beyond , the land rose into blue undulating hills , and so faded into the serenity of the sky .  A peculiar feature , which presently attracted my attention , was the presence of certain circular wells , several , as it seemed to me , of a very great depth .  One lay by the path up the hill , which I had followed during my first walk .  Like the others , it was rimmed with bronze , curiously wrought , and protected by a little cupola from the rain .  Sitting by the side of these wells , and peering down into the shafted darkness , I could see no gleam of water , nor could I start any reflection with a lighted match .  But in all of them I heard a certain sound : a thud — thud — thud , like the beating of some big engine ; and I discovered , from the flaring of my matches , that a steady current of air set down the shafts .  Further , I threw a scrap of paper into the throat of one ; and , instead of fluttering slowly down , it was at once sucked swiftly out of sight .  " After a time , too , I came to connect these wells with tall towers standing here and there upon the slopes ; for above them there was often just such a flicker in the air as one sees on a hot day above a sun-scorched beach .  Putting things together , I reached a strong suggestion of an extensive system of subterranean ventilation , whose true import it was difficult to imagine .  I was at first inclined to associate it with the sanitary apparatus of these people .  It was an obvious conclusion , but it was absolutely wrong .  " And here I must admit that I learned very little of drains and bells and modes of conveyance , and the like conveniences , during my time in this real future .  In some of these visions of Utopias and coming times which I have read , there is a vast amount of detail about building , and social arrangements , and so forth .  But while such details are easy enough to obtain when the whole world is contained in one 'simagination , they are altogether inaccessible to a real traveller amid such realities as I found here .  Conceive the tale of London which a negro , fresh from Central Africa , would take back to his tribe !  What would he know of railway companies , of social movements , of telephone and telegraph wires , of the Parcels Delivery Company , and postal orders and the like ?  Yet we , at least , should be willing enough to explain these things to him !  And even of what he knew , how much could he make his untravelled friend either apprehend or believe ?  Then , think how narrow the gap between a negro and a white man of our own times , and how wide the interval between myself and these of the Golden Age !  I was sensible of much which was unseen , and which contributed to my comfort ; but , save for a general impression of automatic organization , I fear I can convey very little of the difference to your mind .  " In the matter of sepulture , for instance , I could see no signs of crematoria nor anything suggestive of tombs .  But it occurred to me that , possibly , there might be cemeteries ( or crematoria ) somewhere beyond the range of my explorings .  This , again , was a question I deliberately put to myself , and my curiosity was at first entirely defeated upon the point .  The thing puzzled me , and I was led to make a further remark , which puzzled me still more : that aged and infirm among this people there were none .  " I must confess that my satisfaction with my first theories of an automatic civilization and a decadent humanity did not long endure .  Yet I could think of no other .  Let me put my difficulties .  The several big palaces I had explored were mere living places , great dining-halls and sleeping apartments .  I could find no machinery , no appliances of any kind .  Yet these people were clothed in pleasant fabrics that must at times need renewal , and their sandals , though undecorated , were fairly complex specimens of metal-work .  Somehow such things must be made .  And the little people displayed no vestige of a creative tendency .  There were no shops , no workshops , no sign of importations among them .  They spent all their time in playing gently , in bathing in the river , in making love in a half-playful fashion , in eating fruit and sleeping .  I could not see how things were kept going .  " Then , again , about the Time Machine : something , I knew not what , had taken it into the hollow pedestal of the White Sphinx .  Why ? For the life of me I could not imagine .  Those waterless wells , too , those flickering pillars .  I felt I lacked a clue .  I felt — how shall I put it ?  Suppose you found an inscription , with sentences here and there in excellent plain English , and , interpolated therewith , others made up of words , of letters even , absolutely unknown to you ?  Well , on the third day of my visit , that was how the world of Eight Hundred and Two Thousand Seven Hundred and One presented itself to me !  " That day , too , I made a friend — of a sort .  It happened that , as I was watching some of the little people bathing in a shallow , one of them was seized with cramp , and began drifting down stream .  The main current ran rather swiftly , but not too strongly for even a moderate swimmer .  It will give you an idea , therefore , of the strange deficiency in these creatures , when I tell you that none made the slightest attempt to rescue the weakly-crying little thing which was drowning before their eyes .  When I realized this , I hurriedly slipped off my clothes , and , wading in at a point lower down , I caught the poor mite , and drew her safe to land .  A little rubbing of the limbs soon brought her round , and I had the satisfaction of seeing she was all right before I left her .  I had got to such a low estimate of her kind that I did not expect any gratitude from her .  In that , however , I was wrong .  " This happened in the morning .  In the afternoon I met my little woman , as I believe it was , as I was returning towards my centre from an exploration : and she received me with cries of delight , and presented me with a big garland of flowers — evidently made for me and me alone .  The thing took my imagination .  Very possibly I had been feeling desolate .  At any rate I did my best to display my appreciation of the gift .  We were soon seated together in a little stone arbour , engaged in conversation , chiefly of smiles .  The creature 'sfriendliness affected me exactly as a child 'smight have done .  We passed each other flowers , and she kissed my hands .  I did the same to hers .  Then I tried talk , and found that her name was Weena , which , though I do n't know what it meant , somehow seemed appropriate enough .  That was the beginning of a queer friendship which lasted a week , and ended — as I will tell you !  " She was exactly like a child .  She wanted to be with me always .  She tried to follow me everywhere , and on my next journey out and about it went to my heart to tire her down , and leave her at last , exhausted and calling after me rather plaintively .  But the problems of the world had to be mastered .  I had not , I said to myself , come into the future to carry on a miniature flirtation .  Yet her distress when I left her was very great , her expostulations at the parting were sometimes frantic , and I think , altogether , I had as much trouble as comfort from her devotion .  Nevertheless she was , somehow , a very great comfort .  I thought it was mere childish affection that made her cling to me .  Until it was too late , I did not clearly know what I had inflicted upon her when I left her .  Nor until it was too late did I clearly understand what she was to me .  For , by merely seeming fond of me , and showing in her weak futile way that she cared for me , the little doll of a creature presently gave my return to the neighbourhood of the White Sphinx almost the feeling of coming home ; and I would watch for her tiny figure of white and gold so soon as I came over the hill .  " It was from her , too , that I learnt that fear had not yet left the world .  She was fearless enough in the daylight , and she had the oddest confidence in me ; for once , in a foolish moment , I made threatening grimaces at her , and she simply laughed at them .  But she dreaded the dark , dreaded shadows , dreaded black things .  Darkness to her was the one thing dreadful .  It was a singularly passionate emotion , and it set me thinking and observing .  I discovered , then , among other things , that these little people gathered into the great houses after dark , and slept in droves .  To enter upon them without a light was to put them into a tumult of apprehension .  I never found one out of doors , or one sleeping alone within doors , after dark .  Yet I was still such a blockhead that I missed the lesson of that fear , and , in spite of Weena 'sdistress , I insisted upon sleeping away from these slumbering multitudes .  " It troubled her greatly , but in the end her old affection for me triumphed , and for five of the nights of our acquaintance , including the last night of all , she slept with her head pillowed on my arm .  But my story slips away from me as I speak of her .  It must have been the night before her rescue that I was awakened about dawn .  I had been restless , dreaming most disagreeably that I was drowned , and that sea-anemones were feeling over my face with their soft palps .  I woke with a start , and with an odd fancy that some greyish animal had just rushed out of the chamber .  I tried to get to sleep again , but I felt restless and uncomfortable .  It was that dim grey hour when things are just creeping out of darkness , when everything is colourless and clear cut , and yet unreal .  I got up , and went down into the great hall , and so out upon the flagstones in front of the palace .  I thought I would make a virtue of necessity , and see the sunrise .