VOLUME 2. THE REDJDWARF. 11Y WM. HKNHY PECK. Many years besore the war of the Rev olution, there stood a time worn edifice, mouldering brick and crumbling stone jjn the now magnificent pleasure ground which we call the Central Park ol New York. Isolated «id bloak, in those days, .with no attempt at ornament upon its ,rudc walls, the old house had been un tenanted for years, when Hugh Garrbolt «aw fit to make it his habitation No on* gray haired men told that it had sprung as from the earth; unmade by mortal hands, and fit only for the lurking place />f smugglers, desperadoes, or demons The last, man, within their who had lived there before Hugh (jarr bolt made it his home, died there alone ; nor was lie known to be dead uutil a wan dering hunter, demanding shelter at ita iron-bound door and prison like windows, H.id receiving no reply, forced an entrance from the rear; and after striking a light with flint and steel beheld a human skel eton, clad iu decaying leathern garments, seated in an oaken chair in ghostly griry ness. Before this hideous figure was spread upon a table a goodly store .of silver and golden coins,which their owner perehaice was counting when the hand of death smote him, sudden and sure. The hun ter was a man of nerve, and did not hes itate to appropriate the treasure ; and though he did not fail to tell of what he had seen in the chair he said not a word .of what lie had taken from tlie table; the latter truth leaked out when the hunter became a man of money, married, and told his wife ! The honest burghers of N ow Amster dam, as its first white settlers defiantly persisted iu callii'g,Ncw ork, smoked their pipes for three iijpnths in deep cog itation, and resolved unanimously that the hunter was a tremendous liar, until a tail gaunt and evil eyed man from l°rance set the town in an uproar by declaring that he intended to penotraito to the spot, and iiiake the house his abode. I'roni the very day that tho hunter had told his taie the shunned dwelling had been cal.- .cd "The Skeleton's House, "ami no urch in, however daring, had ventured wiiliw a mile of it; and as for sensible Knicker bockers going there, the very idea was preposterous. Hut Hugh Garrbolt, with a sneer that had been grooving his thin, hard face for sixty years defied all known and un known demons with a scoff that made the good burghers' hair bristle over their heads, and went alone to"The House of the Skeleton." The burghers waited two days, and then nodded through the clouds of smoke that Hugh Garrbolt was a fool. Butwhen he returned on the third day with a of coin so heavy that he staggored under ,it, tho burghers opened ,&eir eyes and whistled that Iluglt Garrbolt „was a very wise personage. "I searched about th? place," said .Uarrbolt to a score of listeners, as his .sneer deepened arouud his lips, "and found some musty papers which told me that an old buccaneer had lived there,and jvhere to dig for this. I dug these 20,- 000 golden crowns from under the table." ' Hut," said Ilans Van Schleeper, the innkeeper, as he ftlftwly fillcjl his pipe, "the skeleton?" '•ls there," srtU Garrbolt, 'My 4ear (friends, you are all welcome to that The burghers smoked several hundred pounds of strong Jamestown weed dur ing the followiug week, and on the eighth day resolved to claim the 20,000 golden .crowns for the township. But Monsieur Hugh Garrbolt had disappeared and with him went the crowns. Twelve month* rolled on, and still the skeleton of the dead buccaneer held grim and unmolested watch over the table, •when young Albert Vandemeer pa;; 3 it a visit. Albert Vandemeer WHS the only son of a most worthy and respectable .widow whose husband had paid the great and final debt wbeu Albort was but ten •years old. Ten years wore had passed; and though the sad-hearted widow held her head droopiugly, as she thought of the past, her soft eyes sparkled with joy as she ,j;aied upop her manly son. Kind, gen tle, .handsome, apd affectionate Albert, his tall, lithe frame, ( keen blue eyes, and bounding step never pacen the street ungtceted by gossip, glance or smile from -the rosy damsels that festooned the win .dows like living garlands of beauty on cither side. But the gocd burghers and their b«t er wives shook their heads as he stepped ) gaily, and said lit was by far too dar >g, as h ,d'bscn his father, who lost his i'e in trying through Hell Qate Ithout extinguishing the file of his pipe; a exploit that extinguished pipe and life ,f<\cver. AMERICAN CITIZEN. One fine day gome phlegmatic youth, who envied Albert for his famous cour a « hanteredhim togo and spendattormy night in"The Skeleton's House" '•I have respect for tombs," said Al bert, as his handsome face flushed with indignation, "and have never made them a butt for sport. And that is the only reason I have never entered that bugbear But if you, John Bioof, will go with ine, I will stay there any night you may ap- point." John Bloof turned pale at the idea and took to his heels as his young .comrades vowed the challenge was fair; but Albert declared that, he alone, would dare the unknown horrors of the place that very nigiit. "For," said he glancing at the sky, "the clouds that scud above,foretell a stor my 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 return eii next day and said : "The skeleton is a jovial lad, and treat ed me to pipes and ale—using each like a hero himself" —however absurd the statement might seem to men who held it as a firm belief that lungs were indis pensable to smoking, and bowels to the relishing of spiced beer. Albert Vandcmeer cautioned liis com panions to conceal his purpose from his fond mother, who, though she would not be alarmed by his absence from her root lor anight, wouldjundoubtcdly have call ed in the aid ef her stout and stern broth er, the rich ship owner, had she dreamed of his perilous undertaking. Arming himself yith Jiis father's trus ty pistols, and sood old cutlass that had cloven the scalp lock of some dozen or more ted savages. Albert was soon on his way towards the awful spot; nor did many hours pass ere lie found iiimself before it, despite tho roughness of the journey and the tangled maze of forest ttv-J undergrowth that then covered the now well-cleared jjark. "The Skeleton's Hawse" 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 tho entrance of i; tomb, met the youth's glance as ho paused before it. He walked cautiously around it, and found similar entrances in ttyo rear ; but tho door yielded to his touch, «#d cutlass in hand ho entered —not fearing forty skeletons, though brawny sinews might ckoiiic them. At first ho could discern nothing, but when his eyes ac customed to the gloom, ho saw ,tho silent and flcshlcss sentinel still gripning in terrible mockery of mortality over the worm eaten table, wliilc many a moulder ing bone of its frame lay damp and dark around it. hooking closely, the ycyith saw that wires had been used to its ghastly skull erect; and as his keep