"
Rivenoak now interposed, reproving the Red Crow for his premature
interference, and then directing the proper persons to bind the
captive. This expedient was adopted, not from any apprehensions
that he would escape, or from any necessity that was 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.
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