[Taskmaster retires up the stage.]
MAS. M.
I'll drown the mallet in the deepest lake,
That served my hand on this accursed pile.
[Enter Tell and Stauffacher.]
STAUFF.
O, that I had not lived to see this sight!
TELL.
Here 'tis not good to be. Let us proceed.
STAUFF.
Am I in Uri,—Uri, freedom's home?
MAS. M.
O, sir, if you could only see the vaults
Beneath these towers. The man that tenants them
Will ne'er hear cock crow more.
STAUFF.
O God! O God!
MASON.
Look at these ramparts and these buttresses,
That seem as they were built to last for ever.
TELL.
What hands have built, my friend, hands can destroy.