{"collection":"myth-cosmogony","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_7298/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_7298","id":"gutenberg_7298","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/7298","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Children & Young Adult Reading","Category: Humour","Category: Mythology, Legends & Folklore","English wit and humor","Humor","Tell, Wilhelm -- Fiction"],"text":"Produced by Branko Collin, Suzanne L. Shell, Charles Franks\nand the Online Distributed Proofreading Team, and the\nOxford College Library of Emory University\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n[Transcriber's note: _William Tell Told Again_ is two children's books\nin one. One is a picture book--16 full-color illustrations by Philip\nDadd described in verse by John W. Houghton. The other is a humorous\nnovel by P. G. Wodehouse, based on the picture book. The novel has a\nlengthier storyline, a more intricate plot, and more characterization.\nThe bound volume intermingled the picture book with the novel,\nillustrations and poems appearing at regular intervals. Most pictures\nand verses were distant from the page of the novel that they reflected.\n\nFor this text version, placeholders for the illustrations (with plate\nnumbers) have been inserted following the paragraph in the novel that\ndescribes the events being illustrated. The verse descriptions of the\nillustrations, labelled with plate numbers, have been moved to the end\nof the novel, so as not to disrupt the story. Each verse also has an\nillustration placeholder that includes the phrase from the novel shown\nas a description on the List of Illustrations.]\n\n\n[Illustration: Frontispiece]\n\n\n\n\n\n\nWILLIAM TELL TOLD AGAIN\n\n\n\n\nBY P. G. WODEHOUSE\n\n1904\n\n\nWITH\nILLUSTRATIONS IN COLOUR BY PHILIP DADD\nDESCRIBED IN VERSE BY JOHN W. HOUGHTON\n\n\n\n\n[Dedication]\nTO BIDDY O'SULLIVAN\nFOR A CHRISTMAS PRESENT\n\n\n\n\nLIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS\n\n\nSOMETIMES IT WAS ONLY A BIRD [Frontispiece]\n\nGESSLER'S METHODS OF PERSUASION [Plate I]\n\nTHEY WOULD MARCH ABOUT, BEATING TIN CANS AND SHOUTING [Plate II]\n\nAN EGG FLEW ACROSS THE MEADOW, AND BURST OVER LEUTHOLD'S SHOULDER\n[Plate III]\n\n\"HERE! HI!\" SHOUTED THE SOLDIERS, \"STOP!\" [Plate IV]\n\nTHEY SAW FRIESSHARDT RAISE HIS PIKE, AND BRING IT DOWN WITH ALL HIS\nFORCE ON TELL'S HEAD [Plate V]\n\n\"LOOK HERE!\" HE BEGAN. \"LOOK THERE!\" SAID FRIESSHARDT [Plate VI]\n\nFRIESSHARDT RUSHED TO STOP HIM [Plate VII]\n\nTHE CROWD DANCED AND SHOUTED [Plate VIII]\n\n\"COME, COME, COME!\" SAID GESSLER, \"TELL ME ALL ABOUT IT\" [Plate IX]\n\n\"I HAVE HERE AN APPLE\" [Plate X]\n\nTHERE WAS A STIR OF EXCITEMENT IN THE CROWD [Plate XI]\n\nA MOMENT'S SUSPENSE, AND THEN A TERRIFIC CHEER AROSE FROM THE\nSPECTATORS [Plate XII]\n\n\"SEIZE THAT MAN!\" HE SHOUTED [Plate XIII]\n\nHE WAS LED AWAY TO THE SHORE OF THE LAKE [Plate XIV]\n\nTELL'S SECOND ARROW HAD FOUND ITS MARK [Plate XV]\n\n\n\n\n\n     The Swiss, against their Austrian foes,\n       Had ne'er a soul to lead 'em,\n     Till Tell, as you've heard tell, arose\n       And guided them to freedom.\n     Tell's tale we tell again--an act\n       For which pray no one scold us--\n     This tale of Tell we tell, in fact,\n       As this Tell tale was told us.\n\n\n\n\n\nWILLIAM TELL\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER I\n\n\nOnce upon a time, more years ago than anybody can remember, before the\nfirst hotel had been built or the first Englishman had taken a\nphotograph of Mont Blanc and brought it home to be pasted in an album\nand shown after tea to his envious friends, Switzerland belonged to the\nEmperor of Austria, to do what he liked with.\n\nOne of the first things the Emperor did was to send his friend Hermann\nGessler to govern the country. Gessler was not a nice man, and it soon\nbecame plain that he would never make himself really popular with the\nSwiss. The point on which they disagreed in particular was the question\nof taxes. The Swiss, who were a simple and thrifty people, objected to\npaying taxes of any sort. They said they wanted to spend their money on\nall kinds of other things. Gessler, on the other hand, wished to put a\ntax on everything, and, being Governor, he did it. He made everyone who\nowned a flock of sheep pay a certain sum of money to him; and if the\nfarmer sold his sheep and bought cows, he had to pay rather more money\nto Gessler for the cows than he had paid for the sheep. Gessler also\ntaxed bread, and biscuits, and jam, and buns, and lemonade, and, in\nfact, everything he could think of, till the people of Switzerland\ndetermined to complain. They appointed Walter F\u00fcrst, who had red hair\nand looked fierce; Werner Stauffacher, who had gray hair and was always\nwondering how he ought to pronounce his name; and Arnold of Melchthal,\nwho had light-yellow hair and was supposed to know a great deal about\nthe law, to make the complaint. They called on the Governor one lovely\nmorning in April, and were shown into the Hall of Audience.\n\n\"Well,\" said Gessler, \"and what's the matter now?\"\n\nThe other two pushed Walter F\u00fcrst forward because he looked fierce, and\nthey thought he might frighten the Governor.\n\nWalter F\u00fcrst coughed.\n\n\"Well?\" asked Gessler.\n\n\"Er--ahem!\" said Walter F\u00fcrst.\n\n\"That's the way,\" whispered Werner; \"_give_ it him!\"\n\n\"Er--ahem!\"\nsaid Walter F\u00fcrst again; \"the fact is, your Governorship--\"\n\n\"It's a small point,\" interrupted Gessler, \"but I'm generally called\n'your Excellency.' Yes?\"\n\n\"The fact is, your Excellency, it seems to the people of Switzerland--\"\n\n\"--Whom I represent,\" whispered Arnold of Melchthal.\n\n\"--Whom I represent, that things want changing.\"\n\n\"What things?\" inquired Gessler.\n\n\"The taxes, your excellent Governorship.\"\n\n\"Change the taxes? Why, don't the people of Switzerland think there are\nenough taxes?\"\n\nArnold of Melchthal broke in hastily.\n\n\"They think there are many too many,\" he said. \"What with the tax on\nsheep, and the tax on cows, and the tax on bread, and the tax on tea,\nand the tax--\"\n\n\"I know, _I_ know,\" Gessler interrupted; \"I know all the taxes.\nCome to the point. What about 'em?\"\n\n\"Well, your Excellency, there are too many of them.\"\n\n\"Too many!\"\n\n\"Yes. And we are not going to put up with it any longer!\" shouted\nArnold of Melchthal.\n\nGessler leaned forward in his throne.\n\n\"Might I ask you to repeat that remark?\" he said.\n\n\"We are not going to put up with it any longer!\"\n\nGessler sat back again with an ugly smile.\n\n\"Oh,\" he said--\"oh, indeed! You aren't, aren't you! Desire the Lord\nHigh Executioner to step this way,\" he added to a soldier who stood\nbeside him.\n\nThe Lord High Executioner entered the presence. He was a kind-looking\nold gentleman with white hair, and he wore a beautiful black robe,\ntastefully decorated with death's-heads.\n\n\"Your Excellency sent for me?\" he said.\n\n\"Just so,\" replied Gessler. \"This gentleman here\"--he pointed to Arnold\nof Melchthal--\"says he does not like taxes, and that he isn't going to\nput up with them any longer.\"\n\n\"Tut-tut!\" murmured the executioner.\n\n\"See what you can do for him.\"\n\n\"Certainly, your Excellency. Robert,\" he cried, \"is the oil on the\nboil?\"\n\n\"Just this minute boiled over,\" replied a voice from the other side of\nthe door.\n\n\"Then bring it in, and mind you don't spill any.\"\n\nEnter Robert, in a suit of armour and a black mask, carrying a large\ncaldron, from which the steam rose in great clouds.\n\n\"Now, sir, if you please,\" said the executioner politely to Arnold of\nMelchthal.\n\nArnold looked at the caldron.\n\n\"Why, it's hot,\" he said.\n\n\"Warmish,\" admitted the executioner.\n\n\"It's against the law to threaten a man with hot oil.\"\n\n[Illustration: PLATE I]\n\n\"You may bring an action against me,\" said the executioner. \"Now, sir,\nif _you_ please. We are wasting time. The forefinger of your left\nhand, if I may trouble you. Thank you. I am obliged.\"\n\nHe took Arnold's left hand, and dipped the tip of the first finger into\nthe oil.\n\n\"Ow!\" cried Arnold, jumping.\n\n\"Don't let him see he's hurting you,\" whispered Werner Stauffacher.\n\"Pretend you don't notice it.\"\n\nGessler leaned forward again.\n\n\"Have your views on taxes changed at all?\" he asked. \"Do you see my\npoint of view more clearly now?\"\n\nArnold admitted that he thought that, after all, there might be\nsomething to be said for it.\n\n\"That's right,\" said the Governor. \"And the tax on sheep? You don't\nobject to that?\"\n\n\"No.\"\n\n\"And the tax on cows?\"\n\n\"I like it.\"\n\n\"And those on bread, and buns, and lemonade?\"\n\n\"I enjoy them.\"\n\n\"Excellent. In fact, you're quite contented?\"\n\n\"Quite.\"\n\n\"And you think the rest of the people are?\"\n\n\"Oh, quite, quite!\"\n\n\"And do you think the same?\" he asked of Walter and Werner.\n\n\"Oh _yes_, your Excellency!\" they cried.\n\n\"Then _that's_ all right,\" said Gessler. \"I was sure you would be\nsensible about it. Now, if you will kindly place in the tambourine\nwhich the gentleman on my left is presenting to you a mere trifle to\ncompensate us for our trouble in giving you an audience, and if you\"\n(to Arnold of Melchthal) \"will contribute an additional trifle for use\nof the Imperial boiling oil, I think we shall all be satisfied. You've\ndone it? _That's_ right. Good-bye, and mind the step as you go\nout.\"\n\nAnd, as he finished this speech, the three spokesmen of the people of\nSwitzerland were shown out of the Hall of Audience.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER II\n\n\nThey were met in the street outside by a large body of their\nfellow-citizens, who had accompanied them to the Palace, and who had\nbeen spending the time since their departure in listening by turns at\nthe keyhole of the front-door. But as the Hall of Audience was at the\nother side of the Palace, and cut off from the front-door by two other\ndoors, a flight of stairs, and a long passage, they had not heard very\nmuch of what had gone on inside, and they surrounded the three spokesmen\nas they came out, and questioned them eagerly.\n\n\"Has he taken off the tax on jam?\" asked Ulric the smith.\n\n\"What is he going to do about the tax on mixed biscuits?\" shouted Klaus\nvon der Flue, who was a chimney-sweep of the town and loved mixed\nbiscuits.\n\n\"Never mind about tea and mixed biscuits!\" cried his neighbour, Meier\nof Sarnen. \"What I want to know is whether we shall have to pay for\nkeeping sheep any more.\"\n\n\"What _did_ the Governor say?\" asked Jost Weiler, a practical man,\nwho liked to go straight to the point.\n\nThe three spokesmen looked at one another a little doubtfully.\n\n\"We-e-ll,\" said Werner Stauffacher at last, \"as a matter of fact, he\ndidn't actually _say_ very much. It was more what he _did_,\nif you understand me, than what he said.\"\n\n\"I should describe His Excellency the Governor,\" said Walter F\u00fcrst, \"as\na man who has got a way with him--a man who has got all sorts of\narguments at his finger-tips.\"\n\nAt the mention of finger-tips, Arnold of Melchthal uttered a sharp\nhowl.\n\n\"In short,\" continued Walter, \"after a few minutes' very interesting\nconversation he made us see that it really wouldn't do, and that we\nmust go on paying the taxes as before.\"\n\nThere was a dead silence for several minutes, while everybody looked at\neverybody else in dismay.\n\nThe silence was broken by Arnold of Sewa. Arnold of Sewa had been\ndisappointed at not being chosen as one of the three spokesmen, and he\nthought that if he had been so chosen all this trouble would not have\noccurred.\n\n\"The fact is,\" he said bitterly, \"that you three have failed to do what\nyou were sent to do. I mention no names--far from it--but I don't mind\nsaying that there are some people in this town who would have given a\nbetter account of themselves. What you want in little matters of this\nsort is, if I may say so, tact. Tact; that's what you want. Of course,\nif you _will_ go rushing into the Governor's presence--\"\n\n\"But we didn't rush,\" said Walter F\u00fcrst.\n\n\"--Shouting out that you want the taxes abolished--\"\n\n\"But we didn't shout,\" said Walter F\u00fcrst.\n\n\"I really cannot speak if I am to be constantly interrupted,\" said\nArnold of Sewa severely. \"What I say is, that you ought to employ tact.\nTact; that's what you want. If I had been chosen to represent the Swiss\npeople in this affair--I am not saying I ought to have been, mind you;\nI merely say _if_ I had been--I should have acted rather after the\nfollowing fashion: Walking firmly, but not defiantly, into the tyrant's\npresence, I should have broken the ice with some pleasant remark about\nthe weather. The conversation once started, the rest would have been\neasy. I should have said that I hoped His Excellency had enjoyed a good\ndinner. Once on the subject of food, and it would have been the\nsimplest of tasks to show him how unnecessary taxes on food were, and\nthe whole affair would have been pleasantly settled while you waited. I\ndo not imply that the Swiss people would have done better to have\nchosen me as their representative. I merely say that that is how I\nshould have acted had they done so.\"\n\nAnd Arnold of Sewa twirled his moustache and looked offended. His\nfriends instantly suggested that he should be allowed to try where the\nother three had failed, and the rest of the crowd, beginning to hope\nonce more, took up the cry. The result was that the visitors' bell of\nthe Palace was rung for the second time. Arnold of Sewa went in, and\nthe door was banged behind him.\n\nFive minutes later he came out, sucking the first finger of his left\nhand.\n\n\"No,\" he said; \"it can't be done. The tyrant has convinced me.\"\n\n\"I knew he would,\" said Arnold of Melchthal.\n\n\"Then I think you might have warned me,\" snapped Arnold of Sewa,\ndancing with the pain of his burnt finger.\n\n\"Was it hot?\"\n\n\"Boiling.\"\n\n\"Ah!\"\n\n\"Then he really won't let us off the taxes?\" asked the crowd in\ndisappointed voices.\n\n\"No.\"\n\n\"Then the long and short of it is,\" said Walter F\u00fcrst, drawing a deep\nbreath, \"that we must rebel!\"\n\n\"Rebel?\" cried everybody.\n\n\"Rebel!\" repeated Walter firmly.\n\n\"We will!\" cried everybody.\n\n\"Down with the tyrant!\" shouted Walter F\u00fcrst.\n\n\"Down with the taxes!\" shrieked the crowd.\n\nA scene of great enthusiasm followed. The last words were spoken by\nWerner Stauffacher.\n\n\"We want a leader,\" he said.\n\n\"I don't wish to thrust myself forward,\" began Arnold of Sewa, \"but I\nmust say, if it comes to leading--\"\n\n\"And I know the very man for the job,\" said Werner Stauffacher.\n\"William Tell!\"\n\n\"Hurrah for William Tell!\" roared the crowd, and, taking the time from\nWerner Stauffacher, they burst into the grand old Swiss chant which\nruns as follows:\n\n     \"For he's a jolly good fellow!\n      For he's a jolly good fellow!!\n      For he's a jolly good fe-e-ll-ow!!!!\n      And so say all of us!\"\n\nAnd having sung this till they were all quite hoarse, they went off to\ntheir beds to get a few hours' sleep before beginning the labours of\nthe day.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER III\n\n\nIn a picturesque little ch\u00e2let high up in the mountains, covered with\nsnow and edelweiss (which is a flower that grows in the Alps, and you\nare not allowed to pick it), dwelt William Tell, his wife Hedwig, and\nhis two sons, Walter and William. Such a remarkable man was Tell that I\nthink I must devote a whole chapter to him and his exploits. There was\nreally nothing he could not do. He was the best shot with the cross-bow\nin the whole of Switzerland. He had the courage of a lion, the\nsure-footedness of a wild goat, the agility of a squirrel, and a\nbeautiful beard. If you wanted someone to hurry across desolate\nice-fields, and leap from crag to crag after a chamois, Tell was the\nman for your money. If you wanted a man to say rude things to the\nGovernor, it was to Tell that you applied first. Once when he was\nhunting in the wild ravine of Sch\u00e4chenthal, where men were hardly\never to be seen, he met the Governor face to face. There was no way\nof getting past. On one side the rocky wall rose sheer up, while below\nthe river roared. Directly Gessler caught sight of Tell striding along\nwith his cross-bow, his cheeks grew pale and his knees tottered, and he\nsat down on a rock feeling very unwell indeed.\n\n\"Aha!\" said Tell. \"Oho! so it's you, is it? _I_ know you. And a\nnice sort of person you are, with your taxes on bread and sheep, aren't\nyou! You'll come to a bad end one of these days, that's what will\nhappen to you. Oh, you old reprobate! Pooh!\" And he had passed on with\na look of scorn, leaving Gessler to think over what he had said. And\nGessler ever since had had a grudge against him, and was only waiting\nfor a chance of paying him out.\n\n\"Mark my words,\" said Tell's wife, Hedwig, when her husband told her\nabout it after supper that night--\"mark my words, he will never\nforgive you.\"\n\n\"I will avoid him,\" said Tell. \"He will not seek me.\"\n\n\"Well, mind you do,\" was Hedwig's reply.\n\nOn another occasion, when the Governor's soldiers were chasing a friend\nof his, called Baumgarten, and when Baumgarten's only chance of escape\nwas to cross the lake during a fierce storm, and when the ferryman,\nsensibly remarking, \"What! must I rush into the jaws of death? No man\nthat hath his senses would do that!\" refused to take out his boat even\nfor twice his proper fare, and when the soldiers rode down to seize\ntheir prey with dreadful shouts, Tell jumped into the boat, and, rowing\nwith all his might, brought his friend safe across after a choppy\npassage. Which made Gessler the Governor still more angry with him.\n\nBut it was as a marksman that Tell was so extraordinary. There was\nnobody in the whole of the land who was half so skilful. He attended\nevery meeting for miles around where there was a shooting competition,\nand every time he won first prize. Even his rivals could not help\npraising his skill. \"Behold!\" they would say, \"Tell is quite the\npot-hunter,\" meaning by the last word a man who always went in for\nevery prize, and always won it. And Tell would say, \"Yes, truly am I\na pot-hunter, for I hunt to fill the family pot.\" And so he did. He never\ncame home empty-handed from the chase. Sometimes it was a chamois that\nhe brought back, and then the family had it roasted on the first day,\ncold on the next four, and minced on the sixth, with sippets of toast\nround the edge of the dish. Sometimes it was only a bird (as on the\ncover of this book), and then Hedwig would say, \"Mark my words, this\nfowl will not go round.\" But it always did, and it never happened that\nthere was not even a fowl to eat.\n\n[Illustration: Frontispiece]\n\nIn fact, Tell and his family lived a very happy, contented life, in\nspite of the Governor Gessler and his taxes.\n\nTell was very patriotic. He always believed that some day the Swiss\nwould rise and rebel against the tyranny of the Governor, and he used\nto drill his two children so as to keep them always in a state of\npreparation. They would march about, beating tin cans and shouting, and\naltogether enjoying themselves immensely, though Hedwig, who did not\nlike noise, and wanted Walter and William to help her with the\nhousework, made frequent complaints. \"Mark my words,\" she would say,\n\"this growing spirit of militarism in the young and foolish will lead\nto no good,\" meaning that boys who played at soldiers instead of\nhelping their mother to dust the chairs and scrub the kitchen floor\nwould in all probability come to a bad end. But Tell would say, \"Who\nhopes to fight his way through life must be prepared to wield arms.\nCarry on, my boys!\" And they carried on. It was to this man that the\nSwiss people had determined to come for help.\n\n[Illustration: PLATE II]\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER IV\n\n\nTalking matters over in the inn of the town, the Glass and Glacier, the\ncitizens came to the conclusion that they ought to appoint three\nspokesmen to go and explain to Tell just what they wanted him to do.\n\n\"I don't wish to seem to boast at all,\" said Arnold of Sewa, \"but I\nthink I had better be one of the three.\"\n\n\"I was thinking,\" said Werner Stauffacher, \"that it would be a pity\nalways to be chopping and changing. Why not choose the same three as\nwere sent to Gessler?\"\n\n\"I don't desire to be unpleasant at all,\" replied Arnold of Sewa, \"but\nI must be forgiven for reminding the honourable gentleman who has just\nspoken that he and his equally honourable friends did not meet with the\nbest of success when they called upon the Governor.\"\n\n\"Well, and you didn't either!\" snapped Arnold of Melchthal, whose\nfinger still hurt him, and made him a little bad-tempered.\n\n\"That,\" said Arnold of Sewa, \"I put down entirely to the fact that you\nand your friends, by not exercising tact, irritated the Governor, and\nmade him unwilling to listen to anybody else. Nothing is more important\nin these affairs than tact. That's what you want--tact. But have it\nyour own way. Don't mind _me!_\"\n\nAnd the citizens did not. They chose Werner Stauffacher, Arnold of\nMelchthal, and Walter F\u00fcrst, and, having drained their glasses, the\nthree trudged up the steep hill which led to Tell's house.\n\nIt had been agreed that everyone should wait at the Glass and Glacier\nuntil the three spokesmen returned, in order that they might hear the\nresult of their mission. Everybody was very anxious. A revolution\nwithout Tell would be quite impossible, and it was not unlikely that\nTell might refuse to be their leader. The worst of a revolution is\nthat, if it fails, the leader is always executed as an example to the\nrest. And many people object to being executed, however much it may set\na good example to their friends. On the other hand, Tell was a brave\nman and a patriot, and might be only too eager to try to throw off the\ntyrant's yoke, whatever the risk. They had waited about an hour, when\nthey saw the three spokesmen coming down the hill. Tell was not with\nthem, a fact which made the citizens suspect that he had refused their\noffer. The first thing a man does when he has accepted the leadership\nof a revolution is to come and plot with his companions.\n\n\"Well?\" said everybody eagerly, as the three arrived.\n\nWerner Stauffacher shook his head.\n\n\"Ah,\" said Arnold of Sewa, \"I see what it is. He has refused. You\ndidn't exercise tact, and he refused.\"\n\n\"We _did_ exercise tact,\" said Stauffacher indignantly; \"but he\nwould not be persuaded. It was like this: We went to the house and\nknocked at the door. Tell opened it. 'Good-morning,' I said.\n\n\"'Good-morning,' said he. 'Take a seat.'\n\n\"I took a seat.\n\n\"'My heart is full,' I said, 'and longs to speak with you.' I thought\nthat a neat way of putting it.\"\n\nThe company murmured approval.\n\n\"'A heavy heart,' said Tell, 'will not\ngrow light with words.'\"\n\n\"Not bad that!\" murmured Jost Weiler. \"Clever way of putting things,\nTell has got.\"\n\n\"'Yet words,' I said, 'might lead us on to deeds.'\"\n\n\"Neat,\" said Jost Weiler--\"very neat. Yes?\"\n\n\"To which Tell's extraordinary reply was: 'The only thing to do is to\nsit still.'\n\n\"'What!' I said; 'bear in silence things unbearable?'\n\n\"'Yes,' said Tell; 'to peaceable men peace is gladly granted. When the\nGovernor finds that his oppression does not make us revolt, he will\ngrow tired of oppressing.'\"\n\n\"And what did you say to that?\" asked Ulric the smith.\n\n\"I said he did not know the Governor if he thought he could ever grow\ntired of oppressing. 'We might do much,' I said, 'if we held fast\ntogether. Union is strength,' I said.\n\n\"'The strong,' said Tell, 'is strongest when he stands alone.'\n\n\"'Then our country must not count on thee,' I said, 'when in despair\nshe stands on self-defence?'\n\n\"'Oh, well,' he said, 'hardly that, perhaps. I don't want to desert\nyou. What I mean to say is, I'm no use as a plotter or a counsellor and\nthat sort of thing. Where I come out strong is in deeds. So don't\ninvite me to your meetings and make me speak, and that sort of thing;\nbut if you want a man to _do_ anything--why, that's where I shall\ncome in, you see. Just write if you want me--a postcard will do--and\nyou will not find William Tell hanging back. No, sir.' And with those\nwords he showed us out.\"\n\n\"Well,\" said Jost Weiler, \"I call that encouraging. All we have to do\nnow is to plot. Let us plot.\"\n\n\"Yes, let's!\" shouted everybody.\n\nUlric the smith rapped for silence on the table.\n\n\"Gentlemen,\" he said, \"our friend Mr. Klaus von der Flue will now read\na paper on 'Governors--their drawbacks, and how to get rid of them.'\nSilence, gentlemen, please. Now, then, Klaus, old fellow, speak up and\nget it over.\"\n\nAnd the citizens settled down without further delay to a little serious\nplotting.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER V\n\n\nA few days after this, Hedwig gave Tell a good talking to on the\nsubject of his love for adventure. He was sitting at the door of his\nhouse mending an axe. Hedwig, as usual, was washing up. Walter and\nWilliam were playing with a little cross-bow not far off.\n\n\"Father,\" said Walter.\n\n\"Yes, my boy?\"\n\n\"My bow-string has bust.\" (\"Bust\" was what all Swiss boys said when\nthey meant \"broken.\")\n\n\"You must mend it yourself, my boy,\" said Tell. \"A sportsman always\nhelps himself.\"\n\n\"What _I_ say,\" said Hedwig, bustling out of the house, \"is that a\nboy of his age has no business to be shooting. I don't like it.\"\n\n\"Nobody can shoot well if he does not begin to practise early. Why,\nwhen I was a boy--I remember on one occasion, when--\"\n\n\"What _I_ say,\" interrupted Hedwig, \"is that a boy ought not to\nwant always to be shooting, and what not. He ought to stay at home and\nhelp his mother. And I wish you would set them a better example.\"\n\n\"Well, the fact is, you know,\" said Tell, \"I don't think Nature meant\nme to be a stay-at-home and that sort of thing. I couldn't be a\nherdsman if you paid me. I shouldn't know what to do. No; everyone has\nhis special line, and mine is hunting. Now, I _can_ hunt.\"\n\n\"A nasty, dangerous occupation,\" said Hedwig. \"I don't like to hear of\nyour being lost on desolate ice-fields, and leaping from crag to crag,\nand what not. Some day, mark my words, if you are not careful, you will\nfall down a precipice, or be overtaken by an avalanche, or the ice will\nbreak while you are crossing it. There are a thousand ways in which you\nmight get hurt.\"\n\n\"A man of ready wit with a quick eye,\" replied Tell complacently,\n\"never gets hurt. The mountain has no terror for her children. I am a\nchild of the mountain.\"\n\n\"You are certainly a child!\" snapped Hedwig. \"It is no use my arguing\nwith you.\"\n\n\"Not very much,\" agreed Tell, \"for I am just off to the town. I have an\nappointment with your papa and some other gentlemen.\"\n\n(I forgot to say so before, but Hedwig was the daughter of Walter\nF\u00fcrst.)\n\n\"Now, _what_ are you and papa plotting?\" asked Hedwig. \"I know\nthere is something going on. I suspected it when papa brought Werner\nStauffacher and the other man here, and you wouldn't let me listen.\nWhat is it? Some dangerous scheme, I suppose?\"\n\n\"Now, how in the world do you get those sort of ideas into your head?\"\nTell laughed. \"Dangerous scheme! As if I should plot dangerous schemes\nwith your papa!\"\n\n\"I know,\" said Hedwig. \"You can't deceive _me!_ There is a plot\nafoot against the Governor, and you are in it.\"\n\n\"A man must help his country.\"\n\n\"They're sure to place you where there is most danger. I know them.\nDon't go. Send Walter down with a note to say that you regret that an\nunfortunate previous engagement, which you have just recollected, will\nmake it impossible for you to accept their kind invitation to plot.\"\n\n\"No; I must go.\"\n\n\"And there is another thing,\" continued Hedwig: \"Gessler the Governor\nis in the town now.\"\n\n\"He goes away to-day.\"\n\n\"Well, wait till he has gone. You must not meet him. He bears you\nmalice.\"\n\n\"To me his malice cannot do much harm. I do what's right, and fear no\nenemy.\"\n\n\"Those who do right,\" said Hedwig, \"are those he hates the most. And\nyou know he has never forgiven you for speaking like that when you met\nhim in the ravine. Keep away from the town for to-day. Do anything\nelse. Go hunting, if you will.\"\n\n\"No,\" said Tell; \"I promised. I must go. Come along, Walter.\"\n\n\"You _aren't_ going to take that poor _dear_ child? Come\nhere, Walter, directly minute!'\n\n\"Want to go with father,\" said Walter, beginning to cry, for his father\nhad promised to take him with him the next time he went to the town,\nand he had saved his pocket-money for the occasion.\n\n\"Oh, let the boy come,\" said Tell. \"William will stay with you, won't\nyou, William?\"\n\n\"All right, father,\" said William.\n\n\"Well, mark my words,\" said Hedwig, \"if something bad does not happen I\nshall be surprised.\"\n\n\"Oh no,\" said Tell. \"What can happen?\"\n\nAnd without further delay he set off with Walter for the town.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VI\n\n\nIn the meantime all kinds of things of which Tell had no suspicion had\nbeen happening in the town. The fact that there were no newspapers in\nSwitzerland at that time often made him a little behindhand as regarded\nthe latest events. He had to depend, as a rule, on visits from his\nfriends, who would sit in his kitchen and tell him all about everything\nthat had been going on for the last few days. And, of course, when\nthere was anything very exciting happening in the town, nobody had time\nto trudge up the hill to Tell's ch\u00e2let. They all wanted to be in the\ntown enjoying the fun.\n\nWhat had happened now was this. It was the chief amusement of the\nGovernor, Gessler (who, you will remember, was _not_ a nice man),\nwhen he had a few moments to spare from the cares of governing, to sit\ndown and think out some new way of annoying the Swiss people. He was\none of those persons who\n\n            \"only do it to annoy,\n     Because they know it teases.\"\n\nWhat he liked chiefly was to forbid something. He would find out what\nthe people most enjoyed doing, and then he would send a herald to say\nthat he was very sorry, but it must stop. He found that this annoyed\nthe Swiss more than anything. But now he was rather puzzled what to do,\nfor he had forbidden everything he could think of. He had forbidden\ndancing and singing, and playing on any sort of musical instrument, on\nthe ground that these things made such a noise, and disturbed people\nwho wanted to work. He had forbidden the eating of everything except\nbread and the simplest sorts of meat, because he said that anything\nelse upset people, and made them unfit to do anything except sit still\nand say how ill they were. And he had forbidden all sorts of games,\nbecause he said they were a waste of time.\n\nSo that now, though he wanted dreadfully to forbid something else, he\ncould not think of anything.\n\nThen he had an idea, and this was it:\n\nHe told his servants to cut a long pole. And they cut a very long pole.\nThen he said to them, \"Go into the hall and bring me one of my hats.\nNot my best hat, which I wear on Sundays and on State occasions; nor\nyet my second-best, which I wear every day; nor yet, again, the one I\nwear when I am out hunting, for all these I need. Fetch me, rather, the\noldest of my hats.\" And they fetched him the very oldest of his hats.\nThen he said, \"Put it on top of the pole.\" And they put it right on top\nof the pole. And, last of all, he said, \"Go and set up the pole in the\nmiddle of the meadow just outside the gates of the town.\" And they went\nand set up the pole in the very middle of the meadow just outside the\ngates of the town.\n\nThen he sent his heralds out to north and south and east and west to\nsummon the people together, because he said he had something very\nimportant and special to say to them. And the people came in tens, and\nfifties, and hundreds, men, women, and children; and they stood waiting\nin front of the Palace steps till Gessler the Governor should come out\nand say something very important and special to them.\n\nAnd punctually at eleven o'clock, Gessler, having finished a capital\nbreakfast, came out on to the top step and spoke to them.\n\n\"Ladies and gentlemen,\"--he began. (A voice from the crowd: \"Speak\nup!\")\n\n\"Ladies and gentlemen,\" he began again, in a louder voice, \"if I could\ncatch the man who said 'Speak up!' I would have him bitten in the neck\nby wild elephants. (Applause.) I have called you to this place to-day\nto explain to you my reason for putting up a pole, on the top of which\nis one of my caps, in the meadow just outside the city gates. It is\nthis: You all, I know, respect and love me.\" Here he paused for the\naudience to cheer, but as they remained quite silent he went on: \"You\nwould all, I know, like to come to my Palace every day and do reverence\nto me. (A voice: 'No, no!') If I could catch the man who said 'No, no!'\nI would have him stung on the soles of the feet by pink scorpions; and\nif he was the same man who said 'Speak up!' a little while ago, the\nnumber of scorpions should be doubled. (Loud applause.) As I was saying\nbefore I was interrupted, I know you would like to come to my Palace\nand do reverence to me there. But, as you are many and space is\nlimited, I am obliged to refuse you that pleasure. However, being\nanxious not to disappoint you, I have set up my cap in the meadow, and\nyou may do reverence to _that_. In fact, you _must_. Everybody is\nto look on that cap as if it were me. (A voice: 'It ain't so ugly as\nyou!') If I could catch the man who made that remark I would have him\ntied up and teased by trained bluebottles. (Deafening applause.) In\nfact, to put the matter briefly, if anybody crosses that meadow without\nbowing down before that cap, my soldiers will arrest him, and I will\nhave him pecked on the nose by infuriated blackbirds. So there!\nSoldiers, move that crowd on!\"\n\nAnd Gessler disappeared indoors again, just as a volley of eggs and\ncabbages whistled through the air. And the soldiers began to hustle the\ncrowd down the various streets till the open space in front of the\nPalace gates was quite cleared of them. All this happened the day\nbefore Tell and Walter set out for the town.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VII\n\n\nHaving set up the pole and cap in the meadow, Gessler sent two of his\nbodyguard, Friesshardt (I should think you would be safe in pronouncing\nthis Freeze-hard, but you had better ask somebody who knows) and\nLeuthold, to keep watch there all day, and see that nobody passed by\nwithout kneeling down before the pole and taking off his hat to it.\n\nBut the people, who prided themselves on being what they called\n_\u00fcppen zie schnuffen_, or, as we should say, \"up to snuff,\" and\nequal to every occasion, had already seen a way out of the difficulty.\nThey knew that if they crossed the meadow they must bow down before the\npole, which they did not want to do, so it occurred to them that an\ningenious way of preventing this would be not to cross the meadow. So\nthey went the long way round, and the two soldiers spent a lonely day.\n\n\"What I sez,\" said Friesshardt, \"is, wot's the use of us wasting our\ntime here?\" (Friesshardt was not a very well-educated man, and he did\nnot speak good grammar.) \"None of these here people ain't a-going to\nbow down to that there hat. Of course they ain't. Why, I can remember\nthe time when this meadow was like a fair--everybody a-shoving and\na-jostling one another for elbow-room; and look at it now! It's a desert.\nThat's what it is, a desert. What's the good of us wasting of our time\nhere, I sez. That's what I sez.\n\n\"And they're artful, too, mind yer,\" he continued. \"Why, only this\nmorning, I sez to myself, 'Friesshardt,' I sez, 'you just wait till\ntwelve o'clock,' I sez, ''cos that's when they leave the council-house,\nand then they'll _have_ to cross the meadow. And then we'll see\nwhat we _shall_ see,' I sez. Like that, I sez. Bitter-like, yer\nknow. 'We'll see,' I sez, 'what we _shall_ see.' So I waited, and\nat twelve o'clock out they came, dozens of them, and began to cross the\nmeadow. 'And now,' sez I to myself, 'look out for larks.' But what\nhappened? Why, when they came to the pole, the priest stood in front of\nit, and the sacristan rang the bell, and they all fell down on their\nknees. But they were saying their prayers, not doing obeisance to the\nhat. That's what _they_ were doing. Artful--that's what _they_ are!\"\n\nAnd Friesshardt kicked the foot of the pole viciously with his iron\nboot.\n\n\"It's my belief,\" said Leuthold (Leuthold is the thin soldier you see\nin the picture)--\"it's my firm belief that they are laughing at us.\nThere! Listen to that!\"\n\nA voice made itself heard from behind a rock not far off.\n\n\"Where did you get that hat?\" said the voice.\n\n\"There!\" grumbled Leuthold; \"they're always at it. Last time it was,\n'Who's your hatter?' Why, we're the laughing-stock of the place. We're\nlike two rogues in a pillory. 'Tis rank disgrace for one who wears a\nsword to stand as sentry o'er an empty hat. To make obeisance to a hat!\nI' faith, such a command is downright foolery!\"\n\n\"Well,\" said Friesshardt, \"and why not bow before an empty hat? Thou\nhast oft bow'd before an empty skull. Ha, ha! I was always one for a\njoke, yer know.\"\n\n\"Here come some people,\" said Leuthold. \"At last! And they're only the\nrabble, after all. You don't catch any of the better sort of people\ncoming here.\"\n\nA crowd was beginning to collect on the edge of the meadow. Its numbers\nswelled every minute, until quite a hundred of the commoner sort must\nhave been gathered together. They stood pointing at the pole and\ntalking among themselves, but nobody made any movement to cross the\nmeadow.\n\nAt last somebody shouted \"Yah!\"\n\nThe soldiers took no notice.\n\nSomebody else cried \"Booh!\"'\n\n\"Pass along there, pass along!\" said the soldiers.\n\nCries of \"Where did you get that hat?\" began to come from the body of\nthe crowd. When the Swiss invented a catch-phrase they did not drop it\nin a hurry.\n\n\"Where--did--you--get--that--HAT?\" they shouted.\n\nFriesshardt and Leuthold stood like two statues in armour, paying no\nattention to the remarks of the rabble. This annoyed the rabble. They\nbegan to be more personal.\n\n\"You in the second-hand lobster-tin,\" shouted one--he meant\nFriesshardt, whose suit of armour, though no longer new, hardly\ndeserved this description--\"who's your hatter?\"\n\n\"Can't yer see,\" shouted a friend, when Friesshardt made no reply, \"the\npore thing ain't alive? 'E's stuffed!\"\n\nRoars of laughter greeted this sally. Friesshardt, in spite of the fact\nthat he enjoyed a joke, turned pink.\n\n\"'E's blushing!\" shrieked a voice.\n\nFriesshardt turned purple.\n\nThen things got still more exciting.\n\n\"'Ere,\" said a rough voice in the crowd impatiently, \"wot's the good of\n_torkin'_ to 'em? Gimme that 'ere egg, missus!\"\n\nAnd in another instant an egg flew across the meadow, and burst over\nLeuthold's shoulder. The crowd howled with delight. This was something\n_like_ fun, thought they, and the next moment eggs, cabbages,\ncats, and missiles of every sort darkened the air. The two soldiers\nraved and shouted, but did not dare to leave their post. At last, just\nas the storm was at its height, it ceased, as if by magic. Everyone in\nthe crowd turned round, and, as he turned, jumped into the air and\nwaved his hat.\n\n[Illustration: PLATE III]\n\nA deafening cheer went up.\n\n\"Hurrah!\" cried the mob; \"here comes good old Tell! _Now_ there's\ngoing to be a jolly row!\"\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VIII\n\n\nTell came striding along, Walter by his side, and his cross-bow over\nhis shoulder. He knew nothing about the hat having been placed on the\npole, and he was surprised to see such a large crowd gathered in the\nmeadow. He bowed to the crowd in his polite way, and the crowd gave\nthree cheers and one more, and he bowed again.\n\n\"Hullo!\" said Walter suddenly; \"look at that hat up there, father. On\nthe pole.\"\n\n\"What is the hat to us?\" said Tell; and he began to walk across the\nmeadow with an air of great dignity, and Walter walked by his side,\ntrying to look just like him.\n\n\"Here! hi!\" shouted the soldiers. \"Stop! You haven't bowed down to the\ncap.\"\n\n[Illustration: PLATE IV]\n\nTell looked scornful, but said nothing. Walter looked still more\nscornful.\n\n\"Ho, there!\" shouted Friesshardt, standing in front of him. \"I bid you\nstand in the Emperor's name.\"\n\n\"My good fellow,\" said Tell, \"please do not bother me. I am in a hurry.\nI really have nothing for you.\"\n\n\"My orders is,\" said Friesshardt, \"to stand in this 'ere meadow and to\nsee as how all them what passes through it does obeisance to that there\nhat. Them's Governor's orders, them is. So now.\"\n\n\"My good fellow,\" said Tell, \"let me pass. I shall get cross, I know I\nshall.\"\n\nShouts of encouragement from the crowd, who were waiting patiently for\nthe trouble to begin.\n\n\"Go it, Tell!\" they cried. \"Don't stand talking to him. Hit him a\nkick!\"\n\nFriesshardt became angrier every minute.\n\n\"My orders is,\" he said again, \"to arrest them as don't bow down to the\nhat, and for two pins, young feller, I'll arrest you. So which is it to\nbe? Either you bow down to that there hat or you come along of me.\"\n\nTell pushed him aside, and walked on with his chin in the air. Walter\nwent with him, with his chin in the air.\n\nWHACK!\n\nA howl of dismay went up from the crowd as they saw Friesshardt raise\nhis pike and bring it down with all his force on Tell's head. The sound\nof the blow went echoing through the meadow and up the hills and down\nthe valleys.\n\n[Illustration: PLATE V]\n\n\"Ow!\" cried Tell.\n\n\"_Now_,\" thought the crowd, \"things must begin to get exciting.\"\n\nTell's first idea was that one of the larger mountains in the\nneighbourhood had fallen on top of him. Then he thought that there must\nhave been an earthquake. Then it gradually dawned upon him that he had\nbeen hit by a mere common soldier with a pike. Then he _was_\nangry.\n\n\"Look here!\" he began.\n\n\"Look there!\" said Friesshardt, pointing to the cap.\n\n[Illustration: PLATE VI]\n\n\"You've hurt my head very much,\" said Tell. \"Feel the bump. If I hadn't\nhappened to have a particularly hard head I don't know what might not\nhave happened;\" and he raised his fist and hit Friesshardt; but as\nFriesshardt was wearing a thick iron helmet the blow did not hurt him\nvery much.\n\nBut it had the effect of bringing the crowd to Tell's assistance. They\nhad been waiting all this time for him to begin the fighting, for\nthough they were very anxious to attack the soldiers, they did not like\nto do so by themselves. They wanted a leader.\n\nSo when they saw Tell hit Friesshardt, they tucked up their sleeves,\ngrasped their sticks and cudgels more tightly, and began to run across\nthe meadow towards him.\n\nNeither of the soldiers noticed this. Friesshardt was busy arguing with\nTell, and Leuthold was laughing at Friesshardt. So when the people came\nswarming up with their sticks and cudgels they were taken by surprise.\nBut every soldier in the service of Gessler was as brave as a lion, and\nFriesshardt and Leuthold were soon hitting back merrily, and making a\ngood many of the crowd wish that they had stayed at home. The two\nsoldiers were wearing armour, of course, so that it was difficult to\nhurt them; but the crowd, who wore no armour, found that _they_\ncould get hurt very easily. Conrad Hunn, for instance, was attacking\nFriesshardt, when the soldier happened to drop his pike. It fell on\nConrad's toe, and Conrad limped away, feeling that fighting was no fun\nunless you had thick boots on.\n\nAnd so for a time the soldiers had the best of the fight.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER IX\n\n\nFor many minutes the fight raged furiously round the pole, and the\nearth shook beneath the iron boots of Friesshardt and Leuthold as they\nrushed about, striking out right and left with their fists and the\nflats of their pikes. Seppi the cowboy (an ancestor, by the way, of\nBuffalo Bill) went down before a tremendous blow by Friesshardt, and\nLeuthold knocked Klaus von der Flue head over heels.\n\n\"What you _want_\" said Arnold of Sewa, who had seen the beginning\nof the fight from the window of his cottage and had hurried to join it,\nand, as usual, to give advice to everybody--\"what you want here is\nguile. That's what you want--guile, cunning. Not brute force, mind you.\nIt's no good rushing at a man in armour and hitting him. He only hits\nyou back. You should employ guile. Thus. Observe.\"\n\nHe had said these words standing on the outskirts of the crowd. He now\ngrasped his cudgel and began to steal slowly towards Friesshardt, who\nhad just given Werni the huntsman such a hit with his pike that the\nsound of it was still echoing in the mountains, and was now busily\nengaged in disposing of Jost Weiler. Arnold of Sewa crept stealthily\nbehind him, and was just about to bring his cudgel down on his head,\nwhen Leuthold, catching sight of him, saved his comrade by driving his\npike with all his force into Arnold's side. Arnold said afterwards that\nit completely took his breath away. He rolled over, and after being\ntrodden on by everybody for some minutes, got up and limped back to his\ncottage, where he went straight to bed, and did not get up for two\ndays.\n\nAll this time Tell had been standing a little way off with his arms\nfolded, looking on. While it was a quarrel simply between himself and\nFriesshardt he did not mind fighting. But when the crowd joined in he\nfelt that it was not fair to help so many men attack one, however badly\nthat one might have behaved.\n\nHe now saw that the time had come to put an end to the disturbance. He\ndrew an arrow from his quiver, placed it in his crossbow, and pointed\nit at the hat. Friesshardt, seeing what he intended to do, uttered a\nshout of horror and rushed to stop him. But at that moment somebody in\nthe crowd hit him so hard with a spade that his helmet was knocked over\nhis eyes, and before he could raise it again the deed was done. Through\nthe cap and through the pole and out at the other side sped the arrow.\nAnd the first thing he saw when he opened his eyes was Tell standing\nbeside him twirling his moustache, while all around the crowd danced\nand shouted and threw their caps into the air with joy.\n\n[Illustration: PLATE VII]\n\n[Illustration: PLATE VIII]\n\n\"A mere trifle,\" said Tell modestly.\n\nThe crowd cheered again and again.\n\nFriesshardt and Leuthold lay on the ground beside the pole, feeling\nvery sore and bruised, and thought that perhaps, on the whole, they had\nbetter stay there. There was no knowing what the crowd might do after\nthis, if they began to fight again. So they lay on the ground and made\nno attempt to interfere with the popular rejoicings. What they\n_wanted_, as Arnold of Sewa might have said if he had been there,\nwas a few moments' complete rest. Leuthold's helmet had been hammered\nwith sticks until it was over his eyes and all out of shape, and\nFriesshardt's was very little better. And they both felt just as if\nthey had been run over in the street by a horse and cart.\n\n\"Tell!\" shouted the crowd. \"Hurrah for Tell! Good old Tell!\"\n\n\"Tell's the boy!\" roared Ulric the smith. \"Not another man in\nSwitzerland could have made that shot.\"\n\n\"No,\" shrieked everybody, \"not another!\"\n\n\"Speech!\" cried someone from the edge of the crowd.\n\n\"Speech! Speech! Tell, speech!\" Everybody took up the cry.\n\n\"No, no,\" said Tell, blushing.\n\n\"Go on, go on!\" shouted the crowd.\n\n\"Oh, I couldn't,\" said Tell; \"I don't know what to say.\"\n\n\"Anything will do. Speech! Speech!\"\n\nUlric the smith and Ruodi the fisherman hoisted Tell on to their\nshoulders, and, having coughed once or twice, he said:\n\n\"Gentlemen--\"\n\nCheers from the crowd.\n\n\"Gentlemen,\" said Tell again, \"this is the proudest moment of my life.\"\n\nMore cheers.\n\n\"I don't know what you want me to talk about. I have never made a\nspeech before. Excuse my emotion. This is the proudest moment of my\nlife. To-day is a great day for Switzerland. We have struck the first\nblow of the revolution. Let us strike some more.\"\n\nShouts of \"Hear, hear!\" from the crowd, many of whom, misunderstanding\nTell's last remark, proceeded to hit Leuthold and Friesshardt, until\nstopped by cries of \"Order!\" from Ulric the smith.\n\n\"Gentlemen,\" continued Tell, \"the floodgates of revolution have been\nopened. From this day they will stalk through the land burning to ashes\nthe slough of oppression which our tyrant Governor has erected in our\nmidst. I have only to add that this is the proudest moment of my life,\nand----\"\n\nHe was interrupted by a frightened voice.\n\n\"Look out, you chaps,\" said the voice; \"here comes the Governor!\"\n\nGessler, with a bodyguard of armed men, had entered the meadow, and was\ngalloping towards them.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER X\n\n\nGessler came riding up on his brown horse, and the crowd melted away in\nall directions, for there was no knowing what the Governor might not do\nif he found them plotting. They were determined to rebel and to throw\noff his tyrannous yoke, but they preferred to do it quietly and\ncomfortably, when he was nowhere near.\n\nSo they ran away to the edge of the meadow, and stood there in groups,\nwaiting to see what was going to happen. Not even Ulric the smith and\nRuodi the fisherman waited, though they knew quite well that Tell had\nnot nearly finished his speech. They set the orator down, and began to\nwalk away, trying to look as if they had been doing nothing in\nparticular, and were going to go on doing it--only somewhere else.\n\nTell was left standing alone in the middle of the meadow by the pole.\nHe scorned to run away like the others, but he did not at all like the\nlook of things. Gessler was a stern man, quick to punish any insult,\nand there were two of his soldiers lying on the ground with their nice\narmour all spoiled and dented, and his own cap on top of the pole had\nan arrow right through the middle of it, and would never look the same\nagain, however much it might be patched. It seemed to Tell that there\nwas a bad time coming.\n\nGessler rode up, and reined in his horse.\n\n\"Now then, now then, now then!\" he said, in his quick, abrupt way.\n\"What's this? what's this? what's this?\"\n\n(When a man repeats what he says three times, you can see that he is\nnot in a good temper.)\n\nFriesshardt and Leuthold got up, saluted, and limped slowly towards\nhim. They halted beside his horse, and stood to attention. The tears\ntrickled down their cheeks.\n\n\"Come, come, come!\" said Gessler; \"tell me all about it.\"\n\n[Illustration: PLATE IX]\n\nAnd he patted Friesshardt on the head. Friesshardt bellowed.\n\nGessler beckoned to one of his courtiers.\n\n\"Have you a handkerchief?\" he said.\n\n\"I have a handkerchief, your Excellency.\"\n\n\"Then dry this man's eyes.\"\n\nThe courtier did as he was bidden.\n\n\"_Now_,\" said Gessler, when the drying was done, and Friesshardt's\ntears had ceased, \"what has been happening here? I heard a cry of\n'Help!' as I came up. Who cried 'Help!'?\"\n\n\"Please, your lordship's noble Excellencyship,\" said Friesshardt, \"it\nwas me, Friesshardt.\"\n\n\"You should say, 'It was I,'\" said Gessler. \"Proceed.\"\n\n\"Which I am a loyal servant of your Excellency's, and in your\nExcellency's army, and seeing as how I was told to stand by this 'ere\npole and guard that there hat, I stood by this 'ere pole, and guarded\nthat there hat--all day, I did, your Excellency. And then up comes this\nman here, and I says to him--'Bow down to the hat,' I says. 'Ho!' he\nsays to me--'ho, indeed!' and he passed on without so much as nodding.\nSo I takes my pike, and I taps him on the head to remind him, as you\nmay say, that there was something he was forgetting, and he ups and\nhits me, he does. And then the crowd runs up with their sticks and hits\nme and Leuthold cruel, your Excellency. And while we was a-fighting\nwith them, this here man I'm a-telling you about, your Excellency, he\nouts with an arrow, puts it into his bow, and sends it through the hat,\nand I don't see how you'll ever be able to wear it again. It's a waste\nof a good hat, your Excellency--that's what it is. And then the people,\nthey puts me and Leuthold on the ground, and hoists this here man--Tell,\nthey call him--up on their shoulders, and he starts making a speech,\nwhen up you comes, your Excellency. That's how it all was.\"\n\nGessler turned pale with rage, and glared fiercely at Tell, who stood\nbefore him in the grasp of two of the bodyguard.\n\n\"Ah,\" he said, \"Tell, is it? Good-day to you, Tell. I think we've met\nbefore, Tell? Eh, Tell?\"\n\n\"We have, your Excellency. It was in the ravine of Sch\u00e4chenthal,\" said\nTell firmly.\n\n\"Your memory is good, Tell. So is mine. I think you made a few remarks\nto me on that occasion, Tell--a few chatty remarks? Eh, Tell?\"\n\n\"Very possibly, your Excellency.\"\n\n\"You were hardly polite, Tell.\"\n\n\"If I offended you I am sorry.\"\n\n\"I am glad to hear it, Tell. I think you will be even sorrier before\nlong. So you've been ill-treating my soldiers, eh?\"\n\n\"It was not I who touched them.\"\n\n\"Oh, so you didn't touch them? Ah! But you defied my power by refusing\nto bow down to the hat. I set up that hat to prove the people's\nloyalty. I am afraid you are not loyal, Tell.\"\n\n\"I was a little thoughtless, not disloyal. I passed the hat without\nthinking.\"\n\n\"You should always think, Tell. It is very dangerous not to do so. And\nI suppose that you shot your arrow through the hat without thinking?\"\n\n\"I was a little carried away by excitement, your Excellency.\"\n\n\"Dear, dear! Carried away by excitement, were you? You must really be\nmore careful, Tell. One of these days you will be getting yourself into\ntrouble. But it seems to have been a very fine shot. You _are_ a\ncapital marksman, I believe?\"\n\n\"Father's the best shot in all Switzerland,\" piped a youthful voice.\n\"He can hit an apple on a tree a hundred yards away. I've seen him.\nCan't you, father?\"\n\nWalter, who had run away when the fighting began, had returned on\nseeing his father in the hands of the soldiers.\n\nGessler turned a cold eye upon him.\n\n\"Who is this?\" he asked.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XI\n\n\n\"It is my son Walter, your Excellency,\" said Tell.\n\n\"Your son? Indeed. This is very interesting. Have you any more\nchildren?\"\n\n\"I have one other boy.\"\n\n\"And which of them do you love the most, eh?\"\n\n\"I love them both alike, your Excellency.\"\n\n\"Dear me! Quite a happy family. Now, listen to me, Tell. I know you are\nfond of excitement, so I am going to try to give you a little. Your son\nsays that you can hit an apple on a tree a hundred yards away, and I am\nsure you have every right to be very proud of such a feat.\nFriesshardt!\"\n\n\"Your Excellency?\"\n\n\"Bring me an apple.\"\n\nFriesshardt picked one up. Some apples had been thrown at him and\nLeuthold earlier in the day, and there were several lying about.\n\n\"Which I'm afraid as how it's a little bruised, your Excellency,\" he\nsaid, \"having hit me on the helmet.\"\n\n\"Thank you. I do not require it for eating purposes,\" said Gessler.\n\"Now, Tell, I have here an apple--a simple apple, not over-ripe. I\nshould like to test that feat of yours. So take your bow--I see you\nhave it in your hand--and get ready to shoot. I am going to put this\napple on your son's head. He will be placed a hundred yards away from\nyou, and if you do not hit the apple with your first shot your life\nshall pay forfeit.\"\n\n[Illustration: PLATE X]\n\nAnd he regarded Tell with a look of malicious triumph.\n\n\"Your Excellency, it cannot be!\" cried Tell; \"the thing is too\nmonstrous. Perhaps your Excellency is pleased to jest. You cannot bid a\nfather shoot an apple from off his son's head! Consider, your\nExcellency!\"\n\n\"You shall shoot the apple from off the head of this boy,\" said Gessler\nsternly. \"I do not jest. That is my will.\"\n\n\"Sooner would I die,\" said Tell.\n\n\"If you do not shoot you die with the boy. Come, come, Tell, why so\ncautious? They always told me that you loved perilous enterprises, and\nyet when I give you one you complain. I could understand anybody else\nshrinking from the feat. But you! Hitting apples at a hundred yards is\nchild's play to you. And what does it matter where the apple is--whether\nit is on a tree or on a boy's head? It is an apple just the same.\nProceed, Tell.\"\n\nThe crowd, seeing a discussion going on, had left the edge of the\nmeadow and clustered round to listen. A groan of dismay went up at the\nGovernor's words.\n\n\"Down on your knees, boy,\" whispered Rudolph der Harras to Walter--\"down\non your knees, and beg his Excellency for your life.\"\n\n\"I won't!\" said Walter stoutly.\n\n\"Come,\" said Gessler, \"clear a path there--clear a path! Hurry\nyourselves. I won't have this loitering. Look you, Tell: attend to me\nfor a moment. I find you in the middle of this meadow deliberately\ndefying my authority and making sport of my orders. I find you in the\nact of stirring up discontent among my people with speeches. I might\nhave you executed without ceremony. But do I? No. Nobody shall say that\nHermann Gessler the Governor is not kind-hearted. I say to myself, 'I\nwill give this man one chance.' I place your fate in your own skilful\nhands. How can a man complain of harsh treatment when he is made master\nof his own fate? Besides, I don't ask you to do anything difficult. I\nmerely bid you perform what must be to you a simple shot. You boast of\nyour unerring aim. Now is the time to prove it. Clear the way there!\"\n\nWalter F\u00fcrst flung himself on his knees before the Governor.\n\n\"Your Highness,\" he cried, \"none deny your power. Let it be mingled\nwith mercy. It is excellent, as an English poet will say in a few\nhundred years, to have a giant's strength, but it is tyrannous to\nuse it like a giant. Take the half of my possessions, but spare my\nson-in-law.\"\n\nBut Walter Tell broke in impatiently, and bade his grandfather rise,\nand not kneel to the tyrant.\n\n\"Where must I stand?\" asked he. \"I'm not afraid. Father can hit a bird\nupon the wing.\"\n\n\"You see that lime-tree yonder,\" said Gessler to his soldiers; \"take\nthe boy and bind him to it.\"\n\n\"I will not be bound!\" cried Walter. \"I am not afraid. I'll stand\nstill. I won't breathe. If you bind me I'll kick!\"\n\n\"Let us bind your eyes, at least,\" said Rudolph der Harras.\n\n\"Do you think I fear to see father shoot?\" said Walter. \"I won't stir\nan eyelash. Father, show the tyrant how you can shoot. He thinks you're\ngoing to miss. Isn't he an old donkey!\"\n\n\"Very well, young man,\" muttered Gessler, \"we'll see who is laughing\nfive minutes from now.\" And once more he bade the crowd stand back and\nleave a way clear for Tell to shoot.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XII\n\n\nThe crowd fell back, leaving a lane down which Walter walked, carrying\nthe apple. There was dead silence as he passed. Then the people began\nto whisper excitedly to one another.\n\n\"Shall this be done before our eyes?\" said Arnold of Melchthal to\nWerner Stauffacher. \"Of what use was it that we swore an oath to rebel\nif we permit this? Let us rise and slay the tyrant.\"\n\nWerner Stauffacher, prudent man, scratched his chin thoughtfully.\n\n\"We-e-ll,\" he said, \"you see, the difficulty is that we are not armed\nand the soldiers _are_. There is nothing I should enjoy more than\nslaying the tyrant, only I have an idea that the tyrant would slay us.\nYou see my point?\"\n\n\"Why were we so slow!\" groaned Arnold. \"We should have risen before,\nand then this would never have happened. Who was it that advised us to\ndelay?\"\n\n\"We-e-ll,\" said Stauffacher (who had himself advised delay), \"I can't\nquite remember at the moment, but I dare say you could find out by\nlooking up the minutes of our last meeting. I know the motion was\ncarried by a majority of two votes. See! Gessler grows impatient.\"\n\nGessler, who had been fidgeting on his horse for some time, now spoke\nagain, urging Tell to hurry.\n\n\"Begin!\" he cried--\"begin!\"\n\n\"Immediately,\" replied Tell, fitting the arrow to the string.\n\nGessler began to mock him once more.\n\n\"You see now,\" he said, \"the danger of carrying arms. I don't know if\nyou have ever noticed it, but arrows very often recoil on the man who\ncarries them. The only man who has any business to possess a weapon is\nthe ruler of a country--myself, for instance. A low, common fellow--if\nyou will excuse the description--like yourself only grows proud through\nbeing armed, and so offends those above him. But, of course, it's no\nbusiness of mine. I am only telling you what I think about it.\nPersonally, I like to encourage my subjects to shoot; that is why I am\ngiving you such a splendid mark to shoot at. You see, Tell?\"\n\nTell did not reply. He raised his bow and pointed it. There was a stir\nof excitement in the crowd, more particularly in that part of the crowd\nwhich stood on his right, for, his hand trembling for the first time in\nhis life, Tell had pointed his arrow, not at his son, but straight into\nthe heart of the crowd.\n\n[Illustration: PLATE XI]\n\n\"Here! Hi! That's the wrong way! More to the left!\" shouted the people\nin a panic, while Gessler roared with laughter, and bade Tell shoot and\nchance it.\n\n\"If you can't hit the apple or your son,\" he chuckled, \"you can bring\ndown one of your dear fellow-countrymen.\"\n\nTell lowered his bow, and a sigh of relief went through the crowd.\n\n\"My eyes are swimming,\" he said; \"I cannot see.\"\n\nThen he turned to the Governor.\n\n\"I cannot shoot,\" he said; \"bid your soldiers kill me.\"\n\n\"No,\" said Gessler--\"no, Tell. That is not at all what I want. If I had\nwished my soldiers to kill you, I should not have waited for a formal\ninvitation from you. I have no desire to see you slain. Not at present.\nI wish to see you shoot. Come, Tell, they say you can do everything,\nand are afraid of nothing. Only the other day, I hear, you carried a\nman, one Baumgartner--that was his name, I think--across a rough sea in\nan open boat. You may remember it? I particularly wished to catch\nBaumgartner, Tell. Now, this is a feat which calls for much less\ncourage. Simply to shoot an apple off a boy's head. A child could do\nit.\"\n\nWhile he was speaking, Tell had been standing in silence, his hands\ntrembling and his eyes fixed, sometimes on the Governor, sometimes on\nthe sky. He now seized his quiver, and taking from it a second arrow,\nplaced it in his belt. Gessler watched him, but said nothing.\n\n\"Shoot, father!\" cried Walter from the other end of the lane; \"I'm not\nafraid.\"\n\nTell, calm again now, raised his bow and took a steady aim. Everybody\ncraned forward, the front ranks in vain telling those behind that there\nwas nothing to be gained by pushing. Gessler bent over his horse's neck\nand peered eagerly towards Walter. A great hush fell on all as Tell\nreleased the string.\n\n\"Phut!\" went the string, and the arrow rushed through the air.\n\nA moment's suspense, and then a terrific cheer rose from the\nspectators.\n\n[Illustration: PLATE XII]\n\nThe apple had leaped from Walter's head, pierced through the centre.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XIII\n\n\nIntense excitement instantly reigned. Their suspense over, the crowd\ncheered again and again, shook hands with one another, and flung their\ncaps into the air. Everyone was delighted, for everyone was fond of\nTell and Walter. It also pleased them to see the Governor disappointed.\nHe had had things his own way for so long that it was a pleasant change\nto see him baffled in this manner. Not since Switzerland became a\nnation had the meadow outside the city gates been the scene of such\nrejoicings.\n\nWalter had picked up the apple with the arrow piercing it, and was\nshowing it proudly to all his friends.\n\n\"I told you so,\" he kept saying; \"I knew father wouldn't hurt me.\nFather's the best shot in all Switzerland.\"\n\n\"That was indeed a shot!\" exclaimed Ulric the smith; \"it will ring\nthrough the ages. While the mountains stand will the tale of Tell the\nbowman be told.\"\n\nRudolph der Harras took the apple from Walter and showed it to Gessler,\nwho had been sitting transfixed on his horse.\n\n\"See,\" he said, \"the arrow has passed through the very centre. It was a\nmaster shot.\"\n\n\"It was very nearly a 'Master Walter shot,'\" said R\u00f6sselmann the priest\nseverely, fixing the Governor with a stern eye.\n\nGessler made no answer. He sat looking moodily at Tell, who had dropped\nhis cross-bow and was standing motionless, still gazing in the\ndirection in which the arrow had sped. Nobody liked to be the first to\nspeak to him.\n\n\"Well,\" said Rudolph der Harras, breaking an awkward silence, \"I\nsuppose it's all over now? May as well be moving, eh?\"\n\nHe bit a large piece out of the apple, which he still held. Walter\nuttered a piercing scream as he saw the mouthful disappear. Up till now\nhe had shown no signs of dismay, in spite of the peril which he had had\nto face; but when he watched Rudolph eating the apple, which he\nnaturally looked upon as his own property, he could not keep quiet any\nlonger. Rudolph handed him the apple with an apology, and he began to\nmunch it contentedly.\n\n\"Come with me to your mother, my boy,\" said R\u00f6sselmann.\n\nWalter took no notice, but went on eating the apple.\n\nTell came to himself with a start, looked round for Walter, and began\nto lead him away in the direction of his home, deaf to all the cheering\nthat was going on around him.\n\nGessler leaned forward in his saddle.\n\n\"Tell,\" he said, \"a word with you.\"\n\nTell came back.\n\n\"Your Excellency?\"\n\n\"Before you go I wish you to explain one thing.\"\n\n\"A thousand, your Excellency.\"\n\n\"No, only one. When you were getting ready to shoot at the apple you\nplaced an arrow in the string and a second arrow in your belt.\"\n\n\"A second arrow!\" Tell pretended to be very much astonished, but the\npretence did not deceive the Governor.\n\n\"Yes, a second arrow. Why was that? What did you intend to do with that\narrow, Tell?\"\n\nTell looked down uneasily, and twisted his bow about in his hands.\n\n\"My lord,\" he said at last, \"it is a bowman's custom. All archers place\na second arrow in their belt.\"\n\n\"No, Tell,\" said Gessler, \"I cannot take that answer as the truth. I\nknow there was some other meaning in what you did. Tell me the reason\nwithout concealment. Why was it? Your life is safe, whatever it was, so\nspeak out. Why did you take out that second arrow?\"\n\nTell stopped fidgeting with his bow, and met the Governor's eye with a\nsteady gaze.\n\n\"Since you promise me my life, your Excellency,\" he replied, drawing\nhimself up, \"I will tell you.\"\n\nHe drew the arrow from his belt and held it up.\n\nThe crowd pressed forward, hanging on his words.\n\n\"Had my first arrow,\" said Tell slowly, \"pierced my child and not the\napple, this would have pierced you, my lord. Had I missed with my first\nshot, be sure, my lord, that my second would have found its mark.\"\n\nA murmur of approval broke from the crowd as Tell thrust the arrow back\ninto the quiver and faced the Governor with folded arms and burning\neyes. Gessler turned white with fury.\n\n\"Seize that man!\" he shouted.\n\n[Illustration: PLATE XIII]\n\n\"My lord, bethink you,\" whispered Rudolph der Harras; \"you promised him\nhis life. Tell, fly!\" he cried.\n\nTell did not move.\n\n\"Seize that man and bind him,\" roared Gessler once more. \"If he\nresists, cut him down.\"\n\n\"I shall not resist,\" said Tell scornfully. \"I should have known the\nfolly of trusting to a tyrant to keep his word. My death will at least\nshow my countrymen the worth of their Governor's promises.\"\n\n\"Not so,\" replied Gessler; \"no man shall say I ever broke my knightly\nword. I promised you your life, and I will give you your life. But you\nare a dangerous man, Tell, and against such must I guard myself. You\nhave told me your murderous purpose. I must look to it that that\npurpose is not fulfilled. Life I promised you, and life I will give\nyou. But of freedom I said nothing. In my castle at K\u00fcssnacht there are\ndungeons where no ray of sun or moon ever falls. Chained hand and foot\nin one of these, you will hardly aim your arrows at me. It is rash,\nTell, to threaten those who have power over you. Soldiers, bind him and\nlead him to my ship. I will follow, and will myself conduct him to\nK\u00fcssnacht.\"\n\nThe soldiers tied Tell's hands. He offered no resistance. And amidst\nthe groans of the people he was led away to the shore of the lake,\nwhere Gessler's ship lay at anchor.\n\n[Illustration: PLATE XIV]\n\n\"Our last chance is gone,\" said the people to one another. \"Where shall\nwe look now for a leader?\"\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XIV\n\n\nThe castle of K\u00fcssnacht lay on the opposite side of the lake, a mighty\nmass of stone reared on a mightier crag rising sheer out of the waves,\nwhich boiled and foamed about its foot. Steep rocks of fantastic shape\nhemmed it in, and many were the vessels which perished on these, driven\nthither by the frequent storms that swept over the lake.\n\nGessler and his men, Tell in their midst, bound and unarmed, embarked\nearly in the afternoon at Fl\u00fcelen, which was the name of the harbour\nwhere the Governor's ship had been moored. Fl\u00fcelen was about two miles\nfrom K\u00fcssnacht.\n\nWhen they had arrived at the vessel they went on board, and Tell was\nplaced at the bottom of the hold. It was pitch dark, and rats scampered\nover his body as he lay. The ropes were cast off, the sails filled, and\nthe ship made her way across the lake, aided by a favouring breeze.\n\nA large number of the Swiss people had followed Tell and his captors to\nthe harbour, and stood gazing sorrowfully after the ship as it\ndiminished in the distance. There had been whispers of an attempted\nrescue, but nobody had dared to begin it, and the whispers had led to\nnothing. Few of the people carried weapons, and the soldiers were clad\nin armour, and each bore a long pike or a sharp sword. As Arnold of\nSewa would have said if he had been present, what the people wanted was\nprudence. It was useless to attack men so thoroughly able to defend\nthemselves.\n\nTherefore the people looked on and groaned, but did nothing.\n\nFor some time the ship sped easily on her way and through a calm sea.\nTell lay below, listening to the trampling of the sailors overhead, as\nthey ran about the deck, and gave up all hope of ever seeing his home\nand his friends again.\n\nBut soon he began to notice that the ship was rolling and pitching more\nthan it had been doing at first, and it was not long before he realized\nthat a very violent storm had begun. Storms sprung up very suddenly on\nthe lake, and made it unsafe for boats that attempted to cross it.\nOften the sea was quite unruffled at the beginning of the crossing, and\nwas rough enough at the end to wreck the largest ship.\n\nTell welcomed the storm. He had no wish to live if life meant years of\nimprisonment in a dark dungeon of Castle K\u00fcssnacht. Drowning would be a\npleasant fate compared with that. He lay at the bottom of the ship,\nhoping that the next wave would dash them on to a rock and send them to\nthe bottom of the lake. The tossing became worse and worse.\n\nUpon the deck Gessler was standing beside the helmsman, and gazing\nanxiously across the waters at the rocks that fringed the narrow\nentrance to the bay a few hundred yards to the east of Castle\nK\u00fcssnacht. This bay was the only spot for miles along the shore at\nwhich it was possible to land safely. For miles on either side the\ncoast was studded with great rocks, which would have dashed a ship to\npieces in a moment. It was to this bay that Gessler wished to direct\nthe ship. But the helmsman told him that he could not make sure of\nfinding the entrance, so great was the cloud of spray which covered it.\nA mistake would mean shipwreck.\n\n\"My lord,\" said the helmsman, \"I have\nneither strength nor skill to guide the helm. I do not know which way\nto turn.\"\n\n\"What are we to do?\" asked Rudolph der Harras, who was standing near.\n\nThe helmsman hesitated. Then he spoke, eyeing the Governor uneasily.\n\n\"Tell could steer us through,\" he said, \"if your lordship would but\ngive him the helm.\"\n\nGessler started.\n\n\"Tell!\" he muttered. \"Tell!\"\n\nThe ship drew nearer to the rocks.\n\n\"Bring him here,\" said Gessler.\n\nTwo soldiers went down to the hold and released Tell. They bade him get\nup and come with them. Tell followed them on deck, and stood before the\nGovernor.\n\n\"Tell,\" said Gessler.\n\nTell looked at him without speaking.\n\n\"Take the helm, Tell,\" said Gessler, \"and steer the ship through those\nrocks into the bay beyond, or instant death shall be your lot.\"\n\nWithout a word Tell took the helmsman's place, peering keenly into the\ncloud of foam before him. To right and to left he turned the vessel's\nhead, and to right again, into the very heart of the spray. They were\nright among the rocks now, but the ship did not strike on them.\nQuivering and pitching, she was hurried along, until of a sudden the\nspray-cloud was behind her, and in front the calm waters of the bay.\n\nGessler beckoned to the helmsman.\n\n\"Take the helm again,\" he said.\n\nHe pointed to Tell.\n\n\"Bind him,\" he said to the soldiers.\n\nThe soldiers advanced slowly, for they were loath to bind the man who\nhad just saved them from destruction. But the Governor's orders must he\nobeyed, so they came towards Tell, carrying ropes with which to bind\nhim.\n\nTell moved a step back. The ship was gliding past a lofty rock. It was\nsuch a rock as Tell had often climbed when hunting the chamois. He\nacted with the quickness of the hunter. Snatching up the bow and quiver\nwhich lay on the deck, he sprang on to the bulwark of the vessel, and,\nwith a mighty leap, gained the rock. Another instant, and he was out of\nreach.\n\nGessler roared to his bowmen.\n\n\"Shoot! shoot!\" he cried.\n\nThe bowmen hastily fitted arrow to string. They were too late. Tell was\nready before them. There was a hiss as the shaft rushed through the\nair, and the next moment Gessler the Governor fell dead on the deck,\npierced through the heart.\n\nTell's second arrow had found its mark, as his first had done.\n\n[Illustration: PLATE XV]\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XV\n\n\nThere is not much more of the story of William Tell. The death of\nGessler was a signal to the Swiss to rise in revolt, and soon the whole\ncountry was up in arms against the Austrians. It had been chiefly the\nfear of the Governor that had prevented a rising before. It had been\nbrewing for a long time. The people had been bound by a solemn oath to\ndrive the enemy out of the country. All through Switzerland\npreparations for a revolution were going on, and nobles and peasants\nhad united.\n\nDirectly the news arrived that the Governor was slain, meetings of the\npeople were held in every town in Switzerland, and it was resolved to\nbegin the revolution without delay. All the fortresses that Gessler had\nbuilt during his years of rule were carried by assault on the same\nnight. The last to fall was one which had only been begun a short time\nback, and the people who had been forced to help to build it spent a\nvery pleasant hour pulling down the stones which had cost them such\nlabour to put in their place. Even the children helped. It was a great\ntreat to them to break what they pleased without being told not to.\n\n\"See,\" said Tell, as he watched them, \"in years to come, when these\nsame children are gray-haired, they will remember this night as freshly\nas they will remember it to-morrow.\"\n\nA number of people rushed up, bearing the pole which Gessler's soldiers\nhad set up in the meadow. The hat was still on top of it, nailed to the\nwood by Tell's arrow.\n\n\"Here's the hat!\" shouted Ruodi--\"the hat to which we were to bow!\"\n\n\"What shall we do with it?\" cried several voices.\n\n\"Destroy it! Burn it!\" said others. \"To the flames with this emblem of\ntyranny!\"\n\nBut Tell stopped them.\n\n\"Let us preserve it,\" he said. \"Gessler set it up to be a means\nof enslaving the country; we will set it up as a memorial of our\nnewly-gained liberty. Nobly is fulfilled the oath we swore to drive\nthe tyrants from our land. Let the pole mark the spot where the\nrevolution finished.\"\n\n\"But _is_ it finished?\" said Arnold of Melchthal. \"It is a nice\npoint. When the Emperor of Austria hears that we have killed his friend\nGessler, and burnt down all his fine new fortresses, will he not come\nhere to seek revenge?\"\n\n\"He will,\" said Tell. \"And let him come. And let him bring all his\nmighty armies. We have driven out the enemy that was in our land. We\nwill meet and drive away the enemy that comes from another country.\nSwitzerland is not easy to attack. There are but a few mountain passes\nby which the foe can approach. We will stop these with our bodies. And\none great strength we have: we are united. And united we need fear no\nfoe.\"\n\n\"Hurrah!\" shouted everybody.\n\n\"But who is this that approaches?\" said Tell. \"He seems excited.\nPerhaps he brings news.\"\n\nIt was R\u00f6sselmann the pastor, and he brought stirring news.\n\n\"These are strange times in which we live,\" said R\u00f6sselmann, coming up.\n\n\"Why, what has happened?\" cried everybody.\n\n\"Listen, and be amazed.\"\n\n\"Why, what's the matter?\"\n\n\"The Emperor----\"\n\n\"Yes?\"\n\n\"The Emperor is dead.\"\n\n\"What! dead?\"\n\n\"Dead!\"\n\n\"Impossible! How came you by the news?\"\n\n\"John M\u00fcller of Schaffhausen brought it. And he is a truthful man.\"\n\n\"But how did it happen?\"\n\n\"As the Emperor rode from Stein to Baden the lords of Eschenbach and\nTegerfelden, jealous, it is said, of his power, fell upon him with\ntheir spears. His bodyguard were on the other side of a stream--the\nEmperor had just crossed it--and could not come to his assistance. He\ndied instantly.\"\n\nBy the death of the Emperor the revolution in Switzerland was enabled\nto proceed without check. The successor of the Emperor had too much to\ndo in defending himself against the slayers of his father to think of\nattacking the Swiss, and by the time he was at leisure they were too\nstrong to be attacked. So the Swiss became free.\n\nAs for William Tell, he retired to his home, and lived there very\nhappily ever afterwards with his wife and his two sons, who in a few\nyears became very nearly as skilful in the use of the cross-bow as\ntheir father.\n\n\n\n\nEPILOGUE.\n\n\n     Some say the tale related here\n       Is amplified and twisted;\n     Some say it isn't very clear\n       That William Tell existed;\n     Some say he freed his country _so_,\n       The Governor demolished.\n     Perhaps he did. I only know\n       That taxes aren't abolished!\n\n\n\n\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n\n[The Illustrations and accompanying descriptive verses]\n\n\n\n\n[PROLOGUE.]\n\n     The Swiss, against their Austrian foes,\n       Had ne'er a soul to lead 'em,\n     Till Tell, as you've heard tell, arose\n       And guided them to freedom.\n     Tell's tale we tell again--an act\n       For which pray no one scold us--\n     This tale of Tell we tell, in fact,\n       As this Tell tale was told us.\n\n\n\n\nPLATE I.\n\n\n     Beneath a tyrant foreign yoke,\n       How love of freedom waxes!\n     (Especially when foreign folk\n       Come round collecting taxes.)\n     The Swiss, held down by Gessler's fist,\n       Would fain have used evasion;\n     Yet none there seemed who could resist\n       His methods of persuasion.\n\n[Illustration: GESSLER'S METHODS OF PERSUASION]\n\n\n\n\nPLATE II.\n\n\n     And pride so filled this Gessler's soul\n       (A monarch's pride outclassing),\n     He stuck his hat up on a pole,\n       That all might bow in passing.\n     Then rose the patriot, William Tell--\n       \"We've groaned 'neath Austria's sway first;\n     Must we be ruled by poles as well?\n       I've just a word to say first!\"\n\n[Illustration: THEY WOULD MARCH ABOUT, BEATING TIN CANS AND SHOUTING]\n\n\n\n\nPLATE III.\n\n\n     The crowd about the pole at morn\n       Used various \"persuaders\"--\n     They flung old cans (to prove their scorn\n       Of all tin-pot invaders);\n     And cabbage-stumps were freely dealt,\n       And apples (inexpensive),\n     And rotten eggs (to show they felt\n       A foreign yoke offensive).\n\n[Illustration: AN EGG FLEW ACROSS THE MEADOW, AND BURST OVER LEUTHOLD'S\nSHOULDER]\n\n\n\n\nPLATE IV.\n\n\n     Said William Tell, \"And has this cuss\n       For conquest such a passion\n     He needs must set his cap at us\n       In this exalted fashion?\"\n     And then the people gave a cry,\n       'Twixt joy and apprehension,\n     To see him pass the symbol by\n       With studied inattention!\n\n[Illustration: \"HERE! HI!\" SHOUTED THE SOLDIERS, \"STOP!\"]\n\n\n\n\nPLATE V.\n\n\n     At first the sentinel, aghast,\n       Glared like an angry dumb thing;\n     Then \"Hi!\" he shouted, \"not so fast,\n       You're overlooking something!\"\n     The sturdy Tell made no response;\n       Then through the hills resounded\n     A mighty thwack upon his sconce--\n       The people were astounded.\n\n[Illustration: THEY SAW FRIESSHARDT RAISE HIS PIKE, AND BRING IT DOWN\nWITH ALL HIS FORCE ON TELL'S HEAD]\n\n\n\n\nPLATE VI.\n\n\n     Could Tell an insult such as this\n       Ignore or pass? I doubt it!\n     No, no; that patriotic Swiss\n       Was very cross about it.\n     The people, interested now,\n       Exclaimed, \"Here! Stop a minute\n     If there's to be a jolly row,\n       By Jingo! we'll be in it!\"\n\n[Illustration: \"LOOK HERE!\" HE BEGAN. \"LOOK THERE!\" SAID FRIESSHARDT]\n\n\n\n\nPLATE VII.\n\n\n     Said Tell, \"This satrap of the Duke\n       Is sore in need of gumption;\n     With my good bow I will rebuke\n       Such arrow-gant presumption.\"\n     \"Stand back!\" the soldier says, says he;\n       \"This roughness is unseemly!\"\n     The people cried, \"We _will_ be FREE!\"\n       And so they were--extremely!\n\n[Illustration: FRIESSHARDT RUSHED TO STOP HIM]\n\n\n\n\nPLATE VIII.\n\n\n     They dealt that soldier thump on thump\n       (He hadn't any notion,\n     When on Tell's head he raised that bump,\n       Of raising this commotion);\n     Tell's arrow sped, the people crowed,\n       And loudly cheered his action;\n     While Tell's expressive features showed\n       A certain satisfaction.\n\n[Illustration: THE CROWD DANCED AND SHOUTED]\n\n\n\n\nPLATE IX.\n\n\n     Now, when the cat's away, the mice\n       Are very enterprising,\n     But cats return, and, in a trice--\n       Well, Gessler nipped that rising.\n     And when those soldiers lodged complaint\n       (Which truly didn't lack ground),\n     The people practised self-restraint\n       And fell into the background.\n\n[Illustration: \"COME, COME, COME!\" SAID GESSLER, \"TELL ME ALL ABOUT\nIT\"]\n\n\n\n\nPLATE X.\n\n\n     And Tell, before the tyrant hailed,\n       No patriot you'd have guessed him,\n     For even his stout bosom quailed\n       When Gessler thus addressed him:--\n     \"As you're the crack shot of these Swiss\n       (I've often heard it said so),\n     Suppose you take a shot at this,\n       Placed on your youngster's head--so!\"\n\n[Illustration: \"I HAVE HERE AN APPLE\"]\n\n\n\n\nPLATE XI.\n\n\n     \"The bearing,\" as they say, \"of that\n       Lay in the apple-cation,\"\n     And nobody will wonder at\n       A parent's agitation;\n     That anguish filled Tell's bosom proud\n       Needs scarcely to be stated,\n     And, it will be observed, the crowd\n       Was also agitated.\n\n[Illustration: THERE WAS A STIR OF EXCITEMENT IN THE CROWD]\n\n\n\n\nPLATE XII.\n\n\n     Said Gessler, \"This is all my eye!\n       Come, hurry up and _buck_ up!\n     Remember, if you miss, you die--\n       That ought to keep your pluck up.\n     The flying arrow may, no doubt,\n       Your offspring's bosom enter--\"\n     But here there rose a mighty shout:\n       \"By George! He's scored a centre!\"\n\n[Illustration: A MOMENT'S SUSPENSE, AND THEN A TERRIFIC CHEER AROSE\nFROM THE SPECTATORS]\n\n\n\n\nPLATE XIII.\n\n\n     But, as the arrow cleft the core,\n       Cried G. with indignation,\n     \"What was the second arrow for?\n       Come, no e-quiver-cation!\n     You had a second in your fist.\"\n       Said Tell, the missile grippin',\n     \"This shaft (had I that apple missed)\n       Was meant for you, my pippin!\"\n\n[Illustration: \"SEIZE THAT MAN!\" HE SHOUTED]\n\n\n\n\nPLATE XIV.\n\n\n     With rage the tyrant said, said he,\n       \"It's time to stop this prating;\n     I find your style of repartee\n       Extremely irritating.\n     You'll hang for this, be pleased to note.\"\n       On this they bound and gagged him\n     (For Gessler's castle booked by boat),\n       And through the village dragged him.\n\n[Illustration: HE WAS LED AWAY TO THE SHORE OF THE LAKE]\n\n\n\n\nPLATE XV.\n\n\n     But slips between the cup and lip,\n       When least expected, peer through--\n     A storm arose upon the trip\n       Which Tell alone could steer through.\n     Thus, of all hands he quickly got\n       (As you may see) the upper,\n     At Gessler took a parting shot,\n       And hurried home to supper.\n\n[Illustration: TELL'S SECOND ARROW HAD FOUND ITS MARK]\n\n\n\n\nEPILOGUE.\n\n\n     Some say the tale related here\n       Is amplified and twisted;\n     Some say it isn't very clear\n       That William Tell existed;\n     Some say he freed his country <i>so</i>,\n       The Governor demolished.\n     Perhaps he did. I only know\n       That taxes aren't abolished!","title":"William Tell Told Again","tradition":"myth-cosmogony","translated_text":null,"word_count":14784}