want

   " said Arnold of Sewa, who had seen the beginning
of the fight from the window of his cottage and had hurried to join it,
and, as usual, to give advice to everybody—"what you want here is
guile. That's what you want—guile, cunning. Not brute force, mind you.
It's no good rushing at a man in armour and hitting him. He only hits
you back. You should employ guile. Thus. Observe."

   He had said these words standing on the outskirts of the crowd. He now
grasped his cudgel and began to steal slowly towards Friesshardt, who
had just given Werni the huntsman such a hit with his pike that the
sound of it was still echoing in the mountains, and was now busily
engaged in disposing of Jost Weiler. Arnold of Sewa crept stealthily
behind him, and was just about to bring his cudgel down on his head,
when Leuthold, catching sight of him, saved his comrade by driving his
pike with all his force into Arnold's side. Arnold said afterwards that
it completely took his breath away. He rolled over, and after being
trodden on by everybody for some minutes, got up and limped back to his
cottage, where he went straight to bed, and did not get up for two
days.

   All this time Tell had been standing a little way off with his arms
folded, looking on. While it was a quarrel simply between himself and
Friesshardt he did not mind fighting. But when the crowd joined in he
felt that it was not fair to help so many men attack one, however badly
that one might have behaved.

   He now saw that the time had come to put an end to the disturbance. He
drew an arrow from his quiver, placed it in his crossbow, and pointed
it at the hat. Friesshardt, seeing what he intended to do, uttered a
shout of horror and rushed to stop him. But at that moment somebody in
the crowd hit him so hard with a spade that his helmet was knocked over
his eyes, and before he could raise it again the deed was done. Through
the cap and through the pole and out at the other side sped the arrow.
And the first thing he saw when he opened his eyes was Tell standing
beside him twirling his moustache, while all around the crowd danced
and shouted and threw their caps into the air with joy.

   [Illustration: PLATE VII]

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