tuated on the summit of Mount Rigi
between Lake Lucerne, or the Lake of the Four Cantons as it is
sometimes called, and Lake Zug. It was reached by crossing Lake Lucerne.

The prisoner was placed bound in the bottom of a boat, and with his
guards, the rowers, an inexperienced pilot, and Gessler in command, the
boat was headed for Kussnacht.

When about halfway across the lake a sudden and violent storm
overwhelmed the party. They were in peril of their lives. The rowers
and pilot were panic-stricken, and powerless in face of the danger that
threatened them.

Tell's fame as a boatman was as widespread as that of his skill as an
archer. The rowers cried aloud in their terror that he was the only man
in Switzerland that could save them from death. Gessler immediately
commanded him to be released from his bonds and given the helm.

Tell succeeded in guiding the vessel to the shore. Then seizing his bow
and arrows, which his captors had thrown beside him, he sprang ashore
at a point known as "Tell's Leap." The boat, rebounding, after he
leaped from it was again driven out on the lake before any of the
remainder of its occupants could effect a landing. After a time,
however, the fury of the storm abated, and they reached the shore in
safety.

In the meantime Tell had concealed himself in a defile in the mountain
through which Gessler would have to pass on his way to Kussnacht. There
he lay in wait for his persecutor who followed in hot pursuit.

Vowing vengeance as he went, Gessler declared that if the fugitive did
not give himself up to justice, every day that passed by should cost
him the life of his wife or one of his children. While the tyrant was
yet speaking, an arrow shot by an unerring hand pierced his heart. Tell
had taken vengeance into his own hands.

The death of Gessler was the signal for a general uprising. The
oath-bound men of Rutli saw that this was their great opportunity. They
called to their countrymen to follow them to freedom or death.

Gessler's crowning act of tyranny--his inhuman punishment of Tell--had
roused the spirit of rebellion in the hearts of even the meekest and
most submissive of the peasants. Gladly, then, did they respond to the
call of the leaders of the insurrection.

The legend says that on New Year's Eve, 1308, Stauffacher, with a
chosen band of followers, climbed the mountain which led to
Landenberg's fortress castle of Rotzberg. There they were assisted by
an inmate of the