“Snow-storms!” they all exclaimed; “What!” said Miss Gladden, “after such warm weather as this?”
“Oh, yes,” said Lyle, “this is only the early warm weather we always have in May, but it will be much colder again before summer really begins in earnest; though the weather is never so severe here as in the gulches farther up the mountains.”
“It seems to me,” said Rutherford, “I’ve heard of the greatest number of ‘gulches’ out here, and some of them have the most remarkable names; very original, certainly.”
“Their names are mostly indicative of their early history,” Lyle answered; “there are a number of them in this vicinity,––Last Chance gulch, Poor Man’s gulch, Lucky gulch, Bloody gulch, and so on.”
“Has this gulch where we are, any such euphonious title?” inquired Miss Gladden.
“This one has two names, equally euphonious and equally historical; it is now called Spotted Horse gulch, but years since it was known as Dead Man’s gulch.”
“That sounds cheerful!” commented Miss Gladden.
“Is there a ghost story connected with the gulch, Miss Maverick?” inquired Houston.
“Yes,” said Lyle, “several of them, for the miners are mostly very superstitious. Years ago, when there were no well developed mines here, only a few prospects, a man who had just sold one of the properties, was murdered for his money, about half way between here and the mines, where the road is so narrow and passes under the overhanging rocks. He rode a spotted horse, and from the indications when he was found a few days after, he must have made a desperate fight, for both he and the horse were shot several times. Ever since, it has been said that the spotted horse goes up and down the gulch at night, sometimes alone, and sometimes with his rider, and so the gulch received its name.”
“Is that story still believed here?” asked Houston.