Werner Staufacher was consumed by secret grief, and his wife, guessing what was on his mind, gave him such counsel that, nerving himself to action, he went over to Uri and Unterwalden to look for kindred spirits and fellow-sufferers. At the house of Walter Fürst, of Attinghausen (Uri), he met with the young man from the Melchi, to whom he was able to tell the sad news that the old father had been blinded by Landenberg. Here the three patriots unburdened to each other their sorrowing hearts, and vowed a vow to free their country from oppressors, and restore its ancient liberties. Gradually opening their plans to their kindred and friends, they arranged nightly meetings on the Rütli, a secluded Alpine mead above the Mytenstein, on Uri lake. Meeting in small bands so as not to excite suspicion, they deliberated as to how best their deliverance might be effected. On the night of the 17th of November, 1307, Walter Fürst, Arnold of Melchthal, and Werner Staufacher, met on the Rütli, each taking with him ten intimate associates. Their hearts swelling with love for their country and hatred against tyranny, these three-and-thirty men solemnly pledged their lives for each other and for their fatherland. Raising their right hands towards heaven the three leaders took God and the saints to witness that their solemn alliance was made in the spirit--"One for all, and all for one." At that moment the sun shot his first rays across the mountain-tops, kindling in the hearts of these earnest men the hopes of success.