The Harlowton news., 1911-06-16
The Mysterious
Shadow
BY H. SANBORNE BROWN
Copyright by American Press Asso-
citation. 1911.

things happening today as ever hap.
pened-stranger things. for we will
believe nothing now unless we can
eliminate every possibility Of fraud.
/ am a country doctor. Formerly
used horse and buggy to make my
round of visits, then bicycle, then an
automobile. When I was using my
bicycle I was called to see a patient
one moonlight evening in early sum
mer. Hanging my medicine case to
the handle bars, started Off on a very
smooth road to 60 couple Of miles.
The night was still, and the air was
soft. 1 did not need my lamp. ]
could have heard leaf fall among
the trees beside the road.
A bicycle in good condition moves
very silently. Nevertheless. though
mine was In perfect trim. it was not
without some sound on this very still
night. was riding with my back to-
ward the moon. which stood high In
the heavens and shone down oblique.
ly over my right shoulder. casting my
shadow before me. inclined little to
the right. Suddenly another shadow
came into my field of view. gaining
on mine very slowly. l did not turn
my head. keeping watch Of the object
following in my wake by Its shadow.
When l could trace on the ground
distorted human figure riding a wheel
not six feet away from and abreast
of me I turned my head, expecting to
see fellow traveller.
Neither figure nor bicycle was there.
I dropped my eyes again to the road,
and there was the shadow.
I'm not going to describe my feel.
ings, for there are no words for the
purpose l was recalled to myself by
the wabbing of my bicycle Then.
somewhat recovering my equanimity,
studied the shadow beside NINE 1t
was SO punched that concluded it be-
longed to a woman, especially since
there was part which fluttered by
passing through the air. I listened for
the slightest sound, but notwithstand
ing the proximity Of the mysterious
and invisible object casting its shad-
ow heard nothing.
Spook lore Is full of cases of shad.
owless beings, but never before had
heard Of shadow with no intervening
object between it and the light that
cast it. l turned my wheel to the
other side of the road, but the shadow
turned with me. So absolutely did it
follow mine that it occurred to me
that it must be a duplicate of mine
1 turned in my saddle and looked be-
hind me to see If there was any OBJ
ject to produce such a result. The
space at my back was free from any
intervening object
quiver-not that there was anything
to be afraid Of, and l did not fear the
invisible, but would have given ten
years of my life to get rid Of the thing
simply because it was uncanny. 1t
would not be got rid of. If turned 1t
turned; If my wheel wabbled it wab'
bled; if l slowed down it slowed down;
If / went faster it went faster.
For a time it did not occur to me
that might have received some brain
shock. A single minute drop of blood
breaking through a vessel Of the brain
will produce strange results. Paralysis
is the most common, loss of memory Is
another, and we do not know how
many hallucinations occur from that
cause. l fancied that one of these
drops of blood might have impinged
upon my eye in some way to cause me
to see a duplicate shadow of myself.
But in that case it would have been
an exact duplicate, and in the present
the other was not mine
l entered a place where overarching
trees cast their own shadows and
mine, and my attendant was lost !
prayed that when l emerged into the
moonlight mine would alone remain.
Alas, l was doomed to disappoint-
ment. 1t was there as perfect as when
l entered the archway.
A few hundred yards ahead the
road forked. Would the invisible trav'
eler take my road to the left or 60 by
herself to the right? l watched with
bated breath. Nearer and nearer we
neared the fork; faster and faster beat
my heart. At last point was reach
ed where my companion must make a
turn. When l saw our shadows show
the faintest deviation I heaved deep
sigh. Wider and wider grew the dis
tance till all doubt as to our following
different roads was removed.
l had got rid of the thing, and thai
is what I most wished for. Nothing
was accounted for, but felt that from
this divergence the shadow was some
thing independent of me; that had
not created it. nor was l in any way
responsible for it.
Once and once only ! saw 1t again.
The two roads came together just be-
fore reached the house where lay
my patient The shadow joined me
for a few moments in unobstructed
moonlight at the roads junction; then
1t was lost under overhanging trees.
found my patient to be girl about
twenty years old. She was In trance