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Completed	23 April 2009
Title	Kidnapped
Author	Robert Louis Stevenson
Published	1886
Quote	"Here I lay for the space of many days a close prisoner, and not only got my health again, but came to know my companions. They were a rough lot indeed, as sailors mostly are: being men rooted out of all the kindly parts of life, and condemned to toss together on the rough seas, with masters no less cruel. There were some among them that had sailed with the pirates and seen things it would be a shame even to speak of; some were men that had run from the king's ships, and went with a halter round their necks, of which they made no secret; and all, as the saying goes, were 'at a word and a blow' with their best friends. Yet I had not been many days shut up with them before I began to be ashamed of my first judgment, when I had drawn away from them at the Ferry pier, as though they had been unclean beasts. No class of man is altogether bad, but each has its own faults and virtues; and these shipmates of mine were no exception to the rule. Rough though they were, sure enough; and bad, I suppose: but they had many virtues. They were kind when it occurred to them, simple even beyond the simplicity of a country lad like me, and had some glimmerings of honesty."
Review	This book was a fine read, but it sure was slow in parts, especially when the main character, the boy, David Balfour, got stuck in the heather, as I call it. He spends about 200 pages wandering around the countryside. It seemed like ages before he got out of the heather, but in actual time, he was wandering but two months. Set in 18th century Scotland, David gets kidnapped by his uncle and thrown aboard a ship, bound for the States. "The ship was bound for the Carolinas; and you must not suppose that I was going to that place merely as an exile. The trade was even then much depressed; since that, and the rebellion of the Colonies and the formation of the United States, it has, of course, come to an end; but in those days of my youth, white men were still sold into slavery on the plantations, and that was the destiny to which my wicked uncle has condemed me." Apparently, the uncle and the boy's father had been in love with the same woman. So, they made a deal: one brother would get the girl, and the other brother would inherit the family estate. This arrangement, of course, created a bit of a problem as David was technically the heir of the estate, but the uncle obviously didn't want to hand anything over. So, the uncle tries to get rid of David by selling him into slavery. Isn't that a nice premise for a tale? The best part of this book was all the historic sea talk, all the descriptions of the sailor life, on the high seas. I loved it. I love anything about the sea and sailing and sailors.

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