the men crowded around him, ready to protect Anthony Wallner, and
looking at the tax-collector with flashing, threatening eyes.

The latter seemed as if stunned by the sudden change in Wallner's
demeanor, and he looked in dismay at the audacious innkeeper who was
standing close in front of him and staring at him with a laughing
face.

"What does this mean?" he asked at length, in a tremulous voice.

"It means that we want to be Tyrolese again," shouted Anthony
Wallner, exultingly. "It means that we will no longer submit to
brutal treatment at the hands of your Bavarian bailiffs, and that we
will treat you now as you Boafoks have treated us for five years
past." [Footnote: Boafok, the nickname which the Tyrolese gave to
the Bavarians at that time. It signifies "Bavarian pigs."]

"For God's sake, how have we treated you, then?" asked the tax-
collector, drawing back from the threatening face of Anthony Wallner
toward his bailiffs.

"Listen to me, Tyrolese," shouted Anthony Wallner, scornfully, "he
asks me how the Bavarians have treated us! Shall I tell it to him
once more!"

"Yes, yes, Tony, do so," replied the Tyrolese on all sides.

"Tell it to him, and if he refuses to listen, we will tie him hand
and foot, and compel him to hear what you say."