Connecticut western news., 1895-02-07
THE WHITE HORSE.

! Pablo" said to the guide as, supper finished, leaned back on my blankets and dreamily gazed at the scene before | us.
 | It was summer night-a night in the southwest, where nights are perfect. The moon was at the full, and not ] cloud was in the sky to obscure her radiance or the light of the myriad stars which bore her company. The air was cool and bracing, yet balmy, and there was just enough breeze to lull ones spirits and cause him to forget the world and indulge in fanciful rever- ies such as only southern breezes in- spire.
 We had pitched our camp on one of the sloping hills on the south side of the canyon, where a little stream of clear, sweet water rippled from spring in ravine down into the canyon be- low. Above us was the signing. odor- ous forest of juniper and pinon. Below was little stretch of velvety grass ex- tending clear to the floor of the canyon on both sides of the little stream. Right and left stretched the canyon itself. its walls, precipitous for the most part, ris | ing grandly hundreds of feet high on each side
 1 '.It is beautiful, Pablo, !" continued. "It must have history of some kind or sto1y-no?"
 ''Si, senor, that it has-aye, that it has,, ,' answered the Mexican, lighting fresh cigarette and puffing at it re- f1ectively moment. Would the senor | hear it?''
 By all means, Pablo. Go ahead. :"
 And here is Pablos story as nearly as I can translate it, for he spoke i'll Spanish:
 "Does the senor see the cliff on the other side, how high it is? That is the cliff of the White Horse. It is many hundred feet high and straight up aEd down. And at the top when the moon ! is a little higher the senor will see the | white horse. It is great white rock on the edge of the cliff, and by clear moon- light it looks like white horse. It has not alway been there and now, they say, on the anniversaries of a certain day the ghost of old Don Fernando comes and rides it along the edge of the canyon. | blessed saints have mercy upon himi'' | ejaculated Pablo, crossing himself
 'Many years ago Don Fernando Cor tez-he was grandson or something of the great Cortez-hved over above be- yond the canyon several miles. Don Fernando was rich and lived in grand house and had many servants and slaves. He was great entertainer, was Don Fernando, and people used to come many miles--hundreds, thousands, yes, ito his grand dinners and balls.
 ''He was not good man. No. He was a cruel master and hard with all his people and made them all hate him. He was kind to only two living crea- lures One of these was his beautiful daughter, the Lady Ysabel; the other I was his great white stallion, the largest and fleetest horse in all the country. These two the old don loved as his two eyes, and we'll he might. Yes. The Lady Ysabel was not only beautiful, but she was kind and good, and all the peo- pie loved her as much as they hated the don, which was a great deal She had golden hair and eyes like the sky, and 1t is said the birds listened when she sang. And the horse-aye, he was won derful. He was as big as three ordinary horses, and his tread shook the ground. He had long, white mane and eyes that flashed fire and was almost as much feared as the old don, who alone dared go near him.
 s'The Lady Ysabel had many suitors. The wealthiest and most aristocratic men in all the country came to sue for her hand, many of them from faroff California, and some, 1t is said, came even from Spain. But the Lady Ysabel would have none of them. She loved her pony and her dogs and birds and her people, but a man, no. One after another came, but she turned them all away. So after few years the old don became tired of what he called her fool ishness and swore she should marry, and at once, a man whom he had se- lected for her.
 ''This gtieved the Lady Ysabel very much, for not oEly did she not love any of those who had offered themselves to her, but her heart was already given given to one of her fathers peons, q young man named Jose, whom she had helped to nurse through a terrible ill., ness. Him she used to meet by stealth nearly every night unknown to any but themselves But one night when the Lady YsabeI's wedding day was rear at hand she and her lover were seen together, and the story came to the ears of the old don.
 ''He started to find them, swearing to kill them both, but they had been warned and had taken two of the feet est horses in the stables and fled. With mad haste the don saddled his white stallion and pursued them. They had taken their way over the hills blindly, hut some instinct led the don to follow the direction they had taken, and ill 8 short time he had them ill sight riding over the plateau beyond the canyon there.
 "When the lovers saw they were pur. sued. they put their jaded horses to their highest speed, hoping to escape, but soon they found it was too late, and as the old don, with terrible curses, n pressed them closely they leaped to the ground, ran to the edge of the cliff, and clasped in each others arms sprang into eternity together
 And the don? For days he raved like maGman and seemed to know nc o one. Then he became quieter, and they r thought he would be himself again. But one moonlight night they missed him, and seyerel set out to seek him. He was riding up and down. the edge ol '' the cliff yonder. ravinR and Aasphemins