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By Root 1154 0

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 Deerslayer also hopes one of the Indians will miss and finish him off, getting the whole thing over with once and for all.

As the bullets are thudding into the tree centimeters from his head, an apparition suddenly appears on the scene that astounds everybody It is Judith, clad in the magnificent red gown she found at the bottom of Thomas Hutter’s trunk; she is pretending to be an emissary of the Queen and calling on the Indians to release Deerslayer. Her speech is a trifle vague as to her credentials, for she doesn’t want to strain the chief ’s credulity, nor does she want to depart too radically from the truth and provoke Deerslayer to disavow her. She knows full well his dislike of lying. The chief smells a rat in the whole business and is not about to be conned again. He has apparently had some second thoughts about the probity of his earlier release of hostages in exchange for two chess pieces. Rivenoak calls on Hetty, who is sitting with the other woman onlookers, and invites her opinion, knowing that she is guileless enough to tell the truth. Hetty ingenuously identifies Judith as her sister, and—to boot—botches a scheme to slip a knife into Deerslayer’s hands behind the tree trunk to which he is tied. Deerslayer is strangely cold to Judith’s gallant ef fort to save him. She has risked her life to save his neck (and scalp), has shown extraordinary courage and daring, and she doesn’t even get a kind thought from him. He wishes she hadn’t tried the caper in the first place, seeing it perhaps as a display of her earlier vanity and desire to be at the center of attention. In any event, it was ill-conceived because it risked the chief ’s ire by a scheme that would insult his intelligence. The chief has had enough by now: He orders his warriors to get on with the torture, and he ponders taking Judith back with him to the north. At this point, first Chingachgook and then the British arrive. There is a final mystery that the text does not explicitly resolve: How far does Natty participate in the final battle? He is active in the fighting at first, shooting two Indians, but could not have participated in the massacre of women and children. Could