ather, below which he wore
red stockings. A broad black leather girdle clasped his muscular form,
while over all was worn a short green coat. On his head he wore a
low-crowned, broad-brimmed Tyrolean hat, black in color, and ornamented
with green ribbons and with the feathers of the capercailzie.

This striking-looking patriot, at the head of a strong party of
peasantry, made an assault, early on the 11th, upon a Bavarian infantry
battalion under the command of Colonel Baeraklau, who retreated to a
table-land named Sterzinger Moos, where, drawn up in a square, he
resisted every effort of the Tyrolese to dislodge him. Finally Hofer
broke his lines by a stratagem. A wagon loaded with hay, and driven by a
girl, was pushed towards the square, the brave girl shouting, as the
balls flew around her, "On with ye! Who cares for Bavarian dumplings!"
Under its shelter the Tyrolese advanced, broke the square, and killed or
made prisoners the whole of the battalion.

Speckbacher, the other patriot named, was no less active. No sooner had
the signal of revolt appeared in the Inn than he set the alarm-bells
ringing in every church-tower through the lower valley of that stream,
and quickly was at the head of a band of stalwart Tyrolese. On the night
of the 11th he advanced on the city of Hall, and lighted about a hundred
watch-fires on one side of the city, as if about to attack it from that
quarter. While the attention of the garrison was directed towards these
fires, he crept through the darkness to the gate on the opposite side,
and demanded entrance as a common traveller. The gate was opened; his
hidden companions rushed forward and seized it; in a brief time the
city, with its Bavarian garrison, was his.

On the 12th he appeared before Innsbruck, and made a fierce assault upon
the city in which he was aided by a murderous fire poured upon the
Bavarians by the citizens from windows and towers. The people of the
upper valley of the Inn flocked to the aid of their fellows, and the
place, with its garrison, was soon taken, despite their obstinate
defence. Dittfurt, the Bavarian leader, who scornfully refused to yield
to the peasant dogs, as he considered them, fought with tiger-like
ferocity, and fell at length, pierced by four bullets.

One further act completed the freeing of the Tyrol from Bavarian
domination. The troops under Colonel Wrede had, as we have related,
crossed the Brenner on a temporary bridge, and escaped the peril