hours of daylight. The sturdy horse having already accomplished some
eighteen or twenty miles since morning, made no objection to a rest
and feed of hay in the stable, whilst Anton was content to sit with
his brother and his two friends in the _stube_ before the trio started
on foot for the Hof. It seemed rather a desire to show the strangers
the neighborhood than any inclination to attend the clerical meeting
which had brought the Herr Student to Nieder Olang this afternoon. And
we, glad of an hour's delay, started immediately with E----, the sunny
summer afternoon made brighter by this joyous meeting, to visit the
adjoining hamlet of Mitter Olang.

The three small adjacent villages of Upper, Middle and Lower Olang,
lying amongst monotonous fields and destitute themselves of any
picturesque beauty, would be passed over by the stranger as totally
devoid of interest; but, thanks to Dr. Staffler's topographical work,
_Das deutsche Tirol und Voralberg_, the mention of Peter Sigmair of
Mitter Olang had excited a strong desire in us to see the spot where
he had lived and died.

After the battle of Austerlitz, in 1805, the defeated emperor of
Austria signed a treaty with Napoleon ceding Venice to the French and
the Tyrol to their ally, Bavaria. The Tyrolese thus found themselves
suddenly separated from an empire the fortunes of which they had
shared for some five hundred years. If the country had outwardly
become Bavarian, the hearts of the people remained essentially
Austrian, and bitterly did they resent having to obey a government in
league with the French, the sworn foe of Austria. Thus they determined
on the first opportunity to throw off the hated yoke. The Bavarians
had promised by the treaty to leave intact the Tyrolese constitution.
They soon, however, forced the young men into the army to fight their