Part 234 (1/2)

[It begins to thunder.

KUONI.

Quick, ferrymen, and set the good man over.

RUODI.

Impossible! a storm is close at hand, Wait till it pa.s.s! You must.

BAUMGARTEN.

Almighty heavens!

I cannot wait; the least delay is death.

KUONI (to the fisherman).

Push out. G.o.d 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).

G.o.d 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 sh.o.r.es.

There is the boat to carry me across, Yet must I lie here helpless and forlorn.

KUONI.

Look! who comes here?

RUODI.

'Tis Tell, brave Tell, of Buerglen. [5]

[Enter TELL, with a crossbow.

TELL.

Who is the man that here implores for aid?