The Last of the Mohicans, Chapter 31 summary

What happens

1. Uncas performs a war dance, strikes a painted post, and gains the support of the Delaware fighting men.
2. As the truce ends, noncombatants leave the camp, and a boy retrieves two hidden rifles despite enemy gunfire.
3. Hawkeye treats the wounded boy, while Delaware warriors drive nearby Huron scouts away.
4. Uncas assigns commands and leads more than two hundred men into the forest, where the chiefs debate their approach.
5. Hawkeye nearly shoots David before recognizing him; David reports that Magua leaves Cora in a cave and commands hidden warriors.
6. The chiefs accept Hawkeye’s plan for a flanking movement and frontal attack, then separate to take their positions.

In this chapter

What to notice

Uncas’s blow against the post makes his leadership public. The ceremony turns collective anger into an organized expedition.

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