The Last of the Mohicans Page #12

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...

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