Produced by David Widger                           MYTHS AND LEGENDS                                   OF                              OUR OWN LAND                                   By                           Charles M Skinner                                Vol 2                   THE ISLE OF MANHATTOES AND NEARBYCONTENTSDolph HeyligerThe Knell at the WeddingRoistering Dirck Van DaraThe Party from Gibbet IslandMiss Brittons PokerThe Devils SteppingStonesThe Springs of Blood and WaterThe Crumbling SilverThe Cortelyou ElopementVan Wempels GooseThe Weary WatcherThe Rival FiddlersWyandankMark of the Spirit HandThe First Liberal ChurchTHE ISLE OF MANHATTOES AND NEARBYDOLPH HEYLIGERNew York was New Amsterdam when Dolph Heyliger got himself born thereagraceless scamp though a brave goodnatured one and being leftpenniless on his fathers death he was fain to take service with adoctor while his mother kept a shop This doctor had bought a farm onthe island of Manhattoesaway out of town where Twentythird Street nowruns most likelyand because of rumors that its tenants had noisedabout it he seemed likely to enjoy the responsibilities of landholdingand none of its profits It suited Dolphs adventurous disposition thathe should be deputed to investigate the reason for these rumors and forthree nights he kept his abode in the desolate old manor emerging afterdaybreak in a lax and pallid condition but keeping his own counsel tothe aggravation of the populace whose ears were burning for his newsNot until long after did he tell of the solemn tread that woke him in thesmall hours of his door softly opening though he had bolted and lockedit of a portly Fleming with curly gray hair reservoir boots slouchedhat trunk and doublet who entered and sat in the armchair watchinghim until the cock crew Nor did he tell how on the third night hesummoned courage hugging a Bible and a catechism to his breast forconfidence to ask the meaning of the visit and how the Fleming aroseand drawing Dolph after him with his eyes led him downstairs wentthrough the front door without unbolting it leaving that task for thetrembling yet eager youth and how after he had proceeded to a disusedwell at the bottom of the garden he vanished from sightDolph brooded long upon these things and dreamed of them in bed Healleged that it was in obedience to his dreams that he boarded a schoonerbound up the Hudson without the formality of adieu to his employer andafter being spilled ashore in a gale at the foot of Storm King he fellinto the company of Anthony Vander Hevden a famous landholder andhunter who achieved a fancy for Dolph as a lad who could shoot fishrow and swim and took him home with him to Albany The Heer hadcommodious quarters good liquor and a pretty daughter and Dolph felthimself in paradise until led to the room he was to occupy for one ofthe first things that he set eyes on in that apartment was a portrait ofthe very person who had kept him awake for the worse part of three nightsat the bowerie in Manhattoes He demanded to know whose picture it wasand learned that it was that of Killian Vander Spiegel burgomaster andcurmudgeon who buried his money when the English seized New Amsterdamand fretted himself to death lest it should be discovered He rememberedthat his mother had spoken of this Spiegel and that her father was themisers rightful heir and it now appeared that he was one of Heydensforbears too In his dream that night the Fleming stepped out of theportrait led him as he had done before to the well where he smiledand vanished Dolph reflected next morning that these things had beenordered to bring together the two branches of the family and disclose thewhereabouts of the treasure that it should inherit So full was he ofthis idea that he went back to New Amsterdam by the first schooner tothe surprise of the Heer and the regret of his daughterAfter the truant had been received with execrations by the doctor andwith delight by his mother who believed that spooks had run off withhim and with astonishment as a hero of romance by the public he madefor the haunted premises at the first opportunity and began to angle atthe disused well Presently he found his hook entangled in something atthe bottom and on lifting slowly he discovered that he had secured afine silver porringer with lid held down by twisted wire It was thework of a moment to wrench off the lid when he found the vessel to befilled with golden pieces His fishing that day was attended with suchluck as never fell to an angler before for there were other pieces ofplate down there all engraved with the Spiegel arms and all containingtreasureBy encouraging the most dreadful stories about the spot in order to keepthe people wide away from it he accomplished the removal of his prizesbit by bit from their place of concealment to his home His unaccountedabsence in Albany and his dealings with the dead had prepared hisneighbors for any change