THE FRIGHT THAT CAME BACK

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3188, 12 September 1917, Page 5

THE FRIGHT THAT CAME BACK

A WEIRD STORY OF "WAR NERVES" "There are tilings, sir, invisible to us, that are as real as this table." ' Tho young man struck the table a ■ blow which proved it to be an undeniable reality, and looked at tho doctor defiantly, almost as though ho expected contradiction; but that wiso, grey benefactor merely adjusted a pair of • gold eyeglasses upon the bridgo of his 6hapely nose, and nodded.

"Most peoplo who think," he said, "arrive at a somewhat similar belief in later years than you have reached; but I should like to hear what incident inspired your assertion. Quite in a friendly vay, you know." "Well, it happened in a village, or the remnant of one, which we occupied during tho recent advance The German trenches were only a few hundred yards beyond it, and ours ran through it, so that when we moved about there were spots where wo were sniped from thoir front as well as shelled from their rear. Tho place that troubled me, as cAmpanyrunner. with plenty of dodging around with messages, was a bend in the ruined street, just where you camo in sight of open country, marked by a wall that had eo far escaped dfcstruction. Somehow, -I could not pass by that wall; I felt as though some invisible unchained force lurkod behind' it that had unlimited power to harm me. None of the other fellows felt it, for they would creep by tho wall and skip across the Toad with the utmost unconcern, treating the snipors—who then had a running target for an instant—as a joke. "If I had to get by this wall, I used to make a detour; but once, in the dark, I came unwittingly very close to it, and suffered five minutes of fear such as- 1 have never doubly intense because it was so inexplicable." Ho paused, and the doctor looked at him. Evidently there was more to follow of this strange story. "Did you ever actually pass or explore this mysterious barrier?" Tho young man still hesitated. Then ho said: "I would rather not tell you." And shortly afterward he took .his leave, with half the tale untold. ,

A week went by, during which; tho doctor often theorised over the unfinished tale, and then, one evening, he received an Argent summons from tho young man's home. He found his patient sitting in an easy-'choir, talking to himself incessantly. "Let me out—lot mo out, he said excitedly. "I can't find tho door—tell; mo where it is, quick. . . . How did I get in? I don't remember. . . . Nobody speaks to me- nobody understands. . . . Let me out!' Tho doctor went up to the sufferer and placed a persuasive hand on his shoulder. "You never told mo, tho other day, he said, "tho end of your experience with that wall. You can toll mo now.Theiv oyes met; the doctor smiled encouragingly, and the patient passed his hand wearily across his brow. . "There was a great noise, he.km. "It flung me over. And.... something mo ... ft clammy, <lark thing that held me, a foully smelling thing. ... It didn't seem real " 'it "Of course. It was not real, exclaimed the doctor, seizing the point instantly. "It. was just your too aotive imagination. Now think; when, you wore a tiny chap did you over l.jve a. severe fright?" The patient considered. iss; once a huge, smooth wet dog sprang out at me from a barn, knocked me down, and licked me. > They say I was ill for weeks after." "Ah," said tho doctor, now we have it all straightened up. Some resemblance between your wall and tho scene .of your scare flipped that particular pigeon-hole of your brain, and its re-. coTds, suddenly exposed, upset your balance at onoe. The sholl-burat did the rest." ' . • , , „ "And tho . . . the Thing, doctor." "Was the dog, the dear old farm dog , that had been in the pond and wanted I a game with the first jolly, little boy ho camo across—who happened to be you. Good-bve-have a'lie down and a good nap, and to-morrow at 11.30 precisely you will ring me np to say how well you aTe." _ , , The young man, after the doctor s confident grip of the hand, sat back in his easy chair, smiling, and in five minutes he drifted into the sweet Tclief of s,eep, s to wake.with the barrier down.