"You should say, 'It was I,'" said Gessler. "Proceed."

"Which I am a loyal servant of your Excellency's, and in your
Excellency's army, and seeing as how I was told to stand by this 'ere
pole and guard that there hat, I stood by this 'ere pole, and guarded
that there hat--all day, I did, your Excellency. And then up comes this
man here, and I says to him--'Bow down to the hat,' I says. 'Ho!' he
says to me--'ho, indeed!' and he passed on without so much as nodding.
So I takes my pike, and I taps him on the head to remind him, as you
may say, that there was something he was forgetting, and he ups and
hits me, he does. And then the crowd runs up with their sticks and hits
me and Leuthold cruel, your Excellency. And while we was a-fighting
with them, this here man I'm a-telling you about, your Excellency, he
outs with an arrow, puts it into his bow, and sends it through the hat,
and I don't see how you'll ever be able to wear it again. It's a waste
of a good hat, your Excellency--that's what it is. And then the people,
they puts me and Leuthold on the ground, and hoists this here man--Tell,
they call him--up on their shoulders, and he starts making a speech,
when up you comes, your Excellency. That's how it all was."

Gessler turned pale with rage, and glared fiercely at Tell, who stood
before him in the grasp of two of the bodyguard.

"Ah," he said, "Tell, is it? Good-day to you, Tell. I think we've met
before, Tell? Eh, Tell?"

"We have, your Excellency. It was in the ravine of Schachenthal," said
Tell firmly.