The Pioneers

The next morning, Elizabeth and Louisa meet at Le Quoi’s shop to buy the gunpowder. Le Quoi tells the girls of his plans to return to Paris, and asks Elizabeth to meet with her about something later.

After buying the gunpowder, the girls leave town. However, on the bridge out of town, Louisa stops, saying that she cannot go into the forests with only Elizabeth again; she is too scared. Elizabeth says she’ll climb the mountain alone, but asks that Louisa stay out of sight so that nobody gets suspicious. Elizabeth begins climbing to the meeting point, noticing that the long summer drought has left the forest dry and brown. She also sees smoke off in the distance, but is determined help Leatherstocking.

Arriving at the meeting spot, Elizabeth cannot find Leatherstocking. Exploring the area, she is surprised to instead find Mohegan dressed in his Indian garb and face paint, sitting on a fallen tree. Mohegan sadly recounts his past, and how is now old with his tribe gone. He tells her of how, when he was young, his tribe gave all these lands to a man that they loved called Fire-Eater, but they were later stolen by Temple. Mohegan criticizes how the white settlers profess their Christian morality, but act opposite to what they say.