University of Virginia Library

SCENE I.

—A Mountain with Mist.
Gesler is seen descending the Mountain with a hunting-pole.
Ges.
Alone, alone! and every step the mist
Thickens around me! On these mountain tracks
To lose one's way, they say, is sometimes death.
What hoa! holloa!—No tongue replies to me!
No thunder hath the horror of this silence!
I dare not stop!—The day, though not half run,
Is not less sure to end night; and night,
Dreary when through the social haunts of men
Her solemn darkness walks, in such a place
As this, comes wrapp'd in most appalling fear!
I dare not stop; nor dare I, yet, proceed;
Begirt with hidden danger! If I take
This hand, it carries me still deeper into
The wild and savage solitudes I'd shun,
Where once to faint with hunger is to die!
If this, it leads me to the precipice,
Whose brink with fatal horror rivets him
That treads upon't; till, drunk with fear, he reels
Into the gaping void, and headlong down
Plunges to still more hideous death! Curséd slaves!
To let me wander from them! [Thunder.]
Hoa!—Holloa!
My voice sounds weaker to mine ear! I've not
The strength to call I had; and through my limbs
Cold tremor runs, and sickening faintness seizes
On my heart! O heaven, have mercy! Do not see
The colour of the hands I lift to thee!
Look only on the strait wherein I stand,
And pity it! Let me not sink! Uphold,—
Support me! Mercy! mercy! I shall die!

[He leans against a rock, stupified with terror and exhaustion—it grows darker and darker—the rain pours down in torrents, and a furious wind arises —the mountain streams begin to swell and roar. Albert is seen descending by the side of one of the streams, which in his course he crosses with the help of his pole.
Alb.
I'll breathe upon this level, if the wind
Will let me. Ha! a rock to shelter me!
Thanks to't. A man, and fainting! Courage, friend,
Courage! A stranger that has lost his way—
Take heart!—Take heart; you're safe. How feel you now?

[Gives him drink from a flask.
Ges.
Better.

Alb.
You have lost your way upon the hill?

Ges.
I have.

Alb.
And whither would you go?

Ges.
To Altorf.

Alb.
I'll guide you thither.

Ges.
You're a child.

Alb.
I know
The way. The track I've come is harder far
To find.

Ges.
The track you've come! What mean you? Sure
You have not been still farther in the mountains?

Alb.
I've travelled from Mount Faigel.

Ges.
No one with thee?

Alb.
No one but God.

Ges.
Do you not fear these storms?

Alb.
God's in the storm!

Ges.
And there are torrents, too,
That must be cross'd.

Alb.
God's by the torrent, too!

Ges.
You're but a child.

Alb.
God will be with a child!

Ges.
You're sure you know the way?

Alb.
'Tis but to keep
The side of yonder stream.

Ges.
But guide me safe,
I'll give thee gold!

Alb.
I'll guide thee safe without.

Ges.
Here's earnest for thee. [Offers gold.]
Here—I'll double that,
Yea, treble it, let me but see the gate
Of Altorf. Why do you refuse the gold?
Take't.

Alb.
No.

Ges.
You shall.

Alb.
I will not.

Ges.
Why?

Alb.
Because
I do not covet it; and, though I did,
It would be wrong to take it as the price
Of doing one a kindness.

Ges.
Ha!—who taught
Thee that?

Alb.
My father.

Ges.
Does he live in Altorf?

Alb.
No, in the mountains.

Ges.
How!—a mountaineer?
He should become a tenant of the city;
He'd gain by't.

Alb.
Not so much as he might lose by't.

Ges.
What might he lose by't?

Alb.
Liberty.

Ges.
Indeed!
He also taught thee that?

Alb.
He did.

Ges.
His name?

Alb.
This is the way to Altorf, sir.

Ges.
I'd know
Thy father's name.

Alb.
The day is wasting—We
Have far to go.

Ges.
Thy father's name, I say?

Alb.
I will not tell it thee.

Ges.
Not tell it me!
Why?

Alb.
You may be an enemy of his.

Ges.
May be, a friend.

Alb.
May be; but should you be
An enemy—Although I would not tell you
My father's name, I'd guide you safe to Altorf.
Will you follow me?

Ges.
Ne'er mind thy father's name:
What would it profit me to know't? Thy hand;
We are not enemies.

Alb.
I never had
An enemy!

Ges.
Lead on.

Alb.
Advance your staff
As you descend; and fix it well. Come on!

Ges.
What! must we take that steep?

Alb.
'Tis nothing! Come!
I'll go before—Ne'er fear. Come on—Come on!

[They go out.