Read Deerslayer (Barnes & Noble Classics Series) for Free Online Page B

appointed hour, just as the sun breaks through the haze. Impressed by his punctuality and his general manliness, Chief Rivenoak offers Deerslayer a deal that he believes any right-thinking man should jump at. Deerslayer, with his knowledge of the Indian dialects, is fully aware of what the chief is trying to do: offer him a deal that is good for the Iroquois and good for Natty, a nicely calibrated diplomatic move that saves face all around. The chief almost winks at Deerslayer as he lays out the plan for his braves (the Indian women are not in the decision-making loop but can cheer or jeer from the sidelines). The deal is this: Natty will join the tepee of the Sumach, the widow of the warrior that Deerslayer has slain in chapter VII, thus caring for her and her children, in return for having his life spared. The chief is aware that Deerslayer might escape at some later date, but the deal will solve the chief’s immediate problem of asserting his own leadership against the hotheads who want Deerslayer tortured right then and there. It will also provide for the widow and equip the tribe with a skilled shooter and scout for the arduous trek back home to Canada through enemy territory. Rivenoak also seems to have a humanitarian streak in that he wishes to avoid any unnecessary shedding of blood.
    Deerslayer turns him down flat, and none too diplomatically at that. Critics and reviewers have been puzzled by what Natty (and Cooper) were up to here. Is Deerslayer against miscegenation, a racist at heart, notwithstanding all his talk of white gifts and Indian gifts and of the ostensible importance he attaches to living together and respecting each other? Or is it a case of sexual infantilism and a deep-seated fear of women, resulting from Deerslayer having lived too long in the woods? Does the man prefer death to life? Surely any sane man would take the deal and feel pretty darn lucky. But Deerslayer is a purist at heart. He does not believe in an instrumental morality: Good is good; no compromise, no slippery slope for him. The widow is described in terms that are not endearing, but Natty’s refusal has deeper roots. He is simply a fighter, not a lover; he is alone in the world and likes it that way. He will not bend or budge an inch. We may also surmise that Deerslayer fears that, if the British were to arrive in time, he might be placed in the morally untenable position of having to fight on behalf of the Indians against the British. Enraged by the rebuff to the chief and the insult to his sister, one of the chief ’s principal lieutenants—a brave and fierce warrior known as the Panther, who is really a co-chief along with Rivenoak—decides to take matters into his own hands, and flings his tomahawk at Deerslayer. This is a mistake. He wouldn’t have done it had he known the whole story of what happened in the engagement between Deerslayer and his (the Panther’s) late brother-in-law. For Deerslayer, with his quick hand-eye coordination, simply follows the arc of the tomahawk as it sails through the air toward him, catches it by the handle at the crucial moment, and throws it right back at the Panther, killing him.
    Now Rivenoak has no choice. Deerslayer will have to undergo the full range of tortures culminating in his being burned alive. Cooper was often scrupulous in describing Indian customs and ceremonies, but when it came to torture scenes, he let his imagination roam freely. The tortures here include a preliminary singeing by fire while Deerslayer is tied to a tree, the tossing of tomahawks at his head (not actually hitting him, if possible), and the firing of rifles to nick him around the head and ears and make him flinch. When he does flinch, thus discrediting himself, the Indians will move on to the final act of roasting him alive. As the torture proceeds, Deerslayer’s only salvation is to keep from moving at all, thus delaying his death in the hope that the British will arrive in time to save him. And yet