Fayetteville observer. [volume] (Fayetteville, Tenn.) 1850-1966, 1877-12-13
N. o. WALLACE. ]
White Devil.
The Wild Horse of Arizona.

One night in June, ten years
} age, the sentinel pacing up and
down before the gates of Fort
} Defiance, up the northwestern
part of Arizona, suddenly heard
the hoof-beat Of a horse.
"Halt! Who comes thereY'
rang out the challenge, but there
was no answer.
1t was starlight night. Two
or three hundred feet away the
Isentinel caught sight of a white
horse approaching him at a
brisk walk. When he could
sec the horse he could also see
that it had no rider. Droyes
of wild horses and still wilder
mustangs were frequently seen
from the fort, and the sentinel
was rather pleased that one of
them was being led by curiosity
to approach the gate.
The horse grew whittier and
larger as he came nearer, and
when he halted he was not over
ten feet from the guard. He
was tall and powerfully built,
name hanging almost to his
knees, and tail sweeping the
ground, and he was as white as
snow. Head up, ears pointed
forward, and eyes opened to
their widest extent, the wild
horse stood for a long minute,
and looked into the soldiers
face. His nostriIs dilated, his
tail moved this way and that,
and the muscles in his powerful
chest and legs stood out in bold
relief. The soldiers surprise
and admiration we've so great
that he stood Ikea stante, musk
ct on his shoulder, and his mind
almost doubling what his eyes
saw.
Suddenly and without an in
stant's warning, the horse sprang
forward to the attack. Catch
ing the sentinel by the shoul-
der with his teeth, he raised him
clear off the ground, and shook
him right and left as if he was
an empty grain bag, and then
hurled him against the heavy
gate with terrible force The
yell of pain and alarm uttered
by the sentinel had scarcely
died away before the relief came
hurrying out. They found him
lying in heap beside the stock
ade, unconscious, and his uni
form in tatters. There was no
enemy in sight-not even a.
wolf skulked away through the
darkness. A general alarm was
sounded, the drum beat to arms.
and for a quarter Of an hour
the excitement was intense. ey-
cry one believing that large
force of Indians was on the
point of making an assault.
When the sentinel recovered
his senses and related his adj
venture, no one would believe
his story until a Sergeant had
examined the earth and discov-
cred the hoof prints of a horse.
1t was, however, such a singu-
lar adventure that no one felt.
easy until morning came. Then
the trail Of the white horse
could be followed far out on the
prairie; and soon after sunrise
the horse himself was discov-
cred bearing down on the fort
from the direction of the noun |
tain range three miles away. |
As the word went round, every
man turned out to catch sight
of the animal about which so
much had been said. He came
toward at a sweeping trot, head
mp, tail streaming far behind,
and his knee-action as perfect
as if he had been trained on the
course for years. He swerved
neither to the right nor left, and
never halted until he was within
pistol-shot of the crowd at the
The sentinel had not exagge-
rated in his statements. The
color was snow White and such
and symmetry no one
had ever before seen in horse.
The ears were pointed, the eyes
as bright as stars, and the sun
glistened on his hide as if it had
been vanished. For two or
three seconds not word was
spoken by any man, and the
horse did not move a foot. Then
a scout and hunter who had I
come into the fort about half /
y
an hour before said to the COM
mander:
"Why, that's the boss known
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