Not far from Grütlii, resting apparently upon the water, at the base of
one of these cliffs, is what appears at first sight to be a pretty green
and white summer-house, open towards the lake. It is Tell's Chapel,
built upon a shelf of rock, and only approachable from the water.
Here--so the story runs--William Tell sprang ashore, and escaped the
tyrant Gessler. We sweep around this promontory and gain the last bay
where lies Fluellen--a ragged village, swarming with tourists,
vetturinos, and diligences. Among the carriages we find our own. It is a
roomy landau, luxuriously lined with scarlet velvet, drawn by three
horses which wear tinkling bells, and is capable of carrying six
passengers. The top is thrown back, but a kind of calash-shade screens
from the sun the occupants of what we should call the driver's seat. Our
driver's place is a narrow board behind the horses. One crack of a long
whip, and we are off at a rattling pace over the hard road, smooth as a
floor.
For the first day we are to follow the pass of St. Gothard--that
well-travelled highway which leads through mountain defiles into Italy.
We dashed by Altorf, where the family of Queen Victoria's husband
originated, passing the open square in which William Tell shot the apple
from the head of his son. An old man is watering a horse at the basin of
the stone fountain which marks the spot where the father stood. All this
valley is sacred to the memory of William Tell. In a village near by he
was born; in the mountain stream, just beyond, he is said to have lost
his life in the attempt to save a drowning child. After Altorf, the road
winds among the meadows, though the mountains rise on every side, with
_châlets_ perched upon points which seem inaccessible, so steep are
their sides. It is haying time, and men and women are at work in the
fields and upon the mountain-sides, carefully securing every blade of
grass. Once, when we had begun to wind up the mountains, where a
grass-grown precipice fell almost sheer to the valley below, a girl
clung to its side, and pulled with one hand the grass from between the
rocks, thrusting it into a bag that hung about her neck. She paused to
gaze after us as we dashed by, a kind of dull awe that never rose to
envy lighting her face for an instant. O, the hungry, pitiful faces of
these dwellers upon the heights! the pinched, starved faces of the
little ones especially, who forgot to smile--how they haunted us! At
noon we sweep up to the post-house at Amsteg, with a jingle of bells, a
crack of the whip, and an annunciatory shout from the driver. There is
no village that we can see. The piazza of the post-house is filled with
travellers, lunching before a long table; half a dozen waiting carriages
stand in the open space before it; as many hostlers, with knit caps
upon their heads, from which hang long, bright-colored tassels, are busy
among the horses. At a short distance the Reuss River rushes past the
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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