"O--o--h! Tell us about the demon dog!" implored Clive.
"It had eyes as big as saucers, and they shone like fire. It used to
scuttle along the lane, and no one ever waited to see where it went,
though there used to be a hole in a bank where I was told it had once
disappeared."
"Was it _really_ ever seen?" asked Merle.
"I believe all these phantoms were clever devices of the smugglers in the
old days, when it was very desirable to have the roads quiet at night in
order to carry about contraband goods. It would be quite easy to fake a
demon dog. You take a black retriever, fasten two cardboard circles
smeared with phosphorus round his eyes, give him a kick, and send him
running down a dark road, and every one who met him would have hysterics.
As for the headless horseman, that's also a well-known smugglers' dodge
--false shoulders can be made and fixed on a level with the top of your
head, and covered with a cloak, so that the apparently headless man has
eyes in the middle of his chest, and can see to ride uncommonly well.
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