His cap was then removed, and he was left half-standing,
half-sustained by his bonds, to face the coming scene in the best
manner he could.
Previously to proceeding to any thing like extremities, it was the
wish of Rivenoak to put his captive's resolution to the proof by
renewing the attempt at a compromise. This could be effected only
in one manner, the acquiescence of the Sumach being indispensably
necessary to a compromise of her right to be revenged. With this
view, then, the woman was next desired to advance, and to look to
her own interests; no agent being considered as efficient as the
principal, herself, in this negotiation. The Indian females, when
girls, are usually mild and submissive, with musical tones, pleasant
voices and merry laughs, but toil and suffering generally deprive
them of most of these advantages by the time they have reached
an age which the Sumach had long before passed. To render their
voices harsh, it would seem to require active, malignant, passions,
though, when excited, their screams can rise to a sufficiently
conspicuous degree of discordancy to assert their claim to possess
this distinctive peculiarity of the sex. The Sumach was not
altogether without feminine attraction, however, and had so recently
been deemed handsome in her tribe, as not to have yet learned the
full influence that time and exposure produce on man, as well as on
woman.
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