R. M. Ballantyne 
Twice Bought 

Tom Brixton and Fred Westly have always been best friends. Before they left England to dig gold in Oregon, Fred promised Tom’s mother that he would do his best to keep her rowdy son out of trouble. So when Tom falls in with the wrong crowd, and his newfound gambling addiction throws him into a life on the run, Fred is left to do all he can to save his friend. Ballantyne’s lively prose and captivating plot make this novel perfect for fans of Rudyard Kipling’s ‘The Jungle Book.’-