The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1892-12-03
MYSTERIOUS WHITE HORSE.

Cwo Hunters Are BADLY Scared BY One of
Their Horses Sudae.iy Turned White
"As good a man as ever sat in Texas
saddle or cracked Winchester" he said
to Free Press man, was my partner
one winter when we were hunting and
trapping away up in the head waters of
the Republic. We had good comfort
able tent, five or six horses. a big white
mule and were well stocked with such
provisions as our animals could carry
from the nearest settlement There
fore, we settled down comfortabl for
at least three months sojourn in a coun-
try that appeared remarkably likely. as
it was full of buffalo and had every in
dication of small game. We looked over
the beaver dams preparatory to setting
our traps and laying our plans, and de-
voted the first two days to making our
camp secure and pleasant, putting our
supplies away in what we supposed to
be safe place. The third day we were
to start out for our hunt, but it began
to rain heavily and we concluded TO lie
around camp and wait for better
weather. We formed plans, told
stories. smoked our pipes, mended
our saddles, cleaned the guns
until nightfall, and did other jobs
that always have TO be attended
TO in bad weather, turned in early and
were soon fast asleep. Near morning l
was awakened by my partner who was
in a high state of excitement. He de-
clared he had seen a ghost. | don't be-
ieve all the grizzlies and Indians be-
tween the Missouri river and the Pacific
coast could have put Bill into such
state. He was trem bling violently, and
/ must confess that his excitement af-
fected me. | hurried on my clothes,
snatched a rifle and peeped cautiously
out through little opening. The first
object that met my view was the big
white mule, and 10 and behold! stand
ing there beside IL was another white
one. This was too much for US, as we
were both certain that there was not a
white mule or horse within a hundred
miles of rs excepting our own. After
whispered consultation we deserted our
camp and ran up into the canyon.
where we lay down until morning. par
TALLY sheltered by some overhanging
rocks and anxiously waited for the
sunrise to dispel the apparently super
natural cause of our fright. Laughable,
but true, when 1t became light enough
TO distinguish objects near the camp we
discovered the old mule. and after few
moments he was joined by a large
white horse that didn't look nearly as
ghostly in the rainy daylight as
he did few hours pre-
vious. We then became ashamed
of ourselves and started down to camp
TO investigate. The white mule was
all right, and drawing nearer we recog-
nized the outlines of my big bay. one
of the best buffalo horses in the section
of the country. Instead of bay, how
ever, he was perfectly white. We APP
preached cautiously an soon per-
ceived that the animal was covered
with white water paste, the
nature of which we could not deter
mine, and were mystified than ever
until hunger suggested breakfast As
we began to prepare our morning meal
we missed our bag of flour, and in
hunting for it saw that it had been
dragged under the edge of the tent and
traited down through some bushes
thirty yards away. 1t was quite empty
and torn by the old horses teeth, show
ing that he had shaken it violently to
get at its contents. The shaking had
attributed it a good deal over the ami
mails coat, which being wet at the time
-
became Old White soaring my partner
first and myself afterwards nearly out
Of our senses by its ghostlike appear
ance.
'As we had to ride sixty miles the
next day for another bag of flour we
took it out of the old bay My old pard is
now living in Chicago. met him on my
way to California last trip, and we had
a good laugh together over our scare.
Detroit Free Press