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
instant an attempt is made to touch it. The only explanation of this
phenomenon seems to