ON PLAIN AND PEAK 



milian, the ashes of the old feudal system, that, 

 to all intents and purposes, died with " the last 

 Knight," were revived in the person of the village 

 landlord in the rough man who was found ready 

 and willing to stake all for the sake of his country 

 and his master. 



The memory of "Kaiser Max" will be always 

 dear to the sport-loving Tyrolese, and indeed to 

 sportsmen in general. The cross-bow and the 

 javelin were the weapons of this Nimrod of the 

 middle ages ; and with the former, we are told, he 

 could bring down a chamois at over 200 yards. 



Every one who has visited the Tyrol has probably 

 had the Martinswand pointed out to them, that 

 frowning perpendicular wall of rock where Maxi- 

 milian almost lost his life. Advancing along a narrow 

 ledge, the Emperor at length found himself unable to 

 either proceed or retreat ; and the spikes of his stei- 

 geisen having broken one by one, death from starva- 

 tion stared him in the face. Popular legend relates 

 that an angel from heaven finally rescued the 

 " Kaiser Max " ; but " the angel " appears to have 

 existed in the person of a daring chamois-hunter, 

 Oswald Zips by name, with whom the Emperor at 

 length accomplished the almost miraculous descent, 

 and whose salutation, when he saw Maximilian's 

 position, of " Hollo ! What dost thou here ? " has 

 been handed down to posterity. 



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