Even the claws bound
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O índio sorria, vendo os esforços da fera para arrebentar as cordas que a atavam de maneira que não podia fazer um movimento, a não serem essas retorções do corpo, em que debalde se agitava. Por cautela tinha-lhe ligado até os dedos uns aos outros para privar-lhe que pudesse usar das unhas longas e retorcidas, que são a sua arma mais terrível.
The Indian smiled, seeing the beast's efforts to burst the cords that bound it so it could make no movement but those writhings of the body, in which it vainly thrashed. For caution he had tied even its toes one to another, to keep it from using its long, curved nails — which are its most terrible weapon.
The Indian smiled to see the beast strain to burst the cords that bound it so it could not stir but for those writhings. For caution he had even tied its toes one to another, to keep it from using its long, curved nails — its most terrible weapon.
The completeness of the binding — down to the toes — is the measure of Peri's forest knowledge: he disarms the claw before it can be raised. He smiles not in cruelty but in the calm of total mastery.
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