about midday
But I do not know who these people were , nor what became of them . We saw nothing of them next day . The Black Smoke drifted slowly riverward all through Monday morning , creeping nearer and nearer to us , driving at last along the roadway outside the house that hid us . A Martian came across the fields about midday , laying the stuff with a jet of superheated steam that hissed against the walls , smashed all the windows it touched , and scalded the curate 's hand as he fled out of the front room . When at last we crept across the sodden rooms and looked out again , the country northward was as though a black snowstorm had passed over it . Looking towards the river , we were astonished to see an unaccountable redness mingling with the black of the scorched meadows . For a time we did not see how this change affected our position , save that we were relieved of our fear of the Black Smoke .