The Yale expositor. (Yale, St. Clair County, Mich.) 1894-current, 1917-05-24
ABrave Man Afraid
of His Shadow
BY F. A. mitchell

IA no road leading in that direction, and
you'll have to go on foot. But the moon
is nearly full, and your way will be
lighted. Here is the written messager
Lieutenant Obermeir took the mes
sage, saluted and left his superior,
starting at once. The general had
spoken correctly in saying that the
moon was nearly full, but when Ober-
meir got beyond the tip of the army's
wing he looked up to see that a film
Of mist was spread over it and the sky
about It.
"Well," he said to himself, IT shall
cast no shadow. Tonight I am not my
self. 1 feel as I did after that last
wound when the pluck had gone out of
me. In other words, If should see
my shadow It would brighten me-"
The country through which no walk
ed was no mans land. It was sparse
| ~ settled with peasants, but war had
driven most Of them away. What else
was there was probable, but not GER
tain-that is, a sniper lying In wait
for any enemy. One passing would
not likely receive challenge {; he would
be more apt to receive a bullet. The
way, too, was rugged. Nature had not
smoothed the country, which was up
and down grade. rocky, covered with
decayed trees, and, to make It worse,
war had filed It with shell holes.
The lieutenant had come to a COM
paratively level sweep when, looking
down on the ground before him, he saw
what seemed to be his shadow cast by
the moon-such a shadow as the moon
would throw covered with the thin
gauze that partly obscured 1t. Turn
ing, he looked up to where the moon
should be. Itfwas not there. Turning
again, he saw 1t overhead and slightly
before him.
Surely" he said, that cannot be a
shadow cast by the moon. Shadows
are on a direct line with the light that
makes them" BE looked down in front
Of him again. There was that dark
something, shadow or whatever it was.
But It was not well defined. Indeed, It
was like film of darkness. He turned
his eyes upward to see what was caus-
ing 1t. There was nothing In the heav-
ems except that pale mist which dim
med the moon, and line from the
moon formed aniangle with the shadow.
The warrior trembled.
Why was IL that in battle he could
stand up against shot and shell with
out CULVER and here in perfect silence,
with not q creature, so far as he knew,
to harm him, he was shaking like a
leaf In the wind?
In the distance was a light. He
blessed it and hastened his pace max
ing straight toward 1t. The nearer he
came to it his fear grew less. And
when suddenly he heard "Who comes"
in the German tongue and heard the
click OF a rifle, instead Of fearing a
picket might shoot him before he could
make himself known he felt brave as
a lion.
The lieutenant was taken TO head
quarters, delivered his message to the
general commanding and was about to
set out on his return when the officer
said to him:
ant1 We shall move to make a juno
ton with your force at daylight
Obermeir would gladly have done as
the general suggested. But there Is
professional pride among soldiers that
must be maintained, The Lieutenant
was afraid of his shadow, but he was
more afraid of an imputation OF cow
srdice, not SO much from his comrades
az from himself. He thanked the gen.
eral and set off on his walk back TO his
own command.
The atmosphere had not changed;
there was the same mist over the race
of the moon. Obernbeir would not look
for his shadow. Why? He said to
himself &c would be cowardly to do SO.
Then it occurred to him that 1t would
be cowardly not to look for 1t. The
moon was now at his back. With a
dread he could not control he looked
down before him. There was the black
thing, denser If anything, than before.
He shuddered.
But he trudged on, trying to make
himself think that some peculiar at
mospberic conditions caused his shadow
TO be out of place. Many things cause
refraction Of light. One thing he had
often noticed himself. An oar dipped
In water will appear to be broken at
the point where 1t touches the surface.
His efforts to explain away the mys-
terry were futile. And had he satisfac-
torily explained them to himself 1t
would not have helped the burden that
weighed him down. The journey home
ward seemed longer than his going.
This was doubtless that the farther he
went the stronger the spell under
which he staggered. Yes; he staggered
now, his eyes held by an invisible pow
ex on the black mass before him,
which constantly grew denser and
larger too, till there was. no space
about him that IL did not fill.
AT daylight the Germans marched to
meet,the Bulgarians. A short distance
from where the Germans started they