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 moon-lit

ruins and touching strange creatures in the black shadows; at last,

of lying on the ground near the sphinx and weeping with absolute

wretchedness. 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, perhaps, but better than despair. And, after

all, it was a beautiful and curious world.

The Time Machine