The Pioneers

As the group crosses a tricky spot in the path, Temple cautions Elizabeth to be careful until such time that the land is improved. She jokes that she would be far into old age by that point, but Temple tells her that if she had seen the rapid transformation of the land as he had, she would not be so impatient. Elizabeth then asks him to tell her about the early days of the territory.

Temple tells of how he left her mother and an infant Elizabeth to first go survey the land he purchased. He tells her of how he encountered pain, famine, and disease, but not failure. Elizabeth is surprised that he experienced famine, since the land is so abundant now, but Richard confirms the story. Temple says that goods were scare because they were being bought by settlers to re-sell at a higher price in Europe, and the infrastructure was non-existent. With hundreds of hungry people looking to him, Temple describes how he purchased large quantities of wheat from Pennsylvania and had it brought via boats and horses to feed the starving people. He then ordered the lakes dragged for fish, and they were lucky to find large quantities of herring, so the community began to recover.

Temple also describes climbing the nearby Mount Vision, where he sat for an hour watching the beautiful untamed wilderness. He then descended to the spot where Templeton and the Mansion House would later be built. While standing there, he saw wisps of smoke across the lake. He followed them to Leatherstocking’s hut. Leatherstocking was returning with a deer that he had killed and invited Temple to eat with him. However, when Leatherstocking learned who Temple was, he became less friendly and objected to Temple’s plans to build a settlement.

The party then reaches their destination and stops to enjoy the view over the lake before returning to Templeton. On their return trip, Oliver warns that a tree is falling and shouts that everyone should spur their horses to safety. Temple assists Elizabeth, and Oliver assists Louisa—the latter two barely avoiding being crushed by a large tree. Richard explains how the decayed trees are weakened by the frosts and eventually fall silently. Temple laments how difficult it is to prevent to danger of these falling trees in the forest.

As the group arrives back in Templeton, a spring blizzard begins.

It is now late April and while the snow has finally melted, the lake remains covered in ice, where two eagles have made their home in the center. The day after the lake begins to melt and the eagles leave, an excited Richard wakes Elizabeth and Louisa. He tells them that the air is completely full of pigeons—so many that it is almost impossible to see the sky—and that everyone is going out to shoot them.

Nearly everyone has emerged from their homes with the men carrying every variety of firearm and the boys armed with bows and arrows. Leatherstocking is among the group with his dogs, who are scenting the wounded birds that people have begun shooting out of the sky. The crowd all begins firing rapidly into the air. The birds are so numerous and flying so low that it is impossible for people not to hit them, and some are even hitting the birds out of the air with long poles. No one stops to collect any of the shot birds, who are left on the ground.

Richard and Ben, not wanting to use ordinary firearms, wheel out a small swivel cannon that had been left behind by a previous military excursion and used to celebrate the Fourth of July. Leatherstocking, who has so far kept his objections silent, can no longer contain his disdain after seeing the cannon brought out. He extolls the beauty of the harmless birds, which had not been scared or hunted for centuries until the white settlers arrived. Leatherstocking decries the wasteful and unnecessary slaughter and is saddened to see even Oliver participating.

Kirby, who has been firing into the sky without looking, mocks Leatherstocking for his sadness over a few pigeons and tells him it’s a lot more fun than shooting at a concealed turkey. Leatherstocking replies that there is no skill in shooting dense flocks, and no one should ever kill more than they need to eat. One of the birds flies off from the flock and darts towards Kirby and Leatherstocking. Kirby shoots and misses, but Leatherstocking takes careful aim and kills it, and the dead bird is retrieved by his dogs. Oliver is amazed at the skillful shot, and Leatherstocking tells him to only kill what he needs and that he is content with a single bird. Leatherstocking says he has no desire to watch any more of the wasteful slaughter and departs, taking care not to step on any of the wounded birds.

An even larger flock of pigeons approaches, and Richard fires the swivel cannon at them, finally causing the flocks to depart. Temple, impacted by Leatherstocking’s words, looks at the ground, which is covered with wounded and suffering birds. He pays the local boys to finish off the wounded birds and collect them. Temple walks home alone “with the kind of feeling that many a man has experienced before him, who discovers, after the excitement of the moment has passed, that he has purchased pleasure at the price of misery to others” (256).

The ice has finally all melted, and spring is now in full swing. Bass season, newly enacted by a law that Temple supported, has begun, and he decides to partake in a fishing trip the first suitably dark night. In contrast to Temple, who fishes simply with a line and hook, the impatient Richard tells of his plans to drag fish from the lake with a giant net. They invite the rest of the Mansion House to come with them.

At night, Richard and Ben go off in a boat to make preparations at a point near the opposite shore, while Temple, Elizabeth, Louisa, and Oliver walk around the lake on foot to meet them. At the other side, Richard and Ben have built a large fire and have been joined by Kirby, and the group stops for a moment to listen in. Richard and Ben argue about the relative merits of fishing in the lake or sea, and then Ben and Kirby argue about the superiority of English or American naval vessels. But, before the latter argument becomes too heated, Temple and his group reveal themselves, which ends the argument.

Richard, Ben, and Kirby push off and set their net in the lake. Directed by Richard, they pull the net back into shore, bringing with it several thousand fish. Temple picks up one of the Ostego Bass that has been pulled in, telling Elizabeth that it is the finest-tasting fish in the entire world, though the residents of Templeton won’t eat them. He explains that the fish are only catchable for a few days in spring and autumn, and decries that they are already beginning to go extinct because of the “wasteful extravagance” (267) of the settlers.

Richard mocks Temple for his many concerns—first over the trees, then the deer, then the maple syrup, and now the fish. He argues that the resources of the area are inexhaustible and as such have no need for conservation or stewardship. Richard then secretly tells Temple that he has something to show him on Temple’s planned trip to the eastern edge of the Templeton lands tomorrow, which Richard hints is an illegal mine.

While the fishermen divide the fish, Elizabeth and Louisa walk along the shore. They see a light emerge from Leatherstocking’s cabin, move down towards the shore of the lake, and then start moving towards them along the surface. Louisa tells that she heard Leatherstocking was an Indian warrior in his youth, or that he was a white man who fought with the Indians. She remarks that it’s curious that he locks his hut carefully when he leaves and allows no visitors (not even children), which is odd for the area. Elizabeth agrees that it’s not hospitable of him, but argues that Leatherstocking has an understandable aversion to civilization and is a good man, as evidenced by how he took care of her father and Oliver.

Leatherstocking and Mohegan approach gracefully in their canoe, and Richard and Temple offer him some of their fish, saying that there is no need for them to exert themselves spearfishing when they have already pulled in so much. However, Leatherstocking refuses, saying he will “eat of no man’s wasty ways” (273). Temple agrees with him, saying that he also dislikes Richard’s waste. But Leatherstocking rebukes the comparison, saying that he would never turn hunting grounds into pastures and that he rejects Temple’s use of laws to protect game. Overhearing, Richard mocks this seeming alliance between the landowning Temple and the squatting Leatherstocking to protect the environment and prepares to set the net again.

Leatherstocking invites Oliver and a curious Elizabeth (who has never seen a canoe before) to join him fishing. Out on the lake, Leatherstocking expertly catches a large salmon with his spear, and they return towards shore. They see that the other fishermen are struggling to pull in their net. Kirby quickly moves his boat, causing Ben (who can’t swim) to fall into the water. Mohegan quickly brings the canoe to where Ben has fallen under, and Oliver volunteers to dive in after him. However, Leatherstocking instead uses his spear to catch Ben by his clothes and hair and quickly pulls him up. Ben is brought by the fire and Temple revives him with rum.

The fish is divided up, and the groups go their separate ways home. Elizabeth, returning with Louisa and Oliver, feels compelled to visit Leatherstocking’s hut one day, since it is a place “where men of such different habits and temperament were drawn together as by common impulse” (282).