The Wreck of the South Pole and Other Strange Tales — page 98: what you’re looking at

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

The Indestructible Story. oI march through France, gathering a regiment in every vil- lage as he returned from a previous captivity, it is hard to understand why, after Waterloo, he gave up so entire- ly. Once before he had not only been conquered, but had been a prisoner, yet he broke his prison chains and ascended even higher heights of glory. Why did he fail at Waterloo? You have all read of the “red man’’—the devil, some called him; others, the shadow—who visited © Napoleon before each battle and dictated what he should do. On the eve of the battle of Waterloo he came as usual, and Napoleon bade him begone. The ‘red man” replied: “I will give you the whole world but St. Hel- ena. Thither I will retire. See that you follow me not. Take this talisman as a parting gift. It has shown pow- er before; it will show power with you. Keep it near you.’ It was the accursed piece. Napoleon took the coin, Waterloo was lost, and Napoleon never lifted his head again. And now we have reached the last generation, when the coin fell into the hands of the young man, who fled from its baneful influence and left it with me. Some time, if I live, I may write his life, but there is not time now. The question remains to be answered. What was this coin, and why did it carry with it such a curse that centuries have been marked with it? The piece was an uneven circle; on one side was a pot of manna, and on the reverse a flowering almond. Aronud the edge were Hebrew characters meaning “ Holt- ness unto the Lord.” It was an ancient Jewish shekel, coined by the Maccabees. (SO) CONNIE OOOKS