Wilhelm Tell (2 of 46)

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SCENE I. (CONT'D)

WERNI.
A safe return, my friend!

KUONI.
The same to you?
Men come not always back from tracks like yours.

RUODI.
But who comes here, running at topmost speed?

WERNI.
I know the man; 'tis Baumgart of Alzellen.

CONRAD BAUMGARTEN (rushing in breathless).
For God's sake, ferryman, your boat!

RUODI.
How now?
Why all this haste?

BAUMGARTEN.
Cast off! My life's at stake!
Set me across!

KUONI.
Why, what's the matter, friend?

WERNI.
Who are pursuing you? First tell us that.

BAUMGARTEN (to the fisherman).
Quick, quick, even now they're close upon my heels!
The viceroy's horsemen are in hot pursuit!
I'm a lost man should they lay hands upon me.

RUODI.
Why are the troopers in pursuit of you?

BAUMGARTEN.
First save my life and then I'll tell you all.

WERNI.
There's blood upon your garments--how is this?

BAUMGARTEN.
The imperial seneschal, who dwelt at Rossberg.

KUONI.
How! What! The Wolfshot? [3] Is it he pursues you?

BAUMGARTEN.
He'll ne'er hunt man again; I've settled him.

ALL (starting back).
Now, God forgive you, what is this you've done!

BAUMGARTEN.
What every free man in my place had done.
I have but used mine own good household right
'Gainst him that would have wronged my wife--my honor.

KUONI.
And has he wronged you in your honor, then?

BAUMGARTEN.
That he did not fulfil his foul desire
Is due to God and to my trusty axe.

WERNI.
You've cleft his skull, then, have you, with your axe?

KUONI.
Oh, tell us all! You've time enough, before
The boat can be unfastened from its moorings.

BAUMGARTEN.
When I was in the forest, felling timber,
My wife came running out in mortal fear:
"The seneschal," she said, "was in my house,
Had ordered her to get a bath prepared,
And thereupon had taken unseemly freedoms,
From which she rid herself and flew to me."
Armed as I was I sought him, and my axe
Has given his bath a bloody benediction.

WERNI.
And you did well; no man can blame the deed.

KUONI.
The tyrant! Now he has his just reward!
We men of Unterwald have owed it long.

BAUMGARTEN.
The deed got wind, and now they're in pursuit.
Heavens! whilst we speak, the time is flying fast.

[It begins to thunder.

KUONI.
Quick, ferrymen, and set the good man over.

RUODI.
Impossible! a storm is close at hand,
Wait till it pass! You must.

BAUMGARTEN.
Almighty heavens!
I cannot wait; the least delay is death.

KUONI (to the fisherman).
Push out. God with you! We should help our neighbors;
The like misfortune may betide us all.

[Thunder and the roaring of the wind.

RUODI.
The south wind's up! [4] See how the lake is rising!
I cannot steer against both storm and wave.

BAUMGARTEN (clasping him by the knees).
God so help you, as now you pity me!

WERNI.
His life's at stake. Have pity on him, man!

KUONI.
He is a father: has a wife and children.

[Repeated peals of thunder.

RUODI.
What! and have I not, then, a life to lose,
A wife and child at home as well as he?
See, how the breakers foam, and toss, and whirl,
And the lake eddies up from all its depths!
Right gladly would I save the worthy man,
But 'tis impossible, as you must see.

BAUMGARTEN (still kneeling).
Then must I fall into the tyrant's hands,
And with the port of safety close in sight!
Yonder it lies! My eyes can measure it,
My very voice can echo to its shores.
There is the boat to carry me across,
Yet must I lie here helpless and forlorn.

FOOTNOTES.

[3] In German, Wolfenschiessen--a young man of noble family, and a
native of Unterwalden, who attached himself to the house of Austria and
was appointed Burgvogt, or seneschal, of the castle of Rossberg. He was
killed by Baumgarten in the manner and for the cause mentioned in the
text.

[4] Literally, the Foehn is loose! "When," says Mueller, in his History
of Switzerland, "the wind called the Foehn is high the navigation of the
lake becomes extremely dangerous. Such is its vehemence that the laws of
the country require that the fires shall be extinguished in the houses
while it lasts, and the night watches are doubled. The inhabitants lay
heavy stones upon the roofs of their houses to prevent their being blown
away."

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