The Last of the Mohicans, a novel written by James Fennimore Cooper, narrates the exploits of the legendary Nathaniel Bumppo, known to the frontiersmen and the Indians as Hawkeye and Le Longue Carabine (The Long Rifle) after the famous piece gifted to him in Deerslayer, an earlier work of Cooper depicting Hawkeye as a young warrior-scout. Fighting alongside the English during the Seven Years War between England and France, Bumppo and his allies – Chingachgook (The Serpent) and Uncas (The bounding Elk) – two of the last surviving members of the Mohicans, also known as the tribe of the Lenape, meet the party of Duncan Heyward, a British officer, who is escorting Alice and Cora, daughters of General Munro on their way to Fort Henry, which is besieged by the French under General Montcalm. The party is about to be waylaid by the cunning and treacherous Magua, a guide belonging to the Huron tribe, who is secretly under the employ of the French when the group of Hawkeye rescue them, although Magua escapes. Alice and Cora safely reach the fort and are reunited with their father. The two generals meet to discuss the French offer for them to surrender. The British capitulates upon reading a dispatch seized from its messenger informing him that no help was underway. The defenders are allowed to leave the fort with their arms, but along the way, they are ambushed and massacred by the savages. Alice and Cora eventually become the captives of Magua. Hawkeye and the Mohicans come to their rescue and in the ensuing battle, Uncas is slain. Magua tries to escape, but falls down a precipice after absorbing a volley from the Long Rifle.