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What is the beginning, middle, and end of the book Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson?

In the beginning of the book Kidnapped, readers are introduced to David Balfour.  He is seventeen and has been recently orphaned.  Soon after, the minister gives David a letter that David's deceased father had written.  The letter tells David to go to the house of Shaws.  


The middle of the book is filled with devious plotting, fights, and shipwrecks. For example, Ebenezer knows that David is the rightful heir to the fortune, so he plots to have David kidnapped and taken away.   The basic gist from that point is that David is trying to get back to Mr. Rankeillor in order to establish his rights to the entire estate and fortune of the house of Shaws.  


The ending of the book is great.  David successfully tricks his uncle into admitting that he had David kidnapped.  Mr. Rankeillor hears the entire conversation and uses it to blackmail Ebenezer.  Ebenezer can keep himself out of prison by giving up his fortune to David.  The books ends with David becoming a rich man. 

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