{"product_id":"2940013300866","title":"The Fugitives","description":"A group of people from a British ship have gone ashore to stretch their\u003cbr\u003elegs, when enemies approach, the ship's boat retreats to the ship and\u003cbr\u003ethey are left stranded ashore.  The book deals with their efforts to\u003cbr\u003efind what they hope will be civilisation in the capital of the Island of\u003cbr\u003eMadagascar, which is something like the size of France.  Unfortunately\u003cbr\u003ethe reigning Queen has a hatred of Christianity which had been brought\u003cbr\u003eto the Island by missionaries some forty years before. Our heroes find\u003cbr\u003ethemselves assisted by a Christian net-work, but when they get to the\u003cbr\u003ecapital they are appalled by the carnage and torture they find when the\u003cbr\u003eQueen has one of her rages against Christianity.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBased on fact, the story told here of the repression of Christianity in\u003cbr\u003ean emerging nation was all too true.  The Queen died in 1867, and was\u003cbr\u003esucceeded by her son, an altogether different person, at which point our\u003cbr\u003eheroes take ship for England, and the story ends.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe story is full of action, the only quibble being the long and rather\u003cbr\u003esimilar names the Malagasy people who appear in the story have.  This\u003cbr\u003emakes it sometimes rather hard to make out what is happening.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCHAPTER ONE.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eINTRODUCES THE CHIEF ACTORS AND A FEW MYSTERIES.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIntense action is at all times an interesting object of contemplation to\u003cbr\u003emankind.  We therefore make no apology to the reader for dragging him\u003cbr\u003eunceremoniously into the middle of a grand primeval forest, and\u003cbr\u003epresenting to his view the curious and stirring spectacle of two white\u003cbr\u003emen and a negro running at their utmost possible speed, with flashing\u003cbr\u003eeyes and labouring chests--evidently running for their lives.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThough very different in aspect and condition, those men were pretty\u003cbr\u003eequally matched as runners, for there was no apparent difference in the\u003cbr\u003evigour with which they maintained the pace.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe track or footpath along which they ran was so narrow as to compel\u003cbr\u003ethem to advance in single file.  He who led was a tall agile youth of\u003cbr\u003enineteen or thereabouts, in knickerbocker shooting-garb, with short\u003cbr\u003ecurly black hair, pleasantly expressive features, and sinewy frame.  The\u003cbr\u003esecond was obviously a true-blue tar--a regular sea-dog--about thirty\u003cbr\u003eyears of age, of Samsonian mould, and, albeit running for very life,\u003cbr\u003ewith grand indignation gleaming in his eyes.  He wore a blue shirt on\u003cbr\u003ehis broad back, white ducks on his active legs, and a straw hat on his\u003cbr\u003ehead, besides a mass of shaggy hair, which, apparently, not finding\u003cbr\u003eenough of room on his cranium, overflowed in two brown cataracts down\u003cbr\u003ehis cheeks, and terminated in a voluminous beard.","brand":"SAP","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47068740813040,"sku":"2940013300866","price":0.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940013300866_p0.jpg?v=1763579499","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940013300866","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}