Kidnapped (AmazonClassics Edition) recap

After his father's death, seventeen-year-old David Balfour goes to the House of Shaws and discovers that his uncle Ebenezer fears his claim to the family estate. Ebenezer has him abducted aboard the Covenant to be sold in America. At sea David befriends the Jacobite swordsman Alan Breck Stewart and helps him defeat the crew, but a wreck separates them. Reunited in the Highlands, they become fugitives after the murder of the royal agent Colin Campbell, although neither committed it. They cross dangerous country while soldiers search for them, and their friendship survives exhaustion, poverty, and a bitter quarrel. David finally reaches the lawyer Rankeillor. With Alan's help, he tricks Ebenezer into admitting the kidnapping before witnesses. David secures most of the estate's income, parts from Alan near Edinburgh, and enters the city able to begin an independent life.

After his father's death, seventeen-year-old David Balfour leaves Essendean with a letter directing him to Ebenezer Balfour at the House of Shaws. He finds a decaying, unfinished mansion and an uncle who is miserly, fearful, and unwilling to explain the family past. Ebenezer sends David up a dark staircase in a ruined tower without warning that the steps end abruptly. David narrowly avoids falling to his death and concludes that his uncle intended to kill him. He forces Ebenezer to tolerate his presence while he tries to learn why the older man is so threatened by him.

Ebenezer takes David to Queensferry, where he secretly bargains with Captain Hoseason of the brig Covenant. David is tricked aboard, struck unconscious, and carried to sea to be sold as forced labor in the American colonies. Life on the ship is brutal: the drunken first mate Shuan kills the cabin boy Ransome, and David survives partly because the second mate Riach finds uses for him. The Covenant later strikes a smaller boat and rescues Alan Breck Stewart, a Jacobite carrying gold for his exiled chief. Hoseason plans to murder Alan and steal the money. David warns him, and the two barricade themselves in the roundhouse. Alan's swordsmanship and David's shooting defeat the attacking crew. Hoseason agrees to take them back toward the Scottish coast, leaving David and Alan allied but still dependent on an untrustworthy ship.

David learns that Alan is a Stewart loyalist and that the royal administrator Colin Campbell of Glenure, known as the Red Fox, is displacing tenants on the forfeited Appin estate. Before the Covenant can put its passengers ashore, it strikes a reef. David is swept away and stranded on the tidal islet of Earraid, which he escapes only after realizing it can be crossed at low water. He struggles through Mull seeking Alan, repeatedly hindered by language, poverty, and hostile Campbell territory. Helpful islanders pass him along a chain of contacts, and he finally crosses to Morven. Following Alan's instructions toward Appin, David approaches the country where the political feud over the Stewart lands is most dangerous.

David witnesses Colin Campbell stop to speak with a lawyer and then sees the Red Fox shot dead by a hidden marksman. Alan appears immediately afterward but denies being the killer. Because David has been seen near the scene and Alan is a known Jacobite enemy of Campbell, both men face arrest. They warn James Stewart, who expects the authorities to use the murder against him, then flee into the Highlands. Alan and David hide in rough country while troops and search parties close the routes around them. Short of food and exposed to the weather, they rely on local supporters and their knowledge of the landscape. David's health begins to fail under the strain, but the pair continue moving rather than risk capture and a politically charged trial.

The fugitives endure days concealed on a rocky height before slipping across the surrounding moor. They find refuge with the outlawed chief Cluny Macpherson, but Alan's gambling there costs David much of his remaining money and exposes the differences between them. Exhaustion and resentment produce a serious quarrel on the road. David, ill and angry, goads Alan until Alan recognizes his condition; the confrontation ends in reconciliation rather than a duel. At Balquhidder they meet Robin Oig, a MacGregor swordsman, and hostility between him and Alan is redirected into a contest of music. The friends continue toward the Lowlands with their bond restored, but still must cross guarded country and find a lawful way to confront Ebenezer.

David and Alan evade the last patrols and cross the Forth with help from a young woman whom David persuades to ferry them. David reaches Mr. Rankeillor, a lawyer who knows the Balfour history. Rankeillor confirms that David's father was the elder brother and explains the agreement that left Ebenezer at the House of Shaws. To establish the kidnapping, Alan approaches Ebenezer pretending to hold David captive and bargains for his return. Ebenezer admits that he paid Hoseason to take David away, unaware that David and witnesses can hear him. Faced with the confession, he accepts a settlement: David receives two-thirds of the estate income while Ebenezer keeps the house and one-third. David and Alan walk toward Edinburgh and part near the city, since Alan remains a wanted man. David then enters a bank to claim his money and begin his new life.

David reaches the lawyer Mr. Rankeillor, who confirms that David's father was the elder Balfour brother and that Ebenezer obtained the estate through an old agreement. To prove the kidnapping without relying on evidence that might endanger Alan, they stage a deception at the House of Shaws. Alan pretends that he is holding David and bargains over the price of returning him. Ebenezer, believing there are no witnesses, admits arranging for Hoseason to carry David away and reveals the payment involved. David and Rankeillor then confront him with the confession. A settlement gives David two-thirds of the estate's income while Ebenezer keeps the house and the remaining third. David walks with Alan toward Edinburgh, where the friends part because Alan must remain hidden. David enters the British Linen Company bank to claim his new position and means, ending his journey no longer poor or powerless, though separated from the companion who helped save him.