"Promontory" begins just after Hawkeye yells to the Huron Sachem, "Take me!", the first two measures consisting only of the beat of the drum as Duncan, in response to the question. "Did you tell them?", says "Yes." There is another heartbeat, as the Sachem considers his response. Then, immediately after the Sachem utters those fatal words that condemn Duncan to the fire, "The Gael" begins. (Please see The Gael and a discussion of the Life Theme in Themes and Motifs in LOTM for more on this piece.)

"Promontory" consists of 25 full times through "The Gael" (that is, 25 times through the 8-measure melody). Each time through is surprisingly well-timed to events in the movie. For instance, the first measure of the fourth time through begins the moment Duncan is hauled up in the fire, and in the last measure Hawkeye fires Killdeer and Duncan dies. Interestingly, the sixth pass through "The Gael" is missing the final measure (there are seven measures rather than eight), and this seems so natural in the music that either it was planned that way or the movie and sound editing was shockingly good (compared to other bloopers in the movie). At the end of the seventh iteration and into the eighth, the film turns to the beautiful vista of the Blue Ridge Mountains while the "Main Title" takes over, just as we heard it in the movie's opening scene.

Uncas begins his fight with the first Huron at the start of the 11th time through "The Gael", and he engages Magua at the start of the 12th time through. During the last two measures of the 13th iteration of "The Gael", Magua stabs Uncas' armpit and Alice turns away and then turns back, much aware of what Uncas is going through. During the 14th iteration, Chingachgook and Hawkeye are seen racing up the mountain, and the fiddle melody of "The Gael" begins to fade, with a big drum roll as Uncas stands to face Magua one more time. In the first measure of the 15th iteration, Magua stabs Uncas and "The Gael" fades dramatically, so that by the time Magua cuts his throat in the 16th time through and Uncas dies, the melody of "The Gael" is gone, and there is only a drumbeat as Uncas's body goes over the cliff. "The Gael" is silent for what would be five more rounds of the full melody (5 more sets of 8 measures) as Alice approaches the cliff and looks down, Magua gestures, and she eventually jumps over the edge. The music just the drums and deep, sustained, earthy chords as she takes her own life. This is one reason why "The Gael" could be considered the Life Theme, as we hear it when Uncas fights for his life and Alice's, and we hear it again four for more iterations when Chingachgook spurs himself forward to fight Magua and revenge his son's life.
Here, the orchestra comes in full with the renewed melody, and as they fight, the "Main Title" appears first in the background and then to the foreground as Chingachgook deals the final blow to end Magua's life.

"Top of the World"

In the movie, this piece begins at the moment Chingachgook ends his soliloquy. On the CD soundtrack, though, "Promontory" fades directly into "Top of the World" AND "Top of the World" occurs on its own elsewhere on the CD. Thus, "Top of the World" occurs twice on the CD, the latter being from "4:22-5:20 (the end) of "Promontory". However, both versions stop short of the full extent of what we hear in the movie version.

Interestingly, we first hear a portion of "Top of the World" when Cora, in the cave behind the falls, ask Hawkeye if she saw her father, and it continues while she says, "Say nothing to Alice" through to the start of the brief scene with Alice and Uncas behind the falls. Interesting, as this music, when Cora learns of her father's death, is the same music we hear later on as they bid farewell to Uncas. Also, we hear part of the extended movie version during that most famous scene when Hawkeye tells Cora to stay alive, no matter what occurs.