FUeRST.

O, we old men can scarce command ourselves! 
And can we wonder youth breaks out of bounds?

MELCH.

I’m only sorry for my father’s sake! 
To be away from him, that needs so much
My fostering care!  The governor detests him,
Because, whene’er occasion served, he has
Stood stoutly up for right and liberty. 
Therefore they’ll bear him hard—­the poor old man! 
And there is none to shield him from their grip. 
Come what come may, I must go home again.

FUeRST.

Compose yourself, and wait in patience till
We get some tidings o’er from Unterwald. 
Away I away!  I hear a knock!  Perhaps
A message from the Viceroy!  Get thee in! 
You are not safe from Landenberger’s[42] arm
In Uri, for these tyrants pull together.

MELCH.

They teach us Switzers what we ought to do.

FUeRST.

Away!  I’ll call you when the coast is clear.

     [MELCHTHAL retires.]

Unhappy youth!  I dare not tell him all
The evil that my boding heart predicts! 
Who’s there?  The door ne’er opens, but I look
For tidings of mishap.  Suspicion lurks
With darkling treachery in every nook. 
Even to our inmost rooms they force their way,
These myrmidons of power; and soon we’ll need
To fasten bolts and bars upon our doors.

[He opens the door, and steps back in surprise as WERNER STAUFFACHER enters.]

What do I see?  You, Werner?  Now, by Heaven! 
A valued guest, indeed.  No man e’er set
His foot across this threshold, more esteem’d,
Welcome! thrice welcome, Werner, to my roof! 
What brings you here?  What seek you here in Uri?

STAUFFACHER (shakes FUeRST by the hand).

The olden times and olden Switzerland.

FUeRST.

You bring them with you.  See how glad I am,
My heart leaps at the very sight of you. 
Sit down—­sit down, and tell me how you left
Your charming wife, fair Gertrude?  Iberg’s child,
And clever as her father.  Not a man
That wends from Germany, by Meinrad’s Cell,[43]
To Italy, but praises far and wide
Your house’s hospitality.  But say,
Have you come here direct from Flueelen,
And have you noticed nothing on your way,
Before you halted at my door?

STAUFFACHER (sits down).

I saw
A work in progress, as I came along,
I little thought to see—­that likes me ill.

FUeRST.

O friend! you’ve lighted on my thought at once.

STAUFF.

Such things in Uri ne’er were known before. 
Never was prison here in man’s remembrance,
Nor ever any stronghold but the grave.

FUeRST.

You name it well.  It is the grave of freedom.

STAUFF.

Friend, Walter Fuerst, I will be plain with you. 
No idle curiosity it is
That brings me here, but heavy cares.  I left
Thraldom at home, and thraldom meets me here. 
Our wrongs, e’en now, are more than we can bear,
And who shall tell us where they are to end? 
From eldest time the Switzer has been free,
Accustom’d only to the mildest rule. 
Such things as now we suffer ne’er were known,
Since herdsman first drove cattle to the hills.