The Forrest City times., 1893-02-17
MYSTERIOUS WHITE HORSE.
Paste aud Water Frightens Two bold
Hunters.


Hunters.
As good a man as ever sat in a Texas
saddle Tor cracked Winchester" he
said, was my partner, one winter
when we were hunting and trapping
away up in the head waters of the Re-
public. We had a good, comfortable
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
Therefore we settled down comfort
ably for at least three months sojourn
in country that appeared remarkably
likely, as it was full of buffalo and had
every indication of small game. We
looked over the beaver dams prepara-
tory to setting our traps and laying
our plans, and devoted the first two
days to making our camp secure and
pleasant, putting our supplies away in
what we supposed to be a safe place.
The third day we began to start out for
our hunt, but it began to rain heavily
and we concluded to lie around camp
and wait for better weather
1--WE formed plans. told stories,
smoked our pipes, mended 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 | was awakened by my part
ner. who was in high state of excite
ment He declared he had seen ghost.
don't believe all the grizzlies and In
dians between the Missouri and the Pa
cific coast could have put Bill into such
a state. He was trembling violently.
and / must confess that his excitement
affected me.
II hurried on my clothes, snatched
rifle, and peeped cautiously out through
little opening. The first object that
met my view was the big white mule.
and 10 and behold. standing there be-
side it was another white one. This
was too much for us, as we were both
certain that there was not white mule
or horse within one hundred miles of
us excepting our own. After a whis-
pered 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 waiting for the
sunrise to dispel the apparently super
natural cause of our fright.
"Laughable, but true, when it became
light enough to distinguish objects
near the camp we discovered tie old
mule, and after few moments he
was joined by large white
L Il
ghostly in the rainy daylight
as he did a few hours previous. We
then became ashamed of ourselves, and
started down to camp to investigate.
The white mule was all right. and
drawing nearer we recognized the out
lines of my big bay, one of the best
buffalo horses in that section of the
country.
"Instead of bay, however, he was
perfectly white. We approached eau
tiously, and soon perceived that the
animal was covered with sort of white
water paste, the nature of which we
could not determine, and were more
mystified than ever until hunger sug
gested breakfast. As we began to pre-
pare our morning meal we missed our
bag of -four, and in hunting for it
saw that it had been dragged under
the edge of the tent and trailed down
through some bushes thirty yards
away.
"It was quite empty and torn by the
old horses teeth. showing that he had
shaken it violently to get at the con-
tents. The shaking had distributed it
a good deal over the ANIMALS coat,
which, being wet az the time, caused it
to stick fast, and the old bay became
"Old White" soaring my partner first
and myself afterward nearly out of our
senses by it's ghostlike appearance
.As we had to ride sixty miles the
next day for another bag of flour. we
took it out of the old bay in some good,
round trapper's oaths. 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.