The Huttig news., 1910-01-15

nous red flag in the rigging, and hung a white board over the stern with the inscription in four languages:
 i: ANGER, :; This Vessel Is Loaded with Dynamite. : Dangerous to Approach. =.
 He spent the night on the bare deck, and at dawn he s )t small skif over board and rowed himself to Ishmai- lia, 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 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 binocular for warn ing smudges of smoke. Another eeean-tfaftp came 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 it clear that she was flying the French flag Davenport put his glass into its case and sighed with relief Then he smiled thonghtfully.
 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 reappeared, 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 halt an hour the consul returned ashore, accompanied this time by the captain in 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 deep and not unintelligent interest. Indeed, it was on the road to the east. Ten days be- fore it 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 immemorial custom of the country. It 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-C China. and it has been her constant aim to es- tabiish a suzerainty of some sort over that state. Some years earlier the growth of foreign customs had made it 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 success by inducing the king to send the young crown prince, Ohya Varariddhi, to Paris, to receive a for eign education. Here he was officially welcomed with royal honors. feted, given rank in the French army and introduced to Parisian society and vices. No expense was spared to i'm press upon his undeveloped mind tbe of France and the glory of her institutions. By this time he was premature roue, his nationality obliterated, his naturally feeble intel