yard were twelve feet high, and the doors had been shut all the
while--no one having passed through them--it was impossible for the
animal to have escaped, and the only interpretation that could possibly
be put on the matter was that the dog was superphysical--a conclusion
that was subsequently confirmed by the experiences of various other
people. As the result of exhaustive enquiries Miss Lefanu eventually
learned that many years before, on the very spot where the tramps had
leaped out on her, a pedlar and his Newfoundland dog had been discovered
murdered.

This story being true, then, there is one more link in the chain of
evidence to show that dogs, as well as men, have spirits, and spirits
that can, on occasion, at least, perform deeds of practical service.


_A Precentor's Story_

The late Mr. W.T. Stead, in his volume of _Real Ghost Stories_, narrates
the following, which by reason of its being witnessed by three people
simultaneously, may be regarded as highly evidential.

In reply to Mr. Stead's request to hear the anecdote the precentor says
(I quote him _ad verbum_):

"I was walking, about nine years ago, one night in August, about ten
o'clock, and about half a mile from the house where we are now sitting.
I was going along the public road between the hamlets of Mill of Haldane
and Ballock. I had with me two young women, and we were leisurely
walking along, when suddenly we were startled by seeing a woman, a child
about seven years old, and a Newfoundland dog jump over the stone wall