suddenly there was a quicker movement than usual among the martians , a swift adjustment of that one of their engines of war which , as already noticed , seemed to be practically uninjured , and then there darted from it and alighted upon one of the foremost ships a dazzling lightning stroke a mile in length , at whose touch the metallic sides of the car curled and withered and , licked for a moment by what seemed lambent flames , collapsed into a mere cinder .