The Pathfinder

One of Cooper’s Leatherstocking tales, this frontier romance sends the aging scout Natty Bumppo, here called Pathfinder, deep into the forests and waterways around Lake Ontario during the French and Indian War. Charged with guiding Mabel Dunham to her father’s remote garrison, he falls quietly in love with the young woman even as danger from hostile war parties closes in. The story is unusual among the series for placing Natty at the center of a love plot, and for its vivid action on the Great Lakes. Loyalty, self-sacrifice, and the vanishing wilderness run through it. Free PDF and EPUB editions are available to download.