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42 his own palace, and under the full control of his enemies. He was so completely surrounded by his enemies that he feared his own life would be taken at any time. So great was this fear that for a long while he would not eat any food except such as had been prepared by some American friends and sent to him under lock and key. He also called in some of the American missionaries and had them remain in the palace near his person every night. This state of affairs could not continue. The king and the crown prince by a shrewd trick succeeded in deluding their captors by passing the guards at the palace gate in closed chairs such as are used only by women. These same chairs had been caused to pass in and out of the gate at all hours of the day with some of the palace women in them, till the guards ceased to examine them. Then it was that early one morning the king and his son entered these same chairs and made good their escape and found an asylum in the Russian Legation.

Here the king called together his friends and reorganized his government by appointing a new cabinet. He lost little time in punishing his enemies who had been in power over him. Some of them were cut down in the streets by the people, who were outraged at the treatment their king had received at the hands of these men. In the Russian Legation the king remained for something more than a year, during which time he built a new palace right under the shadow of the British, American, Russian, and German Legations. Into this palace he removed and remained till