The Wreck of the South Pole and Other Strange Tales — page 87: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

80 The Indestructible Story. though I had an idea that perhaps the old fellow pos- sessed a vein of humor we never suspected.” “What did he do?” “He conceived the idea that if he couldn’t get into print, he, at least, would write one story that would live forever, and the way he went about it showed unfailing symptoms of lunacy or—humor. I don’t know which it was, and have long ago given up guessing. Sometimes I think he must have possessed a grim sense of humor, and was planning a stupendous joke on us; at other times I think he must have been stark, staring mad.” “Never mind going into the philosophy of the matter; what was his scheme, his little joke, or his particular form of lunacy?” “T thought I said it was an indestructible story,’ Chase answered testily, for the question irritated him. “That is all. He determined to give the world one sketch which should live forever, and, as editors refused, with startling unanimity, to recognize his genius, he cast about for some other means of preserving his stuff. At length he hit upon the scheme of making a sheet of paper that no force could destroy, no fire burn. If he could just secure that, he would be able to produce something that would live in spite of his friends, the editors.” “By George! What an idea! Did hesucceed? If he did there was a mint of money in it. How did he make it go?” “T can’t tell you exactly, but he went about it with a good deal of common sense, if common sense could be Gomichbook (Eo)