Then his mood changed and the mountains and calm stars spoke an heroic language that was of newer and nobler things; and he shook his head impatiently and gathered his cloak about him and rose.
"God said, 'I am tired of kings,'" he muttered.

"But I shall keep my pledge; I shall do Austria a service," he said; and then laughed a little to himself.

"To think that it may be for me to say!" And with this he walked quite to the brink of the chasm and laid his hand upon the iron cable from which swung the bridge.
"I shall soon be free," he said with a deep sigh; and looked across the starlighted hills.
Then the cable under his hand vibrated slightly; at first he thought it the night wind stealing through the vale and swaying the bridge above the sheer depth.

But still he felt the tingle of the iron rope in his clasp, and his hold tightened and he bent forward to listen.

The whole bridge now audibly shook with the pulsation of a step--a soft, furtive step, as of one cautiously groping a way over the unsubstantial flooring.