The Lexington intelligencer. [volume] (Lexington, Mo.) 1901-1949, 1909-03-13
DANGERl
This Vessel Is Loaded with Dynamite.
Dangerous to Approach.

He spent the night on the bare deck,
and at dawn he got a small skiff over
board and rowed himself to Ishmai-
liza, very hungry, for the provisions
had all been flooded. From Ishmailia
he took the railroad to Cairo, and
thence to Port Said, at the canal
head.
No shipping had been allowed to en-
ter the canal since the accident was
reported, and inside the breakwater
were already waiting a couple of large
freighters, a big four-masted steel
clipper and an Austrian Lloyd mail
steamer. More ships continued to ar.
rive, and Davenport sat on the end of
the pier and watched them, sweeping
the horizon with a b~inocular for warn.
ing smudges of smoke. Another
ocean tramp came in, an Italian liner.
and a transport full of British troops
which at once made the port uproar.
ious. Then, about noon. a large war
ship appeared at full speed from the
west. She was fast, had three tunnels,
and when she came near enough to
make ii clear that she was flying the
French flag Davenport put his glass
into its case and sighed with relief.
Then he smiled thoughtfully.
Almost before she had lost way a
boat was dropped over her side and
an officer was rowed rapidly TO the
landing. Thence, with no less rapid
ity, he was driven in a hack to the
French consular Offices. In five min
utes he r%eappeared, accompanied by
the consul himself, and the pair hur-
ried to the Offices of the Suez Canal
Company.
They came out again with no pleas
ant expression and both went down
TO the pier and were taken aboard the
cruiser, which had not anchored, but
was lying to with steam up. In half
an hour the consul returned ashore.
accompanied this time by the captain
in a gorgeous full-dress uniform, and
a slight dark-faced oriental-looking
youth, in the uniform Of a French col
onel Of cavalry.
Davenport had watched these com.
ings and goings with a deep and not
unintelligent interest. Indeed, it was
an awkward moment for a blockade
on the road to the east. Ten days be-
fore ii had been secretly cabled to
Paris from the French legation in
Bangkok that the king of Siam was
supposed to have been poisoned in
the harem. He might live for weeks.
he might even then be dying; it was
impossible for an outsider to learn
with accuracy Of happenings in the
palace. The kings eldest brother. the
"Ong Yai," was expected to succeed.
according to the ipmemorial custom
Of the country. III was the moment
for which French diplomacy had been
waiting for years.
In the eyes of France, Siam has al
ways been regarded as the natural
complement of French Indo-Ch China. and
IL has been her constant aim to es-
tablish a s%uzerainty of some sort over
that state. Some years earlier the
growth Of foreign customs had made
II probable that the right of royal sue.
cession would be transferred to the
eldest son Of the first queen. as among
western peoples, instead Of remaining
with the "Ong Yai." About the same
time the French ambassador had
scored a success by inducing the king
to send the young crown prince, Ohya
.arariddhi, to Paris, to receive a for
education. Here he was officially
welcomed with royal honors, feted,
given rank in the French army and
introduced to Partisan society and
Tices. No expense was spared to i'm
press upon his u~ndeveloped mind the
1mnipotence of France and the glory
her institutions. BY this time he
vas a premature roue. his nationality
'bliterated, his naturally feeble intel !