“Some day I will tell you,” said he. “But not now. If you have seen it once, be sure you will see it again.”
Some time afterwards the old man himself came quietly home, and told his daughter that he, too, had just seen the hound.
“It was sitting by the edge of the old well,” said he, “looking into the water. Its eyes were staring wildly, and foam dropped from its lips.”
“What is it—what does it mean?” again asked the daughter.
But the old man only shook his head, and answered:
“Who can tell?”
Again the woman saw the hound in the fields of their own farm, and sometimes it appeared without head. A great hound it was, life-like enough at first appearance, but clearly a spectre, terrible to see.
Another lady saw the hound when she was a child, and several times during her life it has appeared before her. This is her narrative:
“The first time I saw it was in the lanes, when I was walking with a relation, older than myself. I was a child at the time, and although startled was not too frightened to think of trying to scare it away. As it kept pace with us, I looked out for some stones to fling at it; but my relative caught hold of me and said: ‘Don’t; you mustn’t throw at it, or it will attack us, and tear us to bits. It is the ghost-hound.’ Since then I have seen it several times. It is not a pleasant thing to meet, and I have no wish to see it again.”
Yet a third lady saw the ghost-hound between the years 1890 and 1900. “I was staying at —— Farm,” said she; “and I went down to the well to get some water. It was a winter night, and on a pool near the well was a strong sheet of ice. While the buckets were filling I went towards the ice, thinking to enjoy a slide. But when I reached the pool, there stood the hound. It was about the size of a lion, its skin much the same as a lion’s in colour, and it had eyes as large as saucers. At first I thought it must have been a lion that had escaped from Belle Vue, or from some menagerie; and as it came towards me I backed away. I was too terrified to turn and run, but kept my face to it, as I retreated. When I neared the house it disappeared. I shall never forget the sight as long as I live. It was a dreadful thing to see.”