BUHEL.
They're forced to take a winding circuit through
The mountains; for the Viceroy's spies are out.
[In the meanwhile the two peasants have kindled a fire in the centre
of the stage.]
MELCH. (on the shore).
Who's there? The word?
STAUFF. (from below).
Friends of the country.
[All retire up the stage, towards the party landing from the boat.
Enter Stauffacher, Itel Reding, Hans auf der Mauer, Jorg im Hofe,
Conrad Hunn, Ulrich der Schmidt, Jost von Weiler, and three other
peasants, armed.
ALL.
Welcome!
[While the rest remain behind exchanging greetings, Melchthal comes
forward with Stauffacher.]
MELCH.
Oh, worthy Stauffacher, I've look'd but now
On him, who could not look on me again,
I've laid my hands upon his rayless eyes,
And on their vacant orbits sworn a vow
Of vengeance, only to be cool'd in blood.
STAUFF.
Speak not of vengeance. We are here, to meet
The threatened evil, not to avenge the past.
Now tell me what you've done, and what secured,
To aid the common cause in Unterwald.
How stand the peasantry disposed, and how
Yourself escaped the wiles of treachery?
MELCH.
Through the Surenen's fearful mountain chain,
Where dreary ice-fields stretch on every side,
And sound is none, save the hoarse vulture's cry,
I reach'd the Alpine pasture, where the herds
From Uri and from Engelberg resort,
And turn their cattle forth to graze in common.
Still as I went along, I slaked my thirst
With the coarse oozings of the glacier heights
that thro' the crevices come foaming down,
And turned to rest me in the herdsmen's cots,
Where I was host and guest, until I gain'd
The cheerful homes and social haunts of men.
Already through these distant vales had spread
The rumour of this last atrocity;
And wheresoe'er I went, at every door,
Kind words saluted me and gentle looks.
I found these simple spirits all in arms
Against our ruler's tyrannous encroachments.
For as their Alps through each succeeding year
Yield the same roots,-their streams flow ever on
In the same channels,-nay, the clouds and winds
The selfsame course unalterably pursue,
So have old customs there, from sire to son,
Been handed down, unchanging and unchanged;
Nor will they brook to swerve or turn aside
From the fixed even tenor of their life.
With grasp of their hard hands they welcomed me,-
Took from the walls their rusty falchions down,-
And from their eyes the soul of valour flash'd
With joyful lustre, as I spoke those names,
Sacred to every peasant in the mountains,
Your own and Walter Furst's. Whate'er your voice
Should dictate as the right, they swore to do;
And you they swore to follow e'en to death.
So sped I on from house to house, secure
In the guest's sacred privilege;-and when
I reached at last the valley of my home,
Where dwell my kinsmen, scatter'd far and near-
And when I found my father, stript and blind,
Upon the stranger's straw, fed by the alms
Of charity-
STAUFF.
Great Heaven!
MELCH.
Yet wept I not!
No-not in weak and unavailing tears
Spent I the force of my fierce burning anguish;
Deep in my bosom, like some precious treasure,
I lock'd it fast, and thought on deeds alone.
Through every winding of the hills I crept,-
No valley so remote but I explored it;
Nay, at the very glacier's ice-clad base,
I sought and found the homes of living men;
And still, where'er my wandering footsteps turn'd,
The selfsame hatred of these tyrants met me.
For even there, at vegetation's verge,
Where the numb'd earth is barren of all fruits,
Their grasping hands had been for plunder thrust.
Into the hearts of all this honest race,
The story of my wrongs struck deep, and now
They, to a man, are ours; both heart and hand.
STAUFF.
Great things, indeed, you've wrought in little time.
MELCH.
I did still more than this. The fortresses,
Rossberg and Sarnen, are the country's dread;
For from behind their adamantine walls
The foe, like eagle from his eyrie, swoops,
And, safe himself, spreads havoc o'er the land.
With my own eyes I wish'd to weigh its strength,
So went to Sarnen, and explored the castle.
STAUFF.
How! Venture even into the tiger's den?
MELCH.
Disguised in pilgrim's weeds I entered it;
I saw the Viceroy feasting at his board-
Judge if I'm master of myself or no!
I saw the tyrant, and I slew him not!
STAUFF.
Fortune, indeed, upon your boldness smiled.
[Meanwhile the others have arrived and join Melchthal and
Stauffacher.]
Yet tell me now, I pray, who are the friends,
The worthy men, who came along with you?
Make me acquainted with them, that we may
Speak frankly, man to man, and heart to heart.
MEYER.
In the three Cantons, who, sir, knows not you?
Meyer of Sarnen is my name; and this
Is Struth of Winkelried, my sister's son.
STAUFF.
No unknown name. A Winkelried it was,
Who slew the dragon in the fen at Weiler,
And lost his life in the encounter, too.
WINK.
That, Master Stauffacher, was my grandfather.
MELCH. (pointing to two peasants).
These two are men who till the cloister lands
Of Engelberg, and live behind the forest.
You'll not think ill of them, because they're serfs,
And sit not free upon the soil, like us.
They love the land, and bear a good repute.
STAUFF. (to them).
Give me your hands. He has good cause for thanks,
That to no man his body's service owes.
But worth is worth, no matter where 'tis found.
HUNN.
That is Herr Reding, sir, our old Landamman.
MEYER.
I know him well. I am at law with him
About a piece of ancient heritage.
Herr Reding, we are enemies in court,
Here we are one.
[Shakes his hand.]
STAUFF.
That's well and bravely said.
WINK.
Listen! They come. The horn of Uri! Hark!
[On the right and left armed men are seen descending the rocks with
torches.]
MAUER.
Look, is not that the holy man of God?
A worthy priest! The terrors of the night,
And the way's pains and perils scare not him,
A faithful shepherd caring for his flock.
BAUM.
The Sacrist follows him, and Walter Furst.
But where is Tell? I do not see him there.
[Walter Furst, Rosselmann the Pastor, Petermann the Sacrist, Kuoni the
Shepherd, Werni the Huntsman, Ruodi the Fisherman, and five other
countrymen, thirty-three in all, advance and take their places round