the groans of the people he was led away to the shore of the lake,
where Gessler's ship lay at anchor.

   [Illustration: PLATE XIV]

   "Our last chance is gone," said the people to one another. "Where shall
we look now for a leader?"

   The castle of Küssnacht lay on the opposite side of the lake, a mighty
mass of stone reared on a mightier crag rising sheer out of the waves,
which boiled and foamed about its foot. Steep rocks of fantastic shape
hemmed it in, and many were the vessels which perished on these, driven
thither by the frequent storms that swept over the lake.

   Gessler and his men, Tell in their midst, bound and unarmed, embarked
early in the afternoon at Flüelen, which was the name of the harbour
where the Governor's ship had been moored. Flüelen was about two miles
from Küssnacht.

   When they had arrived at the vessel they went on board, and Tell was
placed at the bottom of the hold. It was pitch dark, and rats scampered
over his body as he lay. The ropes were cast off, the sails filled, and
the ship made her way across the lake, aided by a favouring breeze.

   A large number of the Swiss people had followed Tell and his captors to
the harbour, and stood gazing sorrowfully after the ship as it
diminished in the distance. There had been whispers of an attempted
rescue, but nobody had dared to begin it, and the whispers had led to
nothing. Few of the people carried weapons, and the soldiers were clad
in armour, and each bore a long pike or a sharp sword. As Arnold of
Sewa would have said if he had been present, what the people wanted was
prudence. It was useless to attack men so thoroughly able to defend
themselves.

   Therefore the people looked on and groaned, but did nothing.

   For some time the ship sped easily on her way and through a calm sea.
Tell lay below, listening to the trampling of the sailors overhead, as
they ran about the deck, and gave up all hope of ever seeing his home
and his friends again.

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