hing to destroy, as an act of defence against the
Austrians.

On the 10th the storm of war burst. Some Bavarian sappers had been sent
to blow up the bridge of St. Lorenzo. But hardly had they begun their
work, when a shower of bullets from unseen marksmen swept the bridge.
Several were killed; the rest took to flight; the Tyrol was in revolt.

News of this outbreak was borne to Colonel Wrede, in command of the
Bavarians, who hastened with a force of infantry, cavalry, and artillery
to the spot. He found the peasants out in numbers. The Tyrolean
riflemen, who were accustomed to bring down chamois from the mountain
peaks, defended the bridge, and made terrible havoc in the Bavarian
ranks. They seized Wrede's artillery and flung guns and gunners together
into the stream, and finally put the Bavarians to rout, with severe
loss.

The Bavarians held the Tyrol as allies of the French, and the movement
against the bridges had been directed by Napoleon, to prevent the
Austrians from reoccupying the country, which had been wrested from
their hands. Wrede in his retreat was joined by a body of three thousand
French, but decided, instead of venturing again to face the daring foe,
to withdraw to Innsbruck. But withdrawal was not easy. The signal of
revolt had everywhere called the Tyrolese to arms. The passes were
occupied. The fine old Roman bridge over the Brenner, at Laditsch, was
blown up. In the pass of the Brixen, leading to this bridge, the French
and Bavarians found themselves assailed in the old Swiss manner, by
rocks and logs rolled down upon their heads, while the unerring rifles
of the hidden peasants swept the pass. Numbers were slain, but the
remainder succeeded in escaping by means of a temporary bridge, which
they threw over the stream on the site of the bridge of Laditsch.

Of the Tyrolese patriots to whom this outbreak was due two are worthy of
special mention, Joseph Speckbacher, a wealthy peasant of Rinn, and the
more famous Andrew Hofer, the host of the Sand Inn at Passeyr, a man
everywhere known through the mountains, as he traded in wine, corn, and
horses as far as the Italian frontier.

Hofer was a man of herculean frame and of a full, open, handsome
countenance, which gained dignity from its long, dark-brown beard, which
fell in rich curls upon his chest. His picturesque dress--that of the
Tyrol--comprised a red waistcoat, crossed by green braces, which were
fastened to black knee breeches of chamois le