This page has been validated.
WILLIAM TELL
97
“Tell,” said Gessler.
Tell looked at him without speaking.
“Take the helm, Tell,” said Gressler, “and steer the ship through those rocks into the bay beyond, or instant death shall be your lot.”
Without a word Tell took the helmsman’s place, peering keenly into the cloud of foam before him. To right and to left he turned the vessel's head, and to right again, into the very heart of the spray. They were right among the rocks now, but the ship did not strike on them. Quivering and pitching, she was hurried along, until of a sudden the spray-cloud was behind her, and in front the calm waters of the bay.
Gessler beckoned to the helmsman.
“Take the helm again,” he said.
He pointed to Tell.
“Bind him,” he said to the soldiers.
