pride to betray no yielding to terror,
or pain, but for the prisoner to provoke his enemies to such acts of
violence as would soonest produce death. Many a warrior had been known
to bring his own sufferings to a more speedy termination, by taunting
reproaches and reviling language, when he found that his physical system
was giving way under the agony of sufferings produced by a hellish
ingenuity that might well eclipse all that has been said of the infernal
devices of religious persecution. This happy expedient of taking refuge
from the ferocity of his foes, in their passions, was denied Deerslayer
however, by his peculiar notions of the duty of a white man, and he
had stoutly made up his mind to endure everything, in preference to
disgracing his colour.

No sooner did the young men understand that they were at liberty to
commence, than some of the boldest and most forward among them sprang
into the arena, tomahawk in hand. Here they prepared to throw that
dangerous weapon, the object being to strike the tree as near as
possible to the victim's head, without absolutely hitting him. This
was so hazardous an experiment that none but those who were known to be
exceedingly expert with the weapon were allowed to enter the lists
at all, lest an early death might interfere with the expected
entertainment. In the truest hands it was seldom that the captive
escaped injury in these trials, and it often happened that death
followed, even when the blow was not premeditated. In the particular
case of our hero, Rivenoak and the older warriors were apprehensive that
the example of the Panther's fate might prove a motive with some fiery
spirit suddenly to sacrifice his conqueror, when the temptation of
effecting it in precisely the same manner, and possibly with the
identical weapon with which the warrior had fallen, offered. This
circumstance of itself rendered the ordeal of the tomahawk doubly
critical for the Deerslayer. It would seem, however, that all who now
entered what we shall call the lists, were more disposed to exhibit
their own dexterity, than to resent the deaths of their comrades. Each
prepared himself for the trial with the feelings of rivalry, rather
than with the desire for vengeance, and, for the first few minutes, the
prisoner had little more connection with the result, than grew out of
the interest that necessarily attached itself to a living target. The
young men were eager, instead of being fierce, and Rivenoak