Magua’s departure with Cora is the decisive outcome of the Delaware council: although the Delawares’ judgment gives Magua the right to leave with what he brought, Hawkeye’s offer to take Cora’s place cannot change the ruling. Cora goes with Magua, while Alice remains with Duncan and Hawkeye is left behind to urge the others to protect her.

Causes and Background

Magua’s leverage rests on the Delaware decision that their spoken judgment cannot be taken back. When he seizes Cora and prepares to leave, Duncan appeals for mercy and offers a ransom, but Magua rejects the pale faces’ wealth. The council’s hospitality rules, rather than the rescuers’ wishes, govern the immediate outcome.

The choice follows a longer pattern in which Magua treats captives as instruments of personal and political advantage. Earlier, he had demanded that Cora follow him and live as his wife, presenting that demand as the price of sparing her sister and father further loss. At the council, however, his refusal of ransom and insistence on leaving with Cora show that money will not secure her release.

The Exchange That Fails

Hawkeye tries to redirect Magua’s choice by offering himself as a more valuable prisoner. He warns that Magua may prefer to take him rather than face the consequences of carrying off Cora, and finally accepts Magua’s implied bargain, asking that Cora be released. The proposal briefly draws the crowd’s approval, but Magua rejects it and declares that he has only one mind.

Cora acknowledges that she is Magua’s prisoner and says she will follow at the proper time, but insists that violence is unnecessary. She thanks Hawkeye for his offer and asks him to ensure that Alice reaches the homes of civilized people. Her appeal shifts the scene from the failed attempt to exchange captives toward the protection of the sister she must leave behind.

Departure Under Delaware Law

Duncan threatens to follow Magua, but Hawkeye restrains him, warning that pursuit may lead into an ambush. Uncas reminds Magua that Delaware justice comes from the Manitou and gives him a limited interval to depart before a pursuit begins. Magua taunts the Delawares as he leaves, but no one stops him: the council allows him to pass with Cora under the rules of hospitality.

Cora’s departure separates the sisters and leaves Alice in the care of Duncan and Hawkeye. Magua exits the council with his captive, while the others remain bound by the ruling they cannot reverse. The episode turns a formal guarantee of safe passage into the means by which Magua regains control of Cora, even as it establishes that the Delawares will not violate their own law to prevent him.