chase, yelping like a mad thing. It followed its imaginary
quarry to the borders of the wood, and then went in--a thing he had
never known it to do before. The moment it crossed the edge--it is
darkish in there even in daylight--it began fighting in the most
frenzied and terrific fashion. It made him afraid to interfere, he said.
And at last, when the dog came out, hanging its tail down and panting,
he found something like white hair stuck to its jaws, and brought it to
show me. I tell you these details because--"

"They are important, believe me," the doctor stopped him. "And you have
it still, this hair?" he asked.

"It disappeared in the oddest way," the Colonel explained. "It was
curious looking stuff, something like asbestos, and I sent it to be
analysed by the local chemist. But either the man got wind of its
origin, or else he didn't like the look of it for some reason, because
he returned it to me and said it was neither animal, vegetable, nor
mineral, so far as he could make out, and he didn't wish to have
anything to do with it. I put it away in paper, but a week later, on
opening the package--it was gone! Oh, the stories are simply endless. I
could tell you hundreds all on the same lines."

"And personal experiences of your own, Colonel Wragge?" asked John
Silence earnestly, his manner showing the greatest possible interest and
sympathy.

The soldier gave an almost imperceptible start. He looked distinctly
uncomfortable.

"Nothing, I think," he said slowly, "nothing--er--I should like to rely
on. I mean nothing I have the right to speak of, perhaps--yet."

His mouth closed with a snap. Dr. Silence, after waiting a little to see
if he would add to his reply, did not seek to press him on the point.

"Well," he resumed presently, and as though he would speak
contemptuously, yet dared not, "this sort of thing has gone on at
intervals ever since. It spreads like wildfire, of course, mysterious
chatter of this kind, and people began trespassing all over the estate,
coming to see the wood, and making themselves a general nuisance.
Notices of man-traps and spring-guns only seemed to increase their
persistence; and--think of it," he snorted, "some local Research Society
actually wrote and asked permission for one of their members to spend a
night in the wood! Bolder fools, who didn't write for leave, came and
took away bits of bark from the trees and gave them to clairvoyants, who
invented in their turn a furt