Ha! look there! Do you see nothing? MEYER. Ay, indeed, I do! A rainbow in the middle of the night. MELCH. Formed by the bright reflection of the moon! VON F. A sign most strange and wonderful, indeed! Many there be who ne'er have seen the like. SEWA. 'Tis doubled, see, a paler one above! BAUM. A boat is gliding yonder right beneath it. MELCH. That must be Werner Stauffacher! I knew The worthy patriot would not tarry long. _[Goes with_ BAUMGARTEN _toward the shore_.] MEYER. The Uri men are like to be the last. BUHEL. They're forced to take a winding circuit through The mountains; for the Viceroy's spies are out. _[In the meanwhile the two peasants have kindled a fire in the centre of the stage.]_ MELCHTHAL _(on the shore)_. Who's there? The word? STAUFFACHER _(from below_). Friends of the country. _[All retire up the stage, toward the party landing from the boat. Enter_ STAUFFACHER, ITEL REDING, HANS AUF DER MAUER, JORG IM HOFE, CONRAD HUNN, ULRICH DER SCHMIDT, JOST VON WEILER, _and three other peasants, armed.]_ ALL. Welcome! _[While the rest remain behind exchanging greetings_, MELCHTHAL _Comes forward with_ STAUFFACHER.] MELCH. Oh worthy Stauffacher, I've look'd but now On him who could not look on me again; I've laid my hands upon his rayless eyes, And on their vacant orbits sworn a vow Of vengeance, only to be cool'd in blood. STAUFF. Speak not of vengeance. We are here, to meet The threatened evil, not to avenge the past. Now tell me what you've done, and what secured, To aid the common cause in Unterwald. How stand the peasantry disposed, and how Yourself escaped the wiles of treachery? MELCH.