Outlander Book Club: The Fiery Cross Chapter 69 breakdown

Just the Outlander chapter

Claire, Jamie, and Brianna are still at the camp, but they know that Tryon is hanging Regulators. They need to get to where these Regulators are, concerned that Roger still isn’t back.

A woman rushes through with news that Tyron has hanged Roger. She knows Roger by name, so I think we’re supposed to assume this is Morag MacKenzie. However, I couldn’t see anything in the chapter that confirms this. Of course, Claire wouldn’t know who Morag is to be able to name her.

Everyone rides off quickly to get to the tree where Roger has been hanged. Claire knows that Jamie is going to blame himself for this. It was Jamie who sent him over to speak to Husband. However, Claire can’t think of that just yet. She needs to get to Roger.

When Jamie pulls Roger down from the tree, Claire realizes that Roger’s muscles aren’t the way they should be if he was dead. That means he’s still alive, and she can feel a pulse in his abdomen. She doesn’t want to move his neck in case it’s broken, but she needs to get air in. So, she tries to give CPR.

It’s no use. Air isn’t getting in. The neck and tongue have swollen too much from the hanging. Claire notes that Roger had been hanging for an hour. Some of the things that saved him were that the rope was new so it stretched and that Roger was tall enough that his feet still touched the ground. Getting his hand into the noose also helped, even though the fingers turned black due to the lack of circulation.

Claire needs to perform a tracheotomy to get the air in that way. It works. The lungs start breathing again.

We get that sense of hope that Claire can save Roger.