The Pioneers

Temple and Richard go off on their delayed expedition, and Elizabeth and Louisa plan to go for a walk in the hills while they are gone. Temple tells them to be careful in the July heat, and to stay out of the sun lest they ruin their skin. He also warns them not to go too far, saying that the forest can be dangerous. Oliver, who has been preparing to go fishing, offers to escort the girls, but Elizabeth brushes off the danger, telling him that they will be taking her large mastiff, Brave. As she leaves, Elizabeth stops to tell Oliver that he can help by bringing back fish for dinner. Louisa worries that they have insulted Oliver, but Elizabeth tells her that they cannot take him on their private, women-only walk.

Oliver walks to the lake, takes one of Temple’s small boats, and rows to Leatherstocking’s hut. He undoes the complicated locks and spends 15 minutes inside. When Oliver exits, Leatherstocking’s tied-up dogs are barking at some hidden person in the woods. Oliver rushes into the forest, where he gets a glimpse of Hiram, who runs away. Satisfied that the dogs and locks will keep Hiram from trespassing, Oliver returns to his boat and fishes for perch.

While fishing, Oliver spots Leatherstocking and Mohegan in their canoe and goes to join them. He warns Leatherstocking that he spotted Hiram skulking in the woods, and Leatherstocking reveals that Hiram keeps asking to come inside, but he has refused him every time. Leatherstocking states that if Hiram keeps trying to get into his home, he’ll shoot him, but Oliver warns that would violate the law and bring trouble for all three of them.

They fish for some time in silence before Leatherstocking, prompted by Oliver, extolls the virtue of Ostego Lake. He says that it is the finest lake he knows, and wishes for the time before the settlers, and Temple’s money and laws, when game was plentiful. Leatherstocking says there is only one other place he has seen that is more beautiful than Ostego Lake: an overlook above the Hudson River in the Catskills mountains that he visited during the Revolutionary War.

As Leatherstocking describes the beauty of the land, he is interrupted by the sounds of his dogs chasing an animal on the mountains. Oliver says he saw the dogs tied securely back at the hut. Leatherstocking is nevertheless sure that the sounds are his hounds chasing a deer, and he is right: Shortly thereafter, a deer leaps into the lake, followed by the dogs.

Leatherstocking shouts at his dogs to return to shore. Though they are hesitant to give up the chase, they obey their master’s command. The deer swims past the boats, and Leatherstocking exclaims what a beautiful animal it is. They separate the boat from the canoe and chase after it. Oliver calls out to warn that they are within sight of the village and that Temple has vowed to prosecute anyone who kills a deer out of season. However, Leatherstocking and Mohegan are too far away and too engaged in the chase to hear him.

Mohegan brings the canoe close to the deer, and Leatherstocking prepares to hit it with his spear. However, just as he throws, the deer makes a sharp turn and the spear bounces off its antlers. Oliver catches up to them in his boat, and warns them to stop, as it is illegal to kill the deer. However, when he gets close, Oliver too becomes “inflamed beyond prudence at the sight” and volunteers to catch its antlers in a noose.

The two boats chase the deer around in circles, before Oliver stops his boat to wait for a good opportunity. He is then able to catch the deer’s antlers in a thrown noose when it swims past. Mohegan pulls the canoe alongside, and Leatherstocking slits its throat with his knife. Pulling the deer into the canoe, Leatherstocking laughs off Temple’s laws, saying that he hasn’t killed a deer in the lake for a long time. Leatherstocking’s excitement causes a rare smile in Mohegan.

Returning to shore, Leatherstocking sees that the ropes that held his dogs had been cut by a knife on the end of a long stick, suspecting Hiram. Oliver asks why Hiram is so determined to bother Leatherstocking and Mohegan in their hut, but they don’t know either. Oliver, youngest and strongest, volunteers to rush back to the cabin in the canoe to intercept Hiram; Leatherstocking and Mohegan take the slower route over land with the deer.  

Meanwhile, Elizabeth and Louisa walk through the woods, coming to a spot overlooking the lake near Leatherstocking’s hut. Seeing the hut, they discuss Leatherstocking’s background and Oliver’s secrets. Louisa says that she heard from Richard that Leatherstocking has lived most of his life in the woods among the Indians and had once saved Mohegan’s life in battle. She adds that Richard hypothesized that Leatherstocking was an agent of the crown, placed among the Indians to spy, and fathered Oliver with a native woman, whom he then sent to England for his education. Elizabeth jokes that Richard “has a theory for everything” (313) and that doesn’t explain why Leatherstocking’s is the only home that is kept locked. Louisa speculates that it is because they are poor and anxious to defend what they have. She tells Elizabeth of the abject poverty that she grew up in while her father—too proud to beg—spent his time consoling others while her family went hungry. Louisa says that her father’s income is now sufficient to meet their needs, but that her mother and siblings all died because of their former poverty.

The girls hear what they think to be a child crying and follow the sound. As they approach the source, Brave’s hair stands on end and he bares his teeth. They then see a female mountain lion and flee, but run into the mountain lion’s cub. Brave fights and kills the cub, but the mother reappears and Brave attempts to defend the girls. However, “in everything but courage, he was only the vestige of what he had once been” (318) and Brave is killed. Louisa faints from fear, and Elizabeth finds herself unable to move and prepares herself to die. At the last second, Leatherstocking arrives silently and wounds the mountain lion with a shot. He then reloads and finishes the wounded animal with a point-blank shot.

Leatherstocking and Elizabeth revive Louisa, and he escorts them back to the village before returning to his hut. When returning, Leatherstocking runs into Hiram who heard the shot. Seeing blood on his sleeves, Hiram obliquely accuses Leatherstocking of shooting a deer out of season, thereby breaking the law. Leatherstocking leads Hiram to the scene of the fight, showing him the two dead mountain lions and the dead dog, denying that he shot a deer. Leatherstocking tells Hiram, whom Richard has made a magistrate, that he would like to claim the bounty on mountain lion scalps. Hiram tries again to gain access to the hut on the pretense that he needs a bible to swear on, or a pen and paper, to pay out the bounty, but Leatherstocking again refuses.

Leatherstocking examines Hiram’s knife and accuses him of cutting loose his dogs, which Hiram confirms Hiram in awkward response. Leatherstocking then warns Hiram to stop trying to get into his home and threatens him if he keeps sneaking around. Hiram responds that he is sure that Leatherstocking has broken the law and intends to see him brought to justice, then leaves. After Hiram has gone, Oliver tells Leatherstocking that someone (presumably Hiram) has tried to break the locks but was unable to.

Meanwhile, Temple and Richard are riding off to see the latter’s secret discovery. After riding for several hours, Temple asks the purpose for the trip and all their secrecy. Richard says that there are two types of people: those who can do one thing well and those geniuses who can do anything and everything. He says there are three such men in town, the first two being Hiram and Riddel. Richard refuses to name the first, but strongly implies that it is himself. Temple scoffs at this characterization of the two men but doesn’t want to argue. By way of this roundabout introduction, Richard says that Hiram and Riddel have found something suspicious, which they brought to him.

Richard says that, while Leatherstocking has lived here alone for 40 years, he now has strange companions. Temple admits that he doesn’t know why Mohegan and Oliver have joined Leatherstocking, but that there is no evidence of them doing anything wrong. Richard hypothesizes that Leatherstocking and Mohegan have found a silver mine, which they have conspired to keep hidden from Temple the last several years. He points out that Leatherstocking and Mohegan have been seen going up and down the mountain with spades and picks and have brought back mysterious items into their hut after dark. Richard adds that, a month before Oliver’s arrival, Leatherstocking was away for several days before returning with a heavy sled covered by a bear pelt. Furthermore, because his rifle was being repaired in town, Leatherstocking could not have been out hunting, and after returning he has angrily driven off anyone who approached the hut.

Though Temple is wary of any information coming from Hiram and Riddel, he is suspicious of the mysterious surrounding Oliver and the hut, and resolves to get to the bottom of the matter. The two men then arrive at the mountain, where Riddel has started digging for silver, before ascending to the cave where Leatherstocking has been digging. Inside they find evidence that the cave has been recently excavated and enlarged. Though there is no evidence of silver, Temple becomes even more suspicious.

The two then return to Templeton, separating outside the village. Temple sees Elizabeth and Louisa returning from their ordeal and rides over to meet them. Elizabeth explains what happened and how Leatherstocking saved their lives, which causes Temple to forget all his suspicions, now seeing him “not as a lawless and depredating squatter, but as the preserver of his child” (336).