The Headless Horseman: A Strange Tale of Texas

Of the two-score rescuers, who had started in pursuit of the runaway, but few followed far. Having lost sight of the wild mares, the mustang, and the mustanger, they began to lo...

The sun has just risen clear above the prairie horizon, his round disc still resting upon the sward, like a buckler of burnished gold. His rays are struggling into the chapparal...

As the servant should have expected, his master was mounted upon his horse--no longer of a reddish colour, but appearing almost black. The animal's coat was darkened with sweat;...

The pleasantest _apartment_ in a Mexican house is that which has the roof for its floor, and the sky for its ceiling--the _azotea_. In fine weather--ever fine in that sunny clim...

A man of more than mature age, of peaceful habits, and taking no part in politics, he accepted the new situation without any great regret. He was the more easily reconciled to i...

He thought of the quarrel--the hat--the cloak. He writhed as he contemplated the labyrinth of dark ambiguities that presented itself to his mind. Never in his life had his analy...

With his flame-coloured curls bristling upward--almost raising the hat from his head--the Galwegian continued his retreat--pausing not--scarce looking back, till he had re-enter...

So questioned El Coyote and his terrified companions. So, too, had the scared Galwegian interrogated himself, until his mind, clouded by repeated appeals to the demijohn, became...

In the embryo city springing up under the protection of Fort Inge, the "hotel" was the most conspicuous building. This is but the normal condition of every Texan town--whether n...

Where the _Rio de Nueces_ (River of Nuts) collects its waters from a hundred tributary streams--lining the map like the limbs of a grand genealogical tree--you may look upon a l...

The latter is at intervals interrupted by a word or exclamation--when some one sees, or fancies, a spot upon the prairie. Then there is a buzz of excitement; and men stand on ti...

"On our own tracks. I do, uncle; that very thing. We must have made a complete circumbendibus of it. See! here's the hind hoof of my own horse, with half a shoe off; and there's...

An hundred or more in the flock, swooping in circles, or wide spiral gyrations--now descending almost to touch the prairie award, or the spray of the chapparal--anon soaring upw...

The unexpected discovery, that his purpose had been already anticipated by the capture of the spotted mustang, raised the spirits of the old hunter to a high pitch of excitement.

"Ho--ho! sar! dey am boaf at home--dat is, dey am boaf away from de house--de ole massr an de young Massr Henry. Dey am down de ribber, wha de folk am makin' de new fence. Ho! h...

There is a reluctance to disturb the chain of a narrative, all know to be unfinished; and every link of which has been binding them to a closer and more earnest attention.

Once more the mustanger's hut! Once more his henchman, astride of a stool in the middle of the floor! Once more his hound lying astretch upon the skin-covered hearth, with snout...

It might be easily explained. The loss of his young master--by Pluto much beloved--the sorrow of his young mistress, equally estimated-- perhaps some scornful speeches which he...

The campaign against the Comanches proved one of the shortest--lasting only three or four days. It was discovered that these Ishmaelites of the West did not mean war--at least,...

The first dawn of day witnessed an unusual stir in and around the hacienda of Casa del Corvo. The courtyard was crowded with men--armed, though not in the regular fashion. They...

On the great plain of Texas, about a hundred miles southward from the old Spanish town of San Antonio de Bejar, the noonday sun is shedding his beams from a sky of cerulean brig...

For some seconds, after surrendering herself to the Sybilline thoughts thus expressed, the young lady sate in silence--her white hands clasped across her temples, as if her whol...

They were true, except as to the time. Had he said half-a-minute, he would have been nearer the mark. Even at the moment of their utterance, the man, whose red writing had summo...

Phelim's second slumber was destined to endure for a more protracted term than his first. It was nearly noon when he awoke from it; and then only on receiving a bucket of cold w...

A single sweep of its majestic wing brings it above the glade. There, poised on tremulous pinions, with eye turned to earth, it scans both the open space and the chapparal that...

In Texas a duel is not even a nine days' wonder. It oftener ceases to be talked about by the end of the third day; and, at the expiration of a week, is no longer thought of, exc...

It is a picture of pure frontier life--which perhaps only the pencil of the younger Vernet could truthfully portray--half military, half civilian--half savage, half civilised--m...

The two sat expectant in their saddles--she, apparently, with more confidence than he: for she confided in him. Still but imperfectly comprehending it, she knew there must be so...

The cry, that had called the young Creole so suddenly from the side of her companion, was the verdict of a jury--in whose rude phrase was also included the pronouncing of the se...

For some minutes after the lady of the lazo and her attendant had passed out of sight, Louise Poindexter pursued the train of reflection--started by the somewhat singular episod...

For full ten minutes was the wild chorus kept up, the mare all the time squealing like a stuck pig; while the dog responded in a series of lugubrious howls, that reverberated al...

The estate, or "hacienda," known as Casa del Corvo, extended along the wooded bottom of the Leona River for more than a league, and twice that distance southwards across the con...

Now nearer than ever does the unfortunate man seem to his end. Even love has proved powerless to save him! Wha power on earth can be appealed to after this? None likely to avail.

It was the thought of every actor in that tragedy among the trees. No one doubted that, in another moment, they would see his body hoisted into the air, and swinging from the br...

Almost on the same instant that the rosy light kisses the white sand-dunes of the Mexican Gulf, does it salute the flag on Fort Inge, nearly a hundred leagues distant: since the...

No one can deny, that a ride upon a smooth-turfed prairie is one of the most positive pleasures of sublunary existence. No one _will_ deny it, who has had the good fortune to ex...

There was a small lake--in Texan phraseology a "pond"--with countless horse-tracks visible along its shores, proving that the place was frequented by wild horses--their excessiv...

"Damn 'em! I don't care, not the value of a red cent. They can make nothing out of it, but that Gerald did the deed. Everything points that way; and everybody thinks so. They're...

Nor was it the earliest to take saddle. Long before--in fact close following the dawn of day--a much smaller party, consisting of only four horsemen, was seen setting out from t...

Phelim's vigil was of short duration. Scarce ten minutes had he been keeping it, when he became warned by the sound of a horse's hoof, that some one was coming up the creek in t...

On the prairie, extending nearly ten miles to the westward of the Leona, no trail was discovered. The turf, hard and dry, only showed the tracks of a horse when going in a gallo...

With an oath, a sullen look, and a brow black as disappointment could make it, Calhoun turned away from the edge of the chalk prairie, where he had lost the traces of the Headle...

Still continuing his fleet career, the Headless Horseman galloped on over the prairie--Zeb Stump following only with his eyes; and not until he had passed out of sight, behind s...

Commonly it took him three to accomplish this distance; but on this occasion he was in an unusual state of excitement, and he made speed to correspond. The old mare could go fas...

For another mile the chase continued, without much change. The mares still swept on in full flight, though no longer screaming or in fear. The mustang still uttered an occasiona...

If things physical may be compared with things moral, no greater contrast could have been found, than the bright heavens beaming over the Alamo, and the black thoughts in the bo...

The command takes effect upon the Connemara man, who has been making direct for Zeb Stump's mare, tethered on the other side of the opening. He stops upon the instant.

Sorrow for a brother's loss, with fears for a lover's safety, were yesterday commingled in the cup. To-day it was further embittered by the blackest passion of all--jealousy. Gr...

Had their guide held the prairies in complete control--its denizens subject to his secret will--responsible to time and place--he could not have conducted the excursionists to a...

It was his third time of asking. Twice before had the same suit been preferred; informally, and rather by a figure of speech than in the shape of a direct declaration.

Only one man she appears to think worthy of her attention--he who has just forsaken the stand she occupies. She looks at Calhoun, her own cousin--as though with her eyes she wou...

While galloping away from the Alamo, she had not thought of looking back, to ascertain whether she was followed. Absorbed in schemes of vengeance, she had gone on--without even...

But there is something beyond this. Each appears to act with an irksome restraint in the presence of the others--even during the rare occasions, on which it becomes necessary to...

It was some time before Zeb Stump sallied forth from the covert where he had been witness to the "horse swop." Not till both the bargainers had ridden entirely out of sight. The...

Por the first six or eight miles he took but little note of aught that was around. An occasional glance along the horizon seemed to satisfy him; and this extended only to that p...

The retreat of her rival--quick and unexpected--held Louise Poindexter, as if spell-bound. She had climbed into the saddle, and was seated, with spur ready to pierce the flanks...

There are but few present who have any personal acquaintance with the accused; though there are also but a few who have never before heard his name. Perhaps not any.

Before coming up with the scout, an incident occurred to vary the monotony of the march. Instead of keeping along the avenue, the major had conducted his command in a diagonal d...

It is not a cry of surprise; but one of far different augury. It has a double meaning, too: at once proclaiming the innocence of the accused, and the guilt of him who has been t...

On receiving the alcoholic douche, Calhoun had clutched his six-shooter, and drawn it from its holster. He only waited to get the whisky out of his eyes before advancing upon hi...

It did not run in a right line, but meandering among the thickets; at times turning out of the way, in places where the ground was clear of timber. This had evidently been done...

The purple shadows of a Texan twilight were descending upon the earth, when the wounded man, whose toilsome journey through the chapparal has been recorded, arrived upon the ban...

How came the cousin of Louise Poindexter to be astir at that late hour of the night, or, as it was now, the earliest of the morning? Had he been forewarned of this interview of...

Our story takes us back to the lone hut on the Alamo, so suddenly forsaken by the gambling guests, who had made themselves welcome in the absence of its owner.

The killing of the snake appeared to be the cue for a general return to quiescence. The howlings of the hound ceased with those of the henchman. The mustangs once more stood sil...

The first rays from a rosy aurora, saluting the flag of Fort Inge, fell with a more subdued light upon an assemblage of objects occupying the parade-ground below--in front of th...

The interlude occupies about an hour; during which the judge smokes a couple of cigars; takes about twice that number of drinks from the bottle of peach brandy; chats familiarly...

On rushing into the water, to make sure that his shot had proved fatal, the hunter was himself attacked; not by the claws of the jaguar, but the hands of the man just rescued fr...

Ever since Texas became the scene of an Anglo-Saxon immigration--I might go a century farther back and say, from the time of its colonisation by the descendants of the Conquista...

They had no idea of returning to the jacale of Maurice Gerald. On the contrary, their only thought was to put space between themselves and that solitary dwelling--whose owner th...

The old hunter never did things in a hurry. Even his style of drinking was not an exception; and although there was no time wasted, he quaffed the Monongahela in a formal leisur...

The change puzzles her pursuers--at the same time giving them gratification. They well know the "lay" of the land. They understand the trending of the cliff; and are now confide...

Louise Poindexter upon the azotea again--again to be subjected to a fresh chagrin! That broad stone stairway trending up to the housetop, seemed to lead only to spectacles that...

There are no sluggards on a Texan plantation. The daybreak begins the day; and the bell, conch, or cow-horn, that summons the dark-skinned proletarians to their toil, is alike t...

It is superfluous to say that there is universal silence. Even the tree crickets, hitherto "chirping" among the leaves of the live-oak, desist from their shrill stridulation--as...

There was this under the evergreen oak, when it was discovered that only the suicide was a success, and the attempt at assassination a failure. There was this in the heart of Lo...

The breakfast bell of Casa del Corvo had sounded its second and last summons--preceded by a still earlier signal from a horn, intended to call in the stragglers from remote part...

Once outside, the major took no further part in the affair. As the commanding officer of the post, it would have been out of place for him to have given encouragement to a fight...

She had been instructed in their _manege_ by the Houma Indians; a remnant of whom--the last descendants of a once powerful tribe--may still be encountered upon the "coast" of th...

It was not needed. The moonbeams penetrating through the open bars of the _reja_, filled the chamber with light--sufficient for his purpose. They disclosed the outlines of the a...

And yet, one closely scrutinising his features, might there have observed an expression of intense eagerness; that accorded with his nervous twitching in the saddle, and the sha...

A herd of a hundred horses--or three times the number--pasturing upon a prairie, although a spectacle of the grandest kind furnished by the animal kingdom, is not one that would...

"The chicken-hearted fool! Fool myself, to have trusted to such a hope! I might have known she'd cajole the young calf, and let the scoundrel escape. I could have shot him from...

For all this, it is remarked as singular, that a storm should be coming at the time: since it symbolises the sentiment of the spectators, who look on with sullenness in their he...

The horse tries to avoid him, but cannot. His head is secured by the tangled rein; and he can only bound about in a circle, of which his nose is the centre.

"That ere's the backin' o' a letter," muttered he. "Tells a goodish grist o' story; more'n war wrote inside, I reck'n. Been used for the wad' o' a gun! Wal; sarves the cuss righ...

The answers are but conjectural; doubtfully so, as Calhoun goes galloping off; a little less doubtful as Zeb Stump is descried starting after him; and still less, when a hundred...

Calhoun, chafing in his chamber, was not the object of such assiduous solicitude. Notwithstanding the luxurious appointments that surrounded him, he could not comfort himself wi...

The sagittary correspondence could not last for long. They are but lukewarm lovers who can content themselves with a dialogue carried on at bowshot distance. Hearts brimful of p...

To banish from the thoughts one who has been passionately loved is a simple impossibility. Time may do much to subdue the pain of an unreciprocated passion, and absence more. Bu...

Henry Poindexter--the noble generous youth who had not an enemy in all Texas! Who but Indians could have spilled such innocent blood? Only the Comanches could have been so cruel?

If the last speech has given satisfaction to Louise Poindexter, there are few who share it with her. Upon most of the spectators it has produced an impression of a totally diffe...

For more than a mile he moved on in this original fashion--now slowly, as the trail became indistinct--quickening his pace where the print of the imperfect shoe could be seen wi...

He had not long to chafe under the trysting-tree, if such it were. At the very moment when he was stepping into the skiff, a casement window that looked to the rear of the hacie...

But his captor does not trust to this. He believes it to be only a faint--it may be a feint--and to make sure it is not the latter, he remains in his saddle, keeping his lazo up...

But few get within sight of the thicket; and only two enter it, in anything like close proximity to the escaping horseman; who, without making halt, plunges into the timber.

The singular spectacle described--extraordinary it might be termed--was too grave to appear grotesque. There was some thing about it that savoured of the _outre-monde_. Human ey...

Zeb was not long in arriving at the spot where he had "hitched" his mare. The topography of the chapparal was familiar to him; and he crossed it by a less circuitous route than...

On the third day after Maurice Gerald became an inmate of the military prison the fever had forsaken him, and he no longer talked incoherently. On the fourth he was almost resto...

Calhoun took his departure from the breakfast-table, almost as abruptly as his cousin; but, on leaving the _sala_ instead of returning to his own chamber, he sallied forth from...