yet apparent of his being unable
to endure the torture with his limbs free, but from an ingenious design
of making him feel his helplessness, and of gradually sapping his
resolution by undermining it, as it might be, little by little.
Deerslayer offered no resistance. He submitted his arms and legs, freely
if not cheerfully, to the ligaments of bark, which were bound around
them by order of the chief, in a way to produce as little pain as
possible. These directions were secret, and given in the hope that the
captive would finally save himself from any serious bodily suffering
by consenting to take the Sumach for a wife. As soon as the body of
Deerslayer was withed in bark sufficiently to create a lively sense
of helplessness, he was literally carried to a young tree, and bound
against it in a way that effectually prevented him from moving, as well
as from falling. The hands were laid flat against the legs, and thongs
were passed over all, in a way nearly to incorporate the prisoner with
the tree. His cap was then removed, and he was left half-standing,
half-sustained by his bonds, to face the coming scene in the best manner
he could.

Previously to proceeding to any thing like extremities, it was the wish
of Rivenoak to put his captive's resolution to the proof by renewing the
attempt at a compromise. This could be effected only in one manner, the
acquiescence of the Sumach being indispensably necessary to a compromise
of her right to be revenged. With this view, then, the woman was next
desired to advance, and to look to her own interests; no agent being
considered as efficient as the principal, herself, in this negotiation.
The Indian females, when girls, are usually mild and submissive, with
musical tones, pleasant voices and merry laughs, but toil and suffering
generally deprive them of most of these advantages by the time they have
reached an age which the Sumach had long before passed. To render their
voices harsh, it would seem to require active, malignant, passions,
though, when excited, their screams can rise to a sufficiently
conspicuous degree of discordancy to assert their claim to possess
this distinctive peculiarity of the sex. The Sumach was not altogether
without feminine attraction, however, and had so recently been deemed
handsome in her tribe, as not to have yet learned the full influence
that time and exposure produce on man, as well as on woman. By an
arrangement of Rivenoak's, some of the women ar