An Echo in the Bone

John sets sail for American with Dottie. He recalls his visit to Trois Fleches: Amandine seemed to flirt with John and insinuated that he knew about John’s sexuality. John also met the elderly Benjamin Franklin. John was surprised by his arousal at the dangerous possibility that Amandine knew his secret. Franklin admitted that he knew Percy Beauchamp, but nothing more.

In a letter to John, William writes that Denys Randall-Isaacs disappeared. In the meantime, William shot a wolverine and returned to New York to ride dispatches. Soon he will go to Canada to join General Burgoyne’s staff, but first he must deliver a message in Virginia for Richardson.

At Lallybroch in 1980, Bree hears Roger singing while working from home; his new job as assistant choirmaster is going well. They reconcile their different faiths by deciding that the entire family will attend early mass at the Catholic church, then go to services at St. Stephens to see Jem and Roger in the choir. Roger and Bree discuss the known locations for time travel, including the ancient standing stones near Inverness, and the possibility of other time portals like the tunnel under the hydroelectric plant.

Roger attends a Freemasons meeting. Mr. Menzies attends with his cousin Rob Cameron. After a tense encounter between Rob and Roger, who knows about Rob hazing Bree, Menzies asks Roger to teach a Gaelic class for the community.

Bree and Roger read the next letter from Jamie and Claire, written at Fort Ticonderoga in 1777. Claire is not accepted by the army surgeon at Fort Ticonderoga, as she is a woman, but continues to care for patients. Stebbings is miraculously still alive. There is a hill near Fort Ticonderoga called Mt. Independence, which Claire and Jamie fear will give strategic advantage to the British. Worried about Claire and Jamie, Bree and Roger consult a book on the American Revolution.

It is June 1777 at Fort Ticonderoga. Claire carries water to her and Jamie’s room. She has many aches and pains, and Jamie commiserates about old age but tells her that, “Nothing hurts when ye love me” (515). Claire worries about disease and violence at the crowded fort. Jamie oversees the construction of a new bridge, though he believes it a pointless endeavor.

Ian asks Claire about infertility as his ex-wife Emily suffered miscarriages and a stillbirth while they were together but now has children with another man. Claire theorizes that the infertility was likely caused by incompatible blood types. Thinking of her own first pregnancy, which ended in the stillbirth of a daughter with Jamie called Faith, Claire tells Ian: “Call it fate […] call it bad luck. But it wasn’t your fault. Or hers” (521). The next day, Ian is gone. 

William rides with Richardson’s messages toward Dismal Town, named for the nearby swamplands.

Distracted while reminiscing about losing his virginity, William becomes hopelessly lost in the bog. A mountain lion spooks his horse, which runs off leaving him with only a pouch of tobacco and a frying pan. During a storm, William is injured in the arm when a cypress tree explodes, struck by lightning. Shivering and alone, William recalls his nanny telling him “the dead came down with the fog” (530) and remembers being lost as a child at his grandparents’ home. Young William went looking for his deceased mother in the fog and was rescued by “Mac”—his nickname for Jamie, who at that time worked for William’s grandparents under an alias. William remembers “Mac” only as a beloved figure of his childhood. William reflects on being compared to his “reckless” mother and keeps moving through the swamp because “To stand still when lost was a good idea only when someone was looking for you” (535).

Ian Fraser finds William in the swamp, led to him by Rollo. Ian tells William that they have met before, when Lord John brought young William to Fraser’s Ridge while seeking medical treatment from Claire. (At that time, William did not recognize Jamie as “Mac.”)

William and Ian travel together, and William realizes that he has lost Richardson’s coded messages. William asks Ian what he knows about the recipients of Richardson’s letters and is surprised to learn that Richardson may have been sending him into a trap. William asks Ian about living among the Mohawk. Ian describes the tradition of death songs, and the two men consider what they would sing about if they knew death was imminent. William thinks about his secret baptismal name, “James,” which “Mac” gave him in a secret Catholic baptism before disappearing.

Two Indigenous American men arrive and help Ian tend to William’s worsening fever and infected wound. One of the men, Glutton, tells William to choose a spirit animal, saying he will need it to survive. William chooses a bear before losing consciousness. Later, Glutton, Ian, and William discuss the concept of purgatory. Ian asks Glutton about Emily, and he confirms that she is now married to a Mohawk man named Sun Elk and has several children. Ian plans to see her. William descends into feverishness.

Rachel Hunter, a young Quaker woman, helps William trim his beard. Rachel and her brother Denzell “Denny” Hunter, a Quaker doctor, have cared for William since Ian brought him to them days before. William finds Rachel very pretty, and they bond over the loss of their mothers.

William considers the possibility that Richardson “meant to send [him] to death or imprisonment” (566) and declares his intent to leave the next day. Denny asks where he will go and suggests there are a few Catholics nearby. William is embarrassed to realize that the Hunters undressed him to tend to his wounds and found the rosary he wears as a secret memento of his baptism by “Mac.” William decides he will go to Canada, and Denny insists that William wait five more days before trying the journey.

Ian returns to the Hunters’ home, delivering money and a horse for William along with a letter and a bear claw necklace. The letter, which Rachel read and resealed, explains that the necklace is a gift from an Indigenous American called Bear-Killer. William is disappointed that Ian did not wait to see him. William confronts Rachel for reading his letter, and she admits that she was curious about Ian, a Scottish man in Mohawk dress. Rachel reveals that the Hunters have been excommunicated by their Quaker community, or “put out of meeting” (579), for supporting American independence. The pacifist Quaker society is against the war. Denny intends to travel north and join the American forces as a surgeon, and Rachel will go with him. Rachel invites William to travel with them and William agrees, both to spend more time with Rachel and possibly to gain valuable information about the Continental army.

Ian travels to the home of Thayendanegea, “Two Wagers,” also known as Joseph Brant. Thayendanegea is a Mohawk military leader who commands Loyalist and Indigenous forces on behalf of the British, including Emily’s new husband Sun Elk. Sun Elk tries to prevent Ian from seeing Emily, and their harsh words soon become a physical fight. Ian bests Sun Elk and goes into the house. Inside, Emily greets Ian warmly, and he apologizes and tells her that he is glad that she now has children. Emily introduces Ian to her five-year-old son, who does not yet have a formal name, calling him “The child of your spirit” (591). Ian asks Emily if she is happy, and she says that she is, though she sometimes misses Ian. Ian says he is going to Scotland, and she asks if he will take a Scottish wife. Ian insists that he is still Mohawk in spirit. Ian catches a lizard for Emily’s young son. Emily presents her newborn daughter and asks Ian to name the baby, but Ian insists on giving her son a name instead. Ian names Emily’s son “Swiftest of Lizards” (593).

William travels with the Hunters. Denny reveals that he is related to the famous physician John Hunter and studied with him in London. The medical use of cadavers inspires a debate on the necessity of violence, which Denny strongly opposes as a Quaker. William accuses Denny of “[relying] upon someone else to commit violence for you” (596).

The group takes a wrong turn, but a passing farmer named Mr. Johnson invites them to spend the night at his home. The farmer’s wife feeds them a nearly inedible stew. William wakes in the night with indigestion and discovers Mr. Johnson attempting to kill and rob them. William kills Johnson while Denny and Rachel subdue his wife. William wants to kill Mrs. Johnson for assisting in her husband’s murders, but Rachel insists that he does not. William admits to Rachel that he has never killed anyone before and is unsure how to feel. William thinks he would know how to feel if his first kill had been in battle, but Rachel insists, “Thee wouldn’t” (607).