In a few minutes there was, so far as the soldier could see, not a
living thing left upon the common, and every bush and tree upon it
that was not already a blackened skeleton was burning.  The hussars
had been on the road beyond the curvature of the ground, and he saw
nothing of them.  He heard the Martians rattle for a time and then
become still.  The giant saved Woking station and its cluster of houses
until the last; then in a moment the Heat-Ray was brought to bear, and
the town became a heap of fiery ruins.  Then the Thing shut off the
Heat-Ray, and turning its back upon the artilleryman, began to waddle
away towards the smouldering pine woods that sheltered the second
cylinder.  As it did so a second glittering Titan built itself up out
of the pit.