"Very possibly, your Excellency."
"You were hardly polite, Tell."
"If I offended you I am sorry."
"I am glad to hear it, Tell. I think you will be even sorrier before long. So you"ve been ill-treating my soldiers, eh?"
"It was not I who touched them."
"Oh, so you didn"t touch them? Ah! But you defied my power by refusing to bow down to the hat. I set up that hat to prove the people"s loyalty. I am afraid you are not loyal, Tell."
"I was a little thoughtless, not disloyal. I pa.s.sed the hat without thinking."
"You should always think, Tell. It is very dangerous not to do so. And I suppose that you shot your arrow through the hat without thinking?"
"I was a little carried away by excitement, your Excellency."
"Dear, dear! Carried away by excitement, were you? You must really be more careful, Tell. One of these days you will be getting yourself into trouble. But it seems to have been a very fine shot. You _are_ a capital marksman, I believe?"
"Father"s the best shot in all Switzerland," piped a youthful voice.
"He can hit an apple on a tree a hundred yards away. I"ve seen him.
Can"t you, father?"
Walter, who had run away when the fighting began, had returned on seeing his father in the hands of the soldiers.
Gessler turned a cold eye upon him.
"Who is this?" he asked.
CHAPTER XI
"It is my son Walter, your Excellency," said Tell.
"Your son? Indeed. This is very interesting. Have you any more children?"
"I have one other boy."
"And which of them do you love the most, eh?"
"I love them both alike, your Excellency."
"Dear me! Quite a happy family. Now, listen to me, Tell. I know you are fond of excitement, so I am going to try to give you a little. Your son says that you can hit an apple on a tree a hundred yards away, and I am sure you have every right to be very proud of such a feat.
Friesshardt!"
"Your Excellency?"
"Bring me an apple."
Friesshardt picked one up. Some apples had been thrown at him and Leuthold earlier in the day, and there were several lying about.
"Which I"m afraid as how it"s a little bruised, your Excellency," he said, "having hit me on the helmet."
"Thank you. I do not require it for eating purposes," said Gessler.
"Now, Tell, I have here an apple--a simple apple, not over-ripe. I should like to test that feat of yours. So take your bow--I see you have it in your hand--and get ready to shoot. I am going to put this apple on your son"s head. He will be placed a hundred yards away from you, and if you do not hit the apple with your first shot your life shall pay forfeit."
[Ill.u.s.tration: PLATE X]
And he regarded Tell with a look of malicious triumph.
"Your Excellency, it cannot be!" cried Tell; "the thing is too monstrous. Perhaps your Excellency is pleased to jest. You cannot bid a father shoot an apple from off his son"s head! Consider, your Excellency!"
"You shall shoot the apple from off the head of this boy," said Gessler sternly. "I do not jest. That is my will."
"Sooner would I die," said Tell.
"If you do not shoot you die with the boy. Come, come, Tell, why so cautious? They always told me that you loved perilous enterprises, and yet when I give you one you complain. I could understand anybody else shrinking from the feat. But you! Hitting apples at a hundred yards is child"s play to you. And what does it matter where the apple is--whether it is on a tree or on a boy"s head? It is an apple just the same.
Proceed, Tell."
The crowd, seeing a discussion going on, had left the edge of the meadow and cl.u.s.tered round to listen. A groan of dismay went up at the Governor"s words.
"Down on your knees, boy," whispered Rudolph der Harras to Walter--"down on your knees, and beg his Excellency for your life."
"I won"t!" said Walter stoutly.
"Come," said Gessler, "clear a path there--clear a path! Hurry yourselves. I won"t have this loitering. Look you, Tell: attend to me for a moment. I find you in the middle of this meadow deliberately defying my authority and making sport of my orders. I find you in the act of stirring up discontent among my people with speeches. I might have you executed without ceremony. But do I? No. n.o.body shall say that Hermann Gessler the Governor is not kind-hearted. I say to myself, "I will give this man one chance." I place your fate in your own skilful hands. How can a man complain of harsh treatment when he is made master of his own fate? Besides, I don"t ask you to do anything difficult. I merely bid you perform what must be to you a simple shot. You boast of your unerring aim. Now is the time to prove it. Clear the way there!"
Walter Furst flung himself on his knees before the Governor.
"Your Highness," he cried, "none deny your power. Let it be mingled with mercy. It is excellent, as an English poet will say in a few hundred years, to have a giant"s strength, but it is tyrannous to use it like a giant. Take the half of my possessions, but spare my son-in-law."
But Walter Tell broke in impatiently, and bade his grandfather rise, and not kneel to the tyrant.
"Where must I stand?" asked he. "I"m not afraid. Father can hit a bird upon the wing."
"You see that lime-tree yonder," said Gessler to his soldiers; "take the boy and bind him to it."
"I will not be bound!" cried Walter. "I am not afraid. I"ll stand still. I won"t breathe. If you bind me I"ll kick!"
"Let us bind your eyes, at least," said Rudolph der Harras.
"Do you think I fear to see father shoot?" said Walter. "I won"t stir an eyelash. Father, show the tyrant how you can shoot. He thinks you"re going to miss. Isn"t he an old donkey!"
"Very well, young man," muttered Gessler, "we"ll see who is laughing five minutes from now." And once more he bade the crowd stand back and leave a way clear for Tell to shoot.