I tried to speak, but, as before, was too frightened to articulate a sound, and my wife was in the same plight.  With Dora, however, it was otherwise, and she electrified us by going up to the figure, and exclaiming: 

“Who are you?  You must feel very ill to look so white.  Tell me your name.”

The figure made no reply, but gliding slowly forward, moved up to a large, isolated oak, and pointing with the index finger of its left hand at the trunk of the tree, seemingly sank into the earth and vanished from view.

For some seconds everyone was silent, and then my wife exclaimed: 

“Jack, I shouldn’t wonder if Dora hasn’t been the means of solving the mystery.  Examine the tree closely.”

I did so.  The tree was hollow, and inside it were three skeletons!

* * * * *

Here followed an extract from a local paper: 

“Sensational Discovery in a Wood near Marytown

“Whilst exploring in a wood, near Marytown, the other evening, a party of the name of B——­ discovered three skeletons—­a human being and two dogs—­in the trunk of an oak.  From the remnant of clothes still adhering to the human remains, the latter were proved to be those of an individual known as Mr. Jeremiah Dance, whose strange disappearance from the Crow’s Nest—­the house he rented in the neighbourhood—­some two years ago, was the occasion of much comment.  On closer examination, extraordinary to relate, the remains have been proved to be those of a WOMAN; and from certain abrasions on the skull, there is little doubt she met with a violent end.”

A second extract taken from the same paper runs thus:—­

“Suicide at Marytown

“Late last night Percy Baldwin, the man who is under arrest on suspicion of having caused the death of the unknown woman, whose skeleton was found on Monday in the trunk of a tree, committed suicide by hanging himself with his suspenders to the ceiling of his cell.  Pinned on his coat was a slip of paper bearing these words:  ’She was my wife—­I loved her.  She took to drink—­I parted from her.  She became a dog-worshipper.  I killed her—­and her dogs.’”

Phantasms of Living Dogs

I could quote innumerable cases of people who have either seen or heard the spirits of dead dogs.  However, as space does not permit of this, I proceed to the oft-raised question, “Do animals as well as people project themselves?” My reply is—­yes; according to my experience they do.

Some friends of mine have a big tabby that has frequently been seen in two places at the same time; for example, it has been observed by several people to be sitting on a chair in the dining-room, and, at the same moment, it has been seen by two or more other persons extended at full length before the kitchen fire—­the latter figure proving to be its immaterial, or what some designate its astral body, which vanishes the