The Last of the Mohicans Page #13

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:

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