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
The other hay-wagons now rolled likewise from the ravine. The first
of them was driven by another young girl. Imitating the heroic
example set by Eliza Wallner, Anna Gamper, daughter of a tailor of
Sterzing, had courageously mounted the back of an ox, and drove
forward the wagon, filled with an enormous quantity of hay. Twenty
young sharpshooters, encouraged by the success of their comrades,
followed this second wagon. Behind them came the third and fourth
wagons, followed by twenty or thirty more sharpshooters, who were
well protected by the broad bulwark which the wagons formed in front
of them.
The gunners had fallen; hence the cannon no longer thundered or
carried destruction and death into the ranks of the Tyrolese; only
the musketry of the Bavarians was still rattling, but they only hit
the hay, and not the brave girls driving the, oxen, nor the
sharpshooters, who, concealed behind the hay, rushed from their
covert whenever the enemy had fired a volley, raised their rifles
triumphantly, and struck down a Bavarian at every shot.
All four hay-wagons had now driven up close enough, and the
Tyrolese, who were nearly one hundred strong, burst with cheers from
behind them, and rushing forward in loose array, but with desperate
resolution, using the butt-ends of their rifles, fell with savage
impetuosity upon the Bavarians, who were thunderstruck at this
unexpected and sudden attack.
Loud cheers also resounded from the ravine. The whole force of the
Tyrolese advanced at the double-quick to assist their brethren in
annihilating the enemy.
A violent struggle, a fierce hand-to-hand fight now ensued.
The Bavarians, overwhelmed by the terrible onset of the peasants,
gave way; the squares dissolved; and the soldiers, as if paralyzed
with terror, had neither courage nor strength left to avoid the
furious butt-end blows of the peasants.
Vainly did Colonel von Baerenklau strive to reform his lines; vainly
did those who had rallied round him at his command, make a desperate
effort to force their way through the ranks of the infuriated
Tyrolese. The fierce bravery of the latter overcame all resistance,
and rendered their escape impossible.
"Surrender!" thundered Andreas Hofer to the Bavarians.
"Lay down your arms, and surrender at discretion!"
A cry of rage burst from the pale lips of Colonel von Baerenklau,
and he would have rushed upon the impudent peasants who dared to
fasten such a disgrace upon him. But his own men kept him back.
"We do not want to be slaughtered," they cried, perfectly beside
themselves with terror; "we will surrender, we will lay down our
arms!"
A deathly pallor overspread the cheeks of the unfortunate officer.
"Do so, then," he cried. "Surrender yourselves and me to utter
dishonor! I am no longer able to restrain you from it."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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