dost thou hesitate?" questions his persecutor. "Thou hast deserved
death, and I could compel thee to undergo the punishment; but in my
clemency I place thy fate in thy own skillful hands. He who is the
master of his destiny cannot complain that his sentence is a severe
one. Thou art proud of thy steady eye and unerring aim; now, hunter, is
the moment to prove thy skill. The object is worthy of thee--the prize
is worth contending for. To strike the center of a target is an
ordinary achievement; but the true master of his art is he who is
always certain, and whose heart, hand, and eye are firm and steady
under every trial."

At length Tell nerves himself for the ordeal, raises his bow, and takes
aim at the target on his son's head. Before firing, however, he
concealed a second arrow under his vest. His movement did not escape
Gessler's notice.

The marksman fires. The apple falls from his boy's head, cleft in twain
by the arrow.

Even Gessler is loud in his admiration of Tell's skill. "By heaven," he
cries, "he has clove the apple exactly in the center. Let us do
justice; it is indeed a masterpiece of skill."

Tell's friends congratulate him. He is about to set out for his home
with the child who has been saved to him from the very jaws of death as
it were. But Gessler stays him.

"Thou hast concealed a second arrow in thy bosom," he says, sternly
addressing Tell. "What didst thou intend to do with it?" Tell replies
that such is the custom of all hunters.

Gessler is not satisfied and urges him to confess his real motive.
"Speak truly and frankly," he says; "say what thou wilt, I promise thee
thy life. To what purpose didst thou destine the second arrow?"

Tell can no longer restrain his indignation, and, fixing his eyes
steadily on Gessler, he answers "Well then, my lord, since you assure
my life, I will speak the truth without reserve. If I had struck my
beloved child, with the second arrow I would have transpierced thy
heart. Assuredly that time I should not have missed my mark."

"Villain!" exclaims Gessler, "I have promised thee life upon my
knightly word; I will keep my pledge. But since I know thee now, and
thy rebellious heart, I will remove thee to a place where thou shalt
never more behold the light of sun or moon. Thus only shall I be
sheltered from thy arrows."

He orders the guards to seize and bind Tell, saying, "I will myself at
once conduct him to Kussnacht."

The fortress of Kussnacht was si