42 pages • 1 hour read
The Last of the Mohicans
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Chapters 4-8Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 4 Summary
Heyward’s group encounters Bumppo, Chingachgook, and Uncas. Bumppo tells Heyward that they have lost their way if they are trying to get to the “post of the crown,” William Henry (39). Heyward tells them that they had trusted Magua to be their guide, but now they do not know where they are. Bumppo asks if the guide (Magua, also known as “Le Renard Subtil”) is a Mohawk and offers to show them the way, though he is concerned about the female travelers. He offers tips about how to deal with the area tribes. Bumppo peers at Magua from a distance and announces he thinks Magua is a traitor. Heyward reveals he was suspicious of their guide. Heyward goes to talk to Magua but they are interrupted when Magua runs into the forest, with Chingachgook chasing him as shots are fired.
Chapter 5 Summary
Chingachgook and the others lose Magua, though Bumppo thinks he may be injured. Heyward has a vision of being surrounded by foes. Bumppo says he can guide the company somewhere, but it must be kept secret. Quietly, they depart, with Chingachgook slitting the throat of one horse as a “deed of apparent cruelty, but a real necessity” before hiding the others near the river (52).
Heyward canoes upriver with Alice and Cora to a waterfall called Glenn’s Falls, where Bumppo meets them. Heyward and Bumppo have a discussion about Native American tribes, with Bumppo showing he has a much more open relationship with them. Heyward realizes Bumppo is close to the Mohicans and asks if his friends have seen anything of the British enemies. Meanwhile, Gamut sings another hymn about Egypt.
Chapter 6 Summary
The traveling group is anxious. The narrator describes the physical features of the group, with Alice comforted by the “free air and proud carriage” of Uncas, likened to “some precious relic of the Grecian chisel” (59). As night draws nearer, and they worry that a fire could give their location away, they make the decision to hide in a cave near the waterfall. They have a meal, and Gamut finally reveals his identity to the others, explaining that he teaches singing to Connecticut youths. When asked if he can shoot a gun, he says he does not know how to “meddle/metal with murderous implements” (65). He fills the cave with his singing, and even Bumppo relaxes. They suddenly hear an “unhuman sound” which they cannot identify (67). Alice asks Heyward to accompany them, for protection, where they are supposed to be sleeping in another part of the cave. Again, they hear the strange sound.
Chapters 7-8 Summary
Cora and Bumppo discuss the strange sound, wondering if someone is trying to scare them. Heyward hears it again and recognizes it as the sound of a horse in agony, saying he has heard it often in battle. Bumppo asks Uncas to check on the horses in the river while the others sleep. Waking Heyward, Gamut, and the women up, Bumppo says it is time to go. Alice screams, and then there are rifle shots. They realize that some Native Americans are shooting at them. Heyward offers to hold back the attackers, but Uncas and Bumppo hold him back. Still, the attackers arrive and the fighting becomes hand-to-hand combat. Bumppo slays a knife-wielding attacker, and Uncas stops another just before Heyward is shot.
The battle continues, and Uncas sees someone shooting at them from the top of a tree that is leaning over. They shoot back and forth until Bumppo shoots at the sniper, who loses is rifle. Bumppo shoots again, and the sniper falls into the water. They run out of ammunition, however, and Bumppo asks Uncas to go down to the canoe and retrieve a rifle, but they are left stranded and defenseless. Bumppo thinks their enemies plan to claim scalps. Cora explains that she is against the idea of battling, and she suggests attempting to negotiate. Bumppo finally agrees “[t]here is reason in her words” though he also calls it a “disgrace” that they have to give up (92, 93). =
Chapters 4-8 Analysis
In Chapter 4, the diverse groups represented in the novel—Native Americans, British colonials, and residents of the colonies—meet. The novel presents the conflicts between these groups by showing that their encounters are not without suspicions. Heyward had already expressed his doubts about having Gamut travel with his group, and when Bumppo meets Alice and Cora, he similarly shares his concerns about traveling through the wilderness with women. In addition, Heyward and others express first frustration with and then suspicion about Magua. Some of these prejudices and suspicions turn out to be unfounded; over the course of the novel, for instance, both Gamut and Cora play critical roles in helping the group on their missions. On the other hand, the group’s suspicions of Magua turn out to be accurate.
Despite the beauty of the surrounding wilderness, this air of intrigue and suspicion adds to the sense of drama in the novel, which increases over Chapters 4-8. Realizing that Magua has betrayed them, the group members begin to travel more secretively. Cooper puts readers within the dramatic, terrifying situation of knowing that the group is traveling through enemy territory to increase suspense. Likewise, the strange sound they hear, described as “a cry that seemed neither human nor earthly” adds to the sense of terror and foreshadows the impending battle (67). The first of several battles in the novel emerges, as Bumppo’s group fights hand-to-hand with Magua’s, and this instance alongside the sniper being shot down from a tree exemplifies the novel’s action-packed storytelling and demonstrates Bumppo’s skill with a rifle.
Amidst the action, the novel takes the opportunity to explore its characters in more depth. Bumppo, for example, exhibits his familiarity with Native American tribes in the area, noting, for instance, that “[w]hoever comes into the woods to deal with the natives, must use Indian fashions, if he would wish to prosper” (44). These explorations of characters sometimes take on a historical and cultural perspective, as the discussions of differences between white colonials and Native Americans in Chapter 6. Significantly, Bumppo’s warm relationship with the Mohicans is adopted by others in his party in time; Alice, for instance, is comforted by the “fearless and generous looking youth,” Uncas (59). Remarks such as these foreshadow Bumppo’s speech in the final chapter of the novel, in which he professes his profound appreciation for the friendship and protection Chingachgook and Uncas have provided.
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By James Fenimore Cooper
