Kidnapped Chapter 29 Summary

I Come Into My Kingdom

  • Alan knocks violently on the door until Ebenezer appears from the upstairs window holding his blunderbuss, just as he did when Davie first arrived.
  • Alan calls up that he's here to speak to Ebenezer about Davie.
  • Ebenezer says he'll let Alan in.
  • Alan says he has no plans to enter Ebenezer's house. He wants to have this conversation on the man's doorstep.
  • Ebenezer comes downstairs to talk to Alan.
  • Alan tells Ebenezer that his own story is of no consequence, but that he has friends currently living near the island of Mull.
  • Alan lies to Ebenezer and says that his friends took Davie in after the wreck of the Covenant and spent a lot of money on him. Now they've come to collect silver for his return.
  • Ebenezer says Davie isn't worth much, and he doesn't plan to pay his debts.
  • Alan warns Ebenezer that, if his friends learn that Ebenezer isn't going to fork over some money for Davie, they'll toss him out. Ebenezer doesn't care.
  • Alan argues that he had imagined two possibilities: either Ebenezer loves Davie and would pay to have Davie back, or Ebenezer hates Davie, and would pay Alan's friends to keep him away.
  • To be clearer, Alan asks Ebenezer point blank: "what do ye want done with him, and how much will ye pay?" (29.30). Will Ebenezer pay to have Davie kept a prisoner, or will he pay to have Davie killed?
  • Finally, Ebenezer says he'll pay to have Davie kept – after all, Davie is his nephew.
  • Alan then asks how much Ebenezer paid Hoseason to take Davie. Ebenezer's freaked out that Alan knows Hoseason, and Alan claims that they're partners in this thing.
  • Ebenezer exclaims that anything Hoseason says is a giant lie. Davie wasn't kidnapped! But, well, it is true that Ebenezer gave Hoseason twenty pounds, and that Hoseason was to have the profits of Davie's sale in the Carolinas.
  • At this, Rankeillor steps out of his hiding place, along with Davie and Torrance.
  • Ebenezer is in such shock at seeing these people that he doesn't protest when Alan takes away his gun.
  • Torrance, Alan, and Davie settle in for supper and wine in Ebenezer's kitchen while Rankeillor goes off to talk seriously with Ebenezer about his fate.
  • In the end, Davie and Ebenezer agree that Ebenezer will pay Davie two thirds of the income that comes from the Shaws tenants.
  • So all's well that ends well.