direction. I looked into the thickness of the wood and thought of

what it might hide. Under that dense tangle of branches one would

be out of sight of the stars. Even were there no other lurking

danger--a danger I did not care to let my imagination loose

upon--there would still be all the roots to stumble over and the

tree-boles to strike against.

'I was very tired, too, after the excitements of the day; so I

decided that I would not face it, but would pass the night upon the

open hill.

'Weena, I was glad to find, was fast asleep. I carefully wrapped her

in my jacket, and sat down beside her to wait for the moonrise. The

hill-side was quiet and deserted, but from the black of the wood

there came now and then a stir of living things. Above me shone the

stars, for the night was very clear. I felt a certain sense of

friendly comfort in their twinkling. All the old constellations

had gone from the sky, however: that slow movement which is

imperceptible in a hundred human lifetimes, had long since

rearranged them in unfamiliar groupings. But the Milky Way, it

seemed to me, was still the same tattered streamer of star-dust as

of yore. Southward (as I judged it) was a very bright red star that

was new to me; it was even more splendid than our own green Sirius.

And amid all these scintillating points of light one bright planet

shone kindly and steadily like the face of an old friend.

The Time Machine