forth with remarkable fluency. Being, moreover, remarkable for the high integrity of his character, and for a stern and rigid observance of all religious duties, his word was almost oracular, and on the present occasion an uninterested spectator might have observed that he experienced little difficulty in swaying the minds of his auditors in whatever direction it pleased him to conduct them. The consultation in which they were now engaged was long and warmly sustained, and it is difficult to say when it would have terminated, had it not at length been interrupted by the approach of the party who had been engaged in the contest of skill with the rifle.

'Well, my brave youth,' said the inn-keeper, rising as they ap proached, have ye so soon decided who is to claim the prize awarded to the best marksman of the Passayer?'

'We have,' replied Martin Esseldorf, a tall, military-looking youth, advancing before the rest, we have all performed our parts to the best of our skill, but Hedrick Spechbacker hath pierced the centre of the star, a feat which no one else of our company has been able to accomplish.'

'Marguerite,' said Andrew, calling to him a little girl who was playing with a beautiful hound on the grass near him, go to thine Aunt Honora, and bid her bring forth the prize: it is too heavy for thy tiny hands.' Then turning to the victor he added: My friend, Heaven grant that thy hand be as steady and thine eye as true, when Tyrol demands thine aid against her foes.'

'Fear me not,' replied Hedrick; my single hand can do but little, yet all that it can effect, Tyrol may command.'

'It is well said,' replied the other; if all our Tyrolese youth bore so stout a heart as thou, France and Bavaria, leagued, would avail but little with all their numbers and their skill, in our mountain fastnesses.'

As he spoke, Honora stood beside him, bearing a rifle of finished workmanship, together with a powder-flask and belt, the appointed prizes for the best marksman.

'The maiden bears the piece as though she knew how to use it, upon emergency,' observed Hans Haspinger, a middl-aged man who sat near the inn-keeper.

'She will not refuse to try,' replied the maiden, her fine features glowing with animation as she spoke, if her country require her services; nor is there a maiden or a matron in the valley but would glory in risking life in such a cause.'

Hast thou any doubts left, Carl Ritzberg ?' asked the inn-keeper, turning to a somewhat aged man near him: let us hear no more croaking; if the maidens volunteer to fight for our valley, I will answer for it not a youth from Innspruck to Trent will hesitate one moment after the first French foot treads upon the soil of Tyrol. Thou hast spoken bravely, girl, and to reward thee for thy courage, I will allow thee to present with thine own hands the prize to the victor.'

'Who is the victor?' asked Honora.

Hedrick Spechbacker stepped forward and kneeled before the maiden, who blushed deeply as she handed him the rifle; but it was not a blush of shame which tinged her fair cheeks: it was a thrill of

joy, that he whom secretly she valued as her own life, was worthy to bear away the palm from so many skilful competitors. As he was about to rise, the inn-keeper stepped forward, and placing one hand upon the youth's shoulder, lifted the other toward Heaven. Hedrick,' he said, solemnly, thou hast volunteered thy life in the good cause of redeeming thy country's freedom; may Heaven reward thee, and give thee success; and may the prize which thou hast this day earned, be in thy hands an invincible weapon against the enemies of the Tyrol!' Then giving his hand to the youth, he bade him rise, and turning to the rest of the young men who crowded round, deeply interested in what was passing, he added: and you, fellow-countrymen, will you not also give your strength to your suffering fatherland? The friends of the Tyrol have taken measures to rise in a body the moment it is known that an enemy's foot has touched our soil; even now I expect intelligence that it is time to assemble for our holy purpose.'

As Hofer spoke, a long, loud, shrill voice was heard from a pinnacle of the mountain above them, saying:

'IT IS TIME.'

Each looked at the other for some moments in silence. The innkeeper was the first to speak: My friends,' he said, 'it is the signal agreed upon. Martin, run thou to the river, and mark if there be aught on its surface. Honora, fly thus with the signal to the next hamlet. Who will aid Andrew Hofer to liberate our wretched country?'

An unanimous shout was the reply; and those who had assembled that day without fire-arms, immediately commenced seeking for such weapons as could at the moment be procured:

'Furor minstrat arma;'

Clubs, spades, axes, pruning knives, and whatever else presented itself, was eagerly seized, and in a few minutes some hundred men had assembled under the command of Hofer, ready to advance whenever the word should be given. The inn-keeper meanwhile, bare-headed, was kneeling on the ground at the head of his troop, counting his beads with great apparent devotion, and had scarcely risen from his prayer, when again that clear, shrill voice sent its tones high above the noise of the torrent, IT IS TIME!'

It is time!' replied the inn-keeper; and at the same moment Martin Esseldorf returned, bringing word that the surface of the river was covered with saw-dust.*

'It is the signal,' observed Hofer: 'now let us forward!'

The band was soon in motion, and as they wound their way through the ravines which led up from the Passayer toward the headquarters of the patriot army, the notes of the following song, chanted by the whole band, came back in echoes rendered fainter and fainter by the distance, to the ears of the few remaining villagers, who were unwillingly detained from the strife of freedom by extreme old age, or weakness, disease, or childhood:

*Three methods were employed to convey intelligence to the distant villages of the proper moment for rising: fires were lighted on the hill tops; saw-dust was thrown upon the rivers, and swift runners were sent from village to village shouting 'It is time!'

A VILLAGE at the foot of Mount Brenner was the place appointed for the general rendezvous, and hither the patriot bands from all quarters immediately directed their march; at first, small in numbers, but receiving additional volunteers of all ages and sexes from every hamlet through which they passed, upon arriving at the place of meeting, their forces amounted to between eight and ten thousand. Andrew Hofer was here unanimously elected to the chief command; and with a considerable body of soldiers, and accompanied by his friend Hans Haspinger, took his way toward the valley of Eisach. Hedrick Spechbacker, to whom he had delegated the important office of second in authority, marched toward Halle, which was then in possession of the Bavarians, while Martin Esseldorf was despatched with a large force toward Innspruck. In all points, the patriot troops were successful. Hofer met the Bavarians in the valley of Eisach, and well did the sure rifles of his followers perform their part in that first battle. The Bavarian forces retreated precipitately, after a short but severe struggle, leaving nine hundred of their number dead, or prisoners in the hands of the victorious peasants. The same day beheld the enemy flying in wild disorder from Halle, before the irresistible attack of Spechbacker and his companions; and shortly afterward, Esseldorf led his compatriots to the gates of Innspruck, which in a few days yielded, notwithstanding the obstinate defence of General Klinkel and Colonel Dittfort, who disputed every inch of ground, and were driven street by street from the city.

It is not my intention, however, to give a detailed account of the struggles of the brave peasants of the Tyrol to recover their lost liberties. I must therefore leave to the historian the task of narrating the minute transactions of that contest, and confine myself to those occurrences in which the actors who have already been introduced were more immediately concerned. I must beg the reader then to suppose some months of active warfare to have passed, and that he now accompanies the inn-keeper to a narrow gorge near

Stertzing, through which the Duke of Dantzic was daily expected to pass with an immense body of picked and well disciplined troops.

At one particular point of this pass, the road winds for some distance between two abrupt masses of rock, which rise nearly perpendicularly on each side; the space between, at the bottom, being not more than twenty or thirty yards across. At the summit of these precipices, Hofer and his followers immediately encamped, and commenced active preparations to meet the enemy. For this purpose, huge trees were felled and rolled to the verge of the cliff on both sides of the pass, where they were secured in immense masses by ropes, and then laden with ponderous rocks. The edge of the precipices in some places was loosened in such a manner that a slight force would displace them at a moment's notice. Having completed these preparations, Hofer ordered his followers to conceal themselves in the clefts and hollows of the rocks, and not to fire or make the slightest noise, until the signal should be given. He then stationed Hans Haspinger on one side, himself remaining on the other, and in this way awaited the duke's arrival. The morning succeeding the completion of their preparations had but just dawned, when a sentinel from a distant height gave Hofer notice of the enemy's approach, by exhibiting for a moment a thin wreath of smoke. The news was whispered round amongst the Tyrolese, and every one was instantly prepared for the desperate struggle.

On came that brilliant and proud array-column after column, winding like a glittering snake between the dark precipices; not a sound was heard save their deep measured tread echoing between the heights like the first low muttering of the thunder-storm, or the short, quick voice of command, as the troops were obliged occasionally, by the unequal nature of the road, now to extend their front, and now to diminish the breadth of the advancing columns. They had expected to meet opposition at this point, and every breath in that vast body was hushed-every eye on the alert to catch if possible the slightest movement-every ear sharpened to detect the slightest sound; but four thousand Bavarians, the flower of the army chosen to lead the van, from their well-tried bravery and coolness, had now entered the pass, and still no circumstance had transpired to cause the slightest alarm. They had even begun to think that their caution had been needless; and now amongst the front ranks might at intervals be heard the careless laugh or the rude jest. The officers, indeed, for a time checked these symptoms of security; but as they still advanced, and still no vestige of an enemy appeared, nor even the slightest apparent preparation to oppose their progress, the whole band by degrees gave themselves up to the unrestrained indulgence of that reaction of feeling which always follows the absence of anticipated danger. The head of the advancing columns had now cleared the narrowest part of the pass, though the rear guard had not yet entered it. Hofer had despatched the surest of his riflemen above and below the pass to fire upon the columns beneath, as soon as the enemy should reach a particular spot which he had pointed out. No sooner had the ringing report of the first shot died away, than a thousand voices were heard in concert, waking the echoes with the following battle song:

While the notes of this wild song were swelling in the cliffs around from an invisible foe, the invading host were variously affected. The van hastened its march to escape if possible from the pass, and being thus separated from the rest of the army, fell an easy prey to the Tyrolese, who were stationed beyond. The main body endeavored to retire, but being urged on by the numbers behind, were unable to effect their object, and were therefore soon thrown into a state of indescribable confusion. Ere the last words of the song died away, a single loud, clear female voice took up the air with this additional

stanza:

Death to the foes who dare

Tyrol invade;

Death by the secret snare,
Death by the free,

By the rock and the tree,
Death by the matron fair,
Death by the maid!

Every eye was instinctively turned in the direction of the voice, and upon a pinnacle of rock, projecting far beyond the regular line of the cliff, and almost directly above the enemy's head, stood a finelyformed female figure, the only Tyrolese yet visible to the army below. As she sang, she stood leaning with her left arm upon a rifle, stretching out her right hand over the enemy, who seemed to regard her almost as a prophetess denouncing wo upon their devoted heads. After the first surprise was past, many a shot from the confused battalions beneath was directed against her; and although the bullets frequently whistled near, she changed not her position until she had finished her song, and then discharging her rifle with a deadly aim at an officer apparently of high rank, she bounded from the rock, and was soon hidden from sight amid the thick foliage which skirted the precipice. A loud shout of joy burst from the patriot bands, and as it died away, the single voice of Hofer was heard above every other sound. Hans, is all ready?' 'All is ready!' was the immediate reply.

6

In the name of God then, let go!'

Then was heard on both sides first the short, quick strokes of the axe upon the rending cords; and in a moment one wild and tremendons avalanche of rocks and trees rushed down the precipice, roaring-thundering - leaping-crashing - hurling inevitable destruction on the heads of the doomed multitudes below — who, penned up on all sides, were unable to offer the slightest resistance, or to attempt escape. Shrieks, and groans, and wild shouts of impotent rage and terror, mingling with the thunders of the descending masses, increased to tenfold loudness by the echoes from the surrounding precipices, combined to form a scene and an uproar, of which words must in vain attempt a description. No sooner had the