one at night
The shadow which pursued them on sunny afternoons had puzzled them in another way . Very persistent had been the flat , black , earth-clinging and distorted thing which followed them so everywhere . What was this black , following thing , anyhow , this thing which swung its unsubstantial body around as one moved but which ever kept its own feet at the feet of the pursued , wherever there was no shade , and which lay there beside one so persistently ? But the echoes and the shadows were nothing as compared with the things which came to one at night . What were those creatures which came when a man was sleeping ? Why did they escape with the dawn and appear again only when he was asleep and helpless , at least until he awoke fairly and seized his ax ? The sun rose high and dropped slowly down toward the west , where the far ocean was , and the shadows somewhat lengthened , but it was still light along the forest pathways and the untiring man still hurried on .