James Fenimore Cooper's Frontier: The Pioneers as History

Chapter 36:

 [Mohegan Mourns] Next morning Elizabeth and Louisa buy gunpowder from 

Monsieur Le Quoi, and Elizabeth climbs Mount Vision alone. She finds John Mohegan, dressed 

in Indian costume and bemoaning his lost people. He had given the Otsego lands to the Fire-

eater, but Judge Temple had usurped them. Now Mohegan's family are all dead; he has no son 

but the Young Eagle, who is a white man. A forest fire suddenly springs up, and as Elizabeth and 

Mohegan turn to flee, Oliver Edwards appears. 

Chapter 37:

 [Forest Fire] Oliver Edwards and Elizabeth seek in vain to escape the spreading 

flames. John Mohegan resigns himself to death. Elizabeth urges Edwards to save himself, but he 

vows to die with her. As their situation becomes desperate, Natty appears. 

Chapter 38:

 [Another Rescue] Shortly before, Natty had learned from Louisa of Elizabeth's 

departure for Mount Vision and rushed off to find her. He picks up the dying John Mohegan and, 

using his woodcraft skills, leads Elizabeth and Edwards to a place of safety on a terrace above 

the cave, from which emerges Ben Pump. Rev. Mr. Grant unexpectedly appears; also seeking 

Elizabeth, he had been led to safety by Natty's hounds. John Mohegan dies, to the horror of Mr. 

Grant renouncing his Christianity. A heavy rain begins, extinguishing the fire, but Edwards fails 

to invite Elizabeth into the cave. Instead he leads her back to the village, promising to reveal his 

secret on the morrow; on their way home they encounter a grateful Judge Temple. 

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Chapter 39:

 [The Battle at the Cave] The next day the fire is out, and Jotham Riddel is found 

dying from burns. As it is rumored that Natty Bumppo had started the forest fire, the Templeton 

Light Infantry is mustered in by Richard Jones to find him. They surround the cave, but Natty 

insists they may not enter until two hours before sundown. Captain Hollister leads a charge, but 

Ben Pump fires the swivel cannon into the air and the troops hastily retreat. Only Hiram 

Doolittle is wounded, when Natty shoots him in the behind. Judge Temple calls a halt to the 

battle, just as Oliver Edwards appears surrenders. 

Chapter 40:

 [Explanations and Reconciliations] On the terrace above the cave, is an old and 

senile man, who gravely welcomes them. Oliver Edwards (now Edward Oliver Effingham) 

explains that the man is Major Effingham, his grandfather, known to the Indians as Fire-eater, 

who has been living secretly in Natty's cabin. After the Revolution, Oliver had been left in Nova 

Scotia while his loyalist father, Colonel Effingham none other than Judge Temple's old silent 

partner sought compensation from the British government for the loss of his American 

properties. The Colonel had succeeded, but in 1792 died in a shipwreck of which Judge Temple 

learned only two years later (Chapter 25). Judge Temple explains to Edwards that he had 

purchased properties confiscated from the Effinghams because of their loyalty to the crown, but 

had always held them for the Effinghams as a personal sacred trust. On learning of his father's 

death Oliver had sought out his old grandfather, but found that he had been taken from 

Connecticut to Otsego by Natty Bumppo, a faithful family servant. Natty had lived at Otsego for 

many years, looking after lands that the Delawares had given Major Effingham at the same time 

that they adopted him and his family as honorary Indians. Oliver had joined them at the cabin 

shortly before Elizabeth's return to Templeton, and he and Natty continued to keep the Major's 

presence secret so that no one would know of his poverty and growing senility. Judge Temple 

and the rest all return to the Mansion House, where Judge Temple shows Oliver the will he has 

recently executed, leaving half his property to Major Effingham and his descendants, and the 

other half to his daughter Elizabeth. Now he promises to transfer half his property to Oliver 

immediately, and surmises that Elizabeth's share will soon become Oliver's as well.