On the present occasion, he was reluctant to proceed to extremities,
although the provocation was so great. Still it exceeded his
ingenuity to see how that alternative could well be avoided. Sumach
resented her rejection more than she did the deaths of her husband
and brother, and there was little probability that the woman
would pardon a man who had so unequivocally preferred death to her
embraces. Without her forgiveness, there was scarce a hope that the
tribe could be induced to overlook its loss, and even to Rivenoak,
himself, much as he was disposed to pardon, the fate of our hero
now appeared to be almost hopelessly sealed.
When the whole band was arrayed around the captive, a grave silence,
so much the more threatening from its profound quiet, pervaded
the place. Deerslayer perceived that the women and boys had been
preparing splinters of the fat pine roots, which he well knew were
to be stuck into his flesh, and set in flames, while two or three
of the young men held the thongs of bark with which he was to
be bound. The smoke of a distant lire announced that the burning
brands were in preparation, and several of the elder warriors
passed their fingers over the edges of their tomahawks, as if to
prove their keenness and temper.
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