gave him a great influence over his young companions. And, indeed, in
half an hour he was seen reappearing at the head of some thirty boys of
his own age, armed with slings and crossbows. The besiegers, on the
point of being attacked before and behind, recognised the disadvantage of
their position and retreated. The victory remained with Sand's party, and
all the honours of the day were his.

We have related this anecdote in detail, that our readers may understand
from the character of the child what was that of the man. Besides, we
shall see him develop, always calm and superior amid small events as amid
large ones.

About the same time Sand escaped almost miraculously from two dangers.
One day a hod full of plaster fell from a scaffold and broke at his feet.
Another day the Price of Coburg, who during the King of Prussia's stay at
the baths of Alexander, was living in the house of Sand's parents, was
galloping home with four horses when he came suddenly upon young Karl in
a gateway; he could not escape either on the right or the left, without
running the risk of being crushed between the wall and the wheels, and
the coachman could not, when going at such a pace, hold in his horses:
Sand flung himself on his face, and the carriage passed over him without
his receiving so much as a single scratch either from the horses or the
wheels. From that moment many people regarded him as predestined, and
said that the hand of God was upon him.

Meanwhile political events were developing themselves around the boy, and
their seriousness made him a man before the age of manhood. Napoleon
weighed upon Germany like another Sennacherib. Staps had tried to play
the part of Mutius Scaevola, and had died a martyr. Sand was at Hof at
that time, and was a student of the gymnasium of which his good tutor