ed about two feet from the ground--both
searchers gave a start, and stood still as if petrified. Inside the
great trunk they saw a head, and, on looking more closely, descried
Ayrault's body. Grasping it by the arms, they drew it out. The face
was pale and the limbs were stiff. Instantly Cortlandt unfastened the
collar, while Bearwarden applied a flask to the lips. But they soon
found that their efforts were vain.

"The spirit!" ejaculated Cortlandt. "Dick may be in a trance, in which
case he can help us. Let us will hard and long."

Accordingly, they threw themselves on their faces, closing their eyes,
that nothing might distract their concentration. Minutes, which seemed
like ages, passed, and there was no response.

"Now," said Bearwarden, "will together, hard."

Suddenly the stillness was broken by the spirit's voice, which said:

"I felt more than one mind calling, but the effect was so slight I
thought first I was mistaken. I will help you in what you want, for
the young man is not dead, neither is he injured."

Saying which, he stretched himself upon Ayrault, worked his lungs
artificially, and willed with an intensity the observers could feel
where they stood. Quickly the colour returned to Ayrault's cheeks, and
with the spirit's assistance he sat up and leaned against the tree that
had protected him from the storm.

"Your promise was realized," he said, addressing the spirit. "I have
seen what I shall never forget, and lest the anguish--the vision of
which I saw--come true, let us return to the earth, and not leave it
till I have tasted in reality the joys that in the spirit I seemed to
have missed. I have often longed in this life to be in the spirit, but
never knew what longing was, till I experienced it as a spirit, to be
once more in the flesh."

"You see the mercy of God," said the spirit, "in not ordinarily
allowing the spirits of the departed to revisit earth until they are
prepared--that is, until they are sufficiently advanced to go there
unaided--by which time they have come to understand the wisdom of God's
laws. In your case the limiting laws were partially suspended, so that
you were able to return at once, with many of the faculties and senses
of spirits, but without their accumulated experience. It speaks well
for your state of preparation that, without having had those disguised
blessings, illness or misfortune, you were not utterly crushed by what
you saw when temporarily