They drew up in the form of a solid wedge, to pierce the thick concentric wall of steel, apparently as impenetrable as the cliffs of the mountains.

Thus the two bodies silently and sternly approached each other.

It was a terrific hour; for every man knew that one or the other of those hosts must perish utterly.

For some time the battle raged, while the confederates could make no impression whatever upon their steel-clad foes, and sixty of them fell pierced by spears before one of their assailants had been even wounded.
Despair was fast settling upon their hearts, when Arnold of Winkelreid, a knight of Underwalden, rushed from the ranks of the confederates, exclaiming-- "I will open a passage into the line; protect, dear countrymen, my wife and children." He threw himself upon the bristling spears.

A score pierced his body; grasping them with the tenacity of death, he bore them to the earth as he fell.