The Wreck of the South Pole and Other Strange Tales — page 93: what you’re looking at

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

86 The Indestructible Story. this bundle of papers stowed away in the attic, tied up in an oil cloth and sealed in a tin box. When I brought it down, father, although he is very forgetful, remembered it. He said it was left here nearly thirty-five years ago by a young man who stopped over night with us. He was a melancholy-looking fellow, and gave you a queer bit of silver to cut your teeth on. We kept the box for some time, thinking he would return. He never did, and it was laid away for safety. By and by it got hidden away in the attic, and has just come to light. I glanced over the papers, and finding them rather curious, will send them to you. They may make the foundation of a story for you. Your brother, JoHN LANDSTREET. A foundation for a story! It proved the plot of a tragedy ! The papers were of all shapes and sizes, and in various handwritings. Some were of comparatively recent date, but others had been written centuries ago, and in a phrase- ology hard to decipher. I could make this story very effective—“‘artistic,’ perhaps, were I to copy these records verbatim. But I have lost my desire to make a sensation. All I care for is to give the strange history to the world. Besides, the documents are lengthy, and my sheets of in- destructible paper are numbered. I will merely give the young man’s own manuscript and then weave the others into a connected story. The last owner of the accursed piece of silver wrote: “T shall go mad if I do not get rid of this infamous Thing. It has brought ruin, desolation, disgrace upon (E(o) GOMmIicbooks