the soft bark. A general yell expressed the delight of the spectators, and the
Moose felt his heart soften a little towards the prisoner, whose steadiness of
nerve alone, enabled him to give this evidence of his consummate skill.
    Le Daim-Mose was succeeded by the Bounding Boy, or le Garçon qui Bondi who
came leaping into the circle, like a hound, or a goat, at play. This was one of
those elastic youths, whose muscles seemed always in motion, and who either
affected, or who from habit was actually unable, to move in any other manner,
than by showing the antics just mentioned. Nevertheless, he was both brave and
skilful, and had gained the respect of his people, by deeds in war, as well as
success in the hunts. A far nobler name would long since have fallen to his
share, had not a French-man of rank inadvertently given him this sobriquet,
which he religiously preserved as coming from his Great Father, who lived beyond
the Wide Salt Lake. The Bounding Boy skipped about in front of the captive,
menacing him with his tomahawk, now on one side and now on another, and then
again in front, in the vain hope of being able to extort some sign of fear by
this parade of danger. At length Deerslayer's patience became exhausted by all
this mummery, and he spoke for the first time, since the trial had actually
commenced.
    »Throw away, Huron,« he cried, »or your tomahawk will forget its ar'n'd. Why
do you keep loping about like a fa'a'n that's showing its dam how well it can
skip, when you're a warrior grown, yourself, and a warrior grown defies you and
all your silly antiks. Throw, or the Huron gals will laugh in your face.«
    Although not intended to produce such an effect, the last words aroused the
Bounding warrior to fury. The same nervous excitability which rendered him so
active in his person, made it difficult to repress his feelings, and the words
were scarcely past the lips of the speaker, than the tomahawk left the hand of
the Indian. Nor was it cast without ill-will, and a fierce determination to
slay. Had the intention been less deadly, the danger might have been greater.
The aim was uncertain, and the weapon glanced near the cheek of the captive,
slightly cutting the shoulder in its evolutions. This was the first instance in
which any other object, than that of terrifying the prisoner, and of displaying
skill had been