The Lexington intelligencer. [volume] (Lexington, Mo.) 1901-1949, 1909-03-13

Everything depended upon getting
him to the Siamese capital before the
old king should expire. The -Ong
yai" was an energetic man Of middle
years. He controlled the army, he
had the tremendous weight of ancient
custom to support his claim. and it
was practically certain that. once pro-
claimed sovereign. he would be sus-
tanned by the foreign governments, il
only FOR the sake of peace. Possession
would mean all the points OF the law
and the road was barred by an in
fernal machine.
In the French consulate and on the
French cruiser there was evaporation
and alarm. The cables to the east
hummed with cipher messages. The
commander offered the services of his
blue jackets TO remove the sunken
Ukraine, he onered TO tear it to pieces
with his own bare hands. Money was
no object, but the directors of the
canal, mostly Englishmen. had no par
ticular sympathy with the French
mans ineomprehensible and almost
fearful excitement and declined to risk
having a mile of the canal embank-
ments shattered by the tampering Of
unskilled hands. A hurry order had
been cabled to Naples for wreckers
and they might be expected in two or
three days. Till then it was neces-
sary TO wait.
1t turned u TO be four days, and
for several persons in the port they
were the slowest four days on record.
Ship after ship continued to arrive at
both ends of the canal, mail steamers,
freight boats. majestic steel ships and
barques from the antipodes, every sort
Of craft important enough to pay the
canal tolls. flying every flag known to
the four Every day the com
pany's offices were crowded with an
CRY and rough-speaking sea captains,
and a dozen s~uits-at-law were daily
threatened. As for Davenport, he
carefully avoided even the neighbor-
hood of these Offices and spent much
of his time on the end of the pier as
before. sweeping the horizon with his
glass. He was looking for the steam
er from Naples.
On the fifth morning she appeared.
Davenport at once had himself rowed
TO the French m%an-of-war, boarded
her and introduced himself to the
commander in purest Partisan French.
Would the commander have the good
ness to transmit TO the French lega,
ton in Bangkok a communication Of
Importance to French interests in the
east-of the highest Importance, he
might venture to say? The command
er would. Davenport confded to his
care an imposing and oficial-looking
document, tied with tape and decor
ated with several ounces of red wax,
and bowed himself over the side. Two
hours later he went aboard a vest
bound steamer that was ready to sail
and disappeared under the Mediter.
ranean horizon.
The divers went to work at once,
hauling up carefully several tin cases
filled with sand. After an investi-
cation lasting an hour OF two, a cou-
pie of charges of dynamite were ex-
ploded under the Ukraine with no I'M
usual effects. The canal was clear.
and in a solid procession the ships
began to pass through. For a week
there was a double file, moving in OPP
posite directions, and the nights were
bright as day from the electric search
lights that the regulations compel
every vessel to carry in nocturnal
transit.
The French cruiser crossed the In
dian ocean and the Bay of Bengal as
if the devil we're after her. She was
a new boat and had recently been
cleaned. The French secretary of le-
CATION was down at Paknam, at the
mouth of Bangkok's long harbor, on
the lookout for her, and when she Up
peaTed he came on board. Before he
could open his mouth the commander
thrust into his hand Davenport's bulky
missive. In spite of its size and
weight, it was found, when the multi
plicity of seals we're broken and the
tape cut, to contain only the follow
ing words:
On board the sunken steamer Ukraine,
in the Suez Canal.
His EXcellency, the French Ambassador,
Bangkok:
Five years ago an American sailor en-
listed in the French Foreign Legation at
Hue, Cochin-China. He rose to be a
sous-officer. At the outbreak Of the
Spanish war with the United States he
applied for discharge (his term Of enlist
ment having all but expired) in order
hat he might join the fleet Of Admiral
Dewey at Hong-KOng, and when this
make his way thither without leave. He
was captured and shot to pieces by the
native troops sent in pursuit. His body
lies on the shore Of the Gulf of Tonquin,
under a heap OF rocks-the c~ostliest
sepulchre ever erected, for 1t has cost
France a kingdom.
That man was my only brother.
STEWART DAVENPORT.
The secretary Of legation read the
note and shrugged his shoulders ex-
pressively. Then. answering the look
of intense curiosity on the command
er's co%untenance, he said:
THE king died four days ago, and
his brother Immediately assumed the
crown amid thunders of popular ap-
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