"I have not learned it," replied Cavalier, "nor do I know if the like can be learned. You esteem me too highly, brother Edmond, if you believe, that that which I do proceeds from reflection or skill. It is true I do not lose courage, I preserve my _sang froid_, although I see before and around me a thousand foes with their swords and guns, but such is my nature, there is no merit or extraordinary courage in this. When I was yet a little boy, minding my good old nobleman's sheep, I was never frightened when I perceived the wolf. I remained calm, and slew two of these bad fellows, whereupon every body admired my great courage, and I could not at all understand what they meant by it. Thus, then, my spirit was roused, and I engaged in this war, in which I soon succeeded in liberating my brethren and defeating the enemy, so that all the companions of the faith placed their full confidence in me, and expected the blessing and success of their hopes from me; but brother Roland is much wiser and more experienced, he has more penetration and I must be considered only as a learner in comparison to him, yet the Lord had not endowed him with so much success as me, on that account the combatants preferred following me. Now when I lead out the brethren, and the affair does not turn out as we have arranged and thought, the spirit suddenly directs me, I see, I remark all that which was before unknown to me, of its own accord my mouth gives the right orders, it soars, it hovers round me, so that I know not what to say, and it leads me and my followers through the enemy's troops. Like joyous intoxication, it flies with me through the tumult, and the victory is won." "Thou wast a shepherd then in thy childhood?" said Edmond; "how fitting if they compare thee to David." "I grew up poor and desolate in the solitude of the mountains," replied the former: "I had forgotten myself, I could never have thought that I should at some future period have to fight for the Lord, for my faith had died within me; and I agreed to all they proposed. Until then, zealous brethren rekindled the extinguished embers into flame, so that my life was restored, and I was enabled to seek and find the Lord. Afterwards, when they had so cruelly murdered our brethren, zealous wrath drove me into their holy community. And since then, I am an humble instrument in the hand of the Most High. I could not believe, that I should have been so highly honored, when I was compelled to endure all the drudgery of an apprentice at St. Hypolite, and my master, the baker, for a slight, often for no reason at all, beat me and pulled my hair; yet he was one of our firm companions in the faith, who, however could not control his passion."