s!

[Illustration: The head of the pageant approaching the camera in the
palace at Pnom-Penh

_Photo by the Goldwyn-Bray-Powell Malaysian Expedition_]

When we entered the gate of the palace the next morning, I felt as
though I had been translated to the days of Haroun-al-Raschid, for the
vast courtyard, flanked on all sides by marble buildings with tiled
roofs of cobalt blue, of emerald green, of red, of brilliant yellow,
was literally crowded with elephants, bullocks, horses, chariots,
palanquins, soldiers, priests, and officials all the pomp and panoply
of an Asiatic court, in short. Though close examination revealed the
gold as gilt and the jewels as colored glass, the general effect was
undeniably gorgeous. In spite of the brilliance of the scene, Hawkinson
was as blase as ever. He issued orders to the Minister of the Household
as though he were directing a Pullman porter.

"Have those elephants come on in double file," he commanded. "Then
follow 'em with the bullock-carts and the palanquins. I'll shoot the
priests and the mandarins later."

"But the priests must be taken at once," the minister protested. "They
have been waiting a long time, and they are already late for the
morning service in the royal temple."

"Well, they'll have to wait still longer," was the unruffled answer.
"Tell them not to get impatient. I'll get round to them as soon as I
finish with the animals. Think what it will mean to them to have their
pictures shown on the same screen with Charlie Chaplin and Douglas
Fairbanks and Mary Pickford! I know lots of people who would be willing
to wait a year for such a chance."

Just then there approached across the courtyard a trio of youths in
white uniforms and gold-laced kepis, their breasts ablaze with
decorations. At sight of them the minister doubled himself in the
middle like a jack-knife. They were, it appeared, some of the royal
princes--sons of the King.

There ensued a brief colloquy between the minister and the eldest of
the princes, the conversation evidently relating, as I gathered from
the gestures, to the Lovely Lady and the Winsome Widow, who at the
moment were delightedly engaged in feeding candies to a baby elephant.

"His Highness wishes to know," the minister interpreted, "when the
ladies of your company are to appear. His Highness is a great admirer
of American actresses; he saw your most famous one, Mademoiselle Theda
Bara, at a cinema in Singapore."

It seemed a thou