From that instant all his plans
changed. In this, he simply obeyed a law of nature; for while we
have wished to represent our hero as being resigned to his fate,
it has been far from our intention to represent him as anxious to
die. From the instant that his buoyancy of feeling revived, his
thoughts were keenly bent on the various projects that presented
themselves as modes of evading the designs of his enemies, and he
again became the quick witted, ingenious and determined woodsman,
alive to all his own powers and resources. The change was so great
that his mind resumed its elasticity, and no longer thinking of
submission, it dwelt only on the devices of the sort of warfare in
which he was engaged.
As soon as Deerslayer was released, the band divided itself in
a circle around him, in order to hedge him in, and the desire to
break down his spirit grew in them, precisely as they saw proofs
of the difficulty there would be in subduing it. The honor of the
band was now involved in the issue, and even the fair sex lost all
its sympathy with suffering in the desire to save the reputation of
the tribe. The voices of the girls, soft and melodious as nature
had made them, were heard mingling with the menaces of the men,
and the wrongs of Sumach suddenly assumed the character of injuries
inflicted on every Huron female.
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