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POPULAR JUVENILE BOOKS.

BY HORATIO ALGER, JR.


_RAGGED DICK SERIES._

_To be completed in Six Volumes._

  I. RAGGED DICK; OR, STREET LIFE IN NEW YORK.

 II. FAME AND FORTUNE; OR, THE PROGRESS OF RICHARD
       HUNTER.

III. MARK, THE MATCH BOY.

 IV. ROUGH AND READY; OR, LIFE AMONG THE NEW YORK
       NEWSBOYS.

  V. BEN, THE LUGGAGE BOY. (In April, 1870.)

 VI. RUFUS AND ROSE; OR, THE FORTUNES OF ROUGH AND
     READY. (In December, 1870.)

_Price, $1.25 per volume._


_CAMPAIGN SERIES._

_Complete in Three Vols._

  I. FRANK'S CAMPAIGN.
 II. PAUL PRESCOTT'S CHARGE.
III. CHARLIE CODMAN'S CRUISE.

_Price, $1.25 per volume._


_LUCK AND PLUCK SERIES._

_To be completed in Six Volumes._

 I. LUCK AND PLUCK; OR, JOHN OAKLEY'S INHERITANCE.

OTHERS IN PREPARATION.

_Price, $1.50 per volume._




[Illustration]




[Illustration: LUCK AND PLUCK SERIES.
BY HORATIO ALGER JR.
LUCK and PLUCK.]




  LUCK AND PLUCK;
  OR,
  JOHN OAKLEY'S INHERITANCE.


  BY
  HORATIO ALGER, JR.

  AUTHOR OF "RAGGED DICK," "FAME AND FORTUNE," "MARK, THE MATCH
  BOY," "ROUGH AND READY," "CAMPAIGN SERIES," ETC.


  LORING, Publisher,
  819 WASHINGTON STREET,
  BOSTON.




  Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1869, by
  A. K. LORING,
  In the Clerk's Office of the District Court for the District of
  Massachusetts.


  Rockwell & Churchill, Printers and Stereotypers,
  122 Washington Street.




  To
  MY YOUNG FRIENDS,
  ISAAC AND GEORGE,
  THIS VOLUME
  IS AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED.




PREFACE.


"Luck and Pluck" appeared as a serial story in the juvenile department
of Ballou's Magazine for the year 1869, and is therefore already
familiar to a very large constituency of young readers. It is now
presented in book form, as the first of a series of six volumes,
designed to illustrate the truth that a manly spirit is better than
the gifts of fortune. Early trial and struggle, as the history of the
majority of our successful men abundantly attests, tend to strengthen
and invigorate the character.

The author trusts that John Oakley, his young hero, will find many
friends, and that his career will not only be followed with interest,
but teach a lesson of patient fortitude and resolute endeavor, and a
determination to conquer fortune, and compel its smiles. He has no
fear that any boy-reader will be induced to imitate Ben Brayton, whose
selfishness and meanness are likely to meet a fitting recompense.

    NEW YORK, NOV. 8, 1869.




LUCK AND PLUCK;
OR,
JOHN OAKLEY'S INHERITANCE.




CHAPTER I.

INTRODUCING TWO BOYS AND A HORSE.


"What are you going to do with that horse, Ben Brayton?"

"None of your business!"

"As the horse happens to belong to me, I should think it was
considerable of my business."

"Suppose you prove that it belongs to you," said Ben, coolly.

"There is no need of proving it. You know it as well as I do."

"At any rate, it doesn't belong to you now," said Ben Brayton.

"I should like to know why not?"

"Because it belongs to me."

"Who gave it to you?"

"My mother."

"It wasn't hers to give."

"You'll find that the whole property belongs to her. Your father left
her everything, and she has given the horse to me. Just stand aside
there; I'm going to ride."

John Oakley's face flushed with anger, and his eyes flashed. He was
a boy of fifteen, not tall, but stout and well-proportioned, and
stronger than most boys of his age and size, his strength having
been developed by rowing on the river, and playing ball, in both of
which he was proficient. Ben Brayton was a year and a half older,
and half a head taller; but he was of a slender figure, and, having
no taste for vigorous out-of-door amusements, he was not a match in
strength for the younger boy. They were not related by blood, but
both belonged to the same family, Ben Brayton's mother having three
years since married Squire Oakley, with whom she had lived for a year
previous as house-keeper. A week since the squire had died, and when,
after the