Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1891-02-16
A CALIFORNIA MUSTANG.

take the next train, come out 10 my
farm, and do what you can for my mus.
tang"
Tho doctor went, found an old saddle
borrc, long past nsefulncss. In fact
dying, md returned. wondering what
made the rnnchcr 80 anxious about the
animal.
Others wondered. too. until the story
was ono day told 10 fow friends who
were visiting al the old ranch housc near
the foothills There is perhaps nothing
In the affair which marks "a NJ different
from many occurrences on the frontier.
where homes aro far apart, and where
life itself may sometimes depend upon q
saddle horses speed and bottom. But.
told a. tho rnnchcr told II ut his own Ia.
bic. II waa story that long chung TO tho
memory.
at was more than thirty years ago."
be said. II was 10 years old. and had
been away from home attending school.
When came back to tho ranch In Kern.
near the foothills. my mother came cry.
Ing 10 tho door TO meet me.
MY little sister was very III. She
wW only years old. my pot and de.
light. and my mother was widow. An
elder sister wN insTuolumns teaching
school: my brother. who managed tho
ranch. had gone TO stanislaus to buy
sheep. and mother and baby were alone.
II was eight miles 10 tho nearest village
and stage station, from which place
had walked. reaching the house at dark.
| wont IN and found little Mary uncor.
scious. my mother could not tell what
waa the matter. ran down TO tho past
uro and called my colt. Major. the best
horse ever owned. lie came at once,
and saddlod him and rodo off at
gallop.
1T was early winter. and rain had
made tho road heavy; cloudy all day,
driEslc began before had been Ave min.
uics In the saddle. hsi neither whip
nor spur. Now aud then spoke 10
Major. and ho knew thrrc was work be.
Ton. hiin. Two miles we went without
pause. the road dead level and No
slippery that could feel Major slide
like y log ON frosted sidewalk; hut. hs
managed 10 keep 10 his feet aud resume
hts wild pace. He took tho bit In his
teeth and ran. snorting with excitement;
for a year hs had not been ridden. and
his muscles were steel. his lungs like a
steam engine. I lot him walk for q few
inomentA. then let him have his head
ngain and again. until he swept into tho
village In tefsing gallop.
MOT here. was the answer, as ham
nered at tho poctors door. Gone ten
miles ints tho footiills to tho old Be-
mont plac'.'
THAT was east In q direct line. and
three miles south wins another village
where pethaps . doctor could be found.
II not u was but y few minutes lost,
for another road could DO taken TO DO.
monts.
Again tho Wild pace under the ciouded
sky and cold rain. thoughts Of my lonely
mother and little sister urging mo TO yet
greater haste. The road was hard. with
= Thin coating OF mud that npattorcd mo
from brad 10 foot. and the wind blew
sharply In my face. lived over In mem
CRY every scene OF our lives, every word
said 70 my sister, every act done In the
past-her arms about my neck In thanks
for some simple gift; long DAYS behind
the piow, with her toddhng foct In the
furrowi child asleep In the summer
grn~, bunch OF wild peoples In her
chubby hand. tho calico snnbcnnet tossed
back from the curly head. Then I re-
membcrcd that when Iwcnt away moth.
or wrote me that every day little Mary
asked; Won't brother Tom come homo
to-nishu 1 want to zoe brother Tom
well, reached the village and found
that tho doctor. who lived there, was
sick himself. Nothing TO do but TO start
for bcmonts. Again the gallop. no
longer on Lowell roads. but through roll.
Ing hills and under darkness that was
Egyptian. We weo descending into a
hollow between high hills. The road
was narrow, dark, slippery. and the soft
sound OF falling rain drowned the noise
OF wheslA Through break in the east.
ern clouds the stars shone out above tho
hill crest. Suddenly, Instantly, without
= stroke Of warning, there loomed IN
before me. dreadful rs d, Quinc.y's
Vision Of Sudden Death, u yast moving
pile. SIX mules. Carson wagon ore laden
70 the brini. sleepy driver nodding on
his saat-ana tearing mi, that ma. a,
wood. iron. stone and animal life was a
tired horse with u heartdck rider.
simultaneously the discovery came
upon us all. The driver awoke with a
loud, nifrighted cry. the snorting mules
sprang back In n wild group, 1 heard
whiiiie,rees and harness snap, and sud.
den flash Of lightning lighted up the dark