Other editions of book A Final Reckoning: A Tale of Bush Life in Australia

Mrs. Ellison had, at her first arrival in the village three years before, done much to give her a good start, by ordering that all articles of use for the house, in which she dealt, should be purchased of her; and she highly approved of the energy and independence of the young widow. But lately there had been an estrangement between the squire's wife and the village shopkeeper. Mrs. Ellison, whose husband owned all the houses in the village, as well as the land surrounding it, was accustomed to speak her mind very freely to the wives of the villagers. She was kindness itself, in cases of illness or distress; and her kitchen supplied soups, jellies, and nourishing food to all who required it; but in return, Mrs. Ellison expected her lectures on waste, untidiness, and mismanagement to be listened to with respect and reverence.She was, then, at once surprised and displeased when, two or three months before, having spoken sharply to Mrs. Whitney as to the alleged delinquencies of Reuben, she found herself decidedly, though not disrespectfully, replied to."The other boys are always set against my Reuben," Mrs. Whitney said, "because he is a stranger in the village, and has no father; and whatever is done, they throw it on to him. The boy is not a bad boy, ma'm—not in any way a bad boy. He may get into mischief, like the rest; but he is not a bit worse than others, not half as bad as some of them, and those who have told you that he is haven't told you the truth."Mrs. Ellison had not liked it. She was not accustomed to be answered, except by excuses and apologies; and Mrs. Whitney's independent manner of speaking came upon her almost as an act of rebellion, in her own kingdom. She was too fair, however, to withdraw her custom from the shop; but from that time she had not, herself, entered it.Reuben was a source of anxiety to his mother, but this had no reference to his conduct. She worried over his future. The receipts from the shop were sufficient for their wants; and indeed the widow was enabled, from time to time, to lay by a pound against bad times; but she did not see what she was to do with the boy. Almost all the other lads of the village, of the same age, were already in the fields; and Mrs. Whitney felt that she could not much longer keep him idle. The question was, what was she to do with him? That he should not go into the fields she was fully determined, and her great wish was to apprentice him to some trade; but as her father had recently died, she did not see how she was to set about it.

A Final Reckoning by George Alfred Henty is an exciting adventure of outlaws in the early days of the Australian gold rush, when fortunes were made and stolen, and when bush rangers and natives constituted a real and formidable danger to the settlers. It is based on the true story of a group of Holocaust survivors that sought revenge for Nazi crimes and is an atmospheric, emotionally engaging and twisting thriller from first page to last. When a security guard at the UN shoots a harmless old man mistakenly suspected of being a suicide bomber, Tom Byrne--an idealistic young lawyer--is called in to calm the man's family, including his daughter, Rebecca. However, Tom soon discovers that the victim was not quite as innocent as he seemed and his is the latest in a chain of hundreds of unexplained deaths linked to a powerful brotherhood. Pursued by ruthless killers, Tom must unlock a secret buried for more than sixty years--the last great secret of World War II.

An exciting adventure of outlaws in the early days of the Australian gold rush, when fortunes were made and stolen, and when bush rangers and natives constituted a real and formidable danger to the settlers. “All boys will read this story with eager and unflagging interest. The episodes are in Mr. Henty’s very best vein–graphic, exciting, realistic; and, as in all Mr. Henty’s books, the tendency is to the formation of an honourable, manly, and even heroic character.”–Birmingham Post.

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