ore, 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
which was on one side of the road, and walk on rapidly in front of us. I
was not in the least frightened, but my two companions were very much
startled. What bothered me was that the woman, the child, and the dog,
instead of coming over the wall naturally one after the other, as would
have been necessary for them to do, had come over with a bound,
simultaneously leaping the wall, lighting on the road, and then hurrying
on without a word. Leaving my two companions, who were too frightened to
move, I walked rapidly after the trio. They walked on so quickly that it
was with difficulty that I got up to them. I spoke to the woman, she
never answered. I walked beside her for some little distance, and then
suddenly the woman, the child, and the Newfoundland dog disappeared. I
did not see them go anywhere, they simply were no longer there. I
examined the road minutely, at the spot where they had disappeared, to
see if it was possible for them to have gone through a hole in the wall
on either side; but it was quite impossible for a woman and a child to
get over a high dyke on either side. They had disappeared, and I only
regret that I did not try to pass my stick right through their bodies,
to see whether or not they had any resistance. Finding they had gone, I
returned to my lady friends, who were quite unnerved, and who, with
difficulty, were induced to go on t