He
ought not to strike his friends. He is right."
"I'm glad you think so, Mingo," returned the other, "for a traitor,
in my judgment, is worse than a coward. I care as little for the
Muskrat, as one pale-face ought to care for another, but I care too
much for him to ambush him in the way you wished. In short, according
to my idees, any sarcumventions, except open-war sarcumventions,
are ag'in both law, and what we whites call 'gospel', too."
"My pale-face brother is right; he is no Indian, to forget his
Manitou and his colour. The Hurons know that they have a great
warrior for their prisoner, and they will treat him as one. If he
is to be tortured, his torments shall be such as no common man can
bear; if he is to be treated as a friend, it will be the friendship
of chiefs."
As the Huron uttered this extraordinary assurance of consideration,
his eye furtively glanced at the countenance of his listener, in
order to discover how he stood the compliment, though his gravity
and apparent sincerity would have prevented any man but one practised
in artifices, from detecting his motives. Deerslayer belonged
to the class of the unsuspicious, and acquainted with the Indian
notions of what constitutes respect, in matters connected with the
treatment of captives, he felt his blood chill at the announcement,
even while he maintained an aspect so steeled that his quick sighted
enemy could discover in it no signs of weakness.
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