The San Francisco call., 1895-05-19
! peculiar light that fell upon it from the

peculiar light that fell upon it from the
western sky.
"As | stood before the rock, worried
about the mysterious disappearance of the
shadow that seemed to be forming on the
smooth limestone. 1t showed dimly the
shape of man. At first l thought it was
merely stain on the rock, but as watched
| 1t | found it growing more distinct and
saw IL was moving slowly forward upon the
stone.
Naturally 1 turned and looked behind
me, but the road was clear-nothing there.
| When | again faced the rock was startled.
l saw before me very clearly the shape of a
man wearing sombrero and holding in
! his uplifted hand big knife. The shadow
was gliding forward stealthily across the
| face of the rock and / was gazing at it
with bulging eyes when from above the
! tops of the trees to the west there shot
down vivid fash of lightning that for a
moment played upon and strongly illu-
minated the face OF the rock. In that in
| tense flood of light I saw upon the lime
stone for an instant perfect life-size pho
tograph of a murderous looking Mexican.
He had heavy black mustache and big
red scar extended from the bridge of his
nose down across his left cheek bone. Al
though / saw the brutal face for but mo-
ment | shall never forget it. | wheeled
about instantly, thinking that / saw the
/ leHcCJlOu VI SIltQOW VI d Me&iCdll QtSpeT-
ado creeping upon me from behind, but no
living creature was in sight.
LAS stood peering across the road [
heard behind me a sound as of the fall Of
a mans body, followed by deep groan,
when came the growl of a dog that ended
in yelp of pain. Though instantly
! faced about toward the rock, saw moth
ing. The villainous shadow was gone and
not sound was to be heard save the dash
ing OF the rain-which began to pour down
in earnest and the roaring OF the wind in
the pines. Then suddenly my nerves
gave way. turned and fled from the
! spot. actually took to my heels. | was
over than l had been In the midst of the
business, for then my mind was kept in a
! whirl, and from first to last the mysterious
manifestations did not occupy five min
utes."
| At the conclusion of the prospector's IS
| story, the proprietor of the station, who
had been leaning over his bar, an interested
listener, said: "Do you know, stranger.
that the thing that stopped you in the road
was the ghost of dog2 You saw specter
| dog-the black dog OF the bend,' as the
people hereabout call the thing. All who
1--we In this section know about the goblin
dog and give the bend-Murderer' Bend
a VIDE berth on such night as this. That
dog mas made the hair of many a man 8
head stand on end. He is only seen at this
season at the time of big storm. At first
dld not believe the stories about the
thing, but now Pm we'll satisfied that it's
no real live dog. In one night as many as
nve dlfferent men have rushed into this
! station white as ghosts with stories OF their
encounters with the big dog at the bend, ~
But" said the doubter, 'the story of
the spot being haunted having been spread
abroad, may not men imagine they see the
dog?" '''o
Horses are not supposed to have much
| imagination" said the station-keeper. "yet
the thing frightens horses worse than
| it does men. They know at the first
glance that the thing is no living doc. while
men do not. 1t is almost impossible to get
| a team past the bend such night as this.
! and I've known some bad runaways down
there. Though never saw the dog itself,
I've had trouble there with team on two
or three occasions. My horses stared with
ject Just before them in the road, bracine
them selves back in the harness and trem.
bling in every Joint. had to take the ami
mails by the brides and drag and whip
them past the spot. A dog has not much
imagination, but let real living dog see
the goblin dog of the bend and he falls
upon his belly and crawls and whines like
a puppy"
''Why does the dog appear at that par
ticular spot?" asked the anxious doubter
Because he was killed there, and lies
buried there alongside the rock" said the
landlord. about this time five years ago
in the fall of 1862-one morning after a
terrible thunderstorm, the dead body of
young man was found by the rock with q