Outlander Book Club: Drums of Autumn Chapter 2 breakdown
Just the Outlander chapter
The chapter begins with everyone gathering their money together to arrange for Gavin’s burial. They have decided they will ask the vicar to do it after all, but they will need to wait until morning. Since they don’t want to wait, they decide to buy shovels and they’ll bury Gavin in the churchyard instead.
Won’t someone see the mound of dirt? Well yes, but is anyone really going to take the time to uncover the dirt to find out who is there? Probably not! Gavin will get to rest in peace.
And so, they head out to the churchyard at night. Jamie and Young Ian do the burying, while Claire watches over everything. Duncan and Fergus remain with the wagon and Gavin’s body.
As they go to get the body, someone jumps out from the cart. Stephen Bonnet is there as well, and he’s been hiding with Gavin’s body since the afternoon. It’s been his only way to remain hidden from the soldiers looking for him. After burying Gavin’s body, Claire and Jamie agree to get Bonnet out of the town, past the checkpoints.
At the checkpoint, there are eight soldiers, and they want to know what Claire and Jamie are carrying. Everything looks in check, although the soldiers aren’t sure about the information that there’s a body in the cart. One of the soldiers stabs the body in the leg to make sure it really is a dead body.
Of course, we know that it’s Bonnet. Once the Frasers are allowed to move on, we find out that Bonnet has been stabbed in the leg but he doesn’t need immediate care. He asks for Jamie to get him to a creek where he can meet with his fellow pirates who can pick him up.
Once there, they say goodbye to Bonnet. Jamie wonders whether he has done the right thing. After all, the majority of people convicted to die are those who should be hanged. That’s his thoughts on the matter. He wonders if he’s let a villain get away.
Why would he even let Bonnet get away? Part of it was certainly his grief. Bonnet knows how to charm a person and tells Jamie that he was friends with Gavin too. It makes Jamie warm to him enough to agree to get Bonnet out of the area. If it wasn’t for grieving, there’s no way Jamie would have agreed to anything.