A double rescue

'A Double Rescue' is a short story that reads in stark contrast to the adventure writing, which Ballantyne is most notorious for. It is an evangelistic tale of a blithe young boy named Jack Matterby who is born into an English farming family of modest means but engaged in unwavering Christian faith. Jack loves his family and community for the richness of their faith in spite of their material poverty. But suddenly his father dies of shock when he receives a letter that he is financially ruined in the aftermath of his bank's collapse. Shortly thereafter, his grief-stricken mother dies in hospital. She had fallen into inextricable levels of debt when moving to London with Jack after the liquidation of the family farm. With nowhere left to go but the unforgiving London streets, Jack has never felt more lost and alone in his life. But little does he know that he is soon to be taken under the wing of a guardian angel who will take him to the shores of young Canada. A truly heartwarming short story showcasing human clemency shining through even the harshest circumstances. A must-read for fans of Daniel Defoe's 'Robinson Crusoe' and Walt Disney's 1960 movie 'Swiss Family Robinson' starring John Mills, Dorothy McGuire, James MacArthur and Janet Munro. R. M. Ballantyne was a Scottish writer specialising in the juvenile fiction genre. He was born as Robert Michael Ballantyne into a family of well-known printers and publishers in Edinburgh. At age 16 he travelled to Canada where he served with the Hudson's Bay Company for six years. He returned to Scotland in 1847 and published his first book the next year, 'Hudson's Bay: or Life in the Wilds of North America'. For several years he was employed by the publishing house Messrs Constable. But in 1856 he decided to leave the literature business. Instead he began writing a series of adventure stories for young readers.