The Raft in the River

The festive sounds that came from the tin-roofed village school at Namone last week suggested a cocktail party more than a peace conference. Burgundy and beer at lunch added to the hilarity. While the spokesman for the ''neutralist" bloc laughed uproariously at his own jokes, pigs rooted about on the dirt floor scavenging bits of juicy pork and chicken from the table. Even stone-faced General Phoun Sipraseuth, leader of the Communist Pathet Lao delegation, occasionally showed a frozen smile.

He had reason to smile. After five months of talk and 37 meetings at Namone, the pro-Western delegates were giving in all along the line, and the West once again faced a major crisis in Laos.

Iron-Curtain Twelve. The immediate conference issue seemed small: where should the three princes--pro-Western Premier Prince Boun Oum, Red Prince Souphanouvong, and "neutralist"' Prince Souvanna Phouma--meet to form a new government? Boun Oum's man had held out for the royal capital of Luangprabang, but now agreed that the meeting should take place at the village of Hin Heup on the Lik River, where one bank is held by the Royal Laotian Army and the other by the Communist Pathet Lao.

In a desperate effort to salvage something, Boun Oum's delegates argued that the princes should confer in the no man's land of the center of the bridge at Hin Heup. This brought wild guffaws from the other side, as one of the neutralist dele gates pointed out that the bridge had been blown up and the princes could not stand in midair. The Boun Oum man came back with the suggestion that a raft be built and anchored in midriver. With a mock-serious air, the neutralist chief delegate drew a lurid picture of the dangers that the princes would face on a raft in the midst of the monsoon-swollen torrent, where they might be swept away along with all hopes for peace. Rising to a fever pitch, he enumerated all those who would have to be with the princes--advisers, guards, servants--and the proposed raft grew to the size of Noah's Ark. When laughter had subsided, he finally proposed that the meetings should alternate between both banks of the river.

At the meeting, scheduled to start this week, the three princes are to select a 16-man Cabinet, which will almost certainly be headed by Souvanna Phouma as Premier. Four of the Cabinet seats will go to Boun Oum's supporters, four to the Reds, and eight to Souvanna Phouma's neutrals, who in most cases are not distinguishable from the Communists. Said a European diplomat: ''How can you expect the Western powers to accept a government with four from our side and twelve from behind the Iron Curtain?"

The Key Question. The only alternative to acceptance is renewed fighting. Interviewed in Bangkok, the capital of neighboring Thailand. Admiral Harry D. Felt, U.S. Commander in Chief Pacific, conceded that there was "danger" that the civil war might again break out in a matter of weeks. As the rainy season drew to a close, more and more Soviet transport planes landed at Xieng Khoung with supplies and equipment for the 20,000 Pathet Lao troops and the 3,000 army rebels of Captain Kong Le. Battle-tested cadres from Communist North Viet Nam are drilling the Pathet Lao, driving their truck convoys, stringing communication lines, and flying their helicopters.

On paper, the Royal Laotian Army supporting Prince Boun Oum looks twice as strong as the Reds. It numbers 29,000 regulars and more than 30,000 self-defense units. In the past year, the U.S. has. poured nearly $25 million into Laotian military salaries and subsistence, as well as undisclosed millions more in arms, munitions, vehicles and planes. Twenty-four U.S. Special Forces teams are busy at combat and tactical training. "The troops in the field are getting their mail, rice and pay," said a U.S. officer. "Whether they'll fight is the key question."

In the capital city of Vientiane last week. Soviet Ambassador Aleksandr Abramov was telling whoever would listen that "peace"--meaning Western retreat--is necessary in Laos because, should hostilities start again. Red China would enter the fray to ensure a Communist victory. For the West, it represents a Hobson's choice: surrender Laos by default, or be prepared to send in troops to hold at least the Mekong River line as a bulwark for what is left of free Southeast Asia.

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