The New era. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1865-1871, 1865-10-26

"For," said he, glancing at the sky,
" the clouds that scud above, foretell Il
stormy night to my eye"
His word was as good to all who knew
him as their eyesight, and none would
have questioned its truth, had he re-
turned next day and said:
1.-The skeleton lisa jovial lad, and trea'-
eel me to pipes and ale-using each like
hero himself,"- howcver absurd the
statement might seem to men who held
it as a firm belief that lungs We're indis-
pensable to smoking, and bowels to the
relishing of spiced beer.
Albert Vandemeer cautioned his COM
panions to conceal his purpose from his
fond mother, who, though she would
not be alarmed by his absence from her
roof for night, would undoubtedly
have called in the aid Of her stout and
she dreamed of this perilols underta-
king.
Aiming himself with his fathers trllsty
pistols, and good old cutlass that had
cloven the scalp lock of some dozen or
more red savages, Albert was soon on
his way towards the awful spot, nordid
many hours pass ere he found himself
before it, despite the roughness of the
journey and the tangled maze of forest
and underground that then covered the
now we'll cleared Park.
The Skeletons House, was of one
story and a half, square in shape, and
built in the midst of a dense wood here
and there broken by the rugged backs of
huge rocks that seemed like stony giants
forcing their way to the upper air. One
iron bound door in front and two strong
oaken shattered windows, all as firmly
closed as the entrance of tomb, met the
youths first glance as he paused before
it. He walked cautiously around it and
found similar entrances in the rear, but
the door yielded to his touch, and cutlass
in hand, he entered-not fearing forty
skeletons though brawny sinews might
clothe them. At first he could discern
nothing, but when his eyes became ac-
customed to the gloom he saw the silent
terrible mockery of mortality, over the
Worm-eating table, while many moul-
dering bone of its frame lay damp and
dark around it. Looking closely the
youth saw that wires had been used to
keep its CHASTITY skull erect, and as his
keen eye roved sharply around he notic-
ed part Of the earthen floor much more
beaten down than the remainder, and
following this slight path as his sight
grew clear and true, he traced it to q cor
ner where he saw q row of great iron
spikes driven into the wall, and ending
at small trap door above in the oaken
ceiling. TO loosen his pistols in his belt
and ascend with his cutlass ready for
anythil e unexpected, man or demon,
was but the work of an instant, wit the
active Albert. \ steady pressure forced
up the trap, and a flood of light poured
in upon the small apartment above, from
window there wide open. Entering
stealthily, Albert stood erect and looked
about him. \ cot bed was in one corner,
were scattered about. Perceivinga door
near him, Albert boldly opened it and
found himself in the presence of a most
lovely girl of some fifteen or sixteen
wears, whose look of terror and disgust,
as he entered, Immediately changed to
one Of joy, hope, and surprise, as her
beautiful black eyes gazed into his frank
and manly face.
"Ah! you have come TO take me
av ay! - she exclaimed, grasping his
hands. "But where ishe, the monster :"
He: Who? What monster: said
| Albert.
"The Dwarf! The Red Dwarf! The
monster that my uncle has placed over
me to keep me in this horrible place"
81 have seen no such ANIMAL said
the bewildered Albert; ''but if you wish
to escape | will place you in safety in
spite of every dwarf, red, green, blue or
black that ever breathed."
A shrll yell, like thecryofs some fierce
beast thrilled upon the ear, and as Al
bert turued to greet the utterer the door
leading into the other chamber was
rudely dashed open, and the scream of
terror that pealed from the young girls
lips, told him that the enraged new
conner was her dreaded jailer.
The Red Dwarf was horribly deform-
ed man, of perhaps thirty years of age,
with a savage and brutal visage, as scar
let as velmillion itself; with yellow,
shaggy hair and tangled beard, and arms
so long that the hunch-backed monster
resembled huge ape more than a hui
man being.
With flaming eyes that rolled feroci-
ously over the undaunted front OF the
athletic youth, as he placed his tall and
deep-chested frame before the trembling
girl, and gripping with its long spider
| like claws. this thing clad in loose robes