"Who ever recked, where, how, or when, the prowling fox was trapped or slain?"

Chapter 23 deals with the capture of Uncas and the death of the Huron Chief's treacherous and shameful son. These events are both foreshadowed and contradicted by the epigraph, which comes from the poem The Lady of the Lake by Sir Walter Scott.

"Bold words!--but, though the beast of game
The privilege of chase may claim,

Though space and law the stag we lend
Ere hound we slip or bow we bend
Who ever recked, where, how, or when,
The prowling fox was trapped or slain?"

In the fourth canto, the wonderfully named James Fitz-James has been warned of an ambush as he sets off to avenge a death. Attempting to leave under cover of darkness, he comes across a mountaineer who has made camp in the highlands. After an initial confrontation between the two, they acknowledge each other as worthy warriors and the moutaineer shares his dinner with James. Unbeknownst to James, however, the mountaineer is actually the man who is waiting to ambush him.

The passage shows a disregard for the manner in which the fox is caught, suggesting that no matter how many hounds are loosed or arrows launched, no one really remembers how the fox was caught. This directly contrasts the way the Hurons react to the manner in which Uncas is caught. Because the Chief's son acted as a coward and fled, leading Uncas into a trap, his father disowns him before murdering him. It is revealed that this is the third time he as acted as a coward and has brought great shame to his family. Despite the fact that an enemy has been captured, the son's actions have completely overshadowed the positives.

On the other hand, the events that transpire immediately after the passage used for the epigraph closely reflect the events that transpire at the end of chapter 23. In The Lady of the Lake, James is shown respect - and even fed dinner - by his would be assassin, because he sees that James is also a great warrior. This is reflects on the manner in which the Chief treats Uncas. From the moment he is brought into the Huron camp as a prisoner, Ungas was subject to all manner of viscious insults and slander from the furious group of Hurons. Despite all the bile that was directed at him, Uncas never flinched and remained stoic though the whole ordeal. The Huron chief offers him a backhanded compliment, saying, "...though one of a nation of women, you have proved yourself a man." And once the true nature of his capture comes to light, Uncas' life is spared (if only for the time being), and it is the Chief's son whose life is taken.