Throughout my reading of the novel, The Pioneers, by James Fenimore Cooper, the character that I have paid a lot of attention to (besides Natty) would be Richard. Like I described in my last post, Richard is the foil of Natty. He is Temple's side-kick who is very ignorant of the land. As compared to Richard, Natty is very respectful of the laws and knows his way around the outdoors and is knowledgable of nature.  

In the beginning of the novel, Richard has been seen as a 'comical' character. In my opinion, his character has been heavily evolving into a more mysterious, rather than comical character. Richard has become more of a tattle-tale and a kiss-up (snoot) at this point in the novel. Richard claims that there are areas in Templeton where there are silver deposits and convinces Judge to see what he has discovered. He ends up framing Oliver, telling Temple that he and his two friends were mining silver in Natty's hut. Ultimately, this puts Natty is jail and puts Oliver in a tough position when it comes to being loyal to Elizabeth and Natty. He is very sneaky, from the way he sends the letter to London addressing the way Marmaduke gained his power and land, to the way he frames Natty in the end.