n
expression of sadness, the reflection, as I soon saw, of the sadder
faces around them. For so they stood, mothers, sisters, and sweethearts,
their tearful eyes turned on the little band. It puzzled me not a
little at first to see these evidences of a conscription in a land where
hitherto the population had answered the call to arms by a levy _en
masse_, while the air of depression and sadness seemed also strange in
those who gloried in the excitement of war. The first few sentences I
overheard revealed the mystery. Wangheim was Bavarian; although strictly
a Tyrol village, and Austrian Tyrol, too, it had been included within
the Bavarian frontier, and the orders had arrived from Munich at the
Syndicate to furnish a certain number of men by a certain day. This was
terrible tidings; for although they did not as yet know that the war
was against Austria, they had heard that the troops were for foreign
service, and not for the defence of home and country, the only cause
which a Tyroler deems worthy of battle. As I listened, I gathered
that the most complete ignorance prevailed as to the service or the
destination to which they were intended. The Bavarians had merely issued
their mandates to the various villages of the border, and neither sent
emissaries nor officers to carry them out. Having seen how the 'land
lay,' I pushed my way through the crowd, into the hall of the Syndicate,
and by dint of a strong will and stout shoulder, at length gained the
audience-chamber, where, seated behind an elevated bench, the great man
was dispensing justice. I advanced boldly, and demanded an immediate
audience in private, stating that my business was most pressing, and not
admitting of delay. The syndic consulted for a second or two with his
clerk, and retired, beckoning me to follow.

'You're not a Tyroler,' said he to me, the moment we were alone.

'That is easy to see, Herr Syndicus,' replied I. 'I'm an officer of
the staff, in disguise, sent to make a hasty inspection of the frontier
villages, and report upon the state of feeling that prevails amongst
them, and how they stand affected towards the cause of Bavaria.'

'And what have you found, sir?' said he, with native caution; for
a Bavarian Tyroler has the quality in a perfection that neither a
Scotchman nor a Russian can pretend to.

'That you are all Austrian at heart,' said I, determined to dash at
him with a frankness that I knew he could not resist. 'There's not
a Bavaria