crushed to death. The veneration for the Boy
Prophet was carried to such an extent that all vied with each other to
procure a thread of his clothing, a piece of the trappings of his car,
while they who had a single hair of his head felt they had a priceless
treasure. It is small wonder that this shepherd boy, sensitive as he
was to impressions, and duped as he was in the belief that he was
anointed by God to a holy calling, and then worshipped by an
ever-increasing tide of followers, should have been affected by the
rapid change in his circumstances and surroundings. He was evidently
possessed of no slight ability to carry out plans, and had much power
over people, and his whole nature was aflame with the emotional
credulous piety of the Middle Ages. Such was the lad Stephen, shepherd
of Cloyes, prophet of the Children's Crusade, when with pomp and
ceremony he led his army out of Vendome.

The pathway of his army was marked by far fewer hardships than those
the German children were encountering, for the country through which
they travelled was more peopled and the distance they had to go much
shorter. They did not have to sleep on rocky heights or on freezing
moors, and in the lands through which they passed they encountered only
sympathy and interest. So their ranks were scarcely thinned by
desertion or death, and yet even so, the trip was none too easy,
especially on account of the great heat and drought of the summer, to
which Stephen constantly referred as a sure sign from God that the sea
was to be dried up for their benefit as he had predicted.

His army did not bear heat, want and exhaustion as well as the sturdier
German children did, and in an incredibly short time its ranks lost all
discipline and authority, and at last each one of his band of followers
became keen only to outwit the others in a search for food, and in
endeavours to hide it, they struggled on--a loose, undisciplined mass,
until finally Stephen's authority was entirely lost and the march
became only a race for the sea. All original enthusiasm of the army had
vanished, and the courage which for a while had been kept up by
Stephen's zeal, and by spirited songs and stories, died away, and
Stephen was obliged to make use of constant deceptions in answer to
questions as to when the weary march would be over, saying that a few
more days or hours would bring them to the sea, and so ignorant of
geography were the youths that the falsehoods were not d