The last of the mohicans

'Fort William Henry?You are going the wrong way,' he said.. 'But he lives with the Mohawks, and he is a guide for the Eng-' 'A Huron!' said Hawk-eye quickly.. Come now - quickly!' Duncan

MACMI LLAN READERS

BEGINNER LEVEL

JAMES FENIMORE COOPER

The Last of the Mohicans

Retold by John Escott

~ MACl\IILLAN

BEGINNER LEVEl Founding Editor : Joh n Mi lne

Th e Mac mi lla n Reade rs pro vid e a cho ice of en joyab le readin g

mat erials for learn ers of English The series is published at six levels

- Sta rte r, Beginner, Elem entar y, Pre-intermedi at e , Interm edi at e

and Uppe r

L evel c ontrol

Informati on , structure and vocabula ry are co ntro lled to suit the

stude nts' ability at each level

Th e numb er o f word s at each le vel:

Sta rter abo ut 300 basic words

Beginner abo ut 600 basic words

Elemen tar y about 1100 basic word s

Pre-interm ed iate abo ut 1400 basic word s

In term ediat e abo ut 1600 basic words

Upper about 2200 basic words

Vocabular y

Some difficult words and ph rases in th is book are important for

und erstanding the story Some of th ese words are exp lained in the

sto ry and so me are show n in th e p ictures From Pre- inte rmed iate

level upward s, words are mark ed with a nu mber like th is: 1 These

words are explaine d in th e G lossary at the end of th e book

A N ote About the Author

A N ote About This Story The P eople in This Story

1 The Two Siste rs

2 Lost in th e Forest

3 The Fight at Gl enn's Falls

4 'I Am a Huron Ch ief'

5 Fort William Henry

6 'When Will Help Come?'

c, LakeG eorge " 'r I

( Hof/can) \ : J I '1!

Lake Ontario I 'If- f t (

Fort William He nry J \ r

A MER I C A

, La R e

Er ie

)

A N ote Ab out th e Auth or

James Fenimore Cooper was

born in Ne w Je rse y, Nor th

Ame r ica on 15 th Septe mbe r

178 9 His famil y lived on a

farm in Coope rsto wn , in the

north of New York Sta te

Coope r had five broth ers

and seven siste rs He went to

schoo l at Yale But he did not

beh a ve well an d he had to

leave In 1805, Cooper becam e a sailor He was in the

US Nav y until 1810 In 1811 Coope r's father died

Cooper married Susan De Lanc ey and they lived on

the farm From 1812 to 18 21 Coope r worked very

hard But he was poor He gave a lot of mon ey to his

brothers and siste rs In 1820, he sta rted to write sto ries

Coope r's adve nture sto ries were abo ut life in the forests

and the wild lands of N orth America

sto ry Many people liked the adven tures of Hawk-eye

Cooper became rich and he travell ed to Europe

Coope r wrote five sto ries abo u t Hawk -e ye: Th e

Pi oneers (1823) , Th e Last o f th e M ohicans ( 1826 ), Th e

wrote Th e S py (1821) , Th e Pil ot (1823) and Th e Pra irie

(18 27) Jam es Fenim or e Cooper died on 14th

Septe mbe r 1851

4

A N ote Ab out Thi s St ory

Place: Lake Horican on the Hudson River The aut ho r

gave this name to Lake George (Look at the map.) It

is in the east of N orth Ame rica Tod ay, the area is

called NewYork Sta te At the time of this sto ry, N orth

Amer ica was not independent N orth America became

independent from Europe in 1787

Time: 1757 Armies from Engl and and Fran ce are

fighting in N orth Ame rica Both coun tries want the

land

The Indian people had lived in the land for thousan ds

of years They got the ir food from the land They

caugh t fish in the rivers and lakes They h unted deer, bears and birds in the forests They ate the meat from

these ani ma ls They mad e clo thes from the an ima ls'

sk ins

There were man ydifferentIndi an tribes, or famil ies

These are some of the tribes who lived ne ar the Hudson River:

L enni-Lenape leni 'le no.pe r Hur ons 'ho oronz

M ohicans mo'hiikon z M ingoes 'm njgouz

In 1607 , English peopl e came to N orth Americ a In

1608, Fren ch peopl e came They hunted the an ima ls

5

They took the soft an ima ls' skins to Europe

France In this sto ry, the Hurons are fighting for the

Cora Munro Alice Munro

.koirc m rn' roq 'eelrs rrrm'roq

General Munro General Webb Magua

'd j enral m rn'raq 'd j enral 'w eb ' meegwo

f

\ Chingachgook Uncas

tjm'geetjgok ' onkzes

Pi; ;

' d3enr;)) mon'ka:m t eem enond ' dxnkx n h erwud

Th e T wo Si

It was the year 1757 The place was the dangerous an d wild land, west of the Hudson River It was the third

year of the war in No r th Ame rica The war was

between England and France Each country wan te d the

land for itself

Indian tribes had always lived in that land In the

war, some tribes were fightin g for the French O ther

tribes were figh ting for the English

Fort Edward was on the Hudson River Gene ral Webb was the comm and er of the Engli sh ar my at Fort

'Montc alm an d the Frenc h ar my are com ing

towa rds Fort William Henry,' Magua told Gene ra l

Webb

Fort William Henry was fifteen miles away It was at

the south en d of Lake Horican

'How many men has Montcalm got?' aske d Webb

'A s many as the leaves on the trees ,' said Magua 'Gene ra l Munro wan ts mor e sold iers at Fo rt William

Henry.'

8

"l wil l send fifteen hundred men.' sai d Ge ne ral

W c hb

General Munro was the comma nde r of the Eng lish

arm y 1[ Fort William Henry I Ic had two daughters ­

Co ra and Alice Cow was ab o u t twent y-three v ea r x old

beautiful[ace Alice had fairhairand blue eyes

These two YO UIl /ol: women were en Fort Edward But

were going to meet their fat her

Gene ral Wehh spoke to COni and Alice

'Magun kno ws a secret path through the forest,' said

Gene ral Webb 'He will be you r guide Mag a an d

Major Duncan Heyward will take y u to For t \Xlilliam

He and the two young women left Fort Edward They

rode on horses Maguu walked in front {If them Alice

wnrchcd Magua

thin k! Will we he safe in the for est with Magna "

'We must trust Magus ' said Cora

'The French k ow our soldie rs' pa ths,' said Duncan

'But Mauna's path is secret.' He smiled at Alice, an d

she sm iled at him Dun can Heyward was in lo ve wit h

Al ice

'M agna is it Huron ,'said Duncan ' But he lived with

the Mohawks.The Mohawksare friends ofthe Eng lish

Magu a ca rne to us Your f<lther- ' Du ncan stopped

Then he said, 'RIIt I don't remember all the story.'

Duncan knew more about r-.·1a gua Bu r he did not

tell Cora and Alice He did not say, 'A few years ago ,

fat her.' Duncan diJ not want ro frighten the young

wom en

So they followed Magll:l through the forest

A few miles west of Fort Edward, three men were sit­

ting near a river Two of the men were Indian s The

othe r man was a white man Ch inga chgook and his

son , Uncas, were Mohicans The white man was a

scout called Hawk-eye Hawk-eye had a lon g hunting­

gun

The three men were talking

'My tribe is the oldes t Indian tribe,' Ch ingachgoo k

said 'The blood of the Mohican chiefs is in me Many

summe rs ago, my tribe came her e to the land of the

Delawares.'

'W he re are the Moh ican s now ?' asked Hawk- eye

'Wher e are the flowers of those sum me rs?' said

Ch ingac hgoo k 'Gone All dead After my de ath ,

Uncas will be the last of the Mohicans.'

Sudde n ly, they heard a noise They turned quickly

Hawk- eye lifted his gun 'Who is it?' he said

Duncan Heyward rode out of the forest Cora and Alice followed him

'I am an English office r,' Duncan said 'We have

com e from Fort Edward How far is it to Fort William

Henry ?'

Hawk -eye lau gh ed 'Fort William Henry?You are

going the wrong way,' he said 'You are near Gl enn's

Falls.'

'The wrong way!' said Duncan 'Then we are lost But our Indian guide- '

'You hav e an Indian guide but you are lost in the

for est?' said Hawk-eye 'That is very str ange Is he a

Delaware ?'

'He is call ed Magua He is a Huron,' said Duncan

'But he lives with the Mohawks, and he is a guide for

the Eng-'

'A Huron!' said Hawk-eye quickly 'You can trust a

Mohican or a Delawar e But you cannot trust a Huron!

Your guide will lead you to his friends They will kill

you Let me see him.'

Magua was sta nd ing behind Cora's horse Hawk -eye

lo ok ed at him Then he went and spo ke to

Ch inga chgoo k and Uncas

13

Magua moved quickl y He ran into the forest

Hawk- eye, Ch ingac hgook and Uncas ran afte r him

But Magua escaped

"

'What can I do?'thought Duncan 'We are lost '

He turned to Hawk-eye 'Will you tak e us to Fort

William Henry?' he asked 'We will give you mon ey.'

Hawk-eye looked at Cora and Alice 'We will take

you,' he told Duncan 'Mo ney is not important We

will not lea ve you and the two young wom en her e

Magua and his Huron friends will find you Come now

- quickly!'

Duncan and Hawk- eye spo ke to Cora an d Alice

The siste rs got off their horses The Mohican s took the

an ima ls away

'They will hide the horses until the morning,' said

Hawk- eye He pulled a canoe from the tall grass at the

side of the river 'G et into the canoe,' he said 'We will

go to a cave and we will stay there tonight.'

Duncan, Cora and Alice got into the can oe Hawk­

eye pushed the canoe to the middle of the river Then

he got into the canoe He sta rte d to paddl e along the

river Soon they heard the sound of a grea t wate rfall in

front of them - Glen n's Falls

A few minutes lat er, they saw the wat erfall

Alice looked at the tall young Mohican, Uncas 'A strong man is guarding us,' she said quietly to her sister 'We will be safe tonight.'

Hawk-eye woke Duncan early the next morning

'We must go,' he said 'I will get the canoe Wake

Miss Cora and Miss Alice But do not make any noise.'

Duncan went to the back of the cave 'Cora Alice,'

he said quietly 'Wake up.'

Suddenly there were shouts and cries outside

Duncan ran to the front of the cave The sound of guns

came from the forest There were many Indians on the

other side of the river

'Hurons!' thought Duncan

Then Duncan saw Hawk-eye The scout was shoot,

ing from the flat rock Duncan saw a Huron fall into

the rushing water Then the other Hurons ran back

into the forest

Hawk-eye came back into the cave 'They have

gone,' he said

'Will they come back?' asked Duncan

'Yes, they will come back,' replied Hawk-eye 'Miss

Cora and Miss Alice must stay here in the cave We

will go to the rocks and wait for the Hurons.'

Duncan, Hawk-eye, Uncas and Chingachgook sat with

their guns They sat behind some rocks near the water,

fall They waited Minutes passed Then an hour

passed

Suddenly they heard the wild cries of the Hurons again Four Indians ran across the flat rock towards the cave Chingachgook and Uncas fired their guns The first two Hurons fell to the ground The third Huron jumped on Hawk-eye Each man had a knife But

Huron with his knife

The fourth Huron fought with Duncan Uncas ran

to help the officer The young Mohican killed the Huron Then Uncas and Duncan ran back to the rocks

The Hurons on the other side of the river started to shoot again And Chingachgook shot at them

The shooting went on and on Rocks and trees near the cave were broken in a hundred places But Hawk, eye and his friends were not hurt And Cora and Alice

were safe in the cave

river!

2

Cora looked at Uncas 'Go with them,' she said

'I will stay,' said the young Mohican

'No!' said Cora 'Please, Uncas, Go with them!'

Uncas was unhappy But he jumped into the water

too

Cora looked at Duncan

'I am going to stay,' said Duncan He looked at

Alice 'I cannot leave you.'

There were shouts and cries from the Hurons on the

flat rock Duncan looked out of the cave

The Hurons were looking behind the rocks near the

waterfall

'They are looking for us,' thought Duncan He went

quickly back into the cave

'Our friends will bring help soon,' he said to Cora

and Alice

Cora was afraid Her face was white She cried out

Duncan turned - and he saw the terrible face of

Magua!

'Where are the Mohicans?' asked Magua 'Where is

the scout, Hawk-eye - The Long Gun?'

Suddenly, the cave was full of Hurons One of them

picked up Hawk-eye's gun

'They have gone,' said Duncan 'They will bring

help soon.'

The Hurons were angry They were going to kill

their prisoners But Magua spoke to them, quickly and

quietly Then the Hurons took Duncan, Cora and

Alice to the flat rock One of the Hurons brought the canoe

'Get into the canoe!' Magua said

Duncan and the sisters got into the canoe Magua and the Hurons took them across the river

,'

~:

')

The prisoners got out of the canoe on the other side

of the river Magua and five Hurons stayed with them The other Hurons walked away into the forest

' I Am a Hu ron C h i

The Hurons and the ir prisoner s sta rted to walk Magua

walked in front of Duncan, Cora and Alice The othe r

summe rs an d twent y winters I did not see a white

est lie gave me hrand y The drink was bad (or me It

made me crazy! My peop le were angry I had (Q go

a wav, I ran away and lived with th e Moh aw ks.'

'Then the war sta rre d,' sai d Magua 'T he Fren ch

peo ple.'

14

I will ne ver for ge t !'

'Yo u will be my wife ! Your sis te r will go [0 Fort

William Hen ry Shc must tell Munro everyth ing Then

Then Magua went towards the other Hurons He spoke to them

Duncan ran to Cora 'What is wrong?' he asked 'What did Magua say to you?'

'It is not important,' said Cora

The Hurons were listening to Magua Duncan watched them They were very angry Suddenly, Magua shouted at the Hurons They pulled Duncan and the women towards the trees They tied each prisoner to a tree with rope

Magua stood in front of Cora He laughed 'What does Munro's daughter say now?' he said 'Shall I'send your sister to your father? Will you follow me to the Great Lakes and live with me?'

Cora looked at her sister

'Alice,' said Cora 'I must go with Magua and be his wife Then you and Duncan will live.'

'No!' shouted Duncan 'Never!'

'No, no, no!' said Alice

'Then die!' shouted Magua

He threw his knife at Alice The knife cut off some

of her hair It hit the tree above her head Duncan shouted angrily

The Hurons had tied Duncan to a tree But he pulled the rope and it broke He jumped on a Huron and they fought The Huron had a knife He was going

to kill Duncan

Suddenly a gun fired and the Huron fell dead

Fort W illiam

Hawk-ev e ran from the forest Chi ngachgc ok and

Uncus follow ed him There was a fiJ.:ht Hawk-eve,

hi s knif e Mu gu» f ell to the g round

Hawk -ey e and Duncan went and helped rhe two

away C hingachgook and Unc s ran afte r him

'Stop !' slioured Hawk-e ve 'You cannot c tch him.'

'We saw the Hurons tak e you across the river Then we

followed you.'

'You sa ved my life,' sald Duncan

Hawk-e ve sm iled 'I found a Huron 's gun,' he said

'Th e Huro ns w ctc stu p id Thev left their gum under

the trees.'

Hawk-eye went back [Q the trees He pick ed up the

st ay here tonig h t Tom orrow we will go to Fort

VC r) ' e rly the ne xt morni ng Hawk-eye woke his

2 8

Maguu will not sec our foot printson the grou nd.'

French sold iers her e.'

down Ther e was Lak e Hort can! And there was Fort

-'Look at the fires,' said Hawk-eye 'There are many

Hurons in the forest They are fighting for the French.'

'And look to the west,' said Duncan 'Look at those

tents That is General Montcalm's camp There are

thousands of French soldiers.'

Suddenly they heard the sound of guns

'The French are shooting at Fort William Henry,'

said Duncan 'But we must get into the fort.'

'We are lucky,' said Hawk-eye 'Thick fog is coming

along the valley The fog will hide us from the French

Follow me!'

Hawk-eye and the Mohicans started to walk down

the mountain Duncan and the two sisters followed

them At the bottom of the mountain, the fog was very

thick

'Be careful!' said Hawk-eye.v'There are many French

soldiers along this path Walk quietly!'

They followed him through the fog Suddenly, they

heard voices

'Who is there?' said a soldier in French

Duncan replied in French 'A friend of France!' he

said

'Who are you?' shouted the Frenchman

But Duncan and his friends walked away quickly

They went on through the fog At last, they arrived at

the walls of the fort

An English voice shouted from the top of the wall

'The French are here Shoot! Shoot!'

'Father, Father!' Alice shouted 'It is us! Save your

daughters! ' 'Don't shoot, men!' said the voice of General Munro 'My daughters are here! Open the gates!' The gates opened Soldiers came out of the fort They took everybody inside - Duncan, the young women, Hawk-eye and the Mohicans

But everybody in Fort William Henry was in danger

f · ~~~~W\ i ; I \ \ ! I I " I I I " ' I;fI/ ///!I !I !/;!I/I'1i

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