_"May 4, 1746. The Voyage was not a Succefs. I must forsake this avenue of Enquiry...._" "_October 23, 1790. Builded the weft Barrier a cubit higher. Now the fires burn every night. Is there no limit to their infernal perfiftence?_" "_January 19, 1831. I have great hopes for the Philadelphia enterprise. My greatest foe is impatience. All preparations for the Change are made, yet I confefs I am uneasy...._" "There are plenty of oddities," I said. "Aside from the entries themselves. This is supposed to be old--but the quality of the paper and binding beats anything I've seen. And that handwriting is pretty fancy for a quill pen----" "There's a stylus clipped to the spine of the book," Foster said. "It was written with that." I looked, pulled out a slim pen, then looked at Foster. "Speaking of odd," I said. "A genuine antique early colonial ball-point pen doesn't turn up every day----" "Suspend your judgement until you've seen it all," Foster said. "And two hundred years on one refill--that's not bad." I riffled through the pages, then I tossed the book onto the table. "Who's kidding who, Foster?" I said. "The book was described in detail in the official record, of which I have copies. They mention the paper and binding, the stylus, even quote some of the entries. The authorities worked over it pretty closely, trying to identify me. They reached the same conclusion as you--that it was the work of a crackpot; but they saw the same book you're looking at now." "So what? So it was faked up some time during the war--what does that prove? I'm ready to concede it's forty years old----" "You don't understand, Legion," Foster said. "I told you I woke up in a military hospital in France. But it was an AEF hospital and the year was 1918." CHAPTER II I glanced sideways at Foster. He didn't look like a nut.... "All I've got to say is," I said, "you're a hell of a spry-looking ninety." "You find my appearance strangely youthful. What would be your reaction if I told you that I've aged greatly in the past few months? That a year ago I could have passed as no older than thirty without the slightest difficulty----" "I don't think I'd believe you," I said. "And I'm sorry, Mr. Foster; but I don't believe the bit about the 1918 hospital either. How can I? It's----" "I know. Fantastic. But let's go back a moment to the book itself. Look closely at the paper; it's been examined by experts. They're baffled by it. Attempts to analyze it chemically failed--they were unable to take a sample. It's impervious to solvents----" "They couldn't get a sample?" I said. "Why not just tear off the corner of one of the sheets?" "Try it," Foster said. I picked up the book and plucked at the edge of one of the blank sheets, then pinched harder and pulled. The paper held. I got a better grip and pulled again. It was like fine, tough leather, except that it didn't even stretch.