I need not say, that they sought her there in vain; the Count of Torrenburg’s endeavours to discover her were also unsuccessful, till the arrival of Bloomberg, who assured him, that she must be in Landenberg’s power, and that the most likely place to look for her was the Fortress of Rassburg. The consequence of this information was a bond of union between Torrenburg and the Friends of Freedom against Landenberg and his brother in iniquity, the insolent Gessler; and the Count immediately accompanied Bloomberg to Stein, that he might consult with his new allies the best means for effecting Landenberg’s overthrow and Amalberga’s deliverance. In the mean while William Tell’s plan, for throwing off the Governor’s yoke, and asserting the liberty of his beloved country, had been gradually ripening. The impression, which he and his friends, Walter Forest, Bernsdorf, and the two Melthals, had made upon the general mind was great, and their adherents were numerous; but the success of their enterprise still depended entirely upon its being kept a profound secret. Those men, whose plans were soon to burst out into flames terrible as the explosion of a volcano, and to give posterity an example of heroic devotion to the cause of Freedom, were as yet compelled to work in darkness, and arrange their vast designs in corners and by stealth. It was not till the 28th of December (being the Festival of St. Alexander) that they ventured to muster their numbers in a large meadow near the Lake of the Four Cantons; this was to be their last conference, and even this they took the precaution of holding under covert of the night. The Count of Torrenburg and Edmund Bloomberg were also present; but the former by his impatience had nearly ruined the whole design. Conscious of his exalted station, and of the valour of his new allies, he could not endure the degrading idea of skulking about in darkness and concealment, as if he were plotting the execution of some crime. He insisted upon an instant declaration of hostility against Landenberg, and that an attempt to rescue his beloved should be made without delay: it was not without difficulty that William Tell convinced him, how impossible it would be to rescue Amalberga any other way than by artifice, without exposing her to the most imminent danger; and that he persuaded him to wait patiently till St. Sylvester’s Eve, when (it was determined) the tyrant should have an open and forcible attack made upon him; though in making that attack, there would still be an absolute necessity for conducting it with the utmost caution.