er what he
saw; and now he stood up and leaned over her bed, but her sleep was
so tranquil and so happy he could not bear to awaken her. "What can it
mean?" thought he. "Are these the movements of our own people? or are
the French wolves coming down upon us?" As he ruminated thus, he thought
there came a gentle tap at the door of the hut: he opened it cautiously,
and there, who should be standing before him but the lame soldier, his
own poor little fellow, the castaway?

"Come along, Hans," said he in a friendly voice; "there is little time
to lose. The Wolves are near." He pressed his finger to his lips, in
token of caution, and led Hans without the door. No sooner were they
outside than he resumed,--

"Thou art maimed and crippled like myself, Hans Joergle. We should be
but indifferent front-rank men before the enemy: but remember the Tyrol
proverb,--

'Gott hat sein plan Fuer Jedenmann.'

Who knows if even we cannot serve the Vaterland? We must away,
Hanserl--away to the top of the Kaiser-fells, where the fagots lie ready
for the signal fire. The Bavarians have found out where it lies, and
have sent a scout party to destroy it, while their battalions are
advancing by forced marches up the Inn Thai. Thou knowest all these
paths well, Hans; so lead the way, my brave boy, and I'll do my best to
follow."

Hans waited for no further bidding, but hastily crossing the little
wooden bridge, commenced the ascent of the mountain with an activity
that bore no trace of his infirmity.

"We must light the beacon, Hans," said the lame soldier. "When it is
seen blazing, the signal will be repeated up the Kaunser-Thal;
Fuenstermuenze will have it; and then Nauders. Maltz will shew it next,
and then all Tyrol will be up. The war jodeln will resound in every
valley and glen, and then let the Wolves beware!"

Oh, how Hans strained each nerve and sinew to push forward! The path led
across several torrents, many of them by places which, in day, demanded
the greatest circumspection, but Hans cleared them now at a spring.
The deep marshy ground, plashy with rivulets and melted snow, he waded
through ankle deep, climbing the briery rocks and steep banks without a
moment's halt.

He thought that the lame soldier continued to exhort him, and encourage
his zeal, while gradually his own pace slackened, and at last he cried
out,--"I can do no more, Hans. Thou must go forward alone, my boy,--to
thee all the glory,--I am old and wo