ms were used in these encounters; the
sportsman was provided only with a single doubly-pointed stick and a
cast-net, like the one perhaps, used by the ancient gladiators. The
object of these fierce combats was to capture and bind the bear, and
to carry him in triumph from the scene of action! Charles was, it
seems, a great proficient in this dangerous sport.

At the age of eighteen Charles was obliged to take the field against
the four greatest powers of the North. Forced to contend with small
means against vastly superior foes, he made genius and courage supply
the place of numbers. Heroism was never more nobly displayed than by
this gallant monarch and his followers. What men could do was done.
For nine years he triumphed over constantly augmenting enemies. And
when the "unconquered lord of pleasure and of pain" fell at last,
crushed by the weight of masses, fortune more than shared with his
innumerable adversaries the honor of his overthrow.

It was during the Polish campaign of 1703 that Max Emanuel of
Wirtemberg, then only fourteen years of age, joined Charles. When
introduced, the king asked him whether he wished to go to Stockholm
for a time, or to remain with the army. The prince, of course,
preferred the latter. "Well, then," said Charles, "I will bring you up
in my own way," and immediately placed the boy, tired as he was from
his journey, on horseback, and led him a long and fatiguing ride. From
this period to the battle of Pultowa, Max continued to be his constant
companion, shared his dangers, and attended him in all his adventures,
many of which border almost on the fabulous. The affectionate kindness
evinced by Charles toward his pupil could not be surpassed. When the
boy, as sometimes happened, was worn down by sickness and fatigue, the
monarch attended him with parental care; and when on one occasion he
fell speechless from his horse, and his recovery was despaired of, the
king never left his couch till he was pronounced out of danger.

The adventures they encountered together were endless. On inspecting
the regiments before the opening of the campaign of 1706, they rode
five hundred miles in six days, were never in bed, and hardly ever out
of the saddle, and frequently reduced to milk and water as their only
nourishment--

"Alike to Charles was tide or time,
Moonless midnight or matin prime."

Having on another occasion lost their road and escort during a stormy
night, they arrived in the mi