Hope Leslie, or Early Times in the Massachusetts

Digby returns with Hutton, another servant. They are horrified by the slaughter. Jennet comes out onto the porch, having been away during the attack. Digby realizes that Everell has been taken captive. Mr. Pynchon arrives and asks questions, but they get little out of Jennet, who has been traumatized by the attack. Mr. Pynchon sends five men, along with Digby, to pursue the Indians. Mr. Pynchon sees Fletcher approaching. He intercepts him, not wanting him to see the bloodshed on his doorstep.

Hope Leslie is excited to be home. She can’t wait to see her sister. Mr. Pynchon rides towards them and tells Fletcher what has happened. Hope shrieks and cries when he is done. Fletcher tells him to take Hope with him, and continues on to his house. Mr. Pynchon returns the next morning. He is disturbed at how calm Fletcher seems. He urges Fletcher to admit he knew the dangers of the colonies, and that what has happened must be God’s will. Fletcher does so.

The Indians are an hour ahead of their pursuers. They are complaisant with the Indian children, but glare at Everell. Mononotto fears there will be more violence if he does not intervene. Magawisca is terrified that Everell will be tortured. She quotes her mother to Mononotto: “The sun never sets on the soul of the man that doeth good” (126). Mononotto is unmoved, and commands her not to speak to Everell. The party crosses a river and makes camp for the night. After everyone is asleep, Magawisca wakes Everell. They hear oars in the river, and voices. If Magawisca speaks, she can save Everell by alerting Digby and the others, who are in canoes nearby; but she does not, because it would alert them to her father’s presence. 

As the Indians go farther into the woods, it becomes clear that they know the terrain better than the English ever will. Everell, through his stoic endurance and unwillingness to show weakness, begins to gain their respect. It is revealed that he has tried to escape twice. Mononotto is increasingly impatient to exact his final act of vengeance on the boy. They arrive at the Indian village and Everell is overcome with its beauty. They gather around a leafless tree, which reminds Mononotto of the fall of his people. He points to the sacrificial rock, whose meaning is not lost on Magawisca.

Everell asks Magawisca if he will die now. They proceed in silence to the village. Magawisca does not understand the deferment of the execution, but is relieved. A lengthy description of the village follows.

Mononotto takes Everell to the hut of a chief. Magawisca begs him to change his mind. Everell asks her to leave, and goes inside with Mononotto. Other Indians take Magawisca and her companions to a hut with an old woman inside. The old woman sees Faith Leslie and believes her to be a messenger from the spirit-land. They eat dinner then lie down to sleep. Magawisca stays awake, watching the guard at the door. The night passes slowly. In the morning, Magawisca hears footsteps, and asks the guard to let her out. He refuses. She is able to scoop a handful of liquor into the gourd from which he is drinking. It contains a sleeping agent the old woman was using for her health.

She is able to see through an opening in the tent. Her father walks by with Everell and the Housatonic chief, whose village this is. After them walk all the men of the tribe. The guard begins to grow drowsy as the liquor settles into his system.

Outside, Mononotto tells the story of the Pequod slaughter as they sit by the sacrifice rock. Mononotto praises Everell’s bravery, but says that he must die by a single stroke from his tomahawk. Everell calmly kneels and waits for the blow, his head pressed against the stone. Magawisca bursts from her hiding place on the other side of the rock and shouts for them to stop. Her father’s tomahawk is already descending. It alters course and accidentally severs her arm. Everell jumps to his feet and disappears. Magawisca says that she has given her life for his. 

Seven years later, Hope Leslie sends a letter to Everell, who is in England. The letter is sent on his birthday, and five years after Hope says he left them. She says that morning she surprised his father with a painting, which she had placed on the mantle. The painting depicts a boy sleeping in a forest glade, with a wolf preparing to pounce on him. But in the background, a man is pointing a musket at the wolf. Fletcher had read from Exodus. When he prayed for them all, he mentioned his lost son and lost his composure. Digby says it is a perfect replica of the place and situation in which he found Everell.

Hope says the next day she is going to a new river settlement called Northampton with her father, Digby, and Cradock. While climbing a hill, Cradock is bitten by a rattlesnake. Hope offers to suck the venom out, but he will not allow it. They reach a village and look for medical care, but there is none. Hope remembers that Nelema had an antidote for the venom. They return home immediately. Nelema prepares a cure and tells everyone they must leave, except for Hope. Nelema treats him with incantations and a homemade liquor. Cradock recovers. As Hope leaves the room, she realizes Jennet has been spying. She believes she has seen the devil’s work. Fletcher summons Hope for a report of all that happened.

She says she does not believe Nelema is a witch. The next morning Nelema is sent to trial, but the local court does not have the authority to sentence her to death, so her trial will continue in Boston. On the day of her death sentence, she vanishes from her cell. There is a rumor that Digby was missing from home that day. He had publicly disapproved of the court proceedings, and had reason to defend Nelema.

Fletcher sends Hope to Boston, to be installed in the care of Mrs. Winthrop. Fletcher feels that he has failed her as a moral teacher, and the Winthrops will school her in the things in which he could not. She closes the letter saying that she will see him soon, and is glad of his impending return. 

It is revealed that Hope was the one who released Nelema. After her move to Boston into the home of a magistrate, she saw that the key was always placed in an accessible location. She released Nelema late at night and placed her in Digby’s care. Nelema promises that she will spend the rest of her days trying to reunite Hope with her lost sister. It is revealed that Mr. Pynchon had suspected her immediately. However, he did not want to discipline her publicly, so he encouraged her father to send her away to Boston.

Months after Hope’s letter, two men—one described as a vibrant young man, the other as being possibly as old as 35—meet on a ship in the Boston harbor. The older accepts the younger’s offer of a night of hospitality, and travels with him towards the home of Governor Winthrop. On the way, they see two young ladies exiting the building. The young man believes he recognizes one of them. When he hears her mention Aunt Grafton, he knows that it is Hope Leslie. He jumps out, surprising her. Everell is the young man. She tells him that his father is living in Boston, and introduces her friend as Miss Downing, whose first name is Esther. Hope says she is still counting on Nelema’s promise that she will see her sister again. The older gentleman with Everell tells the ladies his name is Sir Philip Gardiner.