Chapter 13 Summary

The pistols delight Chingachgook and Deerslayer, who take turns practicing with them. They continue to look through the chest. They find a sailing tool that none of them recognizes. There is also an incomplete set of ivory chess pieces. The rook pieces are mounted on ivory elephants.

At first Deerslayer is very disturbed by these pieces. He has never heard of chess or elephants. He feels that they must be idols, worshipped as gods. Deerslayer expresses his worry that Hutter worships the idols and goes to great lengths to show his disapproval of such a practice. Unlike his previous arguments, he states that idolatry is wrong for all people, regardless of race or cultural background.

Judith recalls having seen similar pieces at the garrison when soldiers played board games. When they discover the game board, Deerslayer is convinced that Judith is right, and...