Una cosa estaba bastante clara en mi mente. No requirió un gran esfuerzo mental deducir que mi Máquina del Tiempo estaba dentro de aquel pedestal. Pero cómo había llegado allí era un problema diferente.
“I saw the heads of two orange-clad people coming through the bushes and under some blossom-covered apple-trees towards me. I turned smiling to them and beckoned them to me.
They came, and then, pointing to the bronze pedestal, I tried to intimate my wish to open it. But at my first gesture towards this they behaved very oddly. I don’t know how to convey their expression to you. Suppose you were to use a grossly improper gesture to a delicate-minded woman—it is how she would look.
They went off as if they had received the last possible insult. I tried a sweet-looking little chap in white next, with exactly the same result. Somehow, his manner made me feel ashamed of myself. But, as you know, I wanted the Time Machine, and I tried him once more.
As he turned off, like the others, my temper got the better of me. In three strides I was after him, had him by the loose part of his robe round the neck, and began dragging him towards the sphinx. Then I saw the horror and repugnance of his face, and all of a sudden I let him go.
“Pero aún no estaba vencido. Golpeé con el puño los paneles de bronce. Me pareció oír que algo se movía dentro—para ser exactos, creí oír un sonido parecido a una risita—, pero debía de estar equivocado. Luego cogí un guijarro grande del río y vine a martillar hasta aplastar una voluta en los adornos, y el verdín se desprendió en escamas polvorientas. La delicada gente pequeña debió de oírme martillar con arrebatos ráfagos a una milla de distancia a uno y otro lado, pero no sirvió de nada. Vi a una muchedumbre de ellos en las laderas, mirándome furtivamente. Al fin, caluroso y cansado, me senté a vigilar el lugar. Pero estaba demasiado inquieto para vigilar mucho tiempo; soy demasiado occidental para una