ving been helplessly bound and,
as he had every reason to suppose, so lately on the very verge of the
other world, to find himself so unexpectedly liberated, in possession of
his strength and with a full command of limb, acted on him like a sudden
restoration to life, reanimating hopes that he had once absolutely
abandoned. From that instant all his plans changed. In this, he simply
obeyed a law of nature; for while we have wished to represent our hero
as being resigned to his fate, it has been far from our intention to
represent him as anxious to die. From the instant that his buoyancy of
feeling revived, his thoughts were keenly bent on the various projects
that presented themselves as modes of evading the designs of his
enemies, and he again became the quick witted, ingenious and determined
woodsman, alive to all his own powers and resources. The change was so
great that his mind resumed its elasticity, and no longer thinking of
submission, it dwelt only on the devices of the sort of warfare in which
he was engaged.

As soon as Deerslayer was released, the band divided itself in a circle
around him, in order to hedge him in, and the desire to break down his
spirit grew in them, precisely as they saw proofs of the difficulty
there would be in subduing it. The honor of the band was now involved in
the issue, and even the fair sex lost all its sympathy with suffering in
the desire to save the reputation of the tribe. The voices of the girls,
soft and melodious as nature had made them, were heard mingling with
the menaces of the men, and the wrongs of Sumach suddenly assumed the
character of injuries inflicted on every Huron female. Yielding to this
rising tumult, the men drew back a little, signifying to the females
that they left the captive, for a time, in their hands, it being a
common practice on such occasions for the women to endeavor to throw the
victim into a rage by their taunts and revilings, and then to turn him
suddenly over to the men in a state of mind that was little favorable to
resisting the agony of bodily suffering. Nor was this party without the
proper instruments for effecting such a purpose. Sumach had a notoriety
as a scold, and one or two crones, like the She Bear, had come out with
the party, most probably as the conservators of its decency and moral
discipline; such things occurring in savage as well as in civilized
life. It is unnecessary to repeat all that ferocity and ignorance could
invent