Oak Openings, The; Or, The Bee‐Hunter

Oak Openings, The; Or, The Bee‐Hunter, romance by Cooper, published in 1848.

In Michigan, at the opening of the War of 1812, the bee‐hunter Benjamin Boden, called Le Bourdon (“The Drone”), is joined at his “Honey Castle” (Château au Miel) by the drunken settler Gershom Waring, and the Indians Elksfoot and Pigeonswing. He learns that the British have captured the fort at Mackinaw, and that Pigeonswing is a U.S. army messenger, while Elksfoot is a British spy. On his way with Waring to the latter's home, Boden finds the corpse of Elksfoot, who has been scalped by Pigeonswing. At War‐ing's home, he meets the settler's wife and his attractive sister Margery, and wins their gratitude by destroying Waring's supply of liquor. Just before the arrival of a band of pro‐British Potawatami, they abandon the cabin. After rescuing Pigeonswing, they are joined by Parson Amen and the American corporal Flint, both bound for Mackinaw in the company of a renegade Indian, Onoah, or Scalping Pete. At Boden's “Castle,” they are surrounded by the Potawatami, with whom Pete pretends to parley while actually plotting the massacre of the whites. He is friendly to Boden, however, and urges him to marry Margery, so that the two may escape. They do marry, and afterward Amen and Flint are killed, but, with the aid of Pigeonswing and the repentant Pete, the other whites escape.