FOREWORD 



THIS Story has been dragged from my reluctant pen by the 

 unflagging determination of my wife, consciously aided and 

 abetted by numerous friends and unwittingly by publishers and 

 literary agents from several countries. 



In succumbing, for the sake of historical record, it has been my 

 aim to present this extraordinary event as accurately as possible. 



This has involved the mention of many different persons who 

 played their part in the creation and course of this story. I have 

 spared nobody, least of all myself, which is the extenuation I 

 offer to those inclined to find my descriptive words harsh. 



The general public is apt to regard people like leading scientists 

 or cabinet ministers as almost superhuman and beyond or above 

 ordinary human emotions. They are not, emphatically not, and 

 to scale the heights a man must be prepared to wage an unending, 

 bitter battle with those persistent fundamental weaknesses that 

 constantly plague us all. One friend who kindly read the manu- 

 script asked me if I realised how it revealed myself. I do not mind. 

 No man is a god. 



J. L. B. Smith 



Grahamstown 

 August 1955 



