All were waiting for a signal to rise.
The story tells us that just at this time Gessler, the Austrian
governor, who was a cruel tyrant, hung a cap on a high pole in the
market-place in the village of Altorf, and forced everyone who passed
to bow before it. Tell accompanied by his little son, happened to
pass through the marketplace. He refused to bow before the cap and
was arrested. Gessler offered to release him if he would shoot an
apple from the head of his son. The governor hated Tell and made
this offer hoping that the mountaineer's hand would tremble and
that he would kill his own son. It is said that Tell shot the apple
from his son's head but that Gessler still refused to release him.
That night as Tell was being carried across the lake to prison a
storm came up. In the midst of the storm he sprang from the boat
to an over-hanging rock and made his escape. It is said that he
killed the tyrant. Some people do not believe this story, but the
Swiss do, and if you go to Lake Lucerne some day they will show
you the very rock upon which Tell stepped when he sprang from the
boat.
That night the signal fires were lighted on every mountain and
by the dawn of day the village of Altorf was filled with hardy
mountaineers, armed and ready to fight for their liberty.
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