The ire of the
warriors kindled at listening to such a reproach from one who so
far disdained their efforts as to refuse even to wink when a rifle
was discharged as near his face as could be done without burning
it. Rivenoak perceived that the moment was critical, and, still
retaining his hope of adopting so noted a hunter into his tribe,
the politic old chief interposed in time, probably to prevent
an immediate resort to that portion of the torture which must
necessarily have produced death through extreme bodily suffering,
if in no other manner. Moving into the centre of the irritated
group, he addressed them with his usual wily logic and plausible
manner, at once suppressing the fierce movement that had commenced.
"I see how it is," he said. "We have been like the pale-faces
when they fasten their doors at night, out of fear of the red men.
They use so many bars that the fire comes and burns them before they
can get out. We have bound the Deerslayer too tight: the thongs
keep his limbs from shaking and his eyes from shutting. Loosen
him; let us see what his own body is really made of."
It is often the case when we are thwarted in a cherished scheme,
that any expedient, however unlikely to succeed, is gladly resorted
to in preference to a total abandonment of the project.
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