t one of your sex and beauty will meet
with a harder fate than to become the wife of a chief, if, indeed your
white inclinations can stoop to match with an Injin. 'Twould have been
better had you staid in the Ark, or the castle, but what has been done,
is done. You was about to say something, when you stopped at 'besides'?"

"It might not be safe to mention it here, Deerslayer," the girl
hurriedly answered, moving past him carelessly, that she might speak in
a lower tone; "half an hour is all in all to us. None of your friends
are idle."

The hunter replied merely by a grateful look. Then he turned towards his
enemies, as if ready again to face their torments. A short consultation
had passed among the elders of the band, and by this time they also were
prepared with their decision. The merciful purpose of Rivenoak had been
much weakened by the artifice of Judith, which, failing of its real
object, was likely to produce results the very opposite of those she had
anticipated. This was natural; the feeling being aided by the resentment
of an Indian who found how near he had been to becoming the dupe of
an inexperienced girl. By this time, Judith's real character was fully
understood, the wide spread reputation of her beauty contributing to the
exposure. As for the unusual attire, it was confounded with the profound
mystery of the animals with two tails, and for the moment lost its
influence.

When Rivenoak, therefore, faced the captive again, it was with an
altered countenance. He had abandoned the wish of saving him, and was
no longer disposed to retard the more serious part of the torture. This
change of sentiment was, in effect, communicated to the young men,
who were already eagerly engaged in making their preparations for the
contemplated scene. Fragments of dried wood were rapidly collected near
the sapling, the splinters which it was intended to thrust into the
flesh of the victim, previously to lighting, were all collected, and the
thongs were already produced that were again to bind him to the tree.
All this was done in profound silence, Judith watching every movement
with breathless expectation, while Deerslayer himself stood seemingly as
unmoved as one of the pines of the hills. When the warriors advanced
to bind him, however, the young man glanced at Judith, as if to enquire
whether resistance or submission were most advisable. By a significant
gesture she counselled the last, and, in a minute, he was once mo