There was nobody there. Not a sound, not a
motion broke the twilight stillness. Something trickled on my neck; I
put up my hand, to find my hair already wet with blood. More startled
than ever, I sprang through the thicket, looking, listening everywhere
for sight or sound of my enemy. Still no creature bigger than a wood
mouse; no movement save that of nodding fir tips; no sound but the
thumping of my own heart, and, far behind me, a sudden rush and a bump
or two as the frightened deer broke away; then perfect stillness
again, as if nothing had ever lived in the thickets.
I was little more than a boy; and I went home that night more puzzled
and more frightened than I have ever been, before or since, in the
woods. I ran into the doctor's office on my way. He found three cuts
in my scalp, and below them two shorter ones, where pointed things
seemed to have been driven through to the bone. He looked at me
queerly when I told my story. Of course he did not believe me, and I
made no effort to persuade him.
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