But at that point I made a serious blunder. As he turned to listen to his man’s report I picked up the passports. He saw me, and snatched at the rest of the papers.
“You mustn’t touch those,” he said angrily. “Return me those two you have taken.”
Instead, I put them back in my pocket. “They are our passports,” I answered; “I am an Englishman, and have a right to retain them.”
“Give them to me,” he repeated.
“They are necessary to me, and I must keep them. I am doing no more than is my right.”
Just then his man bent, and whispered in his ear. “I had forgotten,” he said. “My man here reads English well. Let him see them.”
“They have already been examined, and I must keep them.”
“We shall see,” he exclaimed very angrily. With that he gave the rest of the papers to the man who went through them carefully.
“I am inclined to believe your story, but your conduct is in some ways very suspicious. Will you return me those papers?”
“No. I have shown them. That is enough.”