Drums of Autumn

Claire Randall Fraser reflects on the ghosts that haunt her life, whether they be her family members or the people she has left behind in her time travels through different centuries.

On a hot day in the British colony of South Carolina, Claire, her husband Jamie, and his adoptive son Fergus, watch a group of prisoners proceed to the public gallows. As they watch the neck of Jamie’s friend Gavin Hayes break cleanly, another prisoner escapes.

Two months earlier, Claire, Jamie, and a group of family and friends from Scotland landed on the coast of Georgia during a hurricane while trying to flee from a British ship that was following them. They made their way to South Carolina when they heard that a friend of Jamie’s cousin had a ship that was bound for Scotland, where Jamie wanted to send his nephew, Ian, to return to his family. Though Claire and Jamie have with them several precious gemstones, they have had trouble changing the jewels into cash in the colonies, and worry they won’t have enough to book Ian’s passage home.

When they meet with Ian, he tells them that he won a pet dog named Rollo by gambling, though Claire believes the large beast is a wolf.