190 On the trail of vanishing birds 



the shore shouted something at us in an excited manner. Arturo 

 shouted back and the man went on with a long, rapid account 

 that included much arm-waving and other gestures of a dramatic 

 nature. I had been in Cuba often enough to learn to keep my 

 blood pressure down to normal in the face of the most violent 

 goings-on, but this had all the earmarks of something really 

 serious. Then Arturo, who had been listening openmouthed, 

 turned to me with round eyes and said, in his inevitable idiomatic 

 American, "There ees a revolution! Batista has seized the govern- 

 ment in Habana an' the president has fled! We mus' get to town 

 at once an' see wha's cooking!" 



It was all too true. Shortly after we had set off for the Cauto, 

 there had been a swift, almost bloodless military coup. President 

 Prio was an exile in Mexico and General Batista, who had been 

 one of several presidential candidates in the forthcoming elections, 

 was in charge. We hurried through the town where crowds were 

 gathered uncertainly in the streets I to my hotel and Arturo to 

 his home. 



After a hot bath and a change of clothes, I met Arturo again 

 and we walked along to the plaza. Here excitement was at fever 

 pitch. In the center of the plaza there is a large band-shell type of 

 structure, fashioned in what I took to be an Arabic style, with a 

 huge dome and long rows of Arabic symbols on the supporting 

 columns. I suppose the significance of this is that the province is 

 called Oriente. Two men were using it as a dais, making impas- 

 sioned speeches to two different crowds, one on each side. Others 

 moved through the crowds, giving out printed handbills. Arturo 

 read them to me. They were signed by various political parties and 

 called on all Cubans to rise and resist. The speakers on the dais 

 were evidently saying much the same thing. Now and then there 

 were cheers, but on the whole the crowd seemed dazed and un- 

 certain. Police officers stood by, obviously apprehensive. On a side 

 street a group of students was gathering, while a man in a black 

 homburg hat perched precariously on a high iron fence and ha- 

 rangued them. 



The tumult in the plaza was mounting rapidly, and an explo- 



