STAUFFACHER. No sooner had they done the deed than they Took flight, each following a different route, And parted, ne'er to see each other more. Duke John must still be wandering in the mountains. FURST. And thus their crime has yielded them no fruits. Revenge is barren. Of itself it makes The dreadful food it feeds on; its delight Is murder--its satiety despair. STAUFFACHER. The assassins reap no profit by their crime; But we shall pluck with unpolluted hands The teeming fruits of their most bloody deed, For we are ransomed from our heaviest fear; The direst foe of liberty has fallen, And, 'tis reported, that the crown will pass From Hapsburg's house into another line. The empire is determined to assert Its old prerogative of choice, I hear. FURST and several others. Has any one been named to you? STAUFFACHER. The Count Of Luxembourg is widely named already. FURST. 'Tis well we stood so stanchly by the empire! Now we may hope for justice, and with cause. STAUFFACHER. The emperor will need some valiant friends, And he will shelter us from Austria's vengeance. [The peasantry embrace. Enter SACRIST, with imperial messenger. SACRIST. Here are the worthy chiefs of Switzerland! ROSSELMANN and several others. Sacrist, what news? SACRISTAN. A courier brings this letter. ALL (to WALTER FURST). Open and read it. FURST (reading). "To the worthy men Of Uri, Schwytz, and Unterwald, the Queen Elizabeth sends grace and all good wishes!" MANY VOICES. What wants the queen with us? Her reign is done. FURST (reads). "In the great grief and doleful widowhood, In which the bloody exit of her lord Has plunged her majesty, she still remembers The ancient faith and love of Switzerland." MELCHTHAL. She ne'er did that in her prosperity. ROSSELMANN. Hush, let us hear. FURST (reads). "And she is well assured, Her people will in due abhorrence hold The perpetrators of this damned deed. On the three Cantons, therefore, she relies, That they in nowise lend the murderers aid; But rather, that they loyally assist To give them up to the avenger's hand, Remembering the love and grace which they Of old received from Rudolph's princely house." [Symptoms of dissatisfaction among the peasantry. MANY VOICES. The love and grace!