Page:A Prisoner of the Khaleefa.djvu/367

296 should it have been believed that the guides' reports were false in Slatin's case and true in mine? and why should I not have been given the opportunity of first announcing their existence to the world? Perhaps, before I have completed my narrative, people will come to the conclusion that some of those privileged to look at all my papers have, for some reason or another, felt that it was necessary thoroughly to discredit me, so that, when my story appeared, I should not be believed in; but then, who could have foreseen that I should ever be so fortunate as to collect any evidence in support of it?

It has been suggested that maybe I have taken too much to heart the "tales being told about" me; that they were but gossip. It was no idle gossip for me. I was persuaded, much against my wish, to attend a hotel garden-party, my first and last appearance in public in Cairo, for this was the sequel: One of my few friends connected with the Press there handed me some cuttings containing the usual inaccuracies and slanders, and while sitting down in a corridor, my amanuensis at my side taking notes as I read them over, I heard, "Hello, how is that book of Neufeld's getting on?" The speaker, when asked if he knew Neufeld, blurted out, "Know him — no, nor do I want to know him, considering the number of English soldiers he has sent to eternity with his gunpowder. I would not even look at the fellow's face." And as my companion whispered, "This is Neufeld," I raised my head just in time to see the representative of a great news agency hurrying through the doorway.