Outlander Book Club: Go Tell the Bees That I Am Gone Chapter 21 breakdown

Just the Outlander chapter

The chapter starts with Jamie and Bree making it to the Powder Branch. They are there for gunpowder, as Bree wants to be the armory for the Ridge. While they are there, they smell the sulfur, and Bree points out that sulfur was used to treat toothache at the time. Jamie notes that toothache would be better than the taste of sulfur in the mouth.

The two are then stopped by John Patton and Isaac Shelby. Bree has no idea who Shelby will one day become, but that’s not what is important here. It’s all about the woman at the top of the hill. Bree realizes that this has to be Mary Patton, and she decides to head up the hill to talk to her.

Mary and Bree a lot alike in some ways, but also very different. Mary points out Bree’s unusual dress and also shares that she recognizes Jamie as Red Jamie. One of her uncles fought with him at Prestonpans and Falkirk and kept the broadsheet of him being wanted. There is an uncomfortable joke about the price on his head now, even though Jamie is no longer a wanted man.

Finally, they talk about gunpowder. This is when Bree pulls out her gold bar to get 60lbs of gunpowder. Mary is shocked by the unconventional method of payment. Later, Jamie is angry at how Bree went about using the gold bar. This could draw unwanted attention to the Ridge. Bree is sick to the stomach worried about what she has just done.

When she brings up the broadsheet, Jamie isn’t worried. It could deter people from coming to the Ridge.