38 A PHANTOM-STEED. 



\vas invincible ; but was often threatened with danger by 

 electricity. If a storm broke out during a battle, he was 

 carried off by the lightning, and reduced to dust. 



An Indian of the tribe of Blackfeet, surprised by a 

 hurricane in the midst of a savannah, was stricken by 

 lightning, and fell to the ground in a swoon. On re- 

 covering his senses, Jove's bolt lay by his side, and the 

 hoof of a magnificent horse pawed the perilous metal. 

 To seize the animal's bridle, and mount on his back, was 

 the work of a moment. But, alas ! the Blackfoot had be- 

 stridden the lightning, which, a new and terrible Pegasus, 

 carried him upward as in a balloon, to fling him, sense- 

 less and half-dead, at the foot of the Rocky Mountains. 

 Some months elapsed before he regained the encampment 

 of his tribe, and then he was so changed, with a wrinkled 

 brow and snow-white hair, that no person could recognize 

 him. 



Another of my companions related several anecdotes of 

 a certain jet-black horse, which had haunted the plains of 

 Arkansas for many years, and successfully defied all the 

 efforts of the hunters to capture him. His renown ex- 

 tended from east to west, and north to south. He seemed 

 to be a phantom-steed unapproachable, indescribable 

 whose feet were lighter than those of a gazelle, and whose 

 figure was as graceful as the neck of a lovely woman, 

 mantled in tresses of ebon darkness. One of the Pawnees 

 told us that, on a certain evening, before the moon had 

 risen, he contrived, by stealthily creeping along the 

 ground, to approach within a few paces of the enchanted 

 animal, and hurl his lasso at him. The noble beast had, 

 at first, appeared resigned to his captivity, and galloped 

 side by side with his captor, guiding his steps by that of 



