The boat was again lifted and borne into the woods, where it was carefully concealed under a pile of brush. The adventurers assumed their arms and packs, and the scout announced to Munro and Heyward that he and the Indians were at last in readiness to proceed. FOOTNOTES: [79-1] Hawkeye is an American scout working with the English army. He is one of the most important characters in this book, and under different names figures in the other volumes of _The Leather-Stocking Tales_. In one he is known as the Deerslayer, in others as Leather-Stocking and the Pathfinder. His real name is Natty Bumppo. The five stories which Cooper includes among _The Leather-Stocking Tales_ are in their natural order: _Deerslayer_, _The Last of the Mohicans_, _The Pathfinder_, _The Pioneers_ and _The Prairie_. This selection is taken from _The Last of the Mohicans_. [79-2] Munro is the father of two young ladies who have been captured and carried away by the Indians. With his companions he is now following the trail of the captors, and this canoe race is but one of many adventures through which they pass before they finally rescue the women. [79-3] Duncan Heyward is a British officer who was with the young ladies when they were captured. [81-4] Uncas is the son of the last chief of the Mohicans, a fine Indian who sides with the Americans, and is, as his tribe has always been, a bitter enemy of the Huron Indians. [82-5] The beauties of Lake George are well known to every American tourist. In the height of the mountains which surround it, and in artificial accessories, it is inferior to the finest of the Swiss and Italian lakes, while in outline and purity of water it is fully their equal, and in the number and disposition of its isles and islets much superior to them altogether. There are said to be some hundreds of islands in a sheet of water less than thirty miles long. The narrows, which connect what may be called, in truth two lakes, are crowded with islands, to such a degree as to leave passages between them frequently of only a few feet in width. The lake itself varies in breadth from one to three miles. [83-6] Chingachgook, the father of Uncas, is the chief of the Delaware or Mohican Indians.