169 The pearl of the antilles? 



rying these good people, and it is always necessary to see these 

 little social amenities through to the end. However, there was, 

 it seemed, another problem. The captain turned his mouth down 

 at the corners. His eyes grew round with the enormity of it. Just 

 that morning a message had come by radio from his superiors in 

 Santiago de Cuba. Here! this is the very copy (handing me a half 

 sheet of brown paper on which several lines were typed in Span- 

 ish). There! It is signed by the comandante, it is oficial and very 

 secreto. No one must know of this or all will be lost. El capitdn 

 became so excited at the possibilities that he ran on in unmiti- 

 gated Spanish, waving his arms and glaring wildly around the 

 room. For the next five minutes or so he and Arturo talked back 

 and forth at a furious tempo. I caught very few words and no sense 

 whatever. Abruptly Arturo raised his hand to me, as a signal, and 

 said, "Le's go!" (Arturo is vain about his American idioms, using 

 them at every opportunity.) "But Arturo/' I protested, "what's 

 this all about? What about our plans?" "Never fear, we will talk 

 of plans," he replied darkly, and with scarcely a nod to el capitdn, 

 who was pulling violently at the handle of his desk drawer again, 

 we went out into the brilliant sunshine of the street. 



I think that all Cubans must love dramatic overtones and revel 

 morosely in an atmosphere of conspiracy. If possible, they will 

 squeeze histrionics from even the most commonplace incident. 

 Given the makings of real drama they really overplay it, or so it 

 impresses a mere Anglo-Saxon. Arturo was simply brimming with 

 excitement, but his love of the theatrical was so intense that he 

 couldn't get an intelligible word out. He kept looking to right and 

 left, shaking his head, pursing his lips and putting his finger to 

 them for silence, until I had just about decided it really was a 

 secret. Then, in a torrent of words, half of them Spanish, it came 

 tumbling out. Apparently the authorities had been warned that an 

 attempt would be made to land contraband arms from a boat that 

 would come inshore in the vicinity of Niquero, a village some 50 

 kilometers to the south. El capitdn had been instructed to prevent 

 such a landing at all costs, and to apprehend the contraband crew, 

 if possible. Great haste must be made, as I would readily under- 

 stand, and secrecy was of the utmost importance. These enemies 



