TELL.
The man that bears a quick and steady eye,
And trusts in God, and his own lusty thews,
Passes, with scarce a scar, through every danger.
The mountain cannot awe the mountain child.
[Having finished his work, he lays aside his tools.]
And now, methinks, the door will hold awhile,
Axe in the house oft saves the carpenter.
[Takes his cap.]
HEDW.
Whither away?
TELL.
To Altdorf, to your father.
HEDW.
You have some dangerous enterprise in view?
Confess!
TELL.
Why think you so?
HEDW.
Some scheme's on foot
Against the governors. There was a Diet
Held on the Rootli—that I know—and you
Are one of the confederacy, I'm sure.
TELL.
I was not there. Yet will I not hold back,
Whene'er my country calls me to her aid.