LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
| “I was progressing in great Leaps and Bounds” | [Frontispiece] | |
| “He gesticulated with his Hands and Arms” | To face page | [6] |
| “I looked back at his receding Figure” | ”” | [11] |
| “I sat across the Edge of the Manhole and looked down into the Black Interior” | ”” | [54] |
| “We watched intensely” | ”” | [87] |
| “I realised my Leap had been too Violent” | ”” | [101] |
| “Insects,” murmured Cavor, “Insects” | ”” | [130] |
| “There the Thing was, looking at Us” | ”” | [137] |
| “Bedford,” he whispered, “there’s a sort of Light in front of Us” | ”” | [177] |
| “The nearer I struggled, the more awfully remote it seemed” | ”” | [236] |
| “They carried Him into Darkness” | ”” | [292] |
| The Grand Lunar | ”” | [322] |
THE FIRST MEN IN
THE MOON
I
MR. BEDFORD MEETS MR. CAVOR AT LYMPNE
As I sit down to write here amidst the shadows of vine-leaves under the blue sky of southern Italy, it comes to me with a certain quality of astonishment that my participation in these amazing adventures of Mr. Cavor was, after all, the outcome of the purest accident. It might have been any one. I fell into these things at a time when I thought myself removed from the slightest possibility of disturbing experiences. I had gone to Lympne because I had imagined it the most uneventful place in the world. “Here, at any rate,” said I, “I shall find peace and a chance to work!”
And this book is the sequel. So utterly at variance is Destiny with all the little plans of men.