Stüssi. Were you o' board i' th' storm?
Friess.That were we;
While I live, I shall remember 't.
Stüssi.Stay, stay!
O, tell me!
Friess. Cannot; must run on t' announce
His lordship in the Castle. [Exit.
Stüssi.Had these fellows
I' th' boat been honest people, 't would have sunk
With ev'ry soul of them. But for such rakehells,
Neither fire nor flood will kill them. [He looks round.] Whither
Went the Mountain-man was talking with me?[Exit.
Gessler and Rudolph der Harras on horseback.
Gessler. Say what you like, I am the Kaiser's servant,
And must think of pleasing him. He sent me
Not to caress these hinds, to soothe or nurse them:
Obedience is the word! The point at issue is
Shall Boor or Kaiser here be lord o' th' land.
Armgart. Now is the moment! Now for my petition!
[Approaches timidly.
Gessler. This Hat at Aldorf, mark you, I set up
Not for the joke's sake, or to try the hearts
O' th' people; these I know of old: but that
They might be taught to bend their necks to me,
Which are too straight and stiff: and in the way
Where they are hourly passing, I have planted
This offence, that so their eyes may fall on't,
And remind them of their lord, whom they forget.
Rudolph. But yet the people have some rights—