Natalia took Peter and fled for safety to the monastery of the Trinity. The soldiers pursued her even into the sanctuary, and to the foot of the altar; but there the sacredness of the spot arrested their vengeance, and they left their victims with sullen oaths. In the meantime, the commotion in the city continued for several days, and the brother of the Empress Natalia, and others of her friends, were slain. At last a compromise was effected, and it was agreed that Iván should be proclaimed Czar in conjunction with his brother Peter, and that the Princess Sophia should be regent. Sophia, knowing that Iván, the poor idiot, would be but a tool in her hands, endeavored in every way possible to prevent her half-brother Peter from becoming so intelligent and energetic that he would take the power away from her. She therefore caused his teacher to be dismissed, and commenced to carry out her plan to ruin the bright and talented boy, by taking away from him all restraint, and indulging him in every pleasure and whim. Peter was now established in a household of his own, at a palace in a small village some distance from Moscow, and Sophia selected fifty boys to live with him as playmates. These boys were provided with every possible means of indulgence, subject to little restraint. It was the intention of Sophia that they should do just as they chose, so that they would all grow up idle, vicious, and good-for-nothing; and she had also the hope that Peter might so impair his health as to bring him to an early grave. [Illustration: PETER SAVED FROM SLAUGHTER BY HIS MOTHER.] But Peter had already been too well instructed, or possessed too much native good sense, to fall into this snare, and instead of giving up his studies, he even contrived to turn his companions into scholars also. He organized a kind of military school, where they practised the evolutions and discipline necessary in a camp. He caused himself to be taught to drum, so that he could execute all the signals used in camp and on the battle-field. He studied fortification, and set the boys to work with him to construct a battery in a regular and scientific manner. He learned the use of tools, and the wheelbarrow he used in making the fortification was one he made himself.