Of the two other principal leaders of the Tyrolese, Haspinger, the
Capuchin, escaped to Vienna, which Speckbacher also succeeded in
reaching, after a series of perils and escapes which are well worth
relating.
After the dispersal of his troops he, like Hofer, sought concealment in
the mountains where the Bavarians sought for him in troops, vowing to
"cut his skin into boot-straps if they caught him." He attempted to
follow the mountain paths to Austria, but at Dux found the roads so
blocked with snow that further progress was impossible. Here the
Bavarians came upon his track and attacked the house in which he had
taken refuge. He escaped by leaping from its roof, but was wounded in
doing so.
For the twenty-seven days that followed he roamed through the snowy
mountain forests, in danger of death both from cold and starvation. Once
for four days together he did not taste food. At the end of this time he
found shelter in a hut at Bolderberg, where by chance he found his wife
and children, who had sought the same asylum.
His bitterly persistent foes left him not long in safety here.
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