William Tell Told Again | Page 4

Palace
was rung for the second time. Arnold of Sewa went in, and the door
was banged behind him.
Five minutes later he came out, sucking the first finger of his left hand.
"No," he said; "it can't be done. The tyrant has convinced me."
"I knew he would," said Arnold of Melchthal.
"Then I think you might have warned me," snapped Arnold of Sewa,
dancing with the pain of his burnt finger.
"Was it hot?"
"Boiling."
"Ah!"
"Then he really won't let us off the taxes?" asked the crowd in
disappointed voices.
"No."
"Then the long and short of it is," said Walter Fürst, drawing a deep
breath, "that we must rebel!"
"Rebel?" cried everybody.
"Rebel!" repeated Walter firmly.
"We will!" cried everybody.
"Down with the tyrant!" shouted Walter Fürst.
"Down with the taxes!" shrieked the crowd.
A scene of great enthusiasm followed. The last words were spoken by

Werner Stauffacher.
"We want a leader," he said.
"I don't wish to thrust myself forward," began Arnold of Sewa, "but I
must say, if it comes to leading--"
"And I know the very man for the job," said Werner Stauffacher.
"William Tell!"
"Hurrah for William Tell!" roared the crowd, and, taking the time from
Werner Stauffacher, they burst into the grand old Swiss chant which
runs as follows:
"For he's a jolly good fellow! For he's a jolly good fellow!! For he's a
jolly good fe-e-ll-ow!!!! And so say all of us!"
And having sung this till they were all quite hoarse, they went off to
their beds to get a few hours' sleep before beginning the labours of the
day.


CHAPTER III
In a picturesque little châlet high up in the mountains, covered with
snow and edelweiss (which is a flower that grows in the Alps, and you
are not allowed to pick it), dwelt William Tell, his wife Hedwig, and
his two sons, Walter and William. Such a remarkable man was Tell that
I think I must devote a whole chapter to him and his exploits. There
was really nothing he could not do. He was the best shot with the
cross-bow in the whole of Switzerland. He had the courage of a lion,
the sure-footedness of a wild goat, the agility of a squirrel, and a
beautiful beard. If you wanted someone to hurry across desolate
ice-fields, and leap from crag to crag after a chamois, Tell was the man
for your money. If you wanted a man to say rude things to the
Governor, it was to Tell that you applied first. Once when he was

hunting in the wild ravine of Schächenthal, where men were hardly
ever to be seen, he met the Governor face to face. There was no way of
getting past. On one side the rocky wall rose sheer up, while below the
river roared. Directly Gessler caught sight of Tell striding along with
his cross-bow, his cheeks grew pale and his knees tottered, and he sat
down on a rock feeling very unwell indeed.
"Aha!" said Tell. "Oho! so it's you, is it? I know you. And a nice sort of
person you are, with your taxes on bread and sheep, aren't you! You'll
come to a bad end one of these days, that's what will happen to you. Oh,
you old reprobate! Pooh!" And he had passed on with a look of scorn,
leaving Gessler to think over what he had said. And Gessler ever since
had had a grudge against him, and was only waiting for a chance of
paying him out.
"Mark my words," said Tell's wife, Hedwig, when her husband told her
about it after supper that night--"mark my words, he will never forgive
you."
"I will avoid him," said Tell. "He will not seek me."
"Well, mind you do," was Hedwig's reply.
On another occasion, when the Governor's soldiers were chasing a
friend of his, called Baumgarten, and when Baumgarten's only chance
of escape was to cross the lake during a fierce storm, and when the
ferryman, sensibly remarking, "What! must I rush into the jaws of
death? No man that hath his senses would do that!" refused to take out
his boat even for twice his proper fare, and when the soldiers rode
down to seize their prey with dreadful shouts, Tell jumped into the boat,
and, rowing with all his might, brought his friend safe across after a
choppy passage. Which made Gessler the Governor still more angry
with him.
But it was as a marksman that Tell was so extraordinary. There was
nobody in the whole of the land who was half so skilful. He attended
every meeting for miles around where there was a shooting competition,
and every time he won first prize. Even his rivals could not help

praising his skill. "Behold!"