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 gin to hold the sceptre. By this time the country was full of armed bands of outlaws, who, like the Saxons under the Norman Conquest, proved irrepressible, and after the withdrawal of the Burmese army anarchy bore sway.

Among the leaders of these robber-bands was a shrewd and valiant Chinaman bearing the name of Pin Tat. This man, at the time thirty-three years of age and of unbounded ambition, rose by a series of military and civil promotions to the very highest influence. What his sword could not achieve in battle his finesse and bribery completed. Betraying the high trusts reposed in him, and gathering to his standard all available robbers and pirates, he was enabled to dictate terms to the government until he gained possession of all the northern districts. He then marched with a large force against the Burmese governor of Bangkok, whom he surprised and put to death, availing himself of his treasures as his "sinews of war."

He was now strong enough to overcome the Burmese at every point; and so thoroughly did he succeed in ridding the country from their thraldom that he won the gratitude of the people, who gladly favored his assumption of royal authority. He displayed great genius in the ad