As night falls, Rowtage and a force of 15 warriors hold the Appalachian fort and the rest of the army hold the North of the river. Come the next day, they will be able to portage their canoes up over the hills from Lake Champlaign. Until then, though, the fort must hold out against the surviving Mohawks and Onondagas.
Over the night, Poul leads a force to try to secretly swim the river and steal a canoe from the Onondagas. However, he is spotted and forced to retreat after a brief fight on the shore. Meanwhile, the warriors at the fort deal with five waves of assaults which they just barely hold off.
On the voyage back, they stop at the Mohican capital and pay tribute to the grand sachem Abooksigun. He praises their valor, but is angered by their support of his son-in-law Rowtag and while he gives them gifts they are mostly token gifts.
As they continue their voyage, Poul and Lofthaena work together to communicate with his son Maushop. Maushop calls himself by his Onondaga name as Honiahaka, and he tends to defer to his older cousin Kuckuniwi. He believes that he was the orphaned son of an Onondaga woman. Poul attempts to convince Maushop that his mother was a Lagakin woman and that his father was Vinlander, but stops short of telling him that he is his father.
As they are nearing home, Poul sees his son in the early dawn sitting by himself in the back of the boat. He starts towards him, thinking that perhaps now he will tell him all -- but he stops short as he realizes that Maushop is leaning over the edge of the boat whispering in some secret conversation to the water... (!)