"Hello!" "John Cameron!" "Chingachgook!" "How are you?" "The Master of Life is good, John." "Another year passed." "How is it with you?" "Getting along." "Yes, I am." "Nathaniel." "Hello, John." "Cleared another quarter, I see." "Yes, I did." "Alexandra." "Welcome." "Jack." "How are you?" "Hello, Nathaniel." "How've you been?" "Good, thank you." "Where have you boys been trapping?" "West of the Continental." "Why is Uncas with you?" "He should have settled with a woman, started a family by now." "Uncas, look." "Mohawk field we saw was five-mile long on the river." "Chief Joseph Brandt's field." "You take much fur?" "That we did." "Lots." "The Horican is near trapped out." "Where're you trading?" "Castleton?" "Schuylerville." "Schuylerville, with the Dutch for silver." "French and English want to pay with wampum and brandy." "What is it, Jack?" "What brings you here?" "A French and Indian army's heading south out of Fort Carillon to war against the British. I'm helping raise New York's militia to fill the Crown's levy." "And the people here are going to join in that fight?" "We'll see in the morning." "Where are you boys heading?" "We'll trap over the fall and winter in Can-tuck-ee." "Find a Delaware-speaking woman for Uncas." "She will say, "You are the one! " Bear him many children!" "Then you can have a boy like me." "Never." "You're too strong." "Turn me old too fast." "That's what he's doing to his mama." "John Cameron, thank you for your hospitality." "Mohawk got no quarrel with Les Francais." "Traded furs with Les Francais." "Now, Les Francais bring Huron, Ottawa Abenaki onto Mohawk land." "Now, Mohawk will fight Les Francais and Huron." "I speak for the Twin River Mohawk of the Six Nations." "His Majesty King George ll is very grateful for your support." "How far up the valley?" "Up to Fort William Henry." "That's two nights and a bit from here." "Should be enough to remind you France is our enemy." "France is your enemy." "What did you say?" "While we're at your fort, what if the French attack our homes?" "What then, Lieutenant?" "For your homes, for King, for country!" "That's why you men ought to join this fight!" "You do what you want with your own scalp." "Don't be telling us what we ought to do with ours." "You call yourself a patriot?" "A loyal subject to the Crown?" "I do not call myself subject to much at all." "I agree with some of what Nathaniel and John say." "But I believe England's still our sovereign." "I'll fight with you, Jack." "I'm staying on my farm." "Any man who goes, his family's welcome to fort up with us till he comes back." "Boys, my sense of it is we have enough here to fill the county levy." "It's a fight we ought to make." "But first, we've got to get terms from General Webb." "Where are you meeting him?" "We'll go to Albany." "You, help my man outside with the baggage." "If they're not allowed leave to defend their families and homes if the French attack the settlements no colonial militia will go to Fort William Henry." "They will report or be pressed into service." "I cannot imagine His Majesty, in all his benevolence would ever object to his loyal American subjects defending their hearth and home, their women and children." "Does that mean they'll be granted leave to defend their homes if the settlements are attacked?" "Of course." "You got yourself a colonial militia, General." "Major Duncan Heyward reporting, sir." "En route to Fort William Henry and bearing dispatches." "Safe journey, I trust?" "Yes, and I didn't experience anything so surprising from Bristol to Albany as that which I witnessed here today." "What was that?" "The Crown "negotiating" the terms of service." "I know, one has to reason with these colonials to get them to do anything." "Tiring, isn't it?" "But that's the lay of the land." "I thought British policy is, "Make the world England," sir." "I see you're to serve with the 35th Regiment of Foot at Fort William Henry, under Colonel Munro." "I'll be marching the 60th to Fort Edward." "Explain to the Major he has little to fear from this General Marquis de Montcalm in the first place and therefore scant need of a colonial militia in the second because the French haven't the nature for war." "They'd rather eat and make love with their faces than fight." "Might I inquire if General Webb has heard from Colonel Munro's daughters?" "I was to rendezvous with them in Albany, and escort them to the fort, sir." "You there." "What does Munro call you?" "The Scotsman has sent you one of his Mohawk allies to guide you." "Magua." "The Scotsman's daughters are at the Poltroon's house." "A company of the 60th will accompany you and Magua will show you the way." "Dawn." "At the encampment." "6:00 a.m. sharp." "See to it you're there." "I'll take it for you, sir." "Cora." "Duncan." "How long have you been in Albany?" "For days and days." "And yourself?" "." "Just arrived." "By God, it's good to see you." "I don't know what to say, Duncan." "I truly wish they did, but my feelings don't go beyond friendship." "Don't you see?" "Respect and friendship." "Isn't that a reasonable basis for a man and a woman to be married?" "All else may grow in time." "Some say that's the way of it." "Some?" "Cousin Eugenie, my father" "Well, then, Cora in my heart, I know." "Once we're joined we'll be the most marvelous couple in London." "I'm certain of that." "So, why not let those whom you trust, your father help settle what's best for you?" "In view of your indecision, you should rely on their judgment." "And mine." "Will you consider that?" "Please consider that." "Yes." "Yes, I will." "Duncan!" "By God, you've grown up." "We leave in the morning?" "Yes, miss." "l shan't sleep tonight." "What an adventure." "Have you seen the red men?" "A few." "I absolutely cannot wait to return to Portman Square having been to the wilderness." "It's so exciting." "Alice?" "Can we rest soon?" "Absolutely." "You there." "Scout." "We must stop soon." "Women are tired." "Not here." "Two leagues." "Better water." "We stop there." "No, stop in the glade just ahead." "When the ladies are rested we will proceed." "Do you understand?" "Excuse me, what did you say?" "Magua said, "l understand English very well."" "Hold tight." "Right!" "Step to the right!" "All fire right!" "Ranks!" "Make ready!" "Ready!" "Aim!" "Fire!" "No, Duncan." "In case your aim's any better than your judgment." "Your wounded should try walking on back to Albany." "They'll never make a passage north." "Stop it!" "Stop it!" "We need them to get out!" "Why's he losing the horses?" "Why don't you ask him?" "Too easy to track." "They'll be heard for miles." "Find yourself a musket." "We were headed to Fort William Henry." "We'll take you as far as the fort." "We're walking out of here fast." "Less all of you'd rather wait for the next Huron war party to come by." "Scout, I'd like to thank you for your help." "How much further is it?" "A night and a bit." "Appears we're well away from them." "Maybe." "Maybe they aren't alone." "That Huron captain back there" "The guide?" "He's a Mohawk." "No Mohawk, he's Huron." "What reason did he have to murder the girl?" "What?" "The dark-haired one." "Miss Cora Munro?" "Murder her?" "He never set eyes on her before today." "She's only been here a week." "No blood vengeance?" "No reproach or insult?" "Of course not!" "How is it you were so nearby?" "Came across the war party." "Tracked them." "Then you're assigned to Fort William Henry?" "No." "Fort Edward, then?" "Heading west for Can-tuck-ee." "There is a war on." "How is it you are heading west?" "We kind of face to the north and real sudden like turn left." "I thought all our colonial scouts were in the militia." "The militia is fighting the French in the north." "I'm not your scout." "And I sure ain't in no damn militia." "Clear it up any?" "Ottawa, two Francais." "What did you say?" "Mirrors, tools." "Clothes." "Everything was inside." "They didn't take anything." "They were moving fast." "A war party." "Let us look after them." "Leave them." "Whoever they are, though they're strangers they're at least entitled to a Christian burial." "They can't be left behind." "Let us go, miss." "I will not!" "I've seen the face of war before, sir but I've not seen war made upon women and children." "And almost as cruel is your indifference." "Miss Munro." "They're not strangers." "And they stay as they lay." "Why didn't you bury those people?" "Anyone looking for our trail would see it as a sign we'd passed that way." "You knew them well?" "You were acting for our benefit and I apologize." "I misunderstood you." "Well, that's to be expected." "My father warned me about" "Your father?" "Chingachgook." "He warned me about people like you." "Oh, he did?" "He said, "Do not try to understand them."" "What?" "Yes, and, "Do not try to make them understand you." ""That is because they are a breed apart and make no sense."" "Why did they turn back?" "Burial ground." "A breed apart, we make no sense?" "In your particular case, miss, I'd make allowance." "Thank you so much." "Where's your real family?" "They buried my ma and pa and my sisters." "Chingachgook found me with two French trappers, raised me up as his own." "I'm sorry." "I do not remember them." "I wasn't but one or two." "How did you learn English?" "My father sent Uncas and I to Reverend Wheelock's school when I was 10." "Why were those people living in this defenseless place?" "After seven years indentured service in Virginia, they headed here because the frontier's the only land available to poor people." "Out here, they're beholden to none." "Not living by another's leave." "Their name was Cameron." "John and Alexandra Cameron." "My father's people say that at the birth of the sun and of his brother, the moon, their mother died." "So the sun gave to the earth her body, from which was to spring all life." "And he drew forth from her breast the stars." "The stars he threw into the night sky to remind him of her soul." "So there's the Camerons' monument." "My folks', too, I guess." "You are right, Mr. Poe." "We do not understand what is happening here." "And it's not as I imagined it to be, thinking of it in Boston and London." "Sorry to disappoint you." "No, on the contrary." "It is more deeply stirring to my blood than any imagining could possibly have been." "Top of the next ridge." "The fort's downhill of it." "The men of the regiment will fetch water from the lake, build fires and provide every comfort you desire." "I cannot wait to see Papa." "Fire!" "And again!" "l'm Major Duncan Heyward." "Captain Jeffrey Beams." "We didn't expect you to make it through." "Let's go to Munro." "Go, boys!" "Nathaniel!" "It's torture, Jack!" "Uncas!" "Thought you and Nathaniel weren't joining up." "We didn't." "We just dropped in to see how you boys were doing." "Papa!" "Alice!" "Cora!" "Why are you here?" "And where the hell are my reinforcements?" "Get Mr. Phelps!" "I told you to stay away." "Why did you disobey me, girls?" "When?" "How, I...." "My letter." "There was none." "What?" "There was no letter." "I sent three couriers to Webb." "One called Magua arrived." "He delivered no such message." "Does Webb not know we are besieged?" "Webb has no idea." "He certainly does not know to send reinforcements." "What happened to you?" "On the George Road." "Attacked." "We're fine." "Are you all right?" "Yes." "What will happen here, Papa?" "We'll be all right, girl." "This Magua led us into it." "Eighteen killed." "These men came to our aid." "They guided us here." "Thank you." "Do you need anything?" "Can we help ourselves to a few horns from your powder stores?" "And some food?" "I'm indebted to you." "Miss Cora, how are you?" "Hello, Mr. Phelps." "Mrs. McCann will get some dry clothes for you." "Thank you." "Go with your sister, Alice." "It'll be all right, girl." "It'll be all right." "Might I inquire after the situation, sir given that I've seen the French engineering from the ridge above?" "The situation is, his guns are bigger than mine and he has more of them." "They keep our heads down while his troops dig 30 yards of trench a day." "When those trenches are 200 yards from the fort and in range he'll bring in his 15-inch mortars, lob explosive rounds over our walls and pound us to dust." "They look to be 300 yards out." "If they're digging 30 yards a day, you have three days." "Damn." "A man here can make a run straight through to Webb." "Three days isn't enough to get to Albany and back with reinforcements." "Webb's not in Albany." "He marched the 60th to Fort Edward two days ago." "Webb is at Edward?" "Yes, sir." "That's only 12 miles away." "He could have reinforcements here the day after tomorrow." "You, sir." "Pick your man." "Major Heyward will provide a diversion." "I'll draft out a dispatch." "Captain Beams will seek you out and give it to you later." "Something else." "Cameron's cabin." "Frontier cabin." "Came upon it yesterday." "It was burnt, everyone murdered." "It was Ottawa, allied to the French." "So?" "It was a war party." "That means they're going to be attacking up and down the frontier." "Thank you, sir." "People here, Mohawks, settlers, have family out there!" "That'll be all, sir!" "Things were done." "Nobody was spared." "Those considerations are subordinate to the interests of the Crown." "A terrible feature of war here in the Americas, Major Heyward." "Best keep your eye fixed on our duty, to defeat France." "That hangs on a courier to Webb." "I will give you three oxen for a feast." "And tomorrow, I will sing the war song with you at the Great Council Fire." "How are things with your English friends?" "The English war chief, Webb, goes to Fort Edward with 60th Regiment." "He does not know that my father's army attacks Fort William Henry." "Magua was successful?" "The other two couriers died in the forest." "By now, Munro would know his dispatch did not get through." "He'll send another." "The Grey Hair will try." "Four or five, including two women, entered the fort." "The Grey Hair's children were under Magua's knife." "They escaped." "They will be under it again." "Why do you hate the Grey Hair, Magua?" "When the Grey Hair is dead, Magua will eat his heart." "Before he dies, Magua will put his children under the knife so the Grey Hair will know his seed is wiped out forever." "Miss Cora?" "Gentleman looking for you." "Miss Munro." "May I?" "It will seep and then it's going to draw." "Thank you, miss." "About done holding hands with Miss Munro?" "We got some work to do." "What are you looking at, sir?" "I'm looking at you, miss." "Munro refused to believe what happened." "He does not even want to hear it." "Well, he's going to have to." "Get together by the west bastion." "Ian, Sharitarish, Ongewasgone and William." "Tight weave." "Silk." "Another 40 yards." "And how am I to know it wasn't a raid by common thieves?" "The cabin was attacked by a war party fighting with the French." "They're sweeping south down the frontier, attacking farms and Mohawk villages." "All the men are stuck here." "I need more proof than this man's opinion before I weaken the defenses by releasing the militia." "Chingachgook's of the same opinion about the raid." "Taken together, that's gospel." "Your fort will stand or fall, depending on Webb's reinforcements not the presence of the colonials." "I judge military matters here!" "Not you!" "Your judgment isn't more important than their right under agreement with Webb to defend their farms and families." "Major Heyward was there." "He was at John Cameron's." "He saw what it was." "What exactly did you see, Major?" "I saw nothing that would lead me to the conclusion it was other than a raid by savages bent on thievery." "You're a liar!" "Major!" "Montcalm is a soldier and a gentleman, not a butcher." "It's easy for you to suppose." "It's their women and children alone, not yours!" "You forget yourself!" "We're not forgetting Webb's promise." "British promises are honored." "The militia won't be released." "I need more proof than this man's word." "Nathaniel's word has been good a long time before you got here." "This meeting is over!" "The militia stays!" "Does the rule of English law no longer govern?" "Has it been replaced by absolutism?" "If English law can't be trusted they'd do better making their own peace with the French." "That's sedition!" "That's the truth!" "I'll have you beaten from this fort!" "Someday we're going to have a serious disagreement." "Anyone fomenting or advocating leaving Fort William Henry will be hung for sedition." "Anyone actually caught leaving will be shot for desertion." "And my decision is final." "Get out!" "I wanted to talk to you." "Talk to Duncan, Cora. I must manage." "I cannot be an invalid schoolgirl." "I'll see if Mr. Phelps needs anything." "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to...." "Cora, when we come together back in England and are married and away from this place what had to be done and said here will matter not at all." "I'm certain of that." "Duncan, I promised you an answer." "You've complimented me with your persistence and patience." "But the decision I've come to is:" "I'd rather make the gravest of mistakes than surrender my own judgment." "Please take this as my final answer." "It must be no." "I see." "Yeah, Nathaniel, but you weren't ever for being here." "That's right. I saw it that way then and I see it that way now." "Ian, if I had kin in the settlements, hell, I'd be damn sure I'd be long gone." "What do we do about being under Crown law?" "I believe if they set aside their law, as and when they wish their law no longer has rightful authority over us." "All they have over us then, is tyranny." "And I will not live under that yoke." "So I will stay here no longer." "Anyone caught leaving the fort could be shot so each man make a decision." "Those who are going, be back in an hour." "Out the northern sally-port." "Strike for the east side of the swamp till you clear the French picket line." "Head north over the ridge, then come about southeast." "Fork left in Little Meadow and you're free of the outpost and skirmishers." "Should've skinned out of this long ago." "Got no families, Captain." "Figured we'd stay and give a hand." "I'll cover you from the top of the bastion." "You're not coming with us?" "I got a reason to stay." "That reason wear a striped skirt and work in the surgery?" "It does." "No offense but it's a better-looking reason than you, Jack Winthrop." "Push hard because you've got to clear the French outpost by dawn." "Good luck, Jack." "Ongewasgone, are you staying?" "Yes." "There's too many French." "And so few of us to fight." "Not too many to die." "But we've given our word to our English fathers." "As you were!" "Stand off." "Take him." "As you were." "He saved us." "We're alive only because of him." "The man encouraged the colonials to desert in this room and in my presence!" "Sir!" "He's guilty of sedition." "He must be tried and hanged like any criminal regardless of what he did for my children." "But he knew the consequences, and he stayed." "Are those the actions of a criminal?" "Duncan, do something." "He knew the penalty for his actions." "He should pay without sending you to beg." "You know he wouldn't send me." "You falsely spoke of what you saw." "What happened at the farm was as Nathaniel said." "But not with enough certainty to outweigh British interests in this fort." "Who empowered these colonials to pass judgment on England's policies in her own possessions, and to come and go without so much as a by-your-leave?" "They don't live their lives by your leave!" "They hack it out of the wilderness with their hands burying their children along the way." "You're defending him because you've become infatuated with him!" "You are a man with a few admirable qualities." "But taken as a whole, I was wrong to have thought so highly of you." "I would do anything I could to keep you from being hurt." "But he's guilty of sedition and subject to military justice and beyond pardon." "If that's justice then the sooner French guns blow the English army out of America, the better it'll be for these people." "You don't know what you're saying!" "l do!" "I know exactly what I'm saying!" "And if it's sedition, then I am guilty of sedition, too." "They're going to hang you." "Why didn't you leave when you had the chance?" "Because what I'm interested in is right here." "What can I do?" "Webb's reinforcements will arrive or not." "If they do not arrive, the fort will fall to the French." "If that happens, stay close to your father." "Stay close to him." "The French officers will try to protect the officers among the English." "No. I will find you." "Do not." "Promise me." "The whole world's on fire, isn't it?" "What is it?" "Remember what I told you." "Stay close to your father and the officers." "Company!" "Left face!" "Colonel Munro. I have known you as a gallant antagonist." "I am happy to make your acquaintance as a friend." "And I yours, Monsieur le Marquis." "You've already done everything which is necessary for the honor of your prince but now I beg you to listen to the admonishments of humanity." "I beg you to consider my terms for your surrender." "Perhaps the General's glass can reach as far as the Hudson and seize the size and eminence of the army of Webb." "My scouts intercepted this dispatch intended for you." "Captain de Bougainville." ""To Colonel Munro:" ""Sir, I regret to inform you that I have no men available..." ""...to send to your rescue." ""lt is quite impossible." "I advise you to seek terms for surrender." ""l remain, Jerome Webb, at Fort Edward."" "This is the signature of Webb." "And I know the temper of our men." "Rather than spend the war in a French prison hulk in Hudson Bay they'd fight to the end." "You've heard your answer, Monsieur le Marquis." "Sir, I beg you not to sign the death warrant of so many until you have listened to what I have to say." "Go on." "None of your men will see the inside of a prison barge." "They are free so long as they return to England and fight no more on this continent and the civilian militia return to their farms." "Their arms?" "They may leave the fortress fully armed." "My colors?" "Carry them to England with pride." "Allow me to consult with my officers." "I have lived to see something which I never expected." "A British officer afraid to support another." "Webb can burn in hell." "And we'll go back and dig our graves behind those ramparts." "Death and honor are thought to be the same but today I have learned that sometimes they are not." "Sir?" "is the hatchet buried between the English and my French father?" "Yes." "Not a warrior has a scalp, and the white men become friends." "My master owns these lands, and I have been ordered to drive off the English squatters." "They have consented to go, so now I call them enemies no longer." "Magua took the hatchet to color with blood. lt's still bright." "Only when it's red, then it will be buried." "So many suns have set since Magua struck the war post." "And where is that sun?" "Magua is the son of his people and he has come to lead many of them!" "But Magua has power with his Huron people and others here, I know well." "Magua's village and lodges were burnt." "Magua's children were killed by the English." "I was taken as slave by the Mohawk, who fought for the Grey Hair." "Magua's wife believed he was dead and became the wife of another." "The Grey Hair was the father of all that." "In time, Magua became blood brother to the Mohawk, to become free." "But always in his heart he is Huron!" "And his heart will be whole again on the day the Grey Hair and all his seed are dead." "Does the chief of the Canadas believe the English will keep the terms?" "Colonel Munro would, but General Webb will not honor the agreement and send their soldiers away." "I fear having let them go, which I must I will only fight the same men again when I drive towards Albany." "Monsieur, the fort is yours." "Fire!" "Grey Hair." "Before you die, know that I will put under the knife your children so I will wipe your seed from the earth forever." "Got nothing better to do on the lake today, Major?" "When you fall into British hands again I'll have you hanged!" "Faster!" "Take to the river!" "Where are we going?" "Nowhere." "I don't understand." "This is as far as we go!" "If we're lucky, they'll figure we beached our canoes and headed across land." "If we're very lucky, they'll figure we went over the falls." "Our only hope is they pass us by." "lf they do?" "Take the south rim down the mountain." "It's 12 miles cross-country to Fort Edward." "And if they don't?" "You'll just have to forego the pleasure of hanging me." "Any powder?" "Done." "Mine's soaking wet!" "Our father?" "Did you see my father?" "From a distance." "Say nothing to Alice." "Get back!" "Go ahead!" "What the bloody-hell plan is this?" "I want you to go!" "If we go there's a chance there won't be a fight!" "There's no powder!" "If we don't go, then there's no chance!" "None!" "You understand?" "Coward!" "You've done everything you can do." "Save yourself!" "If the worst happens and only one of us survives, something of the other does, too." "No!" "You stay alive!" "If they don't kill you, they'll take you north up to the Huron lands." "Submit, do you hear?" "You're strong!" "You survive!" "Stay alive, no matter what occurs!" "I will find you!" "No matter how long it takes." "No matter how far." "I will find you!" "I don't speak Huron." "You speak French, Major?" "Yes." "Translate for me into French every word as I say it." "I come to you unarmed and in peace to unstop your ears, Sachem." "Let the children of the dead Colonel Munro go free." "Take fire out of the English anger over the murder of their helpless ones." "Sachem, the French fathers made peace." "Magua broke it!" "It is false that the French will be friends still to the Huron." "Would Magua use the ways of Les Francais and the Yengeese?" "Would you?" "Yes!" "Would the Huron make his Algonquin brothers foolish with brandy and steal his lands to sell them for gold to the white man?" "Would Huron have greed for more land than a man can use?" "Would Huron fool Seneca into taking all the furs of all the animals of the forest for beads and strong whiskey?" "Would the Huron kill every man, woman and child of their enemy?" "Those are the ways of the Yengeese and the Francais traders and their masters in Europe infected with the sickness of greed!" "Magua's heart is twisted." "He would make himself into what twisted him." "I am Nathaniel of the Yengeese." "Hawkeye, adopted son of Chingachgook of the Mohican people." "Let the children of the dead Munro and the Yengeese officer go free." "This belt which is a record of the days of my father's people speaks for my truth." "Tell him I'll trade him." "Me for her!" "Say it!" "I am La Longue Carabine!" "My death is a great honor to the Huron!" "Take me!" "You tell him?" "Yes." "Take me!" "Take me!" "My compliments, sir!" "Take her and get out!" "Duncan!" "What are they doing to Duncan?" "Where's Alice?" "Great Spirit and the Maker of all Life a warrior goes to you swift and straight as an arrow shot into the sun." "Welcome him, and let him take his place at the Council Fire of my people." "He is Uncas, my son." "Tell him to be patient and ask death for speed for they are all there but one, I, Chingachgook the last of the Mohicans."