Still dark outside, Hawkeye awakens the other men, signaling that it is time to leave the fort and head toward Canada in pursuit of Magua and the Munro sisters. Although the trip from the fort to the river would have been more easily traversed through the grassy fields, Hawkeye leads the men over a path of rocks and wood so they will leave no footprints.

Once in the boat, Heywood asks for an explanation for Hawkeye's caution. Heywood assumes that with the death of the Oneiga Indian the night before, all danger has passed. Hawkeye, however, informs him that when one Indian dies, his tribe seeks revenge. Hawkeye believes that the woods are filled with enemies, even though they cannot see or hear them.

As they travel along the placid waters of Lake George, the narrator describes the scene as one of incredible beauty. Mountains rim the lake. A scattering of islands is the only thing to break the view of the entire lake. In places, the islands are so close together that the passage for the canoe is extremely narrow, and it is in sections such as this that the men face the most danger.

Although Heyward still does not understand Hawkeye's continued caution, Chingackgook points out signs confirming that danger is very near to them. He shows Heyward and Munro a low-hanging cloud, one that Munro refers to as condensation rising from the lake. However, Chingackgook, as usual, notices more than the white men can see. He agrees with Munro's description of the cloud but then distinguishes the dark rim that lies at the underbelly of this cloud. That black rim, Chingackgook informs them, is the residue of a small man-made fire. There are Indians on this island, Chingackgook warns them, Indians who would like to kill them.

As if on cue, a shot is fired in their direction from the shores of the island they are passing. Then they hear loud hoots of exclamation as the Indians on land come running out of the woods and head for two canoes they have hidden along the beach. They quickly paddle their way out into the lake in pursuit of Hawkeye's boat. 

Hawkeye asks Heyward and Munro to lie down on the bottom of the boat so that they do not make such a large target, but Heyward states that that is completely against the rules of his military training. Ungas does not understand this white man's stubbornness and his willingness to die when avoiding this possible misfortune would be so easily attained if Heyward would only take Hawkeye's advice.

Although the enemy Indians take shots at Hawkeye's boat, their bullets do little harm as they are too far away. As Hawkeye's boat is better built and the load inside is lighter, Hawkeye and his friends eventually pull away.

Although they have added distance between themselves and their enemies, to increase their chances for safety, they land on one of the islands, walk from one side to the other as if they taking their canoe to the opposite shore, then walk backward along the same trail and place the canoe in a completely different direction.