‘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 Bavarian amongst you. I have made the whole tour of the Vorarlberg—through the Bregenzer-wald, down the valley of the Lech, by Immenstadt, and Wangheim—and it’s all the same. I have heard nothing but the old cry of “Gott und der Kaiser!”’
‘Indeed!’ said he, with an accent beautifully balanced between sorrow and astonishment.
‘Even the men in authority, the syndics, like yourself, have frankly told me how difficult it is to preserve allegiance to a Government by whom they have been so harshly treated. ‘I’m sure I have the “grain question,” as they call it, and the “Freiwechsel” with South Tyrol, off by heart,’ said I, laughing. ‘However, my business lies in another quarter. I have seen enough to show me that save the outcasts from home and family, that class so rare in the Tyrol, that men call adventurers, we need look for no willing recruits here; and you’ll stare when I say that I ‘m glad of it—heartily glad of it.’
The syndic did, indeed, stare, but he never ventured a word in reply.
‘I’ll tell you why, then, Herr Syndicus. With a man like yourself one can afford to be open-hearted. Wangheim, Luttrich, Kempenfeld, and all the other villages at the foot of these mountains, were never other than Austrian. Diplomatists and map-makers coloured them pale blue, but they were black and yellow underneath; and what’s more to the purpose, Austrian they must become again. When the real object of this war is known, all Tyrol will declare for the House of Hapsburg. We begin to perceive this ourselves, and to dread the misfortunes and calamities that must fall upon you and the other frontier towns by this divided allegiance; for when you have sent off your available youth to the Bavarians, down will come Austria to revenge itself upon your undefended towns and villages.’
The syndic apparently had thought of all these things exactly with the same conclusions, for he shook his head gravely, and uttered a low, faint sigh.
‘I’m so convinced of what I tell you,’ said I, ‘that no sooner have I conducted to headquarters the force I have under my command——’
‘You have a force, then, actually under your orders?’ cried he, starting.