THE LAST OF THE MOHICANS
Screenplay by
Michael Mann and Christopher Crowe
Adaption by John L. Balderston and Paul Perez
and Daniel Moore
Based on the novel by James Fenimore Cooper
Also based on the 1936 screenplay by Philip Dunne
FADE IN:
The screen is a microcosm of leaf, crystal drops of
precipitation, a stone, emerald green moss. It's a landscape
in miniature. We HEAR the forest. Some distant birds. Their
sound seems to reverberate as if in a cavern. A piece of
sunlight refracts within the drops of water, paints a patch
of moss yellow. The whisper of wind is joined by another
sound that mixes with it. A distant rustling. It gets closer
and louder. It's shallow breathing. It gets ominous.
We're interlopers on the floor of the forest and something
is coming.
SUDDENLY: A MOCCASINED FOOT
rockets through the frame scaring us and...
EXTREMELY CLOSE: PART OF AN INDIAN FACE
running hard. His head shaved bald except for a scalp-lock.
Tattoos. He's twenty-five. He seems tall and muscled. Heavy,
even breathing. We'll learn later this man is UNCAS, the
last of the Mohicans.
PROFILE: UNCAS' ARMS
flash as he runs. One carries a flintlock musket. Sweat on
the man's skin. A calico shirt is gathered at the waist with
a wampum belt of small white beads over a breechcloth. He
wears leggings to protect his legs. A long-handled tomahawk
is stuffed in his belt.
CUT TO:
ANOTHER PART OF THE FOREST - DAY
MASSIVE WAR CLUB
in the hand of another running man. He's heavier, older...
CHEST
A green bear claw is tattooed there. Silver armband. A snake
is tattooed over his left eyebrow. Silver rings in his ear.
He's forty to forty-five. His head is shaved into a scalp-
lock. It says: "Come and lift this from me. Take it, if you
can..." That prospect strikes us as extremely unlikely. This
man is
CHINGACHGOOK
The French call him "Le Gros Serpent," the Great Snake,
because "he knows the winding ways of men's nature and he
can strike a sudden, deathly blow."
WIDE ANGLE: CHINGACHGOOK
runs, disturbing no leaves, no branches; making no sound.
He's running parallel to Uncas through the cathedral of mature
forest. It's heavily canopied. There's very little brush.
The girth of the trees is huge. Shafts of light illuminate
motes of dust and turn leaves emerald where the sun breaks
through. Sometimes there's ferns; rhododendron, sometimes
pale grass and outcroppings of rock.
These men run the forest streams, over boulders, fallen trees
and down into ravines as if they own them. They do.
CUT TO:
EXT. ANOTHER PART OF THE FOREST - DAY
LONG BLACK HAIR
Rocketing through trees. His torn buckskin shirt is tied at
the waist with a wampum belt holding a tomahawk and a large
knife. A long rifle in which is carved the name "Killdeer"
is in his right fist. Indian tattooing on his chest.
His name is NATHANIEL POE. He's a few years older than Uncas.
The French and the French-speaking tribes know him as La
Longue Carabine (Long Rifle). Other frontiersmen in New York
colony and the Iroquois and Delaware-speaking tribes know
him as Hawkeye. Sweat stains his shirt. He flashes through
the tree branches disturbing nothing. Making no sound.
HAWKEYE'S POV: A PIECE OF TAN
two hundred and fifty yards away, a few square inches buried
in the foliage...
SUDDENLY HE STOPS
Killdeer's at his shoulder...
HAWKEYE'S THUMB
cocks the lock holding the piece of flint: click.
UNCAS
stops dead, holding out his hand... no sound.
CHINGACHGOOK
slips through young trees and stops, shouldering his
smoothbore musket. Is this an ambush?
HAWKEYE'S POV: RACK FOCUS THROUGH THE GUN SIGHT
Five feet and fourteen pounds of rifle is elevated a half
inch and shifted left, off target. It's a precise, smooth
movement. No human quiver.
KILLDEER'S TRIGGER
tighter...
THE COCK
holding the flint hits the iron file of the frizzen, shooting
sparks into the pan of priming powder which flashes and...
TAN
is a huge elk that leaps at the sound.
KILLDEER'S MUZZLE
CRACKS like lightning.
AN ELK
leaps where the .59 caliber round was programmed to intercept
him. On the moment of impact...
WIDE
three men approach the fallen elk and each other. We realize
they're hunting together. Hawkeye steps aside for
Chingachgook. His massive war club is flat and angles to one
side with a stabbing blade. Hawkeye is stepson and
stepbrother.
The two younger men treat Chingachgook with an easy deference
and affection.
Hawkeye's a dialectic of two cultures. In his coloration and
worldliness he's more the Anglo-Saxon frontiersman. In his
independent views and candid manner and in his combat skills
and woodsmanship, he's more native American (Mohican).
As Chingachgook takes out his long knife and they approach
the fallen elk...
CHINGACHGOOK
(low Mohican; sub-
titled)
We're sorry to kill you, Brother.
Forgive us. I do honor to your courage
and speed, your strength...
CUT TO:
EXT./INT. CAMERON CABIN - NIGHT
JOHN CAMERON
roasts potatoes on a stick in the stone fireplace next to
CAPTAIN JACK WINTHROP, an American in very worn quasi-military
gear. On a rough table in the tiny cabin ALEXANDRIA, his
wife, is kneading bread. Three children climb on their father.
He grabs their wild seven year old son, JAMES, who shrieks
laughter and dodges away. The cabin has two primitive rooms,
waxed paper windows, log walls. O.S. a dog barks. Others
pick it up. Cameron & Jack are suddenly alert, reaching for
weapons...
CUT TO:
EXT. CAMERON CABIN, DOORWAY - NIGHT
CAMERON
Appears warily, musket in hand.
FENCE: CHINGACHGOOK
CHINGACHGOOK
Halloo! John Cameron!
Doorway: Cameron towards the interior...
CAMERON
Alexandria! Set three more places.
(to the fence)
How is Chingachgook, then?
Behind him, emerging from the dark trees are Hawkeye, Uncas,
cradling flint locks, blankets and packs over their shoulders,
leading a mule laden with skins and the elk carcass. Crossing
the splitrail fence...
CHINGACHGOOK
The Master of Life is good. Another
year pass... How is it with you,
John?
CAMERON
Gettin' along. Yes, it is.
(warm)
Nathaniel.
HAWKEYE
Hello John. Cleared another quarter,
I see.
CAMERON
(shakes hands with
Uncas)
Yes, I did.
JAMES CAMERON
tears past his father & runs full bore. Just before he's
going to collide into Uncas, he leaps into the air and Uncas
snatches him with one hand and swings him up onto his
shoulders. The kid screams with delight and rides back towards
the cabin that way. Alexandria comes to the door.
CUT TO:
INT. CABIN - EVENING (LATER)
CHINGACHGOOK
lights & smokes a clay pipe. The scene says: this is a rustic,
frontier home and these people have known each other & live
in dangerous circumstances.
ALEXANDRIA
If Uncas is with you, that means he
has not found a woman and started a
family yet.
CHINGACHGOOK
Your eyes are too sharp, Alexandria
Cameron.
They see into my heart.
UNCAS
Your farm good to you this year,
John?
CAMERON
It was a good year for corn.
UNCAS
Mohawk field we saw was 5 mile long
on the river. Chief Joseph Brandt's
field.
CAMERON
You take much fur?
HAWKEYE
That we did. John. But the horicane
(sic)
is near trapped out.
JACK
Tradin' your skins in Castleton?
UNCAS
No, Schylerville. With the Dutch for
silver.
French & English want to buy with wampum & brandy.
Pause, then...
HAWKEYE
So what is it, Jack? What brings you
up here?
JACK
A French & Indian army out of Fort
Carillon's heading south to war
against the English. I'm here to
raise this county's militia to aid
the British defense.
HAWKEYE
Folks here goin' to join in that
fight?
JACK
We'll see in the morning...
CHINGACHGOOK
Fathers of England & France, both,
take more land, furs, than they need.
They're cold & full of greed...
JACK
Few'd deny that? Where you headin'?
HAWKEYE
Trap over the fall and winter among
the Delawares in Can-tuck-ee.
UNCAS
So I can find a woman and make Mohican
children so our father will leave my
brother & me in peace.
Alexandria laughs. So do Hawkeye & Chingachgook.
JAMES
A son like me?
Uncas grabs James & suspends him upside down.
UNCAS
No. You are too strong. Turn me old
too fast!
Hawkeye grabs the kid from Uncas. The kid's laughing & can't
stay still.
Chingachgook watches, content, smoking his clay pipe.
ALEXANDRIA
That's what he's doin' to his mama...
She ruffles his hair and lifts the heavy iron pot off the
tibbet. Uncas goes to help her, she shrugs his hand away and
carries it to the table herself. The men gather around.
There's pan-baked bread, a dish of salt, and the pot has
venison and yellow cornmeal in a kind of stew. Everyone waits.
CAMERON
Dear Father, thank you for rewardin'
the fruits of our labor with plenty.
Amen.
As they start to eat...
CUT TO:
EXT. CAMERON CABIN - MORNING
MOHAWK BOY & JAMES CAMERON
Slam into other kids as they battle through a Lacrosse game.
In the background are sixty men, women and children. It's a
community gathering held out of doors.
We've entered mid-scene. Captain Jack is standing on a box.
Some women and kids mill around some tables and boards laid
over barrels. Cooking fires. Smoke.
Most but not all around Captain Jack are men, nine settlers,
3 hunter/trappers, eight Mohawk farmers in mixed European
and native clothing. Off to the side are an English Lieutenant
on horseback and a ten-man escort from whatever regiment's
in Albany. A man named HENRI speaks in French. His son,
MARTIN, translates.
HENRI
(O.S. in French)
MARTIN
(translates)
My father says he was driven out of
France by the black robe priests and
he would fight them now but he lost
his arm and so I will go in his place.
Meanwhile...
ONGEWASGONE
is an unusually large Mohawk in a blue match coat with a
little girl holding his hand. He says something to
Chingachgook who nods. Hawkeye and Uncas are a little apart
in an outer grouping of the men. Ongewasgone is a war chief
and wears a white plume and is tattooed. As Martin finishes,
he steps forward.
ONGEWASGONE
John Cameron, thank you for your
hospitality...
Twin River Mohawk got no quarrel with Les Francais. Trade
furs with Les Francais. Now Les Francais bring Huron onto
Mohawk hunting grounds...
These people are English, Scots-Irish and Dutch farmers;
some French Huguenot "mechanics" (craftsmen). They're in
shirt-sleeves and Indian moccasins & leggings. The Mohawks'
vast lands and corn agriculture border the settlement. They
've been acculturated for over a hundred years. Some wear
European calico hunting shirts.
Their heads are shaved to scalping locks and many are
tattooed. They've politically and commercially played France
& England against each other very adroitly for over a hundred
years because of their military power and geographic position.
Their relations with working farmers and settlers and their
families has been mostly one of co-existence because there's
always been more than enough for all. This is a WPA mural of
ethnic diversity and plurality of frontier America. The
Europeans are former indentured laborers, farmers exiled by
economics or religious persecution, frontier hunters and
trappers... working people.
ONGEWASGONE
(continues)
Now Mohawk will fight Huron and Les
Francais.
My brothers have asked me to lead them in this war so I speak
for the Twin River Council.
The importance of this commitment is apparent to the
lieutenant.
LIEUTENANT
His Majesty King George II is very
grateful for your support.
IAN
How far up the valley?
LIEUTENANT
To Fort William Henry.
COLONIAL #1
...two days from here.
Some don't like this.
LIEUTENANT
It should be enough to remind you
France is the enemy.
HAWKEYE
Your enemy...
Heads turn to Hawkeye at the periphery of the crowd.
LIEUTENANT
What did you say?
HAWKEYE
(loud)
I said... France is your enemy. Not
ours.
LIEUTENANT
Really? Do you want them to overrun
all New York colony?
HAWKEYE
First place, you started it with the
French over fur-trapping claims to
the head waters of the Ohio.
(smiles)
Now you're sayin' these people have
a fight on their hands...
LIEUTENANT
(ignoring Hawkeye)
Will you men help us stop the French?
HAWKEYE
... and while they are cooped up in
your fort, what if the French send
war parties to raid their homes?
IAN
What then, Lieutenant?
LIEUTENANT
For your own homes, for king, for
country, that's why you men ought to
join this fight!
HAWKEYE
You do what you want with your own
scalp. Do not be tellin' us what to
do with ours.
LIEUTENANT
(furious; to Hawkeye)
You, sir! You call yourself a loyal
subject?
HAWKEYE
...No...Do not call myself much of a
subject at all.
Light laughter.
COLONIAL #2
Nathaniel's right. But if I got to
fight, figure I'll try and do it
fifty miles north of here instead of
my bean field.
AD LIBS
Yes. Yeah. No...
CAMERON
I am stayin' on my farm. And any man
who goes, his family is welcome to
fort-up with us 'til he comes back.
JACK
Boys. My sense of it is enough of us
will join-up to fill the county's
levy. But only if General Webb accepts
a few terms I got in mind...
HAWKEYE & UNCAS
cross through the people. A few men
drift off to their women at the
tables.
It is apparent two-thirds of the men will join. A couple of
jokes, light banter, no hostility.
AD LIBS (O.S.)
Webb? what's that, Jack...?
As they cross through they start removing their shirts and
weapons.
IAN
You boys marchin' with us? What do
you say?
UNCAS
We had our say, Ian.
They approach the Lacrosse field. Chingachgook stands with
Cameron in the background, watching.
LACROSSE FIELD
Uncas joins James. Hawkeye goes on the other side. A couple
of young Mohawks and a young blonde farmer shout hallo's and
as the bodies crash into each other...
CUT TO:
EXT. BRITISH ENCAMPMENT, PARADE GROUND - DAY
SIX HUNDRED REGIMENT ON FOOT
in two rows. At each command the crack troops respond en
masse. Their hands slap the stocks of their brown bess muskets
in unison. These men are drilling in preparation for war.
We witness a state-of-the-art, 18th century, precision killing
machine.
REGIMENTAL SGT. MAJOR
(shouts)
Shoulder arms!
(slam)
Order arms! Handle cartridge!
(men bite the paper)
Prime!
(powder dropped in
pan)
Load! Draw ramrods! Ram cartridge!
Return ramrod! Make ready!
(muskets at chest
height)
Pre-sent!
(muskets shouldered)
Make ready!
(muskets returned to
chests)
Pre-sent!
(muskets returned to
shoulder)
Fire!
Like a single shot, two hundred fifty black powder muskets
fire .65 caliber lead shot at chest height in a scythe of
death.
SERGEANT MAJOR
Prime! Load!
The Dutch roof lines of Albany are in the distance. Nearer,
a coach races past.
CUT TO:
EXT. ROAD - DAY
HORSES GALLOP
Six horses, wide with dumb, mute strain. Foam, manes fly,
their hooves pound the yellow road into dust. Military
outriders are on the three left side horses.
CUT TO:
INT. COACH - DAY
MAJOR DUNCAN HEYWARD
Sits erectly in the brilliant scarlet coat of the First Royal
Regiment of Foot with gold braid, blue-black facing and blue-
black breeches, cavalry boots, spurs, a tricorn, white wig
and a gorget (large medallion) around his neck. He's 28-30
and tough. He is self-sure, principled reactionary. He
believes human society is static & layered into hierarchies
of class and they are absolutely impermeable. He opens a
simple gold-clasped case & contemplates its contents...
HEYWARD'S POV: CASE
an enameled portrait of a dark-haired young woman.
HEYWARD
as a soldier is militarily first-rate in his milieu: the
open battlefields of Europe.
Right now, however, he is about to enter the forests of North
America. He closes his clasp and glances out the window as
we enter Albany and as a facade of buildings & people pass.
CUT TO:
INT. BRITISH HQ, ASSEMBLY ROOM - DOOR - DAY
Four Grenadiers come to attention as Heyward enters mid-scene.
JACK (O.S.)
...if they are not allowed leave to
defend their families if the French
or Hurons attack the settlements, no
colonial militia is goin' to Fort
William Henry.
HEYWARD
(low)
You, there. Help my man outside with
the baggage.
GENERAL JEROME WEBB sees Heyward and nods. Three of Webb's
Adjutants are on either side. Three remaining Grenadiers in
bearskin-covered mitred caps are at the door. Facing Webb
are a half dozen colonial representatives, including Captain
Jack Winthrop. Heyward watches Jack...
LIEUTENANT
They will report or be pressed into
service!
LARGE COLONIAL REP
Any of the boys worth havin' can
disappear into forest... time it
takes you to blink. Where's that
leave ya, then?
Heyward, preparing to hand over dispatches, is interrupted
by the insubordinate tone.
Equally wound tightly is the Lieutenant.
LIEUTENANT
They will be found! Arrested...
WEBB
(cuts in)
I cannot imagine his Majesty, in his
benevolence, would ever object to
his American subjects defending their
hearth & home, their women & children,
if threatened by the "scourge" of
attack from savages, aroused to such
excess by our enemy, the ever-
perfidious French.
JACK
Does that mean they will be granted
leave to defend their homes if the
settlements are attacked?
WEBB
Of course.
Heyward's more amazed by what he's just heard from Webb.
These Americans, including Jack, are streaming past him on
their way out.
JACK
You got yourself a colonial militia,
General.
HEYWARD
Major Duncan Heyward reporting, Sir!
Webb's pouring gin.
WEBB
Duncan. How was your journey?
The door closes. Dispatches are passed. They are now alone
except for the General's two Adjutants and a shadowy form
waiting patiently in a corner. He's MAGUA. In the dim light,
he's motionless. Webb slides a glass across to Heyward.
HEYWARD
I didn't experience anything so
surprising from Bristol to Albany as
what I witnessed here today.
WEBB
And what is that?
HEYWARD
The Crown "negotiating" the terms of
service?
WEBB
I know.
(assuming a co-
commiserator)
One has to give Americans "reasons"
and make agreements to get them to
do anything at all. Tiring, isn't
it?
(throws up his hands)
But that's the way of it here.
HEYWARD
(tight)
I thought British policy is 'Make
the World... England', sir.
A chill. Majors don't upbraid Generals.
WEBB
You will take command of the 62nd
Regiment of Foot. At Fort William
Henry under Colonel Munro. I will
march the 33rd to Fort Edward.
HEYWARD
Sir!... 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.
WEBB
Yes. You may.
(to Magua, after a
glance at Heyward)
You there. What does Munro call you?
(to Heyward)
The "Scotsman" has sent one of his
Indian allies to guide you.
MAGUA
rises and slowly walks into the light. He is reserved and
over six feet tall. His head is shaved into a mohawk. Rings,
beads & feathers pierce his ears. A blanket is worn as a
shawl over his left shoulder exposing his right arm and heavy
tattooing. A long tomahawk is in the belt of his breechcloth.
WEBB
The Scotsman's daughters are at the
Poltroon's house. A company of the
33rd will accompany you and Magua
will show you the way.
HEYWARD
By your leave, sir.
Webb holds Heyward a moment.
WEBB
(to Adjutants)
Explain to the Major we care little
about toying with colonial militia
because we have little to fear from
the French. They have not the nature
for war. Their Latinate voluptuousness
combines with their Gallic laziness
and the result is: they would rather
make love with their faces than fight.
Webb's Adjutants laugh uproariously at his wit. Heyward's
stiff, perfunctory smile. He's been made the butt of the
joke. He does not share Webb's derisive view of the French.
Webb doesn't like Heyward's manner. We don't like Webb. Then:
WEBB
(continuing)
Dismissed.
Heyward stiffly salutes. Webb casually, perfunctorily salutes
the younger man in return.
HEYWARD
(to Magua)
Dawn. At the encampment. Six a.m.
sharp. See to it you're there.
Beneath Magua's barely deferential manner we sense
intelligence & menace. None of these Brits see it. We do.
CUT TO:
EXT. POLTROON'S HOUSE - DAY
DUNCAN HEYWARD
Brushed clean, his wig freshly powdered, his tricorn in his
hand with a crimson sash and sword and his cavalry boots,
walks through the gate after knocking. He enters a small
courtyard. Suddenly he hears...
CORA (O.S.)
Heyward! Duncan Heyward.
Heyward looks to the side. An inner light turns on. In this
mode, this is a man we could like.
REVERSE: CORA MUNRO
enters from the garden. She's vivacious, dark-haired,
unconventional in that she's educated, but with conventional
values and attitudes. She hugs Duncan to her and then pushes
him away to look at him.
HEYWARD
My God it's good to see you.
He takes her hand in both of his and kisses it. He is open
and lit up.
CUT TO:
EXT. POLTROON'S HOUSE, BACK YARD - DAY
CORA & HEYWARD
A vegetable plot behind the Poltroon's house is a provincial
substitute for a formal garden setting. Heyward and Cora sit
on rough wooden chairs. Wind blows. In the background a
servant hangs laundry. The white sheets billow. A table holds
a tea setting. They're sitting close to each other, talking
seriously and quietly. Duncan's jacket is removed. Time's
passed. Long pause. Then:
CORA
I'm embarrassed to be so indecisive...
after so long apart and after you've
traveled so far...
HEYWARD
And by sea!
CORA
You still have an aversion to the
water?
HEYWARD
Aversion? No... "Hatred"...
"Loathing"...
Cora laughs.
HEYWARD
But it was worth it all to end in a
garden by your side.
She looks askance at him. Then the banter drops.
CORA
(difficult)
Dear Duncan, my affection is as
towards a closest friend. Alice and
I depend on you and respect you
immensely... I wish they did, but my
feelings don't go beyond that. Do
you see?
HEYWARD
Isn't respect and friendship, a
reasonable basis for a man and woman
to be joined? And all else may grow
in time...?
CORA
Some say that's the way of it.
HEYWARD
"Some"?
CORA
Cousin Eugenie, my father, but...
HEYWARD
(interrupts)
Cora, in my heart, I know once we're
joined, we'll be the happiest couple
in England. Let those whom you trust,
your father, help settle what's best
for you. In view of your indecision,
why not rely on their advice and
judgment as well as mine?
Cora stares directly at Heyward. Then she looks away. She
has no answer. Something subterranean disturbs her about
delegating judgment over the fate of her life.
HEYWARD
Will you consider that?
CORA
(pause; smiles)
Yes. Yes, I will.
She's still unsettled.
ALICE (O.S.)
Duncan!
REVERSE: ALICE MUNRO
eighteen years old, white-blonde hair, wide blue eyes. She's
effervescent and runs to hug him. Heyward is taken aback by
her enthusiasm and laughs.
HEYWARD
My God, you've grown up.
ALICE
We leave in the morning?!
HEYWARD
(rises)
Yes, miss.
ALICE
I won't sleep tonight. What an
adventure! I absolutely cannot wait
to return to Portman Square, having
laid eyes upon the full-blooded, red
men in the wild!
CORA
My God, Alice.
HEYWARD
(smiles)
It can be dangerous...
ALICE
Nonsense. Papa wouldn't have sent
for us if it were dangerous.
Alice takes Hewyward's hand. Cora pours Heyward more tea.
The white sheets billow.
AMBROSE
(O.S. - barks)
Atten-shun!
CUT TO:
EXT. BRITISH ARMY HQ - DAY
TWENTY BRITISH REGULARS
jolt upright as if electrified.
AMBROSE
(entering)
Shoulder arms!
AMBROSE
a sergeant major of forty-one is wide and deep and built
like a fullback. You do not mess with Sgt. Major Ambrose.
AMBROSE
(barks)
Form two companies of nine... MARCH!!
THE MEN
march in perfect drill into two groups, each three across
and three deep.
MILITARY HQ, ENTRANCE
MAJOR DUNCAN HEYWARD
Steps out. Rigid salutes.
HEYWARD
climbs onto his white military charger. It's spirited. Cora
& Alice are in riding dresses and veils. The veil doesn't
completely cover Alice's golden hair and blue eyes and the
flush of her complexion. They're riding two sidesaddled
Narragansetts. The tight traveling dress reveals that Cora,
two or three years older than Alice, is fuller and more
mature. All three ride to the front of the column. The baggage
horses and mule are in the gap between the two companies.
MAGUA
cradling his musket.
REAR SHOT: THE COLUMN
down the path that leads into the wall of forest looks
impressive.
WIDER: THE COLUMN
marching. Now they look brave but smaller. The forest - with
all its mysteries and dangers - now impresses us as a towering
dark, sinister, and it's immensity swallows up the living
mass which slowly enters its bosom.
CUT TO:
INT. FOREST - DAY
TRACKING the Redcoats, their faces now filmed with dust, cut
with lines of perspiration. They march in perfect formation.
We TRACK PAST the pack horses, the first company, Sgt. Major
Ambrose and on to Cora & Alice. Alice seems fatigued. Cora's
turned, looking up into the forest canopy, astonished at the
deep beauty of the place.
CORA'S POV: FOREST CANOPY
of trees is dark, except for spots where leaves are sparse,
and there the light is golden.
It's the forest of childhood.
In a ravine a buck disappears into a deeper stand of trees.
CORA (O.S.)
Alice, did you see that...?
CORA'S
reverie's broken by Heyward entering
the frame.
CORA
Alice?
Alice rouses from fatigue.
HEYWARD
Are you alright?
ALICE
Can we rest soon?
HEYWARD
Absolutely.
Heyward rides to the front of the column to Magua, who's
twenty to thirty yards ahead of everybody else.
HEYWARD
You there, Scout!
Magua slowly turns towards Heyward.
HEYWARD
(overly articulated)
We must... stop... soon. Women are...
tired. You... understand?
MAGUA
(perfect English)
I understand. This is not good place
to stop. Two leagues from here. No
water 'til then. That where we stop.
Better place.
HEYWARD
No. Stop in the glade just ahead!
When the ladies are rested, we will
proceed. Do you understand?
MAGUA
(in Huron: English
subtitle)
"Magua understand paleface is a dog
to his women. When his women want
to eat, he lay aside his tomahawk to
feed their laziness."
HEYWARD
Excuse me. What did you say?
MAGUA
Magua say: "Yes. Good idea."
As they begin to stop...
CUT TO:
EXT. MOUNTAINS & FOREST - DAY
WIDE
Silently entering on either side of us come Chingachgook,
followed by Hawkeye and Uncas. Even relaxed, they carry
themselves with a degree of alertness. They're eighteenth
century Viet Cong moving through the rain forest. The Maxfield
Parrish/Hudson Valley of tall trees, ravines and streams is
idyllic in front of them. All three cradle their long guns
and move silently on moccasined feet.
FRONTAL: CHINGACHGOOK
in a stream - relaxed but attentive, abruptly stops. The
others freeze in their tracks.
Chingachgook sees and then stoops to examine...
ROCK
under the water in the stream. It's been turned from its
bed. Chingachgook finds another. Uncas, moving up on his
flank, climbs the bank and moves off into the trees, searches
and then he gestures... he's found another sign of something.
CHINGACHGOOK
has headed off further down the stream and discovers nothing.
Rapidly he rejoins Uncas and Hawkeye who've become extremely
alert. They move up the bank into the forest ninety degrees
from their previous path.
TRACKING: HAWKEYE, UNCAS & CHINGACHGOOK
moving. Fast. Nearly soundless. They hardly disturb a blade
of grass. The impression: expertise, deadliness and an
impression something's wrong.
CUT TO:
EXT. FOREST, TRAIL - DAY
MAGUA
On point. The trail cuts the side of a hill. The ground on
one side rises into a forest acclivity and on the other falls
off into a forested ravine. Magua walking towards camera.
CLOSER - MAGUA'S
slid his tomahawk out from the front of his belt that girdles
his waist. He lets the shaft drop into his hand. He shrugs
off his blanket. There is a solidity to his dark, tall figure
we didn't see before. Magua turns about face and advances on
the column.
TRACK WITH Magua.
Heyward and the Munro girls pass the camera as does Sgt.
Major Ambrose, marching in advance of the men. Magua is
approaching the soldier on the left in the first row.
We see Magua has caught the Redcoat's eye.
REDCOAT
is curious, starts to smile. What does the Huron want to say
to him? When Magua is two steps away he caves in the side of
the infantryman's head at the temple with the spike end of
his tomahawk and, backhanded, hacks the blade through the
side of the neck of the center man in the first row.
SIMULTANEOUSLY
thirteen muskets EXPLODE from the wooded rise.
FIVE REDCOATS
are blown off the path, two others are wounded...
AMBROSE
AMBROSE
Form company! Left face! March!
ALICE
shrieks. Cora grabs Alice's reins
and her own.
HEYWARD
pulling his fusil (short musket), seeing, firing, reaching
for the women...
CORA'S HORSE
bucking.
ALICE'S HORSE
bolting, dodging sideways, spilling Alice to the earth.
AMBROSE
AMBROSE
Company make ready!
The regulars slam into a firing line, stepping over the bodies
of their comrades. All thirteen face the incline.
FORESTED RISE - HURONS
flash downhill through the trees. Partnered in two-man teams,
one loads and prepares and fires while the other advances to
the next cover. He, then, prepares and fires covering his
partner's advance. Leaping fallen trees and boulders, they're
athletic, fast and rapidly closing.
Even though the disciplined English regulars are a killing
machine, we now see their tactics in the dense forest are
grossly inferior to the Hurons'...
AMBROSE
Present!!
CORA
covers Alice with her body, holding the reins of their bolting
horses.
HEYWARD
from horseback aims his horse pistol, FIRES...
AN ATTACKING HURON
leaping at him past Alice & Cora drops.
MULE
with baggage crashes off, down the ravine. Another two
Redcoats drop. Nine left.
Then eight.
AMBROSE
AMBROSE
Fire!!
A musket volley as eight muskets go off as one shot, sending
a lead scythe through leaves. But...
REVERSE:
Hurons were behind cover. Only one was exposed and hit.
AMBROSE
(continuing)
Load! Prime!
The English rush to complete the reload. Will they do it in
time?
AMBROSE
(continuing)
Present! Present!
Suddenly, Hurons - en masse - CRASH down onto the Redcoats
line with tomahawks, war clubs and point-blank musket fire.
ALICE
on the ground, screaming insanely, covered by Cora who's
protecting her little sister, and...
HEYWARD'S
horse shot from beneath him, the animal folding, falling
straight to the earth, and...
MAGUA
shoots Ambrose in the chest, and...
HEYWARD
by the Munro daughters spins, swinging his fusil like a ball-
bat, upending one Huron and lunges with his bayonet in his
left towards another. But this Huron easily slips the thrust
and slams Heyward with his rifle butt.
BRITISH
dead and dying.
AMBROSE
blood gushing from his chest wound, fires his pistol, dropping
a Huron; slashes a second with his sword. Then he's chopped
down. Hurons begin scalping the British while four race
towards Heyward and the two women.
HEYWARD & CORA & ALICE
ready to die. Heyward has only his fusil as a bludgeon. He
readies...
THREE LOUD SHOTS
BLOW three of the Hurons sideways, head over heels down the
rise.
REVERSE: THREE MEN
barely seen, running diagonally across the fall line of the
ravine. In parts, we recognize Nathaniel, recharging Killdeer
on full run, and Uncas.
HURON'S
not sure where the shots came from. Suddenly Chingachgook
slams him, head first into the ravine with the war club. He
didn't even slow down.
HURON
warrior spins. Uncas tomahawks his shoulder. The Huron swings
downwards. Uncas ducks beneath the swing and slashes his
throat, sending him downhill into CAMERA as...
HAWKEYE'S
momentum and thrown tomahawk spread-eagles one Huron, near a
couple of wounded Redcoats who fight on...
MAGUA
calmly sees the odds have changed. His attention becomes
focused. He commits a very revealing act seen through the
blurred foreground action of struggling bodies. We will
remember it. He raises his musket and aims at...
CORA MUNRO
who's unaware she's a target. Why is he singling out a Munro
girl to kill?
HAWKEYE
sees. Killdeer's at his shoulder...
TIME SLOWS: MAGUA
senses Hawkeye. Moving through liquid, his eyes drift left.
The moment is frozen.
Their eyes lock, each to the other's. Then...
TIME UNFREEZES
Magua swings at Hawkeye and FIRES...
HAWKEYE
shifts. The .65 caliber musket ball rockets past his ear and
he's already squeezing Killdeer's trigger as...
HAWKEYE'S POV OVER BARREL: SMOKE
from Magua's musket blast clears. Magua's gone. He almost
shape-shifted, it happened so quickly. It's nearly mystical.
HAWKEYE
lowers Killdeer, impressed.
CORA
glances back at Hawkeye. She doesn't know why he's looking
at her.
CHINGACHGOOK
pursues two fleeing Hurons up the incline. Two strides gain
him the first man, who he hamstrings and runs over to pursue
the second up the hill... as...
HEYWARD
in the confused melee, grabs a found musket and aims it at
an Indian. We recognize that he's aiming at Chingachgook
pursuing the second Huron up the hill...
CORA
No, Duncan!
Duncan ignores her.
HEYWARD'S MUSKET
is jerked from his hands.
HAWKEYE
...case your aim is any better'n
your judgment.
He's drawn his sword, reflexively. Hawkeye flips the musket
around one-handed. It's pointed at Heyward's chest. And
Hawkeye FIRES, killing an attacking Huron behind Heyward. As
Heyward spins...
CHINGACHGOOK'S WAR CLUB
flashes up the hill. It cleaves the second man's back and
bowls him over. Chingachgook retrieves his club as his
scalping knife slashes down...
UNCAS
scalps the man he killed. Chingachgook dispatches the Huron
he hamstrung.
WIDE
Sudden silence. Heyward's motionless. The women are frozen,
as terrified of the savages and apparent half-breed rescuers
as they were of those who attacked them.
ALICE
Cora, holding her, is stunned but functioning. Moments ago
both women were clean and demure. Now their riding dresses
are torn, mud-stained, blood-spattered and their baggage is
gone.
HEYWARD'S
crossed to his slaughtered soldiers. Moments ago they were a
testament to British military power. Now they're dead meat.
Ambrose's body is against a tree. In the B.G. two of the
wounded start to rise...
ALICE (O.S.)
Stop it!
Heyward spins.
UNCAS
just cut the throat of the second Narraganset. It drops into
the brush. Alice attacks him.
ALICE
We need them to get out of here!
Uncas gently restrains her. Cora reaches Alice and grabs her
away from the "savage".
Heyward runs in to protect the women...
HEYWARD
(to Nathaniel)
...why the bloody hell he do that to
the horses?!
Uncas, all business, is now reloading, lifting powder horns,
scanning the trees.
UNCAS
(matter of fact)
...too easy to track...they can be
heard for miles... find yourself a
musket...
Cora's surprised by Uncas' easy English. Hawkeye's scanning
the forest.
HAWKEYE
(to Heyward)
Your wounded should try walkin' back
to Albany. They'll never make a
passage north.
HEYWARD
(breathless)
We were headed...
HAWKEYE
(appropriating a knife)
...Fort William Henry.
CHINGACHGOOK
(to Hawkeye:)
Let's go...
Then a fast exchange of Delaware. Cora's surprised to see
it's Chingachgook's decision. Chingachgook looks at the
survivors, gives his assent, starts off.
HAWKEYE
...take you as far as the fort.
Hawkeye throws Heyward a musket. Cora & Alice look towards
Heyward. He looks at them: the women are totally terrified
and do not move.
HAWKEYE
If we are goin' to take you, we need
to move. Fast... And the fort is
well off our course. So if you all
rather wait for the next Huron war
party to come by, we'll be on our
way.
Heyward quickly decides to go. The women follow. Hawkeye
starts off after Uncas and Chingachgook.
CUT TO:
EXT. FOREST - DAY
HAWKEYE
Moves through the trackless forest. Uncas is far out on the
left flank. Cora, Alice & Duncan Heyward follow in Hawkeye's
and Chingachgook's steps...
HAWKEYE'S FEET
walking through a creek, stepping in the stream bed instead
of on stones. The others follow. Hawkeye looks at Heyward.
HEYWARD
conforms. He's ill at ease not being in command, following
the lead of some half-Indian frontiersman through a foreign
wilderness.
HEYWARD
How far is it, scout?
HAWKEYE
Day and a half
(pause)
Where did you get... the guide?
HEYWARD
Colonel Munro sent him. He was one
of our Mohawk allies.
HAWKEYE
He is Huron and nothing else.
(checking the Munro
girls are not too
close)
Why would he want to murder the girl?
HEYWARD
What?!
HAWKEYE
Dark haired...
HEYWARD
Miss Cora Munro. He never set eyes
on her before today.
HAWKEYE
No blood vengeance? No re-proach or
insult?
HEYWARD
Of course not!
(pause)
And how is it you were nearby?
HAWKEYE
Came across the war party, tracked
'em.
HEYWARD
Then you're assigned to Fort William
Henry?
HAWKEYE
No.
HEYWARD
Fort Edward, then?
HAWKEYE
No. Headin' west. To Can-tuck-ee.
HEYWARD
I thought all our colonial scouts
were in the militia?
Off to the side, Uncas smiles at the idea.
HAWKEYE
I ain't your "scout". And I am in no
damn militia.
HEYWARD
(stops)
Then you are one of those who would
allow England to fight alone while
she protects you from France?
HAWKEYE
England does not protect me and does
not war against France on our account.
She uses us to war against France on
her own account... of greed for
land and furs.
CORA'S
appalled.
HAWKEYE
(turns)
Clear it up any?
HEYWARD
(loud)
I owe you gratitude or I'd call you
out!
HAWKEYE
(low)
Do not let gratitude get in the way...
Cora's hand holds back Heyward's sword arm because suddenly
Chingachgook looms over him.
CHINGACHGOOK
(to Hawkeye)
Yengeese no good in woods. Make more
noise, I kill him.
Heyward spins. Hawkeye coolly watches Cora. Her attitude is
hostile; aligned with Heyward. He turns away. Meanwhile...
UNCAS
stops, alarmed. Something in the air bothers him. Hawkeye
smells it, too.
CHINGACHGOOK
is already moving out front, low and fast...
CUT TO:
EXT. FOREST, TREE LINE - DAY
GREEN BRANCHES
After we HOLD, we realize Chingachgook's been there all along.
Hawkeye and Uncas join him where the branches meet the ground.
Smoke drifts through the trees.
Hawkeye sees and dips his head, then looks again...
EXT. CAMERON CABIN - DAY
WIDE
Burned, smoldering, having fallen in on itself. TRACK LEFT
past what was the doorway. A dead child's hand protruding
from the ruin. A fragment of a dress. Charred and smoldering
wood. John Cameron's body in the wreckage. And then, through
the collapsed posts and timbers, Hawkeye, Chingachgook and
Uncas have advanced and are seeing what we've just seen; and
then Cora and Alice.
ALICE
approaches and is frozen in horror. Cora shields her from
the sight. Cora is affected but confronts it directly.
HEYWARD (O.S.)
Anything to be done?
UNCAS
returns from under one part of the wreckage, ashen, stoic,
as they all are. We know the degree of their inner pain.
UNCAS
All dead...
HAWKEYE
bends over a moccasin print that Chingachgook's examining.
They look at each other grimly. Heyward joins them.
HEYWARD
Who were these people?
HAWKEYE
(re: print)
Ottawa!
HEYWARD
Excuse me...
CHINGACHGOOK
(to Hawkeye)
Ottawa.
UNCAS
enters, very careful where he places his feet... Hawkeye
gestures to Heyward to stay where he is: on the periphery
with the women.
UNCAS
Mirrors... tools... clothes... all
inside.
HAWKEYE
(to Chingachgook)
Movin' fast, not able to carry much...
this was a war party?
Chingachgook nods confirmation and indicates a direction in
Mohican. The significance is very ominous to them. We don't
know why yet. Chingachgook starts away...
HEYWARD
Let us look after them...
He starts approaching the bodies.
CHINGACHGOOK
Leave them.
Heyward stops. Hawkeye and Uncas follow Chingachgook, leaving
the cabin.
CORA
(hasn't moved)
Though they are strangers, they are
at least entitled to a Christian
burial!
HAWKEYE
(shaking his head)
Let us go, miss.
CORA
I will not. I have seen the face of
war before, Mr. Poe, but never war
made on women and children. And almost
as cruel is your indifference.
Hawkeye turns back and rapidly approaches her. She takes a
step back, fearful.
HAWKEYE
(contained)
Miss Munro.
(pause)
They are not strangers.... And they
stay as they lay...!
CORA
realizes Hawkeye knew these people and is deeply affected.
She also realizes for the first time this is a whole new
world with dynamics and complexities, behavior and rhythms
she doesn't understand. He turns away from her and walks on.
She hesitates a moment.
WIDE ON THE SMALL CLEARING IN FRONT OF THE FARMHOUSE
as Chingachgook and Hawkeye, extremely alert and cradling
their cocked flintlocks, walk to camera, eyes sweeping the
forest perimeter; they're followed by Cora, Heyward helping
Alice and Uncas as rearguard.
The ruined cabin and the dead dream of a family smolders
behind them.
CUT TO:
EXT. GLADE - NIGHT
PROFILE: HAWKEYE
moves through to where the trees seem sparse and are
unnaturally white birch and some thin grass grows. The land
rises into a mound. Chingachgook and the others avoid stepping
on the grass and cross to the other side of it.
CHINGACHGOOK
mutters something to Uncas. He nods and disappears amongst
the white birch, soundlessly.
HAWKEYE
throws Heyward a blanket. Heyward spreads the blanket below
the top of the mound and - maintaining silence - he gestures
for Cora & Alice to rest there.
ALICE'S HEAD
hits the blanket. She curls into a fetal position and she's
out. Heyward is nearby on watch.
Hawkeye has taken a position two-thirds of the way around
the crescent shaped mound.
Cora has sought him out.
HAWKEYE
doesn't react as Cora enters. He's scanning the trees; not
looking at her.
They whisper...
CORA
Why didn't you bury those people?
HAWKEYE
Anyone lookin' to pick up our trail,
would see it as a sign of our
passing...
CORA
You knew them.
Hawkeye looks at her and nods.
CORA
(stiffly)
You were acting for our benefit. And
I apologize. I misunderstood you.
HAWKEYE
Well that is to be expected. My
father...
CORA
Your "father"?
HAWKEYE
Chingachgook. He warned me about
people like you.
CORA
He did?
HAWKEYE
Yes. He said... "do not try to make
them understand you."
CORA
What?!
HAWKEYE
Yes. And "do not try to understand
them. That is because they are a
breed apart and they make no sense..."
Cora's indignation is cut off because...
UNCAS
moving fast. He gestures back the way he came and it means
they're in jeopardy. Uncas disappears around the mound.
CUT TO:
EXT. BIRCH FOREST - TREES - NIGHT
Nothing. Imperceptibly we move closer and start to see shapes
blocking out part of the white birch.
RED-PAINTED FACE
white eyes. A ruff of red hair stands straight up at the
back of the large man's head.
Slit and monstrously elongated earlobes are weighted with
silver. He's followed by others. Wary, silently, they hunt.
DEEPER: MORE OTTAWA
Towards the rear are two French Rangers ("Coureurs des Bois")
from Le Regiment de la Sarre. They're bearded, dirty, dressed
Indian-style in moccasins, leggings and breechcloths with
hooded hunting shirts. There's nothing clumsy about them.
They're the 18th century version of Special Forces who've
gone indigenous. If they and the Ottawa find our people,
it's all over.
ALICE
seeing the red-painted Ottawa approach, starts to panic. Her
hyperventilating and involuntary small sounds of fear will
reveal their position. A hand covers her mouth and silences
her struggling. WIDEN. It's Uncas. His other arm is around
her, holding her, looking towards the advancing Ottawa.
HAWKEYE
on his back, his tomahawk within reach on the ground.
OTTAWA & FRENCH
are fifty yards away from the crescent mound behind which
lie our people. Mist envelops them...
CHINGACHGOOK
His massive arms spread revealing his war club in his left
fist; his fusil in his right hand.
HAWKEYE
waiting for the attack. Cora's eyes are anxious, but there's
no terror there. Nathaniel's impressed with her cool. He
hands her a pistol. She takes it. He listens for the soft
drop of moccasined feet...
OTTAWA
through the grass. Thirty feet away they stop. They're
motionless. Then their leader gestures and they start backing
out. The French Rangers continue towards the crescent.
The Ottawa chief takes one's arm and stops him. The French
Ranger whispers something inaudible. The Ottawa chief shakes
his head, "Non. Pas possible..."
And means it. They retreat.
SEPERATE SHOTS: HAWKEYE, UNCAS, CHINGACHGOOK, CORA
tensely monitor the Ottawa retreat.
UNCAS & ALICE
He slowly removes his hand from her mouth. She's a little
shy, then she looks up, catches his eyes. Then she averts
her face.
CHINGACHGOOK
sees all of it; doesn't like it.
HAWKEYE
The Ottawa are gone.
CORA
(quietly)
Why did they turn back?
In answer Hawkeye looks behind & above her head.
CORA
turns and makes out stilt platforms of skeletons and torn
strips of buckskin silhouetted against the night sky in the
distance. They have camped on sanctified ground, a burial
place.
CORA & HAWKEYE
She thinks it would be a mistake to ever underestimate the
skill of these men or the danger & complexity of this place.
She hands the pistol back to him. Their hands almost touch.
CORA
(still pissed off)
"We're a breed apart and we make no
sense"...?
HAWKEYE
(smiles)
In your particular case, miss, I
would make some allowance...
CORA
(sarcastic)
Thank you so much.
Cora is angry. Hawkeye, staring at the trees, glances at
her. She settles, looking at him.
Her mood changes. Then...
CORA
You called Chingachgook your "father"?
Where is your real family?
Hawkeye's surprised by her question.
HAWKEYE
They buried my ma & pa and my sisters.
And Chingachgook - who found me with
two French trappers - raised me up
as his own.
CORA
I'm sorry.
HAWKEYE
I do not remember them. I was one or
two.
CORA
How did you learn English?
HAWKEYE
My father sent Uncas & I to Reverend
Wheelock's school when I was ten. So
we would know both worlds... though
we were told only bother learning
readin' & arithmetic from yours.
CORA
And what were the consequentialities
of European culture you didn't bother
with?
HAWKEYE
The Bible. Monarchy. Many wrong ideas
about the government of men. My
father's people already know each
man is his own nation. And only he
can have dominion over himself. Not
kings. No man is better than any
other man.
CORA
In London those radical ideas could
land you in Newgate prison.
(changing the subject)
Why were those people living in this
defenseless place...?
HAWKEYE
'Cos frontier land's the only land
affordable to poor people. So after
seven years indentured service in
Virginia, they headed out here where
they are beholden to none and not
livin' by another's leave... Their
name was Cameron. John & Alexandria.
Cora sees the slate grey clouds and, in between, the fields
of stars. She looks at Hawkeye; then again up at the night
sky.
HAWKEYE
(continuing; looking
up)
My father's people say... 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.
(the sky)
So there is the Camerons' monument...
my folks', too, I guess.
CORA'S
pensive. Hawkeye's watching her. Her reaction is enigmatic.
After a pause...
CORA
(low)
You are right, Mr. Poe. We do not
understand what is happening here.
And it is not as I imagined it would
be, thinking of it in Boston and
London...
HAWKEYE
Sorry to disappoint you...
CORA
(eyes downcast)
On the contrary. It is more deeply
stirring... to my blood...
(then up into his
eyes)
...than any imagining could possibly
have been...
She closes her eyes, turns slightly and prepares to sleep.
Hawkeye is the one left staring into the birch forest, a
little surprised. Some of his assumptions about her were
wrong...
CUT TO:
EXT. FOREST - LATE AFTERNOON
WIDE
Deep fog has set in. A hand entering the frame scares the
hell out of us. It moves a branch aside. It's Uncas. Spread
to the right is Chingachgook, far to the left is Hawkeye.
They hike up a steep forested slope in the heart of the
Adirondacks.
CORA
Much further?
HAWKEYE
Top of this ridge. Fort and Lake
George are downhill of it.
ALICE
Re-energized, her spirits pick up.
ALICE
Will we be able to bathe?
Before Cora can answer they hear a deep, rolling roar. Alice
is alarmed.
CORA
Thunder... Papa will arrange
something.
UNCAS
looks over his shoulder, sees something in the far distance,
gestures to Hawkeye and Chingachgook.
HAWKEYE'S POV: DISTANT HILLS
and the band of red-painted Ottawa and Coureurs des Bois,
who have now split into two groups, are still on their trail.
Meanwhile, oblivious...
HEYWARD
The men of the regiment will fetch
water from the lake, build fires and
provide every comfort you desire,
Alice...
ALICE
Duncan, you are absolutely gallant.
If Cora doesn't marry you, I shall.
CORA
Alice!
Heyward laughs. Hawkeye sees them. It bothers us: will these
Europeans, including Cora, shed their frontier experience?
ALICE
I can't wait to see Papa...
CORA
And you, Duncan? What are you looking
forward to?
HEYWARD
Posting to a different continent.
He and Alice laugh. Cora does not.
CORA
I think it's very important and
exciting.
Heyward looks at her. She's not kidding.
ANOTHER ANGLE: HEYWARD
helps Alice. As he does, he stares at Cora's seperation and
now her proximity to Hawkeye, who's walking on ahead, is
something Heyward doesn't like. His dark thoughts are
distracted by a FLASH of light and more ROLLING THUNDER.
WIDE FROM THE FRONT - HAWKEYE
drops and pulls Cora to the ground.
CORA
Lightning?
Hawkeye doesn't answer as he, Chingachgook, Uncas and Heyward
make their way to the top of the ridge.
CLOSER ANGLES: CORA & ALICE
join them and look down upon their expectation of a secure
piece of England in the wilderness, a safe harbor, a father's
warm welcome.
THEIR POV: FORT WILLIAM HENRY
is none of those things. The thunder is the roar of French
siege cannon clouded in dense smoke. The flashes of light
are mortar bombs exploding and illumination rockets' red
glare. Fort William Henry is under a massive siege by a French
and Huron army.
UNCAS
looks over his shoulder.
HIS POV: OTTAWA
pursuing them. There's no way back. They're propelled forward.
DISSOLVE TO:
EXT. BATTLEFIELD, FRENCH BATTERY #1 - DUSK
CLOSE SHOTS
French cannons roar black smoke and gouts of red flame.
TRENCH
dug by sappeurs behind the cover of a huge gambio pushed
toward the fort by two poles and fascis on the sides.
ENGLISH GUN CREW
searching the night.
POV: BATTLEFIELD
is black.
ENGLISH ROCKETS
light the battlefield revealing the French trenches.
ENGLISH GUN CREW
excited. Colonial militia and Mohawk snipers fire their
rifles. The British gun crew scrambles to adjust their 18
pounders.
FRENCH BATTERY #1
FIRES.
FRENCH BATTERY #2
FIRES.
EXT. FORT, WEST BATTERY
TRACKING. French cannon FIRE rips into the fortifications,
exploding wood and earth, shredding the English gun crew
with cannister. The English fight stubbornly, but we feel
they're outgunned. Meanwhile...
WIDE ANGLE FROM THE WATER
A new artillery duel erupts. The action is to the west side
of the fort. On the north, the fire fight is reflected on
the black water of Lake George in our foreground. Then a
dark shape wiping to the right cuts off those reflections.
We see in silhouette the outline of a birch canoe moving
silently, barely rippling the mirrored surface of the lake.
EXT. LAKE GEORGE BANK - DEBRIS
Behind it, two Canadiens and a Huron alternately snipe at
the ramparts.
LOW & WIDE: SNIPERS
Behind them is black water. Its surface is broken by the
rising mass of Chingachgook, followed by Uncas and Hawkeye.
Muzzle flashes from the cannon reveal the canoe and the forms
of the girls further out. Chingachgook's war club is held
low. The Huron senses and turns and Hawkeye's thrown tomahawk
knocks him back. Hawkeye's knife flashes in the night.
Chingachgook drives the war club up, smashing a Canadien
onto the debris. The second Canadien jabs bayonet at Uncas,
slashing his side. Uncas jerks him forward by the musket,
folds him over and tomahawks him.
CUT TO:
EXT. FORT WILLIAM HENRY, NORTH WALL - NIGHT
SALLY-PORT TUNNEL
amidst the cannonade roar, ad-libbed shouts from Hawkeye and
Heyward convince battle begrimed soldiers to open the sally-
port. Our people rush in.
TORCH LIGHT
the group moves through the long, dank, tunnel. Enlisted men
escorting them. Another torch from the other direction:
CAPTAIN BEAMS is revealed.
HEYWARD
I'm Major Duncan Heyward!
BEAMS
Captain Jeffrey Beams. We didn't
think you'd make it through!
HEYWARD
Where's Colonel Munro? His daughters
are here, too.
Beams raises his torch, sees the muddied, soaked women. He
is shocked that they traveled with Heyward.
CUT TO:
INT. FORT WILLIAM HENRY, PARADE GROUND - NIGHT
GROUP
Emerges from a sally-port tunnel. It's smokey. NOISE is
deafening. The group has traveled through a nightmare, only
to arrive in hell.
HEYWARD WITH BEAMS, CORA & HAWKEYE, ALICE, UNCAS &
CHINGACHGOOK
run diagonally past pyramidal stacks of cannon ball,
smoldering beams and shrapnel, wounded men. Just then a mortar
is fired and explodes, killing the gun crew. On the ramparts
Mohawks and Colonial Militia, sniping at the French. Women
huddle in corners next to the sick and dying.
UNDER RAMPARTS: MILITIA
AD LIBS
(shouts over roar)
Uncas! Nathaniel...
HAWKEYE
waves. One wounded man, IAN, intercepts Uncas.
IAN
Thought you and Nathaniel weren't
joinin'-up.
UNCAS
(on the run)
Didn't!
HAWKEYE
Dropped in to see how you boys is
doin'.
COLONEL MUNRO
running from his quarters is shocked to see them.
ALICE
(hysterical)
Papa, Papa!!
MUNRO
(enraged)
Why are you here?!
Cora is stunned. Alice is decimated by her father's anger.
Munro sees and whips off his coat to cover them and takes
Alice under his arm. Bombardment resumes. Alice clings while
they race for the cover of his quarters:]
MUNRO
(to Heyward; re: Alice
& Cora)
Why did you allow them to come?...
And where the bloody hell are my
reinforcements!!
They race into the yellow lantern light of Munro's quarters
and slam and bolt the heavy door. Heyward's confused...
CUT TO:
INT. MUNRO'S QUARTERS - NIGHT
MUNRO
(embracing his
daughters; softer)
Told you to stay away from this hell
hole! Why did you disobey me?
CORA
When? How?
MUNRO
My letter...
CORA
There was none!
MUNRO
What?
CORA
There was no letter.
MUNRO
I sent three men to Webb!
HEYWARD
One called Magua arrived.
CORA
He delivered no such message.
Munro's stunned.
MUNRO
Does Webb not even know we are
besieged?
HEYWARD
Sir. Webb has no idea. And he
certainly does not know to send
reinforcements!
Munro has nowhere for his rage to go. Meanwhile, Alice clings
to her father. At 45-55, the British Army has been his life.
He blindly believes in its institutions, though officers
like Webb would disdain his Scots origins.
FROM UNDER HIS FURY:
MUNRO
(flat)
What happened to you?
HEYWARD
(suddenly tired)
Ambush... on the George Road. This
Magua led us into it.
(pause)
...eighteen killed. It's these men
who saved us. They guided us here...
MUNRO
Thank you. How can I reward you?
No answer. Then...
HAWKEYE
Help ourselves to a few horns from
your powder stores.
MUNRO
What else?
UNCAS
Some food.
MUNRO
(to Uncas)
I'm indebted to you. And get your
side sewn up, young man.
MUNRO
sees his exhausted and bloodstained surgeon in the doorway
that leads to the next rooms.
MUNRO
(bellows)
Mr. Phelps!
PHELPS' face lights up when he sees Cora Munro.
PHELPS
Miss Cora! How are you?
CORA
(smiles)
Fine, Mr. Phelps. Have you cat gut
and a suturing needle?
(for Uncas)
And we could use some rum, clothes,
and a place to wash...
Cora tries to remove Alice from her father, but she clings
to him. Munro holds her tighter. Then he whispers something
to her. She nods her head. And Cora takes her.
They exit.
MUNRO
is moved beyond words by his daughters' presence. There's a
break, a pause...
MUNRO
(to Heyward over table
map)
What a place for them...
HEYWARD
Might I enquire after the situation,
sir, given that I've seen of the
French engineering from the ridge
above?
MUNRO
(perfunctory)
Logistics are his guns are bigger
than mine and he has more of them.
They keep our heads down while his
sappers make thirty yards of trench
a day. His thirteen inch mortars
have a two hundred yard range, so
when they're close enough, they'll
move them in, lob explosive rounds
over our walls and pound us to dust.
They look to be three hundred yards
out. Bloody murderers. You have
three days.
HAWKEYE
A man, here, can make a run straight
through to Webb.
MUNRO
...not enough time to get to Albany
and back with reinforcements...
A Sergeant enters, snaps to attention, says something to
Beams, exits.
HEYWARD
Webb's not in Albany. He marched the
33rd to Fort Edward two days ago.
MUNRO
Webb's at Edward?
HEYWARD
Yes, sir.
MUNRO
Only twelve miles away! He could be
here day after tomorrow.
(to Hawkeye)
Find your man, sir! Captain Beams
will give you the message.
Beams nods. Munro turns back to the map. Hawkeye has something
else to say.
HAWKEYE
John Cameron's cabin. We come upon
it last night. Burned out. Everyone
murdered. And it was Ottawa. They're
allied to the French.
Munro looks at him.
MUNRO
Yes, Mr. Poe? So?
HAWKEYE
It was a war party. It means they're
on the attack up and down the
frontier.
Munro turns to look at him for a long beat. Munro doesn't
like what his response must be to this news. He turns to
Heyward and the map.
MUNRO
(cold)
Thank you.
Hawkeye's dismissed, frozen out.
HAWKEYE
Many men here, their homes are in
the path.
MUNRO
That's all, sir.
Hawkeye is furious. Chingachgook gestures Hawkeye out. He
leaves Munro's quarters almost knocking over an entering
Adjutant who backs way up to let Chingachgook pass.
HEYWARD
Things were done. Nobody was spared...
MUNRO
Terrible feature of war in the
Americas.
(beat; a mantra)
Best to keep your sight fixed on our
duty.
Our duty is to defeat France. That hangs on a courier to
Webb.
CUT TO:
INT. MONTCALM'S MARQUEE - NIGHT
CHORAL GROUP
of three Seneca women and five boys, led by a Jesuit, sing
the Te Deum in the Iroquois language. This is a large tent
that could sleep twenty. Montcalm's four personal guards are
at the entrance as well as COMTE DE LEVIS in dirty lace, a
facial wound and a braceful of pistols on a sash. Inside is
simple campaign furniture and a six by eight foot battle
standard and flag of France.
MONTCALM
stands with a huge and fearsome elaborately tattooed and
robed Seneca chief in a silk turban...
SENECA CHIEF
(low)
... and the Black Robes of
Michilimackinac left us no time to
put our cabins in order before telling
us our French father had need of our
aid. We rolled our blankets and were
the first to be here. Yet we are not
the first and closest to my father's
campfire.
The Marquis de Montcalm is forty-five, wears a large wampum
belt as a sash over his waistcoat. He has an acute intellect,
an elegant manner. He is more aristocratic than Munro, but a
consummate professional soldier. Over the Seneca's shoulder,
Montcalm sees and nods to...
MAGUA
entering with four Huron braves. This is not the Magua we
saw on the trail. In his scalp lock, now red-stained and cut
to a Huron roach, are three blacl plumes. A match-coat blanket
drapes his left shoulder.
MONTCALM
(to Seneca Chief)
For my children and the children of
the true faith, my friendship and
esteem is boundless... I will give
you three oxen for a feast and
tomorrow I, myself, will sing the
war song with you in the great council
house.
The Seneca Chief is satisfied and his people, plus the Jesuit,
exit. The look on Magua's face and the wry expression on
Montcalm's allows us to understand their relationship is
based on realpolitik.
MONTCALM
Le Renard Subtil, how are things
with your English friends?
Magua exhales in derision as he brings a chair to face
Montcalm and sits, European style...
MONTCALM
(over his shoulder)
Louis Antoine, join us.
LOUIS ANTOINE DE BOUGAINVILLE enters. He wears a functional
melange of Indian moccasins over white linen breeches and an
officer's waistcoat.
MONTCALM
Hear what le Subtil has to tell us...
Bougainville published a book on integral calculus at twenty-
five, at twenty-six was a secretary to the French Ambassador
in London, in January 1756 at twenty-seven he was elected a
member of the British Royal Academy of Science and at age
twenty-eight he's aide de camp to the Marquis de Montcalm
with the rank of captain. Later in life, he brought
"bougainvillea" from Tahiti to Europe to America.
MAGUA
English war chief, Webb goes to Fort
Edward with 33rd Regiment. He does
not know my father's army attacks
Fort William Henry.
BOUGAINVILLE
But by now Munro knows his couriers
didn't get through. He'll send
another.
MAGUA
The Grey Hair will try.
BOUGAINVILLE
Four or five, including two women
entered the fort...
MAGUA
The Grey Hair's children were under
Magua's knife but escaped. They'll
be under it again.
MONTCALM
Why do hate the Grey Hair, Magua?
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 see
his seed is wiped out forever.
Montcalm won't get a direct answer.
MONTCALM
My sappeurs are advancing the trenches
through the night, now. You may have
your opportunity soon.
CUT TO:
INT. SURGERY, ENTRANCE - NIGHT
PHELPS
Exhausted, sitting on a low stool, taking a breath.
HAWKEYE (O.S.)
She know what she's doin'?
Phelps looks up, then he looks over his shoulder at Cora.
She's in a borrowed launderess dress/blouse... She looks
different. He's a little indignant.
PHELPS
First assisted me in Austria when
she was fourteen. I would say she
does...
Her apron is stained. Hawkeye sees this may be her first
time in the New World, but it's not her first military
campaign. Still angered at Munro's dismissive response, he's
nevertheless falling for Cora.
HAWKEYE
She does not shy away from much...
PHELPS
(elsewhere)
What's that?
HAWKEYE
Nothin'.
Alice Munro has caught Hawkeye's attention. Outside the
surgery where a casement meets a wall, she sits, withdrawn.
A catatonic older woman in a fine dress sits next to her.
PHELPS (O.S.)
Miss Cora? Gentleman looking for
you.
HAWKEYE
enters. Cora's sewing up Uncas.
CORA
(looks up)
Mr Poe?
HAWKEYE
Miss.
(re: cotton)
May I?
Cora, curious, nods. Hawkeye cuts some pieces from her ruined
and discarded dress that she now uses to bandage Uncas. We
don't know why; neither does Cora.
HAWKEYE
(to Uncas)
You 'bout done holdin' hands with
Miss Munro?
Uncas laughs, looking from her to Hawkeye. Then he's up and
he hurts. Cora starts to tend another wounded man. As they
start out, Hawkeye hesitates. Sensing it, Cora turns.
CORA
What are you looking at, Mr. Poe?
HAWKEYE
Why, I am looking at you, Miss.
Cora measures the directness of Hawkeye's manner. It's not
insolent, only unsettling.
Feeling foolish; she turns. He leaves.
CUT TO:
EXT. FRENCH TRENCHES - NIGHT
SAPPEURS & ENGINEERS
Having worked through the night, are still digging the
diagonally-advancing trench. We note it's closer than it
was.
EXT. FRENCH TRENCHES - NIGHT
FRENCH PICKETTS
At their posts guard the sappeurs. Meanwhile...
CUT TO:
EXT. FORT WILLIAM HENRY, WEST SIDE - NIGHT
SALLY-PORT
Opens. Ten Mohawks and Rangers crawl towards the French lines.
Meanwhile...
CUT TO:
EXT. FORT WILLIAM HENRY, PARAPET - NIGHT
HAWKEYE & UNCAS -
are low and out of French sight in the northeast battery.
Four others are with them, including Captain Jack. Stacked
rifles are against the casement. We don't know why.
Each rifle is within reach of Hawkeye's hand. Hawkeye is
taking extra care loading Killdeer. He charges it once, then
overloads the powder by a quarter charge.
UNCAS
You told him about the raid?
HAWKEYE
(nods)
He does not want to hear it.
(pause)
But he is gonna have to.
JACK
(to one man)
Get together by the West Battery
James & Ian, Sharitarish & William.
Hawkeye uses the fine cotton he took from Cora. Uncas sees
it.
UNCAS
Tight weave.
HAWKEYE
Another forty yards?
Uncas nods. Hawkeye wets it to make a tighter gas seal and
rams it home. The tighter fit requires more effort.
HAWKEYE
looks below to ground level...
FRONTIERSMAN - COURIER
Two pistols are holstered in a sash around his chest. He
wears no hat and carries no pack. He waits by the sally-port
door.
CUT TO:
EXT. FRENCH TRENCH - NIGHT
THREE PICKETS -
are suddenly tomahawked and knifed by stripped down 42nd
Highlanders and Mohawks. Alarm is raised. French and some
Huron run to advance. Shots are fired.
The Rangers & Mohawks fall back.
FRENCH
emboldened, pursue...
TRENCH IN FRONT OF WEST WALL
suddenly Heyward and three companies of the 62nd regiment of
Foot (60 men) are over the top in perfect formation...
HEYWARD
Sergeant! Form three ranks!
SERGEANT MAJOR
Sir!
(bellows to troops)
Upon the center, wheel to the left-
about! March!
(three motions; drums)
Rear ranks, proper distance!
(the rear ranks back
up six paces)
Front ranks, take your distance!
March!
(everybody moves)
Halt!
(in unison they slam
to a stop)
Make ready!
(muskets snap to port
arms)
MOHAWKS & HIGHLANDERS
dodge right & left of the 62nd's line of fire.
FRENCH
are coming forward. Their sergeants trying to stop and form
their men in ad-libbed French.
62ND REGIMENT OF FOOT
SERGEANT MAJOR
(dead cool)
First rank! Second rank! Present
arms!
(muskets shouldered)
HEYWARD
Fire!!!
Like one shot, lightening, smoke and .65 caliber death screams
from the first two ranks like a scythe, cutting down...
REVERSE: FRENCH
Fourteen wounded or killed...
62ND REGIMENT OF FOOT
HEYWARD
exposed. He's oblivious to incoming rounds. A piece of hat
is blown off, epaulet is shot off. The man next to him is
killed and bloodies Heyward's coat.
HEYWARD
Advance, Sergeant Major!
SERGEANT MAJOR
Sir!!!
(to soldiers)
Third rank! Twelve paces! Forward
march!
Drums. The rear rank walks through the first two ranks, who
are priming and loading in perfect order to their Sergeant
Major's commands. As the third rank becomes the first rank...
SERGEANT MAJOR
Shoulder arms!
(slam)
Present!
(slam)
HEYWARD
Fire!!!
CUT TO:
EXT. FORT WILLIAM HENRY - NIGHT
COURIER
sprints for the trees during the diversion of Heyward's sally.
TWO HURONS
materialize from nowhere and charge at him... both are BLOWN
off their feet by...
EXT. FORT WILLIAM HENRY, CASEMENT - NIGHT
UNCAS & HAWKEYE
now handed already-loaded, primed and cocked rifles while
the four men behind them reload the two just fired. Hawkeye
gestures...
EXT. HILLSIDE - NIGHT
THREE HALF-SAVAGE CANADIENS
Are running down the hill to intercept the courier. One
fires...
COURIER
a near miss.
EXT. FORT WILLIAM HENRY - NIGHT
HAWKEYE FIRES. A half second later, Uncas FIRES.
EXT. HILLSIDE - NIGHT
One Canadien's falling through the trees as the second one's
hit by Uncas' shot.
HAWKEYE
reaches out his hand. Killdeer with the heavier load is
slapped into it. Hawkeye aims.
Looks away a second and comes back to the sight in deep
concentration. The world goes silent...
HAWKEYE'S POV:
COURIER & CANADIEN
pursuer are barely visible. Only patches appear momentarily
between the trees. They're three hundred yards away: an
impossible shot in 1757.
EXT. FOREST - NIGHT
THE CANADIEN
will intersect the courier. His arm is back with his tomahawk
to throw...
EXT. FORT WILLIAM HENRY - NIGHT
HAWKEYE
Judges wind, elevates the long rifle... and FIRES at us.
JUMP CUT BACK:
TREES
Hawkeye's heavy round rips through. We HEAR the ball cut
air. A few leaves flutter...
EXT. FOREST - NIGHT
CANADIEN
whacked head over heels by the impact.
COURIER
looks over his shoulder. He didn't know the Canadien was
there. He stumbles in the half light. Then he runs on...
CUT TO:
EXT. FORT WILLIAM HENRY - WEST SALLY-PORT - NIGHT
The three companies of the 62nd Regiment of Foot file back
into the fort in perfect order. The sally-port is closed.
Three men are wounded. The diversion worked perfectly.
HEYWARD
Sergeant Major!
SERGEANT MAJOR
Sir!
HEYWARD
Thank you, Sergeant Major. Thank the
men.
SERGEANT MAJOR
Atten-hut!
TROOPERS & MILITIA
have seen no action for three days & nights. Heyward got
their blood running and won their respect. They step aside
and nod to him. Heyward keeps walking. He is home.
CUT TO:
INT. MUNRO'S BEDCHAMBER - NIGHT
DOOR
A knock and Heyward enters.
CORA & ALICE
Alice is in her father's bed. Cora is collecting and tearing
linen into strips for bandaging.
HEYWARD
Cora... I wanted to talk to you, but
I'll come back another time...
Alice looks at the two of them and rises out of the bed.
CORA
Alice...
ALICE
Talk to Duncan, Cora... I must
manage... I cannot be an invalid
schoolgirl.
(starts for door)
I'll see if Mr. Phelps needs
anything...
She leaves.
HEYWARD
I'm sorry, I didn't mean to...
CORA
Her nerves are shattered. She's trying to be brave.
There's a lot going on under Cora's surface. We don't know
what it is, but it's disconcerting.
HEYWARD
Cora, I adore you and, when we come
together, we will be the happiest
couple in England... I am certain
of that. More than ever before.
(softens)
I believe you must trust the judgment
of others who hold your welfare so
close to their hearts...
CORA
Duncan...
(pause)
Duncan, I promised you an answer.
You have 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.
Heyward is stunned.
CORA
And it's been unfair to you, while I
search myself for feelings, which,
if they were there and as strong as
they ought to be, would've made
themselves known long ago...
(pause)
Take my admiration and friendship,
Duncan. And please take this as my
final answer. It must be no.
Heyward' shattered inside.
HEYWARD
I see...
CORA
I am sorry, Duncan...
Heyward nods. He's speechless. He's errect as he leaves the
room.
CLOSE: CORA
The tension rushes out of her and she shudders and leans
against the quarter-timbered walls for support. Then she
collects the linen and starts out.
CUT TO:
INT. FORT, INNER CORRIDOR - NIGHT
CORA
Moving through the corridor past wounded. Two French mortar
bombs explode above one of the casements. We hear shrill
screams in the distance and...
HAWKEYE (O.S.)
... it was no raidin' party out for
pillage. The cabin was attacked by a
war party. They are sweeping south
down the frontier spreading terror
among farms and Mohawk villages 'cos
all the men are here.
IAN (O.S.)
And my cabin's not thirteen miles
south of Cameron's!
Cora, passing the open door to Munro's crowded office, now
hesitates.
CORA'S POV: THE ROOM
Hawkeye, Captain Jack Winthrop, Ian, seven or eight other
militia spokesmen, Munro, Heyward, two adjutants, one
lieutenant of Rangers.
MUNRO
(to Jack)
I must receive proof more conclusive
than Mr. Poe's opinion before I weaken
our defenses by allowing militia to
withdraw.
JACK
Chingachgook's of the same opinion.
Taken together, that's gospel. Your
fort will stand or fall depending on
Webb and reinforcements, not these
colonials' presence.
MUNRO
I judge military matters, Captain
Winthrop, not you.
HAWKEYE
That judgment is not more important
than their right under agreement
with Webb to defend their farms &
families... Major Heyward was at
John Cameron's. He saw what it was.
MUNRO
(looking to Heyward
for confirmation of
his point of view)
What did you see, Major?
Heyward looks around the room. And he catches the doorway...
CORA
beyond the periphery of men, staring
at him.
HEYWARD
Munro is expecting him to be the
good soldier in defense of British
military interests.
At the same time...
CORA
examines him with a cool, level stare.
HEYWARD
looks at Munro. More French rounds detonate O.S. What if
Webb gets here and they need to launch a counter-attack?
They need every man they have. It's his moment of decision...
HEYWARD
(to Munro)
I saw nothing that would lead me to
the conclusion it was other than a
raid by savages bent on thievery.
Jack Winthrop grabs Nathaniel.
HAWKEYE
You're a liar!
CORA'S
saddened. Heyward's stature has fallen irrevocably in her
eyes.
HEYWARD
can't help it. He turns to look at Cora...
HEYWARD'S POV: DOORWAY
She's gone.
HEYWARD
suffused with an inner sadness, turns to Hawkeye.
HAWKEYE
And the blood is on your hands!
Heyward reaches for his sword.
MUNRO
(to Heyward)
I'll have none of that!
(to colonials)
Montcalm is a soldier and a gentleman.
Not a butcher.
HAWKEYE
Easy for you to suppose. While it is
their women and children, not yours,
alone in their farms!
MUNRO
(exploding)
You forget yourself!
JACK
We are not forgettin' Webb's promise!
MUNRO
British promises are honored. And
the militia will not be released.
Because I need more definite proof
than this man's word!
JACK
Nathaniel's word been good on the
frontier a long time before you got
here!
MUNRO
This interview's over! The militia
stays!
JACK
(to Munro)
Does the rule of English law no longer
govern? Has it been replaced by
absolutism?
This is very dangerous talk.
HAWKEYE
And if English law cannot be trusted,
maybe these people would do better
makin' a peace with the French!
HEYWARD
That is sedition! Treason!
HAWKEYE
That is the truth!
HEYWARD
(restaining himself)
I ought to have you whipped from
this fort!
HAWKEYE
Major!
(changes down)
Some day I think you and I are gonna
have a serious disagreement.
MUNRO
(steel)
Anyone fomenting or advocating leaving
Fort William Henry will be hung for
sedition.
Anyone leaving will be shot for
desertion.
(pause)
My decision is final. Get out.
Hawkeye and the o