Just his luck by Oliver Optic
Just his luck by Oliver Optic is a novel written in the late 19th century. It’s a brisk juvenile adventure about an honest orphan, Wade Brooks, thrown in with two reckless boys, Lon Trustleton and Matt Swikes, whose mischief spirals from stolen peaches to arson and a desperate flight. With small-town tensions, river escapades, and a hunt underway, the story tests courage and integrity as Wade seeks to clear his name and
claim his independence. The opening of the novel follows Wade refusing to steal peaches with Lon and Matt, getting unjustly struck by them, then mistakenly whipped by farmer Garlick—who soon apologizes and gives him peaches when the truth emerges. At home, Wade is abused, denied supper, and while sneaking bread at night he witnesses Matt steal his father’s hidden cash; soon after, Garlick’s barn is set ablaze. Wade slips off to sleep in an old creek sail-boat, while Lon and Matt—who had plotted revenge and escape—burn the barn with a slow-match and board the same boat at midnight, unaware Wade is in the cuddy. By dawn, Wade stands up to the bully, secretly recovers the hidden wallet to return it, and steers for a village to find food. As Lon attacks him again, the boys’ fathers arrive at the boat, setting the stage for a reckoning. (This is an automatically generated summary.)
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About this eBook
| Author | Optic, Oliver, 1822-1897 |
|---|---|
| Illustrator | Merrill, Frank T., 1848-1923 |
| LoC No. | 05033624 |
| Title | Just his luck |
| Original Publication | Boston: Lothrop, Lee & Shepard Co., 1877, copyright 1905. |
| Note | Illustrations signed: M. Identified as Frank T. Merrill in Jones, D.B. Oliver Optic checklist, 1985. |
| Credits | Aaron Adrignola, David E. Brown, and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive) |
| Reading Level | Reading ease score: 88.8 (6th grade). Easy to read. |
| Language | English |
| LoC Class | PZ: Language and Literatures: Juvenile belles lettres |
| Subject | Orphans -- Juvenile fiction |
| Subject | Children's stories |
| Subject | Diligence -- Juvenile fiction |
| Category | Text |
| EBook-No. | 76585 |
| Release Date | Jul 29, 2025 |
| Copyright Status | Public domain in the USA. |
| Downloads | 276 downloads in the last 30 days. |
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