Give me your hands, ye venerable sires!
Thine, Melchthal, too! Nay, do not hesitate, Nor from me turn distrustfully away.
Accept my plighted vow--my knightly oath!
FURST.
Give him your hands, my friends! A heart like his, That sees and owns its error, claims our trust.
MELCH.
You ever held the peasantry in scorn, What surety have we, that you mean us fair?
RUD.
Oh, think not of the error of my youth!
STAUFF.(to Melch.).
Be one! They were our father's latest words.
See they be not forgotten!
MELCH.
Take my hand,--
A peasant's hand,--and with it, noble sir, The gage and the assurance of a man!
Without us, sir, what would the nobles be?
Our order is more ancient, too, than yours!
RUD.
I honour it--will shield it with my sword!
MELCH.
The arm, my lord, that tames the stubborn earth, And makes its bosom blossom with increase, Can also shield its owner's breast at need.
RUD.
Then you shall shield my breast, and I will yours, Thus each be strengthen'd by the other's strength.
Yet wherefore talk ye, while our native land Is still to alien tyranny a prey?
First let us sweep the foemen from the soil, Then reconcile our difference in peace!
[After a moment's pause.]
How! You are silent! Not a word for me?
And have I yet no title to your trust?--
Then must I force my way, despite your will, Into the League you secretly have form'd.
You've held a Diet on the Rootli,--I
Know this,--know all that was transacted there;And though not trusted with your secret, IHave kept it closely like a sacred pledge.
Trust me--I never was my country's foe, Nor would I ever have against you stood!
Yet you did wrong--to put your rising off.
Time presses! We must strike, and swiftly too!
Already Tell is lost through your delay.
STAUFF.
We swore that we should wait till Christmastide.
RUD.
I was not there,--I did not take the oath.
If you delay, I will not!
MELCH.
What! You would--
RUD.
I count me now among the country's chiefs, And my first duty is to guard your rights.
FURST.
Your nearest and holiest duty is Within the earth to lay these dear remains.
RUD.
When we have set the country free, we'll place Our fresh victorious wreaths upon his bier.
Oh, my dear friends, 'tis not your cause alone!--I with the tyrants have a cause to fight, That more concerns myself.My Bertha's gone, Has disappear'd,--- been carried off by stealth,--Stolen from amongst us by their ruffian hands!
STAUFF.
So fell an outrage has the tyrant dared Against a lady free and nobly born!
RUD.
Alas! my friends, I promised help to you, And I must first implore it for myself!
She that I love, is stolen--is forced away, And who knows where she's by the tyrant hid, Or with what outrages his ruffian crew May force her into nuptials she detests?
Forsake me not!--Oh, help me to her rescue!
She loves you! Well, oh, well, has she deserved, That all should rush to arms in her behalf!
STAUFF.
What course do you propose?
RUD.
Alas! I know not.
In the dark mystery that shrouds her fate,--In the dread agony of this suspense,--
Where I can grasp at nought of certainty,--One single ray of comfort beams upon me.
From out the ruins of the tyrant's power Alone can she be rescued from the grave.
Their strongholds must be levell'd, every one, Ere we can penetrate her dungeon walls.
MELCH.
Come, lead us on! We follow! Why defer Until to-morrow, what to-day may do?
Tell's arm was free when we at Rootli swore.
This foul enormity was yet undone.
And change of circumstance brings change of vow;Who such a coward as to waver still?
RUD.(to Walter Furst).
Meanwhile to arms, and wait in readiness.
The fiery signal on the mountain tops!
For swifter than a boat can scour the lake Shall you have tidings of our victory;And when you see the welcome flames ascend Then, like the lightning, swoop upon the foe, And lay the despots and their creatures low!
