"Give 'em Hell, Salem!"

Cairo was crawling with provocative rumors inspired by a bastard alliance of Communists and the rich men of the discredited Wafd party. The twelve-man Revolutionary Council was falling apart, whispered the rumormongers; its leaders were quarreling, its officers were selling out to the British. The brush-fire spread of the talk worried the men who 14 months ago wrested Egypt from the fat hands of King Farouk, for ruling Egypt is like riding a bicycle: keep rolling or you fall off. One night last week, the twelve officers went together to Cairo's jam-packed Liberation Square, climbed a white balcony bathed in spotlights and, before 100,000 Egyptians, clasped hands and held them high to show the nation that they were still standing together.

"After this day, the revolution will take firm and severe action against anyone standing in its way," cried Deputy Premier Gamal Abdel Nasser, the regime's strong man. "No traitor will be able to raise his head." The gentle revolution, which in more than a year executed only one man, had come to an end. The regime set up a special three-officer revolutionary tribunal, made it supreme over all other courts, empowered it to hand down death sentences on traitors, rounded up scores of suspects and began trying them this week. Among the arrested: two ex-Premiers of the Farouk era, including the discredited Wafdist chief, Mustafa Nahas.

The Naguib government was not only out to face down its opponents, but also to prepare Egypt for a new agreement with the British over the future of the Suez Canal zone. Propaganda Chief Salah Salem told the crowd that the old Wafdist regime had been making ready to concede much more to Britain than the present government; this was a clear indication that the Revolutionary Council was about ready to come to terms on a good, sound Suez deal. Grimacing from behind his dark glasses, Salem mimicked old Mustafa Nahas, and the crowd, in stitches, shouted the Arabic equivalent of "Give 'em hell, Salem!" At his elbow sat Premier Mohammed Naguib, offering encouragement.

The agreement itself rested last week in the lap of Winston Churchill's cabinet; all but one of the major issues were settled. The main terms for ending the 75-year-old dispute: 1) Britain will evacuate the canal zone but leave behind 4,000 technicians to train Egyptian replacements; 2) the base will be commanded by an Egyptian, with a Briton as chief of staff; 3) Britain will be allowed to return to the base in event of an attack on any Arab nation (not including Turkey). The single remaining point of argument: Should the British technicians stay on for seven years (as the British want) or work for five (the Egyptians' maximum)?

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