Friesshardt was wearing a thick iron helmet the blow did not hurt him
very much.

But it had the effect of bringing the crowd to Tell's assistance. They
had been waiting all this time for him to begin the fighting, for
though they were very anxious to attack the soldiers, they did not like
to do so by themselves. They wanted a leader.

So when they saw Tell hit Friesshardt, they tucked up their sleeves,
grasped their sticks and cudgels more tightly, and began to run across
the meadow towards him.

Neither of the soldiers noticed this. Friesshardt was busy arguing with
Tell, and Leuthold was laughing at Friesshardt. So when the people came
swarming up with their sticks and cudgels they were taken by surprise.
But every soldier in the service of Gessler was as brave as a lion, and
Friesshardt and Leuthold were soon hitting back merrily, and making a
good many of the crowd wish that they had stayed at home. The two
soldiers were wearing armour, of course, so that it was difficult to
hurt them; but the crowd, who wore no armour, found that _they_
could get hurt very easily. Conrad Hunn, for instance, was attacking
Friesshardt, when the soldier happened to drop his pike. It fell on
Conrad's toe, and Conrad limped away, feeling that fighting was no fun
unless you had thick boots on.

And so for a time the soldiers had the best of the fight.