The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1896-06-23
THE Red DWARF.

worn edifice Of mo1dering brick In the
now magnificent pleasure ground Cen.
tra1 park. Isolated and bleak, the old
house had been untenanted for years, when
Hugh GarrbOlt saw tit to make it his hab-
ftation.
The last man who had lived there before
Hugh Garrbolt made it his home died
there alone, nor was he known to be dead
until a vvanderer, demanding shelter at its
iron bound door and receiving no reply,
forced an entrance and beheld a human
skeleton seated in an Oaken chair. From
the very day that the man told this tale
the Stunned dwelling had been called the
Skeletons House. Hugh Garrbolt, with a
sneer that had been growing his thin,
hard face for so years, went alone to the
house of the skeleton The burghers wait
ed for two days and then nodded through
clouds Of smoke that Hugh GarrbCldt was
a fool. But when he returned ON the third
day with a bag Of coin so heavy that he
staggered under it, the burghers opened
their eyes and vhistled that Hugh Carr
bolt was very wise parsonage. Twelve
months rolled on and still the skeleton OF
the dead buccaneer held grim and unmo-
Tested watch over the table, when young
Albert Vandemeer paid it a visit. Albert
was the only son Of a worthy widow whose
husband had died when Albert was but lO
years old. One fine day some phlegmatic
youth, who envied Albert for his courage,
bantered him to go and spend a stormy
night in the Skeletons House. Albert de-
clared that he would dare the unknown
horrors of the place that very night.
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
in
strong ocken suffered windows, all as
firmly closed as the entrance Of a 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. At first he could dis
Germ nothing, but when his eyes became
accustomed to the gloom he saw the silent
and deshless sentinel still grinning in ter
rible mockery of mortality over the worm
eaten table.
Looking closely, the youth saw that
wires kept its CHASTITY skull erect, and as
his keen eye roved sharply around he no
ticed part Of the earthen floor much more
beaten down than the remainder, and fol
lowing this slight path as his sight grew
clear and true he traced it to a corner,
where he saw a row of great iron spikes
driven into the wall and ending at a small
HE1DlD0E ABOVE III DllG OdhCu CEILING
To loosen his pistols in his belt and as
cend, with his cutlass ready for anything
unexpected, was but the work of an in
slant A steady pressure forced up the
trap, and Hood Of light poured in upon
the small apartment above from a window
there wide open
Perceiving door near, Albert boldly
opened it and found himself in the pres
ence of a lovely girl OF some Is or 10 years,
whose look Of terror and disgust as he en-
tered Immediately changed to one of hope
and surprise.
All, you have come to take me awayP'
she exclaimed. But where is heg''
ffHe? Whos'' said Albert
g The dwarf! The Red Dwarfl The mon
ster that my uncle has placed over me to
keep me in this horrible place. -
Il have seen no such animal, - said the
bewildered Albert
A shrill yell, like the cry of some fierce
beast, thrilled upon the ear, and as Albert
turned the door was dashed oren and the
scream of terror that pealed from the
young girls lips told him that the new
conner was her dreaded jailer.
The Red Dwarf was a horribly deformed
man, with a brutal visage, as scarlet as
vermilion; with yellow shaggy hair and
arms so long that the hunchbacked mon
ster resembIed huge ape more than a hu-
man being.
to be my wife when Hugh comes backl Go
away'
ooh, if you 60, take me away with
you. said the girl g My uncle stole me
from my parents in Virginia. He is keep
ing mo to force my father, the husband OF
Garrbolt' s sister, to sign away all his prop
erty to him. Do not leave meP'
With yell, the Red Dwarf was at Al
bert s throat.
The dwarf was giant in strength and
as active as q panther. He hOvvled, snap
ped his teeth and tried to sink them into
Albert's throat, who used his strength
alone, disdaining the weapons in his belt
and having cast aside his cutlass.
For half an hour the contest was doubt
ful, but at length Vandemeer, exerting all
his prowess, hurled his foe headlong down
the trap just as the head and face of Hugh
Garrbolt was peering from below.
The weight and impetus Of the vanquish-
ed dwarf bore Garrbolt down with him
against one of the iron spikes used as a
means of ascent, and there, hanging by
the great nail, piercing under his right
ear, Hugh Garrbolt was for a moment
suspended until a desperate struggle cast
him headlong to the floor below-dead.
The dwarf, senseless and bleeding, lay
gasping under the corpse Of his father-foT
such was the relation borne to him by
Hugh Garrbolt
When Albert, with some dozen or more
astonished burghers, returned to the Skel-
etOn's House the next day, they found the
place a smoking ruin, and whether the
Red Dwarf persisted in the flames or es-
capped with the body Of his father remains
a mystery to this day
The father of Ella soon reached New
York, and in the following year all the
burghers within a mile of Widow Vande-
meer's house were seen one evening slow
Iy smoking with placid JOY at the wedding
of Albert Yandemeer and Ella Avail
Exchange
The wise old Fish.