"If you can, I will release you from your bonds."
"I trust, with God's help, that I can safely bring you ashore," answered
Tell.
By Gessler's order his bonds were then removed, and he stepped aft and
took the helm, guiding the boat through the storm with the skill of a
trained mariner. He had, however, another object in view, and had no
intention to let the tyrannical governor bind his free limbs again. He
bade the men to row carefully until they reached a certain rock, which
appeared on the lake-side at no great distance, telling them that he
hoped to land them behind its shelter. As they drew near the spot
indicated, he turned the helm so that the boat struck violently against
the rock, and then, seizing the cross-bow which lay beside him, he
sprang nimbly ashore, and thrust the boat with his foot back into the
tossing waves. The rock on which he landed is, says the chronicler,
still known as Tell's Rock, and a small chapel has been built upon it.
The story goes on to tell us that the governor and his rowers, after
great danger, finally succeeded in reaching the shore at Brunnen, at
which point they took horse and rode through the district of Schwyz,
their route leading through a narrow passage between the rocks, the only
way by which they could reach Kuessnach from that quarter.
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