At Odds (Volume 2); A Novel

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated.1895 Excerpt: ... CHAPTER VII. NO ONE KNOWS WHAT A DAY MAY BRING FORTH. DEFORE many days of the month of April had passed over, Hilda began to understand the purport of Frank's letter, and to wish she had been less determined in refusing to follow his advice. Although none but the initiated were aware of the powerful conspiracy formed by the Tyroleans to shake off a foreign yoke and return to their allegiance to their emperor, many circumstances had occurred to lead to the supposition that when the expected declaration of war became public, the peasants would take up arms and join any Austrian force sent into the country. One evening, as the Walderings were returning from a walk to Mount Isel, they perceived several groups of people standing on the banks of the Inn, eagerly watching the progress of a strong plank that floated past on the surface of the water. Sigmund and Hilda stopped and looked in the same direction. "I had no idea," observed the former, shrugging his shoulders, " that a plank swimming on the river Inn was so unusual a circumstance," "It is not the plank," said Hilda; "it is the flag-staff on it with the red streamer that attracts attention." "And," suggested Sigmund, " which will no doubt furnish the superstitious people here with a 'pendent' to the story you have just been telling me about the bloody hand portentous of war that was lately seen on the freshly scoured table of the inn in Sarnthal." "But," said Hilda, "you will find it more difficult to give a satisfactory explanation of the red flag than the red hand. I know the hostlers of the country inns are frequently butchers, and the one at Sarnthal may have leaned on the table when fresh from the slaughter-house; but the carpenter who placed the flag on that plank had certainly some hidden meaning." ...