e end of a
long fuse, which in turn ignited the three pyres simultaneously, the
ascending clouds of smoke being greeted by the roll of drums and the
crash of saluting cannon.

When I first suggested to friends in Bangkok that I wished to obtain
permission for Hawkinson to take pictures of the cremation, they told
me that it was out of the question.

"But why?" I demanded. "Motion-pictures were taken of the funerals of
the Pope, and of King Edward, and of President Roosevelt, without
anyone dreaming of protesting, so why should there be any objection
here? Nothing in the least disrespectful is intended."

"But this is Siam," my friends replied pessimistically, "and such
things simply aren't done here. No one has ever taken a motion-picture
of a royal cremation."

"It's never too late to begin," I told them.

So I took a rickshaw out to the American Legation and enlisted the
cooperation of our charge d'affaires, Mr. Donald Rodgers, the very
efficient young diplomatist who was representing American interests in
Siam pending the arrival of the new minister.

"I'll do my best to arrange it," Rodgers assured me, "but I'm not
sanguine about meeting with success. The Siamese are fine people,
kindly, hospitable and all that, but they're as conservative as
Bostonians."

Two days later, however, he sent me a letter, signed by the minister of
the royal household, authorizing Hawkinson to take motion-pictures in
the grounds of the _meru_ on the following day prior to the cremation.
I didn't quite like the sound of the last four words, "prior to the
cremation," but I felt that it was not an occasion for quibbling. So
the next day, at the appointed hour--which was two hours ahead of the
time set for the cremation--Hawkinson set out for the _meru_,
accompanied by his interpreter. He did not return until dinner-time.

"What happened?" I inquired, by way of greeting.

"What didn't happen?" he retorted. "They turned me out just as the
cremation was commencing. When we reached the _meru_ I was met by an
official wearing bright-blue pants, who told me that he had been sent
to assist me in taking the pictures. Well, I got a few shots of the
_meru_ itself, and of the royal pavilion, and of some of the priests
and soldiers, but there wasn't much doing because there wasn't any
action. So I sat down to wait for things to happen. Pretty soon the
troops began to arrive--lancers and a battery of artillery and a
company of the royal body