Outlander Book Club: The Fiery Cross Chapter 72 breakdown

Just the Outlander chapter

The chapter starts with Claire attending to Isisah Morton. He’s been shot in the battle, and it turns out that he wasn’t shot by the enemy. He was shot in the back and definitely wasn’t running away. Of course, Claire and Jamie both know that the Browns had something to do with this.

Gerald Forbes is there, and he learns all about Morton’s two wives. Alicia is pregnant and due in a month, so Morton has a fighting spirit. Claire realizes that while it initially looks like Morton will die, there’s no way he’s going to allow Death to take him. He’s going to be there for his baby.

Claire thinks about how Morton has that fighting spirit, but Roger doesn’t. She’s worried that Roger will give up the fight for his life.

On the way back Morton, Claire runs into MacLennan, who had come for a friend’s body. He wanted to get the body back home, and he’d asked Claire if she could spare food and water for the journey. Claire had completely forgotten about him while tending to Morton, but she grabbed everything to get to him back the end of the chapter.

In her defense, she is interrupted by Governor Tryon, who turns up with an apology. He didn’t realize that Roger was, well, Roger. Jamie points out that Roger didn’t even get a chance to say who he really was because he’d been bound and gagged. Tryon shouldn’t have taken the word of others and should have given Roger a chance to defend himself before being hanged.

Tryon makes it clear that he didn’t go into battle for his own personal glory. He did it because he believed it right. He’s being made the governor of New York and will be leaving soon.