[TASKMASTER retires up the stage.
MASTER MASON.
I'll drown the mallet in the deepest lake,
That served my hand on this accursed pile.
[Enter TELL and STAUFFACHER.
STAUFFACHER.
Oh, that I had not lived to see this sight!
TELL.
Here 'tis not good to be. Let us proceed.
STAUFFACHER.
Am I in Uri, in the land of freedom?
MASTER MASON.
Oh, sir, if you could only see the vaults
Beneath these towers. The man that tenants them
Will never hear the cock crow more.
STAUFFACHER.
O God!
MASTER MASON.
Look at these ramparts and these buttresses,
That seem as they were built to last forever.
TELL.
Hands can destroy whatever hands have reared.