Andreas Hofer: An Historical NovelMühlbach, L. (Luise)
History
Andreas Hofer: An Historical Novel
Mühlbach, L. (Luise)
Hofer, Andreas, 1767-1810 -- Fiction; Tyrol (Austria) -- History -- Uprising of 1809 -- Fiction
"Soldiers," he shouted, in a thundering voice, "surrender! you are
our prisoners! Surrender, throw your muskets and fire-arms out of
the windows, and we will open the door of your prison and allow you
to return to Bavaria."
The soldiers made no reply, but leaned far out of the windows and
shouted: "Captain! Where is our captain?"
"Here I am!" shouted a powerful voice above the heads of the
Tyrolese; and, looking up in great surprise, they beheld on the
balcony young Captain Ulrich von Hohenberg, with a pale face, his
features distorted with rage and grief, and stretching out his right
arm, with his flashing sword menacingly toward the Tyrolese.
"Great God!" murmured Eliza, clinging anxiously to Elza's arm, "If
he resists, he is lost."
"Here I am, my brave soldiers!" shouted Ulrich von Hohenberg a
second time. "Come to me, my brave lads! I have been locked up here;
hence, I cannot come to you. Come up to me, then. Knock the doors
in, and deliver your captain."
"First, let them deliver themselves, sir," shouted Wallner up to
him. He then turned once more to the soldiers. "Listen to what I am
going to say to you in the name of my countrymen, in the name of the
whole Tyrol," he shouted. "For four long years you have oppressed
and maltreated us: you have insulted, humiliated, and mortified us
every day. But we are Christians, and will not revenge ourselves; we
want only our rights, our liberty, and our emperor. Therefore, if
you submit willingly and with good grace to what cannot be helped,
we will let you depart without punishing or injuring you in any way,
and allow you to return to your accursed Bavaria. But first you will
have to do two things, to wit: throw all your muskets out of the
windows, and swear a solemn oath that you will no longer bear arms
against the Tyrolese."
"You will never swear that oath, soldiers," shouted Ulrich von
Hohenberg from his balcony. "You will keep the oath which you swore
to your king and commander-in-chief. You will not incur the disgrace
of surrendering to a crowd of rebellious peasants."
"No, no, we will not," shouted the soldiers to him; and thereupon
they disappeared from the upper floor, and soon reappeared in dense
groups at the windows of the lower story. These windows were only
five feet above the ground, and they were therefore able to jump out
of them.
"Shoot down the first soldier who jumps out of the window!" cried
Anthony Wallner to his sharpshooters.
The soldiers took no notice of his threats; a soldier appeared in
each of the windows ready to risk the leap. One of them, more agile
and intrepid than the others, was the first to jump down. Scarcely
had his feet touched the ground, when a rifle crashed and a cloud of
white smoke enveloped every thing for a moment. When it disappeared,
the Bavarian soldier was seen to writhe on the ground in the agony
of death, while one of the Tyrolese sharpshooters was quietly
reloading his rifle.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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