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In a second Wallner was with her, and, clinging close to each other and with stifled breath, they awaited the arrival of the enemy. Now they heard footsteps approaching rapidly and voices shouting out aloud. They came nearer and nearer, and were now close to the chapel. It was a Bavarian patrol, and the two, therefore, could understand every word they spoke, and every word froze their hearts.
"Tell it to him, and if he refuses to listen, we will tie him hand and foot, and compel him to hear what you say." "Well, Mr. Tax-collector," said Wallner, with mock politeness, "I will tell you, then, how you Bavarians have treated us for four years past, and only when you know all our grievances will we settle our accounts. Listen, then, to what you have done to us, and what we complain of.
"We are locked up and surrounded," he said; "we have no ammunition, and our captain is a prisoner. Therefore, we will surrender if you will allow us to evacuate the castle." "Yes, but without arms," said Anthony Wallner, imperatively. "You will all come in squads of four to the windows and hand out your carbines and side-arms. There are yet a hundred of you in the rooms.
"We have come to ask our John, Is it time?" exclaimed Andreas Hofer. The archduke held out his hand to him with a firm and resolute glance. "Yes," he said, "yes, Andreas Hofer, it is time! Yes, Anthony Wallner, Austria will assist the Tyrolese with her troops and cannon in expelling the Bavarians and French from their country.
Wallner, half angrily, half laughingly. "But you may go in to the gentleman and tell him to be of good cheer, for Eliza will come back to-day, and the wedding will take place immediately after her return, when he will be free.
The soldiers looked on wonderingly, and watched in breathless irresolution for their captain from the windows. At this moment, Anthony Wallner and a number of courageous sharpshooters took position in front of the windows. "Soldiers," he shouted, in a thundering voice, "surrender! you are our prisoners!
More fatal and unerring were the bullets of the Tyrolese sharpshooters, who bad concealed themselves on the heights on both sides of the valley, and fired from their hiding-places at the Bavarians, never missing their aim and picking off a soldier by every shot they discharged. Anthony Wallner comprehended the whole situation at a glance.
If we jump out of the window, we shall fall at least twenty feet." "But there is a great deal of snow on the ground, and we shall fall softly. I will jump out first, father, and you must follow me immediately." And Eliza disappeared out of the window. Wallner waited a few seconds and then followed her.
The custom-house officer had risen and stood profoundly moved by the side of the two. "Who are you, my friend?" he asked; "and why do you weep and thank God?" "Who am I?" asked Wallner, rising and drawing Eliza up with him. "I am Anthony Wallner, and this is my daughter Lizzie, who has saved me from the Bavarians. The good God "
Halloo, boys, come here! Halloo, girls, your mistress wants to speak to you!" Eliza Wallner, after leaving her mother, had sped with the utmost rapidity through the back-door, across the yard, through the garden, out of the small gate leading to the meadow, down the foot-path, up the mountain-road, jumping from stone to stone, courageous and intrepid as a true daughter of the Tyrol.
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