The White Horse

"ThJs cai'.yon oup;ht tohaveahistory I ï'ablo, " i snid tu the jítiide a, supper tiuishod, 1 juued back ud my blattketd und dreamily gazed at thu scène before as. i It was ;i summet uight - a uight in the sonthwest, where nights are perfect. Ths iiioon was at the tull, aud not a clourl was in the sky to obscure her radiance or the light oí tlio myriac stars wiiicli bore her company. The air was cool and bracing, yet balmy, aud thero was just enough breeze to lul oue's spirits aud caüse him to i'orget theworidand indulge iu fancifnl rever ies such as only southern breezes inspire. We had pitehed our camp on ouo o: the sloping billa on the south side o] the cauyon, where a little streani ol clear, sweet water rippled trom a spring in a raviue down into the canyon be low. Above ns was the sighing, odor ous forest of juniper and iiinou. Below was a 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, precipitons for the most part, rising grandly hundreds of feet high on each side. . "It is beautiful, Pablo," Icontinued. "It must havo a history of some kinc or a story - uo?" "Si, señor, that it has - aye, that it has, " answered the Mexicau, lighting a fresh cigarotte aud puffing at it reflectively a moment. "Would the senor hear it?" "By all means, Pablo. Goahead." And here is Pablo's story as nearly as I can translate it, for he spoke in Spanish: "Does the senor seo 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 and down. And at the top when the moon i,s. a little higher the senor will pee the white horse. It is a great white rock on the edge of the cliff, and by clear inoonlight it looks like a white horse. It bas not alway been there, and now, thoy say, on the anniversaries of a certain day the ghost of oíd Don Fernando comes and rides it along the edge of the eanyon. "Don Fernando? Oh, aye. May the blessed saints havo mercy upou him!" ejaculated Pablo, crossing himself, "Many years ago Don Fernando Cortez - he was a grandson or something of th,e Rreat Cortez - lived over above beyond the oanyon eeveral iniles. Don Fernando was rich aud lived in a grand house and had many servants and alavés. He was a great entertainer, was Don Fernando, and people used to come many miles - hundreds, thousands, yes, - to bis grand dinners and balls. "Ho was uot a good man. No. He was a cruel master and hard with all his people and ruado them all hate him. He was kind to only two living creatures. One of these was his beautiful daughter, the Lady Ysabel; the other was his great white stallion, the largest and fleetest horse iu all the country. These two the old don loved as his two eyes, and well he might. Yes. The Lady Ysabel was not only beautiful, but she was kind and good, and all the poople loved hor as much as they hated the don, whiuh was á groat deal. She had golden hair aud eyes like the sky, and it is said the birds listened when she sang. And the horse - aye, hewaswonderful. He was as big as three ordinary horses, and his tread shook the ground. Ho bad a long, white mane and eyes that flashed flre and was almost as much feared as the old don, who alone dared go near him. "The Lady Ysabel had many suitors. The wealthiost and most aristocratie nien iu all the country cunie to sue lor her hand, many of them from farofif California, and sonio, it is said, carne even froiu Spain. But the Lady Ysabel would have none of them. Sho loved hor pony and her dogs and birds and her people, but a man, no. One after auother come, but shu turned them all away. So after a few years the old dou becaine tirod of whathe called her foolishness and swore she should marry, and at ouoe, a man whnm he had se leoted for her. "This grieved the Lady Ysabel very mach, for not only did she not love any of those who had offered themselves to her, bat her heart was already given - given to one of her father's peons, a young man namod José, whom sho had helped to nurse through a terrible illness. Him she used to meet by stealth nearly every night unknown to any bnt themselves. But one night wheu the Lady Ysabel's wedding day was near at hand she and her lover wero Koen together, and the story came to the ears of the old don. ' 'He started to find them, swoaring fco kill them both, but they had been warned and had taken two of the flectest horses in the stables and fled. With mad hasta the don saddled his white stallion and pursued them. They had taken their way over the hills blimïly, but some instinct led the don to follow the direction they had taken, and iu a ihort time he had them in sight riding over the plateau bevond the canyou there. "When the lovers saw they were pursned, they put their jaded borses to their highest spoed, hopiug to escapo, bnt soon they found it was too late, and as the old don, with terrible curses, preaaed them closely they leaped to the i ground, i au to the edge of the oliff, and 1 clasped in each other's arms sprang into eternity together. "A'.id the don? For days he raved i like a n.idman and seemed to know no j one. Then he bccame quieter, and they j thought he would be himself again. But one uioonlight night they missed hiiu, aud several set out to seek him. Hu was riding up and down the edge of the cliff yonder, raving and blaspheming terribly, and none of those who had I come to fiiid him dared approach. For hours hu raved. Then, just as the moon oame irom behind a cloud, they saw him ride back trom the clitf alittle distance. Theo he wheeled sharply and shouting, 'Now, my friend, both together!' )io rode full speed at tho precipioQ. But at the edge thewliite stallion halted suddenly, and tlie don went over alone. In miclnir he ,hook his Hst and hurled a curse al the friend who liad deserted him at the last minute, and then and there the great white stailion turned to atone. There he .stands, senor - you can see liiui plainly now - still lookiug over the precipioe. It is froni him that the cliff ánd the caiiyon avt their nauta "And it is said the superstitious. señor," oontinned Pablo, drawing closer to the fire and shuddering slightly "that on the anniversary of old Don Fernando's death and on Lady Ysabel's saint's day the ghosts of Lady Ysabel and José ride forth on the plateau, and that of the old don pursues tliem riding the white stalliou, which leaves its station at suoh times. And - oh, senor, for the love of God, look!" Startled, I looked quiokly across the canyon. The rock which apeared so very little liko a white horse'ecmod to vanish as though in mist. Then there was a series of blood curdling shrieks and curses, and flying along the edge of the cliff rode three persous on horseback, and oue, behind tho otliers, rode a great white horse. It was ouly a moment, and then the drunken cowboys passed out of sight, and tho tiny fleck of vapor which had for those few seconds kept the moonlight from the white horse rock moved on, leaving the rock standing out in the clear light, just as before. Still shivering with the sudden fright I had had, I turned to Pablo. He had fallen in a fit and was lying rigid, with flecks oi foam on his lips. I brought him round soon, and he sat np, his eyes staring wildly. wen, rnoiQ, i saio m as steacly a voice as I could command, "yon most have had a dream. You've heenplnngiug around aud yolling for a fuïl five minutes. " "Wbat, aünor, I? A drenan? Then it was not" - "I thiuk it was tbe bread, Pablo. 5f ou ate a big supper, and that hot sonr briüd would kill au Indian. " Püblo coiicluded not to run away, as he i.iight havo done if I hadn't been abli; to conviaco him it was only a dreani.-