Among the dozen passionate young army officers who preside over Egypt's 19 millions, none could be more temperamental or more troublesome under stress than sleek, slight Major Salah Salem. One of the original handful who plotted the overthrow of fat, frolicsome King Farouk, Salem had the lithe grace and purring charm of a cat, and like a cat, he could spit venomously if his fur was stroked the wrong way.
Soon after the coup that established Colonel Nasser (nominally, second-in-command to General Mohammed Naguib) as Egypt's real boss, a delegation of Sudanese...
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