d to carry away
with it all vestiges of his former illness. From that moment his health
and strength came into existence; but during these two long illnesses his
education had remained very backward, and it was not until the age of
eight that he could begin his elementary studies; moreover, his physical
sufferings having retarded his intellectual development, he needed to
work twice as hard as others to reach the same result.

Seeing the efforts that young Sand made, even while still quite a child,
to conquer the defects of his organisation, Professor Salfranck, a
learned and distinguished man, rector of the Hof gymnasium [college],
conceived such an affection for him, that when, at a later time, he was
appointed director of the gymnasium at Ratisbon, he could not part from
his pupil, and took him with him. In this town, and at the age of eleven
years, he gave the first proof of his courage and humanity. One day,
when he was walking with some young friends, he heard cries for help, and
ran in that direction: a little boy, eight or nine years old, had just
fallen into a pond. Sand immediately, without regarding his best clothes,
of which, however, he was very proud, sprang into the water, and, after
unheard-of efforts for a child of his age, succeeded in bringing the
drowning boy to land.

At the age of twelve or thirteen, Sand, who had become more active,
skilful, and determined than many of his elders, often amused himself by
giving battle to the lads of the town and of the neighbouring villages.
The theatre of these childish conflicts, which in their pale innocence
reflected the great battles that were at that time steeping Germany in
blood, was generally a plain extending from the town of Wonsiedel to the
mountain of St. Catherine, which had ruins at its top, and amid the ruins
a tower in excellent preservation. Sand, who was one of the most eager
fighters, seeing that his side had several times been defeated on account
of its numerical inferiority, resolved, in order to make up for this
drawback, to fortify the tower of St. Catherine, and to retire into it at
the next battle if its issue proved unfavourable to him. He communicated
this plan to his companions, who received it with enthusiasm. A week was
spent, accordingly, in collecting all possible weapons of defence in the
tower and in repairing its doors and stairs. These preparations were
made so secretly that the army of the enemy had no knowledge of them.